Chapter 4: Sorrowfully 7
I decided to come first in the prac exam but then, there was a question – a question of how.
How could I win against Kim Wuju and Lee Suh-ah in the prac exams?
“Hmm…”
The immediate answer that popped up was simple – practise hard. But practising was naturally something that had to be done and I, who was lacking, had to try harder to even have a slight chance of winning.
Another method.
There were probably a few methods but the one I chose was, ‘know yourself and your enemies and you won’t fear the result of a hundred battles’.
In other words, analysing the opponents.
“…”
Scanning at Lee Suh-ah with the eyes of an eagle, I once again read the post on my phone.
[10 sentences to grasp the hearts of the opposite gender]
With serious eyes, I etched the words into my brain and stood up from my seat.
‘Analysing the opponent’ might be a little strange with the thought that, ‘aren’t you just singing alone during the prac exams?’, but prac exams were also competitions.
In Future Arts High, the pracs were done in an interview format in front of the judges one by one. And of course, as the judges were also humans, they might get tired of the same songs or have some songs that they’re really into.
That’s why the selection of songs and the order of the interview were important. And that was also why knowing others’ prac songs beforehand would definitely be of great help during the prac exams.
Once again steeling my resolve, I lightly coughed and sat down next to Lee Suh-ah.
“Kuhum.”
Glancing sideways, I found Lee Suh-ah staring at me with eyes that said, what’s this guy doing again. The effects of the ‘Humilation Audio’ case from before was still not completely gone.
Just as I had learned from the internet, I smiled softly and started a conversation.
“Suh-ah, today’s weather’s very good right?”
“…”
Her face crumpled even more.
What’s this? It feels weird from the start?
Quickly racking my brain, I started the next pick-up lines.
“Lee Suh-ah, you’re looking good in your clothes today.”
“It’s school uniform.”
“Did you buy a new hairband? It looks good on you.”
“It’s been the same since admission though?”
“… During the concert, I heard you sing Alcina aria, do you like Baroque arias? Do you want to go to the Baroque Cafe after school?”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
Staring at Lee Suh-ah stand up and leave after a scoff, I licked my lips. It said the success rate was above 72% on the internet, so why isn’t this working…?
After deep contemplation, I realised.
Ah.
Did I unluckily end up with the 28%?
That must be right, I clicked my tongue with a little bit of depression.
… And while I was doing that, Jun Shihyuk gave me a strange look.
“…What are you doing? Trying to hook Lee Suh-ah up?”
“Ah, I was curious what her prac song was.”
“Prac song?”
Giving a small laugh, he shook his head.
“Will that Lee Suh-ah say that with her own mouth? That stubborn girl?”
“I guess right?”
I also didn’t think she would easily say it and that was why I had relied on the internet but, a few words were not enough as expected. After some thought, I tapped Jun Shihyuk and opened my mouth.
“Then do you know which concour Lee Suh-ah is attending by any chance? One close to the prac exam date.”
“Concour? You’re asking me that?”
“You’ve known Lee Suh-ah from ages ago.”
“…”
After staring at me with a complicated expression, he replied with a sigh.
“…The closest one to the prac exam would probably be Korean Mozart Concour. Lee Suh-ah’s participating in it as well.”
“Really?”
Mozart.
Finding one clue, I nodded and searched through my head.
I didn’t ask about concours for no reason. Since performing arts students were so busy, they couldn’t practise that many songs in one semester. No matter how much they wanted to, they only had one body.
Therefore, there were lots of cases where those practised songs would be used economically and be shared in both the concours and the prac exams.
In other words,
There was a high chance of singing the same song in both the concour and the prac exam if they were close to another in date.
I quickly deduced.
‘Soprano, Mozart, matching Lee Suh-ah and something that can be used in both the prac exam and the concour.’
Searching inside, there weren’t many songs. Ridente la calma, Das Veilchen, Dans un bois solitaire… Succeeding in reducing the scope quite a bit, I nodded my head and said thanks to Jun Shihyuk.
“…it’s nothing.”
Saying goodbye to the apathetically replying Jun Shihyuk, I thought hard with crossed arms.
I could somewhat guess the German song… but the other one – how do I find out what the Italian song is?
*
Unlike the fussy Lee Suh-ah who would never talk about her prac songs, Kim Wuju immediately told me the songs coolly, with an attitude that talking about those things would not hurt.
Now that I had found out about Kim Wuju’s songs, I just had to know Lee Suh-ah’s other song to increase my possibility of winning in the prac exam by a fair bit.
…Thinking of those things, I pushed the doors of the lesson room open, but the atmosphere appeared a little strange. On the piano chair, teacher Kwak Jungsoo was sitting down with a downhearted expression, while teacher Ku Mingi was waving his hand with a smile next to him.
What’s this combination?
Feeling a little puzzled I stared at them but still bowed my head.
“Hello.”
“…You’ve come. Sit down.”
I awkwardly sat down when teacher Ku Mingi slowly opened his mouth.
“Were you surprised because I came suddenly? I had something urgent to say.”
“No, please don’t worry about it.”
With a glance, I checked their moods.
Two teachers in one lesson room. I’ve seen one teacher and two students before but two teachers to one was a first.
When he saw me feeling a little awkward, teacher Ku Mingi cheerfully opened his mouth.
“Don’t be too nervous. Just think of it as receiving the lesson from me today. I’ve already talked about it with teacher Kwak Jungsoo; unless you don’t want to be taught by me at all?”
The lesson?
Blinking my eyes in thought, I opened my mouth subconsciously.
“No. It’s an honour.”
Seeing me reply with some puzzlement, he smiled a little.
“You’re quite surprised. It’s not that we’re going to be permanently changing the Specialist Prac teacher and it’s just this time around because there was an important thing to say.”
“…Okay.”
An important thing…
While I was deep in thought, teacher Ku Mingi stretched his arms out.
“First, before the lesson, let me ask you a question.”
Starting off his words in that manner, he asked nonchalantly.
“Student Jo Yunjae. Where did you learn vocalisation from?”
… It was a difficult question from the get-go. Whilst reading teacher Kwak Jungsoo’s mood, I opened my mouth.
“It was self-studied.”
“Self-study. Good.”
He smiled as if he found it interesting.
“During student Jo Yunjae’s Concerted Music, and the Improvement Concert, there was something strange that I felt. It was this vocalisation.”
After starting the conversation while pointing at his neck, he stood up from his seat. Walking around step by step around the lesson room, he opened his mouth.
“Vocalisation. Vocalisation is the basic and the foundation of singing. The very definition is as such: ‘act of producing sounds’. Detailing into ‘how to move the body to make a sound’ when vocalising, is vocalisation.”
With an ah–, teacher Ku Mingi made a clear sound.
“This vocalisation. In opera, to perfect the vocalisation, we practise and train for a long time to have it fixed. Unlike expressions and fancy skills that can be added or subtracted at will, vocalisation is the bone built up one by one. In other words, it is basically very hard to change.”
Stopping there, teacher Ku Mingi turned his body and stared directly at me. His eyes shined for a bit.
“But student Jo Yunjae had built up a vocalisation by himself, and a high-standard one at that. You must’ve liked teacher Kwak Jungsoo a lot from the past, judging from your similar vocalisation method.”
Uh… I learned it from himself actually… Seeing me roll my eyes while seated, he smiled.
“Up to here is good, no, very good. It means that you have the great talent to catch good vocalisation methods. The world tends to call that a genius.”
“Ah… a genius?”
“Yes.”
I felt slightly embarrassed.
I learned it directly from him so of course, the vocalisation method was the same. Calling that a talented catching ability was embarrassing… Teacher Ku Mingi that had been staring deeply at me suddenly stiffened his face.
“The problem is that teacher Kwak Jungsoo’s vocalisation method that you had learned in that manner does not fit student Jo Yunjae’s throat.”
“Sorry?”
What did this mean?
When I opened my eyes wide, he pointed at teacher Kwak Jungsoo with a gesture.
“Now look at that body. With lungs probably 3 times bigger than normal people, a thick neck and a large head.”
If you put it like that, he sounds like a monster.
I awkwardly stared at the teacher when teacher Ku Mingi’s hand pointed back at me.
“Then look at student Jo Yunjae’s body. Can you call this the same human race… sorry, but can you call them the same kind of opera singers?”
“…Hard, I guess?”
“But what would happen if you used the same vocalisation method?”
“…”
Seeing me blink my eyes, he opened his mouth.
“You’ve tried some tricks and used methods that saved your breath, or sang softly but in the end, that is an expedient. Didn’t you feel your throat hurt a lot recently?”
“…Yes.”
“Of course it would. It’s a vocalisation method that forces the larynx down, opens the throat wide and explodes out the breath to seek a strong resonance. If the body’s not following, would it be okay or not?”
Hearing teacher Ku Mingi’s words, there were some parts I could understand.
The throat that recently started to hurt.
I thought that was because the throat was weak due to it being before my growth spurt, but was it because of the fundamental vocalisation? After one year, it would become a body that could digest this vocalisation but my body was currently not up to the standards.
Teacher Ku Mingi clicked his tongue.
“In other words, a supercar engine was attached to a shitty car… ah would you not understand that as a student?”
“No. Please continue.”
“Uhum. It’s like adding that engine. No matter how lightly you press on the accelerator, one day, it would break.”
Break?
I touched my throat with a pale expression when teacher Ku Mingi coughed a little and took down my hand.
“Well, it won’t be happening any time soon. If you did that during the growth spurt, it could lead to some problems later down the track but… you haven’t sung that much yet. Throats are quite strong albeit being quite weak you see.”
When I became a little relieved, he slowly opened his mouth.
“Now, that’s the reason why I had come today to give the lesson. No matter what, wouldn’t I be better suited in teaching a new vocalisation than teacher Kwak Jungsoo?”
I could say yes, but I was right before the teacher.
Ah, how should I reply here… when I restlessly looked at teacher Kwak Jungsoo, he heavily gave a nod.
Closing my eyes tight, I replied,
“…Yes.”
And teacher Ku Mingi made a smile.
*
From then on was teacher Ku Mingi’s lesson.
“Make a sound.”
“Ah–”
He gave a sign to stop with his hand.
“I can hear you forcing the sound. Don’t try to control everything. Naturally – before the body finishes growing, you must focus on singing naturally.”
Naturally…
What is natural?
After a deep thought, I closed my eyes and examined my body. I could feel the relaxed muscles one by one. When I gave a sign to make a sound from that situation, the muscles all started to immediately move around busily.
The larynx lowered deeply, the velum was lifted up high, and the inside of the throat formed a large gap. When I let out a breath from there, the entire body screamed and echoed the sound.
“Ah–!”
It was as if I could hear the crazy ringing of a growling motor. Dumbfounded, I touched my throat for a bit before lowering my head. Having only been learning this one vocalisation for the entirety of my 20 years, I had never even realised it, but after a proper analysis, I could tell that it was a dangerous vocalisation method.
Teacher Ku Mingi tapped my shoulder.
“Do you understand? Now, let’s try singing naturally. Relax your throat and don’t try to force anything.”
“Yes.”
It was easy to put in words, but it was a fixed vocalisation that had been put in place after blood, sweat and tears, and was unwilling to be changed. After a few failures, I decided to get rid of the very thought that I was singing from my head.
Then, my body became astonishingly relaxed. Let’s make a sound as if I was just speaking, I thought, as the uvula lightly echoed.
“Ah–”
Uh? It felt different.
Raising my head and staring at the teacher, I could see teacher Ku Mingi wave his hand up with a smile.
“Good. Keep it that way. And should we now increase the pitch a little?”
“Ah–”
“Go on!”
“Ah–”
“More!”
With a deep breath, I let it out.
The breath filling my stomach to the brim flowed out like water through the uvula while resonating the mouth, and during that, all I did was calmly letting out the breath.
The naturally escaped breath had turned into a pitch before echoing the room.
“Ah–!”
I could feel my head ringing. It was that feeling when you were resonating the head voice to the maximum – and also, it was the highest ringing that I had never felt before in my life.
Blankly, I was immersed in the remaining echoes when teacher Ku Mingi clapped before opening his mouth.
“C5”
“…Sorry?”
He gave a wide smile.
“You hit a high C just then.”