Chapter 6: Faster 4
“… that’s why you can see him.”
Hearing all the story, I gave a nod.
Hmm… I did know that the ‘master class’ was going to be opening sometime soon. It was that Timothy Dickson, and it was pretty much like the king of the classic world going out for a stroll.
And they were letting me meet him in person?
Feeling the fortune that couldn’t even be compared to the likes of scholarships, it felt as if my body was floating around.
“Of course, it is not easy. After debates, we had already selected the members and you haven’t shown much results either. I could force you in there but… it won’t be looked favourably upon.”
Returning to his place, the principal sat down on his seat.
“That’s why, it is in your hands whether it will be looked favourably upon or not.”
In my hands?
When I stood there blinking my eyes, the principal opened his lips with a grin.
“Well I’m not asking for that much… It doesn’t matter what kind but just bring in some kind of result. Do well in the test, prac test, or differentiate yourself at a concert… As long as there is a relatively acceptable result, I will somehow persuade others. We can’t introduce a no-name without any results to the Maestro after all.”
“…”
It was quite an understandable statement. No matter how famous Song Muntak was both as a conductor and as the principal of Future Arts High, it was the request of that Dickson. What would happen if he were to introduce a random person?
Asking for a result was a natural request.
I was in the midst of my thoughts when teacher Ku Mingi made a soft smile.
“I don’t think you need to worry about that. Student Jo Yunjae is doing well in all the subjects and his development speed is fast as well. He is going to be performing in the composing department’s presentation of songs as well so…”
“The composing department? Well, that’s good. The more famous you get, the less people there will be that complain about you. In the end, we musicians eat off of our fame… ah!”
Suddenly slapping his knees, the principal faced his eyes at me.
What’s happening?
After inspecting me as if he was going to peel my face away, he slapped the table several times and opened his mouth.
“You! I knew I saw you somewhere, but it was from our Mirae’s youtube huh?”
“…Sorry?”
Where was this suddenly coming from? I was staring dumbfoundedly at the principal when he suddenly broke out into a smile and added more words.
“Mirae’s youtube! Wasn’t there a video of you singing with another female student? I knew you looked familiar and that was where I had seen you huh.”
Suddenly coming to an understanding by himself, the principal then started throwing out compliments one after another.
Compliments on Song Mirae.
Isn’t our Mirae pretty; she’s good at singing as well; it hadn’t even been that long since she had begun youtubing and yet there are lots of subscribers and her personality was good on top of that…
After talking endlessly about Song Mirae, the principal halted for a bit before staring at me.
“But… How did you end up on youtube? Are you perhaps interested in our Mirae?”
“Sorry…?”
I formed lots of question marks above my head thinking what this was about but the doubtful gaze of the principal was still on me.
Quickly I opened my mouth.
“That… I don’t even talk much with Song Mirae.”
“…Really? Then why did our Mirae take a video of you?”
…How was I supposed to know that?
Only after various interrogations was I freed from the principal’s room.
*
Timothy Dickson.
I had heard his name plenty of times. Even without considering the fact that I was interested in Met, he was just famous as one of the greatest conductors of the United States.
But I had never met him personally before. After more than a decade when I had become somewhat famous as an opera singer, he had already passed away so…
“…”
With such thoughts, I was going through the questions when Chloe suddenly rested her chin on her hands before complaining.
“Ah~ I wanna play the piano.”
Glancing over, I found her cheeks looking like steamed buns after being pushed up by the hands. She seemed very bored evident from her pouted lips on top of that.
Indeed, because there were only 3 days left until the mid-sem exams she wouldn’t even have time to play the piano. I drew a tick on the answer sheets and replied with a grin.
“Just play then.”
“But I have tons… of study left…”
In response, I lowered my eyes and saw a number of opened books on the desk – Korean, maths, science… all sorts of textbooks. The worn-out ends of the Korean textbook seemed to reflect her immense study load and thinking back to when she was practising Korean with me, her speaking skills seemed to have gone up considerably.
Since school marks are counted during university admission for the piano department, she likely felt very burdened by the exam.
“Un…?”
Halting the pen for a bit, I opened my mouth.
“By the way, are you planning on going to a Korean university after graduating?”
“Of course!”
“Oh. I thought you would be going back to your mother country.”
“Huhuh. My father decided to continue working at Korea you see.”
Aha, I see. I had no idea because I had no relationship with Chloe before the time travel. I gave a nod but perhaps Chloe had become bored, she started bringing up several topics.
She started talking about her family which I deliberately avoided since it might have been a sensitive topic.
Chloe talked about how her father had gone to France from Korea to study architecture and had met the person who would later become Chloe’s mother; they had a shotgun marriage from there and because Chloe heard her father talk in Korean back home, she was good at listening but was bad at speaking; and since Chloe only learned Korean in polite language, the casual language was a bit confusing for her and stuff like that…
“Oh yeah, why do you not speak casually in French either and use polite language?”
“Un… just because?”
Seeing her smiling, I opened my mouth.
“You can’t focus on studying right now right?”
“Huhuh. You could tell?”
How could I not tell? Talking about all sorts of stories made it obvious that she was about to die from boredom.
I know a great cure for this. After making a smile, I stood up and carried my bag.
“Let’s practise a bit before studying then.”
“Un?”
“You said you wanted to play the piano right? You should calm yourself a bit before you can even study.”
*
“Huu…”
After heaving out a breath, I turned my head and saw Chloe sitting in front of the piano, tapping away at the keys in excitement. If she wanted to play it that much, she should’ve just told me.
There was something I wanted to check as well, so it was good. It was only a few days left until the test so I hadn’t practised much which made my throat feel a bit lousy as well.
After stretching once, I stood up straight. The thing I was about to practise here was simple – changing vocalisations. What I had to do now was to completely perfect that technique which I had somewhat grasped back in the principal’s room.
So that I could swap the vocalisations with one thought.
Well, it wasn’t that I hadn’t practised it ever after that but… it just felt somewhat lacking. That was stuck on my mind and stopped me from concentrating on my studies as well… After a nod, I talked to Chloe.
“Should we perform together? Is there anything you want to do?”
“No! Let’s do anything. Huhuh.”
She just liked playing the piano I guess. Hmm… the only piano songs I know are lieder though… ah, should we do that one?
“Do you want to do Die Forelle by Schubert?”
“Okay!”
While gazing at the bright Chloe, I massaged my throat in preparation. Fortunately, she didn’t need a music sheet, since it was so famous that she knew about it as well. But usually, people would only know the quintet version of string instruments including the piano but Chloe seemed to know the lied version as well.
Are they the same?
After tilting my head for a bit, I erased the side thoughts and raised my head.
“Let’s do it.”
When I gave a smile, Chloe made a smile in response before immediately starting the accompaniment. Her cheerful fingers danced above the keys.
The Trout by Schubert.
Literally, it was about going fishing and observing a trout, with the topic focusing on the great life force of the fish swimming across the river and its energy.
Well… even without deep analysis, the lyrics were about going out for fun so a happy emotion was naturally embedded into the song.
Just softly, I opened the introduction with teacher Ku Mingi’s vocalisation.
“In einem Bächlein helle~”
[In a clear little brook~]
When I sang with that free timbre as if I was dancing above the skies, I could see Chloe breaking out into a smile.
Right, it was her first time hearing this vocalisation huh.
Quickly, I sang a few verses before gesturing with my hands to Chloe that it was her turn. Then, Chloe would sing the melody a bit and give a gesture back with her eyes for me to sing. After going back and forth like that cheerily, a smile started to form on my lips.
Ah, this is fun.
“So fängt er die Forelle mit seiner Angel nicht”
[He’ll never catch the trout with his hook.]
I was enjoying the moment when I suddenly felt the mood of the accompaniment change. To a dark atmosphere of tension.
Hmm, should I use the other vocalisation method here?
Rapidly, I closed my mouth and twisted the inside of my mouth. More violently and more sonorously. When I let out a breath through the vocalisation method that had quickly formed, a deep resonance filled the practice room.
“Doch endlich ward dem Diebe”
[But finally the thief]
Ohh. It changed quite quickly there. Was it easier to change because it suited the atmosphere of the song? If it was this fast, I could safely say that the ‘Changing Masks’ technique had ripened.
Well, it was just going between 2 vocalisations though.
Shrugging my shoulders, I changed the vocalisation methods and played around with Chloe while singing.
“Sah die Betrog’ne an”
[Looked at with betrayal.]
Ding–
When the last note echoed away till it was inexistent, Chloe began giving claps.
“Ohh~ Yunjae your song changed?”
“Song? Ah, you mean the vocalisation change?”
Chloe gave big nods and mimicked.
“Un un! Like that ‘uuu~’ sound and ‘ohhh~’ sound.”
“Kukuk. I learned it from teacher Ku Mingi recently.”
“First time I saw someone do that!”
Seeing her giving compliments with a bright smile made me feel quite happy. Since I had never seen anyone do this either, I wasn’t sure if it would be good but her reaction was good.
Would this work in an actual concert with the audience though?
I asked because I was suddenly curious and Chloe nodded her head.
“I think it’s good. Like the Trout? If you use it in a song where the atmosphere changes, it is interesting!”
Mhmm…
Indeed, that was a viable method – using it in songs with mood changes. After all, songs don’t always flow in the same atmosphere. There are songs like The Trout by Schubert where the atmosphere or the melody changes in the middle which was usually solved by the opera singers changing their diction. It was closer to an expedient than a solution.
But if they could change it to a vocalisation that completely fit that atmosphere like me? After some thought, I stared at Chloe with a bright expression.
“Thanks. It feels like I can finally see the path thanks to you.”
“The path?”
Chloe tilted her head and I just went over it with a laugh.
“Nothing. Your piano skills got a lot better. Did you practise your basics a lot?”
“Of course~ Don’t you know that my Improvement Concert result is 1 mark! higher than yours~?”
“Was it?”
“It was!”
Flicking my phone out, I checked and it was true.
4th place, Chloe Denjelle 96 points, 5th place, Jo Yunjae 95 points.
Wow it actually was exactly 1 mark different.
When I lifted my eyes back up from the phone, I saw Chloe waving her fingers like she was playing the piano. The movement of her fingers was… delicate as expected of the top piano student.
With a grin, I left the practice room with Chloe and headed back towards the library.
“I’m hungry~”
“Do you want some chocolate?”
“…No thanks. I’ve eaten it too much these days and I’m tired of it.”
We were chatting and laughing when we suddenly met Lee Suh-ah at the corridor.
“Aht! Suh-ah! Hello!”
“Un. Hi.”
Lee Suh-ah who had been greeting back at the smiling Chloe flicked her sulky face at me.
Why’s her expression always like that when she sees me?
“Hi.”
“…Yeah.”
After glancing once, she opened her mouth.
“You went to the principal’s room?”
“Un? How did you know?”
“They broadcasted it like that so how would I not?”
Ah, now that she said it.
Feeling a bit embarrassed, I made a faint smile and Lee Suh-ah asked with a casual expression.
“Why did they call you?”
Why?
Touching the back of my neck, I thought that the story about the master class… was perhaps better not spread. Complaints saying that this was a type of preferential treatment could come out after all and would be better hidden until I made some results.
Thinking for a bit, I gave a random reply.
“They called me because I was so good at singing.”
Lee Suh-ah immediately gave a scoff.
“Ha. Then they would’ve called me instead.”
She’s saying that herself? When I looked back dumbfoundedly, perhaps she became slightly embarrassed herself, she ran her hand through her hair for no reason before quickly changing the topic.
“…Did you study for the mid-sems?”
“I did, a lot.”
“…”
After staring at me with caution in her gaze, Lee Suh-ah pouted before turning her body away.
“Right. Good luck.”
Seeing the back going further away, I tilted my head.
…Is she more stressed out because it’s the exam period? She was strangely colder.