Chapter 8.3 - Lively 3 (1/2)

Cantabile.

If translated, it meant something along the lines of ‘as if singing’. If this was written on the music sheet, it was like a request from the composer to perform this song ‘as if singing’.

It was strange wasn’t it? What did it mean to perform ‘as if singing’?

The things Chloe was pressing were the keys of the piano, so how could she sing with a piano? However, even if it didn’t make sense, we still had to do it.

Perform as if singing.

To become a top pianist… or rather a top musician of any instrument, it was a problem that had to be overcome.

I stood blankly from the enlightenment that struck me like a bolt of lightning and only woke up when Chloe spoke with a questioning expression.

“Cantabile?”

“Yeah. As if singing – the thing we were talking about before. I thought there was something lacking in the piano, and I think that was the problem.”

“Uuun…?”

Seeing Chloe tilt her head, I felt my heartbeat quickening up. Right, a month ago, I didn’t know what it meant when we were looking into it together but it just suddenly hit me.

Didn’t I say it myself that piano was another part of the chorus? After thinking of it in that way, all my thoughts connected like there was a string going through a mix of marbles.

Singing with a piano.

I quickly sat next to Chloe and opened my mouth.

“They’re telling you to sing with a piano but opera students like me can just sing normally right? I was thinking about what the difference was and compared them.”

I reached out with my awkward hands and played a few notes. The piano let out a few dinging sounds.

There, I added ‘nice-to-meet-you’ as the lyrics and gently voiced the notes while playing the piano.

“Like this, for a melody, in opera, we add words to every single note. That’s why a note is a word, and groups of those words become sentences.”

When I naturally let out a breath, it flowed out like water and a song with the lyrics ‘nice to meet you’ escaped my lips.

“And like this, we sing in sentences. Likewise, the piano has to be played in sentences, by like, grouping notes into phrases. Those sentences add up to form songs and the legato to connect those phrases is important in the piano as well right?”

“Ohh…”

I grinned slightly after seeing Chloe opening her mouth in admiration and slowly pressed on the keys.

“Now then, Legato – how would we gently transition the notes? I thought about it and… normally when we say ‘notes transitioning to other notes gently’, we are not talking about rapid changes in the notes right? Like how it sounds off to sing loud and suddenly go soft, the magnitude of notes should be connecting softly like riding a gentle wave right?”

While explaining, I touched the keys lightly in a crescendo.

Soft and then strong.

The sound that was gradually getting louder did not stop and gently reached up high. During that, my shoulders slightly touched Chloe’s and the warmth of her skin was relayed over.

“And now, this is why it’s hard to sing with a piano but… a piano is a keyboard instrument right?”

“Yes.”

“That’s why, the moment we press a key, we cannot change the notes ourselves. Even if we smash it down as hard as we could, it comes out loud before slowly getting softer.”

“Ah!”

Ding–

Listening to the gradually softening sound of the piano, I grinned.

“Just like that. That’s why it was hard to gently connect the phrases. This is the difference between opera and piano, because in opera, we can just manipulate our breaths to finely control the magnitude of the notes. So what should we do to sing with a piano…?”

Slurring the end of my sentence, I stopped and thought. Sing with a piano?

…So how do we do that?

“Hmm…”

I don’t know.

Blinking my eyes, I thought and felt like I had a brain-freeze.

So… it was good that I found out what the problem was after getting enlightenment from the keyword, ‘chorus’.

However, I had no idea what the solution was. I haven’t even officially learned a piano yet, and although I did learn one or two things over the shoulder, it wasn’t anything special.

I could only play around a few chords and compared to Chloe, it was like a citizen and a Queen.

I quickly racked my brain. What should I say…? If I said I don’t know~, after pretending to be a know-it-all…

Glancing at Song Mirae, Yu Minji and Chloe who were staring intently at me, I stiffened but suddenly, Chloe who had been blankly sitting next to me brightened her eyes and became lively again.

Her expression of doubt was soon filled with life and joy entered her large green eyes. From within that change resembling the blooming of a flower, she formed a smile under the fluttering blonde hair.

“Like thiss!”

When I faced a curious gaze at her, Chloe rapidly turned towards the piano then postured herself seriously before closing her eyes.

Then, her hands fell.

“…”

The sorrowful sound of the piano flowed out. Like a wave, it endlessly repeated a gradual increase and decrease in sound and at the same time, it was filled with fast jumps and appeared difficult.

In fact, it was a difficult song. It was that same song which even Chloe couldn’t play perfectly before.

But not anymore.

The fingers dancing rapidly above the keys was satisfying to watch as the mindful presses of the pedals were dynamic.

Like that, the sound flowed out of the piano.

That sound definitely dug into my eardrums, gently without holding back. It felt like the piano was whispering, asking if this was right; is this how you do it; and is this the correct way –

To perform as if singing

“…Great.”

A smile appeared unknowingly.

Great – it was a lot better than before. If this was the previous Chloe, it would’ve just ended with an evaluation that it was good, but now the sound was digging itself straight into the listeners’ ears.

Besides, it wasn’t just me as I could see Song Mirae and Yu Minji sitting off in the distance making startled expressions.

Perhaps, that was the same expression as my own.

Silently, I closed my eyes and focused on listening to the performance.

I could hear Chloe’s voice inside the piano. With her unique voice, she revealed her jumpy charm and sang.

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that she had perfectly expressed ‘Cantabile’. Compared to the previous rigid piano, it was an achievement unthinkable for a high schooler.

To think she could change this much from just one word of mine… Feeling proud of her, I stared at her as the performance came to an end.

“Genius…”

Perhaps she heard my words but Chloe flicked her head towards me and our eyes met.

Her face that had been in full concentration was seen relaxing realtime. She had an appearance resembling an ice cream melting before a warm wind.

How should I describe her face? I guess if the word ‘thanks’ could be expressed with the face, it would be just like her current expression. Chloe who had been staring at me with that strange expression whispered quietly.

[Yunjae… Thank you.]

[…I didn’t do anything…]