Chapter 2.3 - Bit by bit 3 (2/2)

Lee Suh-ah raised her hand. Her eyes glaring at Jo Yunjae were sharp.

“His diction was perfect.”

Diction.

That vague word explained what Jo Yunjae had done.

Diction. How one made the sound and maintained it. If one note was to be sung by 100 opera singers, there would be 100 different ways.

Would you go in soft and end strong or vice versa.

The change in pitch. Would you start with a high note and sink back down to the original note or do the opposite, by pulling a low pitch up.

Texture. Would you use a bright timbre or a dark colour.

The score wouldn’t explain all these, so the executants had to judge what was right, and allocate the correct one for each segment. And Jo Yunjae’s ability in that was amazingly excellent… was Ku Mingi’s impression.

“Diction, yes. The diction was good. Analysing the theme of the song and preparing a fitting song. A wonderful attitude perfect for a singer. Wasn’t an image drawn inside your heads naturally as you heard the song?”

Only then did the students show admiration.

“But…”

Stopping his words for a bit, Ku Mingi made a befuddled expression.

It was close to perfect.

That was the problem.

That kind of diction wasn’t something people could be born with.

Of course, the learning speed could be born with and be fast, but time was required in perfecting diction. It required the time to listen to lots of songs and sing for the body to learn them.

For a high schooler to perfect that? It made no sense no matter how talented they were.

But Jo Yunjae had done it.

‘How…’

Ku Mingi consciously made a stern expression and got rid of all the side thoughts. He acted out the teacher that would point the student to a direction they needed to face.

He opened his mouth.

“The diction was good but the rest was not. Especially the last part. You stopped the note because you lacked breath right? This not only did not follow the score, it doesn’t fit into the diction either. It was plainly due to lack of basics.”

“…Yes…”

Jo Yunjae nodded heavily and agreed. After seeing that, Ku Mingi continued his words.

“And there’s a bit of an unstable feel in keeping the resonating chambres open. The diction was good but the lips were strangely closed and was slightly ruined. Was it because of breath? In any case the techniques are good but the practice is severely lacking. As if…”

Ku Mingi swallowed his next words.

‘He learned singing for a long time but never sang before.’

Because it didn’t make any sense.

*

After coming back to the seat I sat energylessly on the seat.

“Sigh…”

It felt like my entire body was lacking in strength. Feeling the hard chair on my back, I let out a sigh.

Just then.

Up to singing solo with Jun Shishyuk was okay. I did somehow succeed in bringing out everything to finish the song.

The problem was after that.

Teacher Ku Mingi said he would teach us the difference between solo and concerted music and made us sing a song together but…

I made a pitch break while singing the song.

It seems my muscles had loosened and were unable to be properly controlled.

The kids that had heard it burst into laughter while Jun Shihyuk scoffed from the side. Being made to sing and miserably failing… and teacher Ku Mingi having cheered me up back to my seat was what had happened just then.

‘I’m seriously going to practise hard.’

Teacher Ku Mingi’s lesson continued while I was self-evaluating as such.

“Now, there was a little bit of an accident but I think you understand my point. How was their singing before the mistake? Was it like concerted music?”

How, you say but.

“Uh… I couldn’t hear Yunjae’s voice at all.”

“And it would sometimes pop up which was a little annoying.”

“There were parts that weren’t matching.”

Simply put, it was smashed.

A loud banging noise was right next to me so how would my voice be heard? All that was left was Jun Shihyuk’s violent growls beating my sound into pieces.

It was at a point that could hardly be called a song.

“This is why the vocalisation method for concerted music is necessary. Like what happened with student Jun Shihyuk and student Jo Yunjae, two completely different ringing and tone flowing together in harmony requires practice. Shall we watch a video?”

The atmosphere thus settled down and the lesson continued on. Showing a video and teaching vocalisation methods, as well as having everyone sing and pointing out the lacking aspects…

After some listening it was relatively interesting. After all, it was learning the basics after 20 years, and comparing my interpretation with the teacher’s was quite fun as well.

While I was somewhat indulged in listening to the lesson, I felt a touch on my shoulder. When I turned my head, there was Lee Suh-ah.

The same old cold expression… was what I thought but it looked strangely flushed. Her eyes also seemed to be shining.

While I was startled by that appearance, she opened her mouth.

“… Just then, how did you do that?”

“What do you mean how?”

She strangely neared her face and I pulled my neck back from the strange pressure.

“How did you sing… hmm… that sounds a bit strange. How did you practise until now? Is there a special method?”

“Practice?”

It was a strange question. I’ve never had the chance to properly practise with this body… but that wouldn’t be the answer she was looking for.

I looked back on my memories.

… In the first place, because I was admissioned into the school immediately after coming back in time I had no time to really practise. All I did was go through breathing exercises a bit inside the dorm, and even those were the basics of the basics where I just breathed in and out.

But I can’t reply, I did breathing exercises could I?

While I was hesitating on what to say, Lee Suh-ah made a frown.

“Alright. You did well. I just wanted to say that.”

“…Uh right. Thanks.”

After finishing her own words she turned her head back forward.

“…”

How abrupt.

Staring at the ponytail twitching behind her head I thought to myself.

‘… Did I somehow recover my image from the framed picture…’