Chapter 11.13 - Act 11: Slowly 13 (1/2)

Act 11: Slowly 13

Before teaching new students, it was necessary to check their skill level.

“Then should we start singing one by one?”

“Nn?”

When I opened my mouth while glancing at the three students, discomposure appeared on their faces.

‘Good reactions.’

I shrugged my shoulders at Chloe who had her eyes wide open like a rabbit, and glanced at the three students – Yun Soojin-sunbae, Chloe and the Dancing Department girl. I had never heard these three sing before.

Well, I guess there was the time with Chloe when we went karaoke together, but all she did was scream the chorus part without singing properly. It was impossible to tell her skill level from that.

There were zero clues about their actual level and without such information, a proper training would never be possible.

Slowly thinking back on the usual vocalisation habits of the three, I touched my chin in thought and opened my mouth.

“Before teaching you how to sing, we will see what the current situation is looking like. Just like when preparing for a test.”

“Nn…”

The test result of the three who replied in nervousness – it had become clear that they all had the average skill level of normal people.

…In other words, they weren’t good singers.

“How was itt?”

Seeing Chloe facing me with faint anticipation, I returned a forced smile and thought back on the three’s current situation.

First off was Chloe.

It was good that she was singing with confidence, but her sound was too flat. ‘Flat’ in other words was that there was no such thing as resonance in her singing, and to put it in easier terms, it meant that her song was like a nursery rhyme.

‘Somehow it does kind of suit her but…’

The feeling it gave off reminded me of a nursery rhyme being sung by tiny children at a kindergarten. Her chirping sound was similar to a baby chicken and was cute, but it wasn’t the kind of song I was looking for.

“If you sing like that in a musical, it’s a bit… yeah.”

“…”

Turning away from Chloe, who dispiritedly lowered her gaze, I looked to the side.

“What about me?”

There, I found Yun Soojin-sunbae with sparkling eyes of expectancy.

Yun Soojin-sunbae huh…

Caressing my chin, I gave a bitter smile.

Sunbae was also one of the common types. There was a lot of breath inside her voice and she couldn’t digest each verse properly.

Her sound seemed to be leaking somewhere and lacked resonance.

It was a typical case of a poor vocal cord contact.

The gentle feeling it gave off was good but with this, singing would be bad for her throat and it wasn’t even the time to be considering a full completion of a song.

“Sunbae should diligently practise your vocalisation.”

“…”

Ship Yun Soojin sunk!

Finally, the same-grade student from the Dancing Department who had become the final person in line, took a few steps back.

“…Me too?”

“Hmm… well.”

She had too strong of a nasal sound and her imperfect pronunciation was an issue.

The three disciples had all sorts of problems gathered up.

“…”

After hearing their own strange sounds that escaped their mouths from a recording, the three of them seemed to have realised their current states. Sitting still, they threw glances at me and it was apparent that they had lost confidence.

Staring at them, I scratched my hair.

‘But this is normal.’

Who in the world would be able to sing well from their birth, and be a good drawer from birth?

…Well maybe those people called geniuses might be different but for normal untrained people, it was natural for them to be at this level. Besides, these three had entered the performing art school after a fierce competitive test, so they probably had no time to spare for singing.

The teacher probably wasn’t expecting much either when she allocated them to me.

‘It would have been to just teach them the basics.’

But since we were going to sing, it would be better to be a good singer right?

Making a smile inwardly, I carried my feet and stood in front of the three and could see the depressed Chloe.

After organising my thoughts for a bit, I opened my mouth.

“Firstly, thank you for your songs.”

“…”

Their expressions turned even darker. They were gradually losing more confidence, which was the most important element of singing.

While observing them, I indifferently opened my mouth.

“In conclusion it’s like this. Chloe’s sound is too flat and the pronunciation is a little unclear. This is the same for everyone, and sunbae’s vocal cords aren’t vibrating the way they should.”

“…”

The disciples remained silent.

“Well there are some other problems apart from those, but the main thing that catches my attention is that. There’s quite a bit of diversity in the problems.”

Just like the diverse timbres of voices, they all contained their problems. They were the typical type of disciples who had an accumulation of all sorts of bad aspects of people who had never learnt singing before.

Right – typical.

‘I’ve taught over dozens of such people.’

Staring at the three of them, I made a smile.

“While listening to the three of you sing, there is one thing in common which I’ve found.”

“One thing?”

It was now time to give hope to the students who had lost their confidence.

As they made clueless expressions, I stared at them and raised my finger up. Soon, the slowly raised fingertip pointed at my lips.

“It’s the ‘mouth’.”

Mouth.

Though it may be quite obvious, the mouth was one of the crucial organs when singing. It was the exit which air left through at the very end, and if singing was likened to a manufactured good, the mouth would be a place that wrapped the product.

It would add the finishing touches to the song and decorate it. The mouth was in other words, an organ that took care of the final steps.

And since a human body was all intra-connected, a good control of mouth would have other organs be in a good state as well.

“But when I saw your mouths, I thought I was looking at a chicken popcorn.”

Judging from how Yun Soojin-sunbae almost broke out into laughter, it seemed to have been funny.

But for real, it resembled a chicken popcorn.

They pursed up their lips like a carp. How would you ever sing with a mouth that tiny?

The normal people I saw during lessons had over 80% chance of opening their mouth small like that.

Crossing my arms, I watched the three of them smile and opened my mouth.

“Have you seen Pavarotti sing before, by any chance?”