The Magic of HHB - Magical Moons and Theatre Kids

the magic of HHB works in a kind of Vancian way, although I'm not sure if thats accurate. basically, for a mortal person to use magic successfully, they have to basically calculate the spell correctly. this is a complex mental and physical process that in a way resembles doing math, but with your whole ass being. your mind, your body and your voice needs to be in perfect synch to make a spell happen correctly, and if you fail, nothing happens instead.

magic has been taught for a very long time, and people are reminded of this all the time because the language used for magic is a very old and very dead language. nobody speaks it in their day to day, and there's still a ton of research to be done to figure out what some words and symbols even mean, but it is the language used in the casting of spells. most people have agreed that it is some kind of non-human language that humans nevertheless got a hold of. some believe the gods made it before they left mortality behind, some think it was elves or trolls or some other old, bygone race. this means that when you hear someone conjure a spell, you're not the only one who doesn't know what the words mean. all people know is how the words work, not what they mean.

naturally, all of this has led to magic being performed in some quite extravagant ways. it has never been lost on humanity that the art of magic resembles the art of most performances. this is really where the bard connection comes in, and casting your spells to music is certainly not uncommon. some do it because of old, passed-down cultural norms, but some do it because its fun and they find music to be the best way of memorizing and casting the spells correctly.
now, this means that most people of the magical persuasion can cast a few spells competently. beyond that it gets a bit fuzzy, and people tend to not risk casting spells they haven't mastered. it also means that silent magic is basically impossible, and the ones who manage to cast a spell silently even once are considered great paragons of the art. casting a spell silently basically requires you to picture a complicated formula in your head with absolutely zero hiccups from start to finish. now, do this while you are being pressured or attacked, knowing that even one micro-sized slipup means no spell, leaving you at the mercy of whatever is trying to hurt you.
also, not everyone is good at everything. for reasons still not understood, people are born naturally attuned to one kind of magic over the others. some people work against this fact, doing their damnedest to get good at their chosen sphere, and others just deal with it and do the dance they were born to do.