Chapter 11.11 - Act 11: Slowly 11 (2/2)

“How big was it?”

Faced with the sudden question, Yun Soojin-sunbae forced out an answer.

“Very…?”

“Very big, right. It’s probably more than a hundred metres or so from the stage to the very back of the audience seats and…”

Crossing her arms, she continued her sentence.

“Would they be able to see minute changes to the facial expression from a hundred metres away?”

“…”

The club members widened their eyes as if they came to an understanding.

“Will detailed movements of your fingers enter their eyes when they’re a hundred metres away? No, it won’t. That would be impossible. So, you guys have to make bigger movements so that they can see it from a faraway distance, and both the body gestures and facial expressions must be diligently expressed. In that sense, Yunjae did a great job. The excitement on his face was very obvious which was good.”

“Ah, yes…”

…But I was just smiling because their reactions were funny…

In faint embarrassment, I scratched my hair when the teacher started another point while raising her third finger.

“And finally, acting.”

With her crossed arms, the teacher tapped her arms a little and opened her mouth.

“Since musicals are, in the end, plays, acting is also required. Obviously it is necessary during your lines, but it’s the same during songs.”

Acting, huh…

It was an area which I slightly lacked confidence in.

Due to singing in ensembles and soloing normal songs for a long time, I forgot everything about how to act. It was fortunate that the number just then didn’t need any acting but…

“Actually, it’s difficult to explain what exactly you need to do to get better at acting. Regardless of what I say, the only solution is in fact practice and talent.”

Stopping there, she raised a finger up to the sky.

“So, I’ll at least teach you guys on how to practise it.”

I could see the club members drawing their chairs in and leaning their upper bodies forward.

“Perhaps it’s just me because I’m an opera singer myself, but there’s a feeling I get every time I receive a script. This thing, is actually very similar to music sheets.”

Opening the script that had been left on top of the table, she pointed at some of the letters.

“Look here. There are lines here and there are directions inside the brackets, right? Things like, ‘With an upset expression’. Aren’t these the same as musical symbols placed on music sheets? Slowly, passionately, and things like that.”

“…”

It was a great differentiated teaching method, based on the fact that there were many opera students present. While I was nodding to myself, the teacher continued her explanation.

“But when we sing, we don’t only rely on the music sheets. We look up how others have approached the song, how the song came to be and the time of its creation… After looking into the background information of the songs, we try to analyse the intention of the composer.”

Turning her head around, she stared at us.

“Then we should do the same for acting, right? Why would this character say something like this? What situation are they in? There’s a need to empathise with those sorts of details and otherwise, there’s no way you end up with a decent acting.”

Empathising, and emotions.

Hearing those words, Lee Suh-ah and I looked at each other.

‘It’s similar.’

Embedding emotions into songs.

And acting.

Finding a common aspect out of those somewhat different areas, I caressed my chin and entered deep thought.

‘Is this why Sir Dickson told me to try musicals?’

While I was immersed in my own thoughts, teacher Hong Yoojin’s distant voice entered my ears.

“Now, you understood all that, yes? Pronunciation, gesture and acting. Don’t forget those and good luck practising them. Great job today!”

“Thank you, Miss~”

*

Due to preparing for both the club activity and the Subscription Concert, several days quickly flew past busily.

And even the lesson with teacher Ku Mingi, which was held once a week, went by fast.

“That just then was slightly sharp, right? ‘Amiss—’, can you try that one more time?”

“Amiss–“

“Good. Well done.”

After the practice came to an end, I was putting the music sheets back into my bag, when teacher Ku Mingi suddenly opened his mouth, while sitting down on the piano seat with his eyes on me.

“You seem quite busy these days.”

With a flinch, my hands that had been packing the bag up came to a stop, as I entered a deep contemplation.

Why. What’s the intention behind that question?

Since he was, after all my lesson teacher, even casual words like that resulted in me thinking, ‘Did I do something wrong…’ before anything.

I was racking my brain when the teacher continued his words after a dry cough.

“I heard you joined a society?”

“Ah, right. The society.”

Maybe he was asking just because I seemed busy.

Letting out a sigh of relief, I explained.

“That… I joined a society that does musicals. Since we decided to carry out a performance in this year’s festival, I’m a little busy practising it… but that doesn’t mean I’m slacking off with the prac test practices.”

“…”

Seeing me laying out excuses for no reason, he touched his chin.

“Musicals huh… Are you interested in musicals?”

“Rather than saying that I’m interested… I just wanted to learn about a new field of study.”

“Hmm…”

He observed me for a long time before slowly raising himself up from his seat.

“Studying new things is good, but please continue studying about opera as well.”

“…Yes.”

Throwing glances at the teacher, I thought with a heavy heart. It seemed that teacher Ku Mingi wasn’t very fond of musicals.

Well, that was possible too.

Amongst some old fashioned teachers, there were those that considered opera to be the best and since that was a result of a difference in perspective, there was nothing I could say regarding that.

I carried my bag behind my back and was about to bid him farewell, when the teacher abruptly opened his mouth.

“Oh right, can you hand this over to teacher Kwak Jungsoo?”

“Sorry?”

Receiving a document wallet, I stared at him with curiosity but when our eyes met, he merely returned a smile before letting go of the documents.

“It should be okay to give them to him when you’re going for your club activities.”

“Yes… Goodbye, then.”

Unconsciously receiving the files, I bid him farewell. And while staring at his distancing back, my body came to a stop from a sudden thought that popped up in my head.

“Wait, I thought he didn’t know which society I joined though…?”