Chapter 11.11 - Act 11: Slowly 11 (1/2)
Act 11: Slowly 11
Taking a deep breath in, I slowly racked my brain.
Number.
Numbers which referred to the songs being sung in musicals was naturally slightly different from normal songs. Being a song used inside a play, it had to be fundamentally focused on storytelling. In other words, the delivery of lyrics which revealed the emotions and stories of the characters was treated exceptionally importantly.
Due to that, there was a bit of difference compared to pop songs which could be sung however one pleased with their own timbre, as long as it sounded nice to the ears.
‘A story’
That alone changed the vocalisation method required in pop songs and musicals.
‘And opera is the same thing without mics.’
As such, what I had to do now was very simple.
It was to share my story, ever so accurately and clearly.
“Huu…”
Letting out a deep breath, I slowly began building up a mountain of air inside my stomach.
In fact, I was already used to these things.
After entering a university, singing opera arias would be a common event and opera, just like musicals definitely contained songs which focused on conveying stories.
A clear delivery of lyrics was a common aspect.
‘In other words, it’s an issue I have already pondered about.’
Making a smile inwardly, I gently formed space inside my mouth.
Delivery of lyrics – pronunciation.
Singing with a good pronunciation did not require anything special. There was no need to overuse the muscles inside the mouth, nor was there a need to use large amounts of breath. It was the same as how announcers, who placed a lot of importance on pronunciation, did not open their mouths wide.
The only requirement was to be faithful to the basics.
As long as you could keep enough space for the air to enter and come out after running around in a circle inside your mouth, a good song would be a natural result.
“On the side of a mirror-like river–“
Letting out the breath as is, I sang the first verse.
The mouth moved precisely to form consonants, while the neck brought forth vowels from the bottom. After meeting each other, the vowel and the consonant formed a sound before becoming a word, and echoing inside the club room as a song.
“…”
Meeting eyes with Lee Suh-ah, who was fully engrossed in observing me, I slightly raised the corner of my lips.
Should I give a little bit of a twist here?
In order to sing in an opera style, it was fine to continue singing like this. Everything just had to be like a circle, flowing beautifully.
However, to add a slightly more modernish colour to it, it was important to add a tiny point to it.
Even if that resulted in the resonating space slightly faltering and even if it were outside the general view on beauty, a point that was created after slightly biting on the pronunciation could add a different taste to it, like the kick of a soft drink.
“An unreachable–“
Highlight.
Hearing the sudden emergence of a pointy sound, I could see the club members twitching their bodies.
‘Interesting.’
Enjoying the reactions of the audience, I continued the song with a smile.
The story of a dog that fell for a goldfish appearing beneath the water level. The serious, yet foolishly enjoyable story.
“…”
By the time I came to myself, the song had already ended. Quickly regaining my focus, I made a foolish smile just like what the script desired, before stepping away to the side.
Then, I gave a bow.
“Ohh~”
As the small gasps of admiration and sounds of applause entered my ears, I turned towards teacher Hong Yoojin with a beating heart.
Let’s see.
I don’t think it was that bad, but I wasn’t sure if teacher Hong Yoojin would give a positive evaluation, as a musical major.
“…”
While scanning me from top to bottom, she suddenly formed a frown.
‘…What’s happening.’
With a dubious heart, I pulled my neck down and stole glances at the teacher when she slammed the table down with her hand and opened her mouth.
“You shouldn’t sing like that.”
“Sorry?”
She stared at me, who became stiff, and crossed her arms. After looking at me with a cold gaze for quite some time, she suddenly broke out into a grin as if she couldn’t endure it.
“…that was what I was planning to say to teach the kids what shouldn’t be done, but you ruined my plan.”
“Uh…?”
Blinking my eyes, I soon understood what was happening.
Ah, seriously, she scared me there for a second.
An empty laugh escaped through my lips as soon as the tension left. With her eyes facing me, she naturally asked a question.
“Hey, but you were really good. There seriously wasn’t anything to point out. Have you learnt musicals before?”
“…No, I haven’t.”
“Is that so…?”
Facing her eyes which glared at me in order to tell the authenticity behind my words, I felt something prick at my conscience.
But it’s not like I can tell her the truth and say that I had done it a few times during university, right?
Taking her eyes off of me, the teacher waved her hand.
“Good. I was planning to carry out a lesson while pointing out the bad parts of our awesome protagonist but since that plan was soiled, I’ll point out the good parts instead.”
Standing up from her seat, she placed her hand on my shoulder.
“First of all, his pronunciation was good.”
As expected, the pronunciation was the first thing that was covered.
While I was nodding to myself, she continued her explanation.
“When singing, there are times when the pronunciation crumbles. No matter what, since the resonance is a lot stronger than when you’re speaking normally, it echoes a lot and isn’t clear to the ears.”
She then said, “Hello–“ normally, before repeating it again in a singing style.
“Just like that, even if it’s the same word, it is harder to listen when you’re singing. That’s why you need to focus a bit more on pronunciation in musicals.”
“Okay~”
Hearing the loud response from the crowd, she turned her head back to me in satisfaction.
“Also, the gestures were good.”
Gestures?
While I was tilting my head and thinking to myself, ‘What did I do again?’ the teacher gave a smile.
“You guys will probably be performing at the grand hall. You guys have all been there, right?”
“Yes.”