Chapter 74 - Conducting the Choir (1/2)
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After around ten minutes, Zhu Xiaofei had been thoroughly beaten by the girls in the English Language major. His hair was disheveled, and his clothes were a mess, and he looked like a copy of ‘Brother Sharp,’ the famous Chinese beggar. Seeming as if he were about to cry, he returned to stand in his original position.
Xiao Luo redeemed the musical talent ability, and his senses underwent a dramatic change.
“Ding! Musical talent allows the host to quickly acquire a high standard of musical ability, including but not limited to proficiency playing musical instruments, songwriting, the ability to conduct a band or choir, and so on,” sounded the system notification in his mind.
Xiao Luo began to regret accepting Chu Yunxiong’s a.s.signment. If he’d known that the Genius System without Equal was so ridiculously powerful, he would not have to come to Huaye to attend boring cla.s.ses. With his musical talent alone, he could have made a fortune writing songs.
However, since he had made an agreement, he would properly carry out his job!
“Xiao Luo, do you really have a way of improving our singing?” Huang Ruoran asked quietly. Ever since Xiao Luo had rescued her from some hooligans, she no longer disliked him. In fact, she felt an inexplicable affection for him. No matter what he did or said, she found it pleasing.
“I’ll try my best. Let’s get everyone to take it again from the top,” Xiao Luo said, stepping forward.
Huang Ruoran nodded, then addressed the cla.s.s, “Everyone, in your positions. Let’s sing ‘Yellow River’ one more time.”
With Xiao Luo at the helm conducting, everyone was most cooperative. Even though n.o.body knew on what basis Xiao Luo had the expertise to train them, he seemed to inspire people naturally, giving them great hope. The girls became much more optimistic and confident about the upcoming singing compet.i.tion.
Xiao Luo shut his eyes, focusing his attention on what he heard. When everyone finished singing, he opened his eyes again and began to correct them. “Old Zhu, you have a loud, sonorous voice, which is your strong point. Keep working at it. However, you sang one part incorrectly. The verse ‘the wind is howling’ should be sung neatly and sharply, but you were dragging the note at the end.”
Everybody was stunned. They had all sung together. So, how had Xiao Luo picked out Zhu Xiaofei’s voice from the entire group and his mistakes on top of that?
Xiao Luo’s attention s.h.i.+fted as he continued, “Kaizi, there should be a rest between each line during the part where you sing ‘defend’ four times. You’re neglecting to rest, which means that you are rus.h.i.+ng, which affects the overall unity of the group.”
For the second time, everyone was shocked. He was also pointing out Ding Kai’s errors?
Even before the cla.s.s regained their composure, Xiao Luo turned his focus to Chu Yue. He sternly said, “Chu Yue, for the word ‘roaring’ in the verse ‘the Yellow River is roaring,’ the first and second instances of the word ‘roaring’ should be sung differently. The pitch should grow higher and higher, as the song needs to have some ups and downs.”
Having explained Chu Yue’s singing mistakes, Xiao Luo looked at Bai Ling. Without pausing, he said, “Bai Ling, you sang the verse ‘in the mountains’ incorrectly. Your tone should get more robust here, but now it sounds flat.”
“An Huanhuan, the song speeds up at the verse ‘raising up the rifles.’ Since you aren’t keeping up with the tempo, it affects the group’s overall unity.”
“w.a.n.g Lingling, you messed up the line ‘the hills west of the river are vast.'”
…
By the time Xiao Luo had finished pointing out the mistakes made by every student in the cla.s.s, they were all looking at him like he was an alien. To point out one or two errors from listening to them sing all at once would be relatively normal, but this situation was not that. Xia Luo had actually managed accurately and precisely to identify every singer’s flaws. How was he doing it?
“The lyrics of ‘Yellow River’ use the actual Yellow River as a metaphor to praise the fighting spirit of our revolutionary forefathers. The way we sing it together should also capture the feeling of rolling waves through a robust back-and-forth between the treble and ba.s.s singers. Now, the singers with high and low voices are all mixed up, so we need to reorganize the group’s formation.”
Xiao Luo was like a master, carefully offering his guidance. He arranged the treble girls into two rows with Chu Yue as their lead. Similarly, he formed two rows for the ba.s.s with Ding Kai as the lead.