Chapter 10.9 - Act 10: D.C. 9 (1/2)

Flashing my eyes open, I turned towards Han Dasom who had been standing still.

“Should we first sing something random and practise singing together?”

“Nn.”

I quickly picked a list of songs that could help us practise. It had to help us match our voices together while also showing her the timbre I thought of, and plus, Han Dasom had to know it as well.

Blinking my eyes, I thought of a decent song.

“You know Time To Say Goodbye right?”

“Un! I’ve sang it a few times…”

Since it was a famous crossover song, I thought it was highly likely that she knew about it. Nodding my head in satisfaction, I started playing the piano accompaniment albeit clumsily.

“First off, just sing however you want. Let’s edit it as we go.”

“Okay.”

Slowly playing the piano, I closed my eyes and thought.

Chorus.

Unlike trios and quartets in which a small number of people had allocated parts for themselves, it would be a song sung by a large number of people. Besides, the Subscription Concert will be in the form of orchestral music with lots of instruments and thus the density of sound would be greatly higher.

Dozens or at least hundreds of performers would all be producing sound. Countless instruments and an ensemble of forty would be spread behind us.

At the front of all that were the four main vocals and their voices had to break through a sound made by a hundred musicians.

“Quando sono solo sogno…”

As Han Dasom began her song, I quietly closed my eyes. Her soft voice and the whispering timbre spread across and formed a beautiful song, pleasant to the ears.

‘But it’s not suited for our goal.’

Listening to her song that seemed to tickle my ears, I quickly analysed it. I liked how she put a lot of breath in and expressed her emotions. She also remained faithful to the basics and showed off her skills.

However, it was too soft.

Due to mixing more breath in, more breath seeped out and there wasn’t enough resonance as a result. It was good that she emphasised the words by enunciating them sharply but because of that, it became harder for it to reach further.

Although it was overall good, there was no way it could ever break through the sound made by a hundred, and at this rate, her sound would be buried by the accompaniment and the chorus without reaching the audience.

It would be a different story if she had a microphone but…

‘Wait, a mic…?’

Due to the sudden flash of thought that hit my head, I halted but soon shook my head.

There’s no way they would give us a mic right? It was after all, a Subscription Concert of Future Arts High, and with the goal being a display of the students’ skills, we would be required to sing with our bare throats.

Breaking through the sound made by a hundred with sheer volume would be the best way to highlight the students’ skills.

Thinking that, I immediately sang my part.

“Quando sei lontana sogno…”

Gathering the breath I sucked in, I compressed it and calculated inside my head. Breaking down the lyrics into bits, the end results were ten pieces, which meant what I had to do now was simple.

I just had to cut the breath that filled my stomach into ten exactly the same pieces before letting them out. It had to be done without wasting a single bit of breath so that I could make the biggest sound I could ever make.

“Time to–”

Then, I had to have the sound explode.

In the blink of an eye, I let the air speed through all the resonating chambers inside the body – the body itself, mouth, nose and the head.

I used each and every empty space and like beating a drum, I felt the handful of breath getting larger as it passed through each resonating chamber. And finally, when the sound escaped through the lips after going around the mouth once, it was large enough to fill the entire practice room.

“Veduto e vissuto con te–!”

My body twitched and vibrated, as the dense mass of sound embraced my body. Due to the pressure given off by my sound, I felt the strings of the piano resonating and twitching by itself.

I guess it was safe to say that I had recovered most of my skills from before the time travel.

“…”

Organising my thoughts, I sang before tilting my head.

It was a duet part; why couldn’t I hear Han Dasom’s voice?

When I turned around in curiosity, I found Han Dasom staring with widened eyes, standing at a place slightly further away. She seemed startled, judging from her shrunk appearance.

“What are you doing? We need to sing together.”

“…Ah.”

Coming to herself, Han Dasom opened her lips with a stutter.

“Sorry… I was surprised… You can make your voice that loud..?”

“It has to be at least this much to pierce through the accompaniment. I’m sure you can do it as well after some practice.”

“Me…?”

Seeing the dumbfounded look on her face, I smiled. Well, Han Dasom’s singing style was quite far from a loud, grande style, but since that could be solved more or less by practising, it was okay.

Nodding my head, I stood up and turned my body towards her.

“Firstly, you did well just then.”

“Thank…”

“You did well, but you already know there’s one problem right?”

I shook my head when I saw Han Dasom thinking with her lips closed.

“It’s too soft. If the accompaniment is played by one person, or if you’re singing with three others, like how we had always been doing, that’s okay. As long as the audience can hear it, it is a good song but this time, we will be performing with a hundred other performers.”

Interlocking my fingers, I met my eyes with hers.

“If we sing like you, can the audience hear it?”

“…”

How could a sound unheard be anything close to music? After carefully listening to my words, Han Dasom formed a serious look on her face.

“They won’t.”

“Right, that’s why I sang like I swallowed a burning charcoal just then.”

With a smile, I walked around the practice room and continued giving an explanation.

“So, we know we have to sing loud but how? Do our bodies have to be large? But I sang loud just then despite being small.”

“Yeah…”

Seeing her fall in deep thought, I smiled.