Chapter 8.12 - Act 8: Lively 12 (2/2)
Realising that, I observed him with slight tension.
External examiners.
In fact, I already knew what kind of songs were preferred by the school teachers whom I knew the faces of. Teacher Ku Mingi liked Donizetti and Rossini – more Bel canto while teacher Kwak Jungsoo liked newer songs around the 20th century.
Since I already roughly knew their music preferences and the expressions they liked, it was easy to satisfy them but there was no information on examiners from outside so it was quite rough.
To be honest, my mark could be low just because they didn’t like the song I picked.
“Please begin.”
I was in the midst of contemplation when the song began. I could hear the accompaniment of the piano roaring from the side like it was in a rush.
Elf King by Schubert.
Erlkönig
Elf King was in fact not that difficult technique-wise and it didn’t require crazy speed or insane high notes like La Danza.
However, it was difficult.
A child trembling in fear seeing the illusion of an elf king.
The father hurrying the carriage forward while seeing that child.
The Elf King viciously bewitching the child.
And the narrator explaining all that.
I had to quickly change between these four roles so it was difficult to express explicitly and in fact, if I tried to sing this when I was a student, I would’ve completely failed it.
However, now it was possible.
Quickly, I stabilised my expression and gently opened my mouth.
“Wer reitet so spät durch Nacht und Wind?”
[Who’s riding so late where winds blow wild?]
The narrator.
He was a person telling the story. Because of that, I had to express it in a calm voice that could still sometimes try to surprise the listeners.
Here, I sang heavily with teacher Kwak Jungsoo’s vocalisation method. The body which had been trained through long days of practice could now digest teacher Kwak Jungsoo’s vocalisation without difficulty.
“Mein Sohn, was birgst du so bang dein Gesicht?”
[My son, why cover your face in such fear?]
The father.
How would I express a father that had felt something strange from his son? He had to be slightly strict but within, there had to be a worried heart.
Unlike the narrator watching from afar, I had to embed lively emotions and describe so that the listeners can tell them apart as two different people.
Singing up to here, I prepared the next part in nervousness.
“Siehst, Vater, du den Erlkönig nicht?”
[You see the elf-king, father?]
The son.
To accurately describe the frightened son, I required a new vocalisation – teacher Ku Mingi’s vocalisation that was lighter and freer than its counterpart.
Reading through the music sheet, I quickly calculated inside my head.
The time frame between the father and the son’s dialogue – within that space that didn’t even amount to three seconds, I had to become a totally different person.
From an old father in his 40s, to a youth in his teens.
It was actually not as hard as I thought because in fact, I was at an age nearing 40 and yet at the same time, I was a teenage boy.
With such thoughts, I started changing the vocalisation.
The heavily sunk throat was relaxed and onto that total control over everything, I granted freedom. The rigid sound had an addition of gentleness.
Two polar vocalisation methods.
After successfully changing to teacher Ku Mingi’s vocalisation, I rapidly soared up the notes.
Good. It was a success.
Inwardly, I smiled before quickly continuing with the song.
“Du liebes Kind, komm, geh mit mir!”
[Sweet lad, o come and join me, do!]
After succeeding in three roles, the Elf King wasn’t that difficult. Inside teacher Ku Mingi’s vocalisation, I added slightly more spookiness and with that sneaky, high voice, I sang.
The Elf King, the son and the father.
I faithfully acted out the three roles despite the rapid changes.
Before long, the time frames between dialogues shortened as the song quickened. The son screamed as the Elf King tempted him with greed. The father hurried the horses in fear as the piano rushed forward like crazy.
In the midst of all that, I accurately expressed every single note.
Like I had practised.
“In seinen Armen das Kind war tot.”
[The child he held in his arms was dead]
I intentionally let out the last line solemnly as the piano welcomed me with a loud stop.
It was the end.
“…”
Slowly I opened my eyes that had been closed and stared forward to see the examiners at the front sitting in a row.
‘Ah, was it good? Was it okay? I don’t think I made any mistakes though.’
Restlessly I glanced at the faces of the teachers but their expressions were a bit hard to read.
At a glance, they seemed to be frowning with a strange expression and yet at the same time, they appeared to be smiling with a baffled expression. They gave off the feeling that they were smirking but it appeared like they were nodding in appreciation as well.
Seriously, what was going on? Although they wouldn’t clap since it was a prac test, the reactions were weird.
“Thank you for the song.”
When I raised my head up in a flash, I saw the external examiner staring at me from the front with a deeply pondering expression.
Suddenly I felt something heavy suffocating my heart.
What’s happening…?
The old man, who had fallen into deep contemplation with his head raised, once again met his eyes with mine.
“Since it’s a test, we need to go straight to the next song but… is it okay for me to ask one thing?”
“…Yes.”
Resting his chin on his hand, he observed me before forming a frown.
“Mhmm… you appear like a first grade student no matter how I see it… you are a freshman student right?”
“Huh? Ah yes…”
“Then why so experienced?”
“…Sorry?”
I was trying to follow the conversation when the old man started conversing with the teacher sitting next to him.
“I mean, I try not to do this in the middle of tests but this is weird. Are you sure he’s not repeating school?”
“Haha, no. He is exactly 17.”
“Haa~ I guess he does look very young but, iya… how do you sing this while changing the vocalisation method like that? He did change it in the middle right?”
“I think so too. It was my first time seeing it as well but he seemed to have been working on it to use it here haha.”
Watching them speak, I could finally start understanding the situation.
So… it was good right? They liked it yeah? Enough to give compliments during the test?
My lips were in the middle of raising themselves up when the old man returned his gaze back to me after a nod.
“Ah, sorry for taking too much of the time. Shall we go over to the next song immediately then?”
“Yes!”
I replied vigorously before posturing myself straight again.
Good, the first song seemed to be a success so let’s just do the second one well. If I do…
Flickering my eyes, I felt the flow of a familiar accompaniment that marked the beginning of the next song.