Two channels

Text C: an original fiction extract.

The silent disco was not silent in our planning meetings. Everybody had suggestions about the music, the lights and the colour of the wristbands. I had volunteered to operate one of the two music channels because choosing songs in my bedroom had always seemed easy.

At the rehearsal, the hire technician showed us the transmitter. One channel made the headphones glow blue; the other made them glow green. Listeners could switch whenever they wished. My friend Sel ran the green channel from the opposite end of the table. We agreed not to take the colours personally.

On the evening itself, I arranged my list so that each song would become a little faster. I imagined the room gradually moving together. For the first ten minutes, this appeared to happen. People nodded, then began making small circles with their friends. Since I was listening through my own headphones, I could not hear how loudly my shoes were tapping beneath the table.

Then I played what I thought would be the best song. Half the room suddenly became very energetic. I leaned towards Sel with a grin. She was adjusting a control, looking as pleased as I felt. Across the floor, my cousin was moving at a completely different speed from the people around her. Her headphones glowed green.

I counted. There were far more green lights than blue ones.

Instead of finishing my planned sequence, I skipped to a louder track. Several blue lights changed to green. I tried an older song that everybody knew. Some listeners came back, sang the opening line and switched away again. I began watching the colours instead of listening to the ends of the songs.

Sel touched my sleeve. She had taken off her headphones, so I removed mine too. The room was full of feet, laughter and fragments of singing that did not belong together. A group near the wall was performing a slow, exaggerated dance while another group raced through tiny steps beside it. Nobody seemed troubled by the disagreement.

“You've got people waiting for the next verse,” Sel said. “Let them hear it.”

I put my headphones back on. The song was nearly over. For the first time that evening I let the final quiet section play instead of cutting across it. Four people with blue headphones kept their arms raised until the last note. They were not the biggest group in the room, but they were listening.

Later, Sel and I chose different versions of the same tune for the final five minutes. We tested the starting points with the technician before asking people to try switching. Some did. Others kept dancing to the version they preferred. Through the open doorway I saw our teacher watching a roomful of incompatible movements with evident satisfaction.

As we packed up, I found my original list beneath a coil of cable. Every song was ticked or crossed out except the last. I added a note beside it: let it finish. Sel asked whether I had enjoyed myself. I said I had enjoyed the second half more. She nodded without asking which channel had won.

You are the narrator. After the event, write your journal entry about your experience of operating the music channel.

In your response:

• describe your expectations and the preparations you made
• explain what unsettled you and what you learnt from observing the listeners
• reflect on what went better later and what you would change next time

Base your response on Text C, developing its ideas in your own words. Write about 250 to 300 words. Up to 10 marks are available for reading and up to 10 marks for writing.