Chapter 4.4 - Sorrowfully 4 (2/2)
When she clenched hard and glared at the stage, Chloe and Jo Yunjae stood on their positions.
In the midst of the spotlights.
After opening his closed eyes, Jo Yunjae was seen scanning through the audience, from the very left, to the very right. Gazing at the audience slowly as if he was counting the numbers, he made a bright smile – like he was about to go crazy from joy.
“…”
Hong Yoojin felt her eyebrows twitch.
She could not see any nervousness. Usually people standing on the stage for the first time would be wobbling like a jelly. Is he suited for stages? Her hand that was previously on top of the marking paper was moved away. Good, there was nothing to deduct in terms of the greeting.
But how was his singing?
After the greeting, a round of applause without a reason rang for a bit, before Chloe and Jo Yunjae looked at each other and nodded.
Slowly, the accompaniment started and Jo Yunjae opened his lips.
“Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön–…”
A whispering voice visited her ears. From the first sound, it slided down in a decrescendo, and then, a crescendo.
With eyes closed, it felt like someone was actually whispering in their ears. Jo Yunjae had resonated such a sound, and spread it throughout the hall.
Piano expression. Before that amazing dynamic, even Hong Yoojin was slightly impressed.
Starting off soft, was not an easy task. Especially for students that had not practised opera-like resonances for a long time, they struggled with soft expressions. It was because that was different to just screaming and was also different to just singing softly.
Resonance.
Utilising all the resonating chambers within the body and yet having to control the air pressure to soften up the sound.
This was the result.
It wasn’t just a soft sound that couldn’t even reach the first row, but a soft resonance that could fill the 300 seats of Future Hall.
Is that his take on expressing this love song properly?
Hong Yoojin gave a nod.
“Wie noch kein Auge je geseh’n…”
Of course, a soft sound was not everything to building emotions. The first sound was slightly tilted with the end sound being slightly higher and there was still a vibrato with a clean frequency.
His diction was good and pronunciation was clear. It was good to the point that it was hard to believe that he was a student.
The meaning behind each sentence was properly conveyed. Each word had a proper accent that it required, and separating the vowels and consonants, they respectively kept a constant resonance.
With this, one would reach legato, a level where they could sing like they were speaking. Hong Yoojin grinned and nodded her head.
‘This guy’s quite good.’
That thought was immediately broken by Jo Yunjae’s high note.
“Wie dies Gö-tterbild.”
A♭4 – Jo Yunjae was able to express that fairly high note without a single discomposure. Like he was just walking past, asking whether there was a difference to the low note that had been next to it. At a glance, it was so natural that he might even be just speaking.
A flawless passaggio.
Without even realising that her pen had dropped out, she was indulged in Jo Yunjae’s stage.
“Mein Her–”
One step at a time – the step-by-step foundations that Jo Yunjae had built up was relayed to the audience with a perfect expression. And now, that expression was able to touch the hearts of the audience.
– This feeling, what is this feeling filling my heart?
Jo Yunjae, who had constantly whispered that eagerly, slowly brightened up his expression. As if he found out what that feeling was, he wore a bright smile and finally rang in a loud voice.
“Ja ja! die Liebe ist’s allein!”
[Right! This must be love!]
A rich resonance trembled her heart.
Ha, letting out a sigh, she stared at Jo Yunjae.
Isn’t this too sly
Constantly whispering in a small voice to tickle the heart and changing to a loud sound – he had demonstrated such a basic strategy perfectly. Reaching out his hands on to the audience with a bright smile, Jo Yunjae slowly made a dreamy expression.
“O, wenn ich sie nur finden könnte!”
[Oh if only I could find her!]
His expression slowly crumbled. The piano accompaniment quickened adding to the thumping resonance and mixing into that sound, he let out his song.
Sorrowfully.
“O, wenn sie doch schon vor mir stände!”
[Oh, if she could stand before me!]
The pitiful timbre drawing something filled the concert hall. His expression that glanced across the audience relaxed once again and along with that, the tension that had filled the audience had been slightly reduced.
“Ich würde, würde, warm unn rein…”
[I would be warm and pure…]
Appreciating those casual changes in expression, Hong Yoojin glanced down at the marking paper. A white paper without a single deduction could be seen.
Hong Yoojin gave a smile.
Teacher Kwak Jungsoo is too much.
How am I supposed to do anything to this?
After tapping her hand on the chair in thought, she just decided to lean back on the chair and appreciate the song. She could see Jo Yunjae spread his arms wide spewing out the last sound.
“…sie dann mein–!”
When the performance ended,
Loud applause filled the hall.
Clapping with a smile, Hong Yoojin randomly scribbled on the marking paper and got rid of it. With that level, there was nothing to point out at a high school level. It wasn’t even a concour after all.
As she gave a nod, teacher Ku Mingi’s voice entered her ears.
“How was it”
“…He’s good but…”
When she flicked her head across, the two men were still in their conversation. She could see the bitter-faced Kim Munchul heave a deep sigh.
“But with that talent isn’t it better to just conduct? No matter how good the ears are, it’s not very useful for singing either…”
Now what was this about? WIth curious eyes she glanced at the two and pointed her ears. After a small smile, Ku Mingi opened his mouth.
“Teacher Kim Munchul. Do you know how opera singers practise?”
“Sorry?”
After tapping on the table, he continued.
“They listen to their own singing, or have others listen to it, to improve the places where they lack or are weird.”
“…”
“But if they could listen better than others, then wouldn’t they be able to sing better in the end?”
As she glanced at the two teachers, Hong Yoojin tilted her head with an expression that said, what was this all about.
Kim Munchul’s reaction was a bit strange. After being unable to continue for a bit, he answered in a bitter voice.
“… I know what you mean but… look. His body’s so weak right now, how good of a song will he be able to sing?”
Ku Mingi gave a smile.
“He can still grow. He’s only in his first grade of high school.”
“Huh, that’s pretty much past the growing stage…”
Staring at Jo Yunjae leaving the stage in a distance, Kim Munchul opened his mouth.
“But… if he grows further… then I don’t know, how it would be.”
Hong Yoojin who was glancing at the two men whispering, shrugged her shoulders and leaned back onto her chair.
What are they even talking about