Please, come home and practice the piano

Chapter 1295, Section 512: A Mysterious Musical Instrument Makes its Appearance? Come on, my friends!

This is the missing chapter 512!
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There are three days left until the choir competition.

Early in the morning, the two little girls ate breakfast and then rode their bikes to school.

It was unusually hot and humid today, and the sky was overcast, as if it might rain heavily at any moment.

However, the two of them did not bring raincoats before setting off, and by the time they realized it, they were already halfway there.

The weather forecast says there will be thunderstorms at 3 PM!

Tang Xiaoxing, who was sitting in the back row, checked the weather. As she was talking, she felt raindrops falling on her legs.

The little car thought to itself, "Oh no! Hold on tight and stop looking at your phone!"

With the accelerator floored, the second child luckily arrived at school before the heavy rain began.

The car ran into the auditorium and immediately called the teacher back to say that she and Xiaoxing hadn't gotten wet and that the teacher shouldn't worry.

Most of the students were relatively lucky, only Fang Zheng was a bit unlucky.

When he entered the auditorium, half of his body was soaked.

Good morning, kids!

"Hello, Teacher Fang!!"

Seeing this, Teacher Wu knew he couldn't let Teacher Fangzheng rehearse with his upper body soaked.

They immediately took Fang Zheng to find him a dry set of clothes to change into.

"Che Lin, you lead everyone to say hello, we'll be back in a bit."

On stage, the little car whispered something in Tang Xiaoxing's ear, and then chased after the two teachers amidst everyone's puzzled looks.

As they passed the substitute players' rest area, Xiao Guan handed him an umbrella, saying, "Be careful."

"Thanks!" Xiao Che snatched it away. "Everyone, get practicing your voices! Today's task is very important!"

Immediately afterwards, Tang Xiaoxing's voice rang out from the stage, "Begin!"
-
The car sped out of the auditorium and caught up with the two teachers.

Ms. Wu thought the car had come to deliver an umbrella, so she quickly let the car in, saying, "We have an umbrella, hurry inside, it's cold outside."

Xiao Che smiled and opened his umbrella to follow the two: "Teacher Wu, I didn't come out to give you an umbrella. I saw you had an umbrella and I would like to borrow a musical instrument from you."

Borrowing musical instruments?
Fang Zheng keenly noticed something: "What musical instrument?"

Little car: "Melodica!"

Teacher Wu: "A harmonica?"

Xiao Che: "Oh! I remember there's one in the music room. Can I borrow it for a bit? The one I ordered online hasn't arrived yet."

When Ms. Wu heard this, she thought it was something serious and laughed, saying that there were several new ones at school. "Just pick a new one and take it with you. When you get back, return the one you bought online. There's no need to spend the money."

Xiao Che chuckled: "Thank you, Teacher Wu. The school's harmonica might have a slightly narrow range."

Teacher Wu immediately understood and laughed, "Then I can't help you. You can take one home and play with it later. Why are you suddenly interested in the harmonica?"

Xiao Che paused for a moment: "Xiao Xing and I plan to add a harmonica to the accompaniment."

Teacher Wu asked doubtfully, "Oh? That's a good idea."

Fang Zheng's lips curled up involuntarily; he knew it: "You're bragging."

Xiao Che: "Okay, Teacher Fang, you have to keep this a secret!"

Fang Zheng instantly revealed a wicked smile: "I know."

The next second, "Achoo!!"

Seeing this, Teacher Wu quickened his pace. He told Xiao Che to go to the cabinet in the music room and get a new piano, saying that the old piano was for his personal use. Then he took Fang Zheng to the office.

Ten minutes later, the three—the teacher and the student—met at the entrance of the teaching building.

The little car now carries a brand-new melodica, and Fang Zheng has changed into a red sports short-sleeved shirt printed with "Shibei Middle School Volleyball Team".

Although it doesn't fit perfectly, it's the largest new clothes that Teacher Wu could find.

"I think he's very handsome," Fang Zheng said cheerfully.

Little Car: "So cool! So, handsome Teacher Fang, could you grant me a small request?"

Fang Zheng: "Handsome Teacher Fang can grant you ten requests."

Xiao Che grinned: "I want the students in the audience to come up on stage and rehearse together. I don't think every kindergarten child can sing the notes accurately."

Upon hearing this, Fang Zheng fell silent for a moment. He understood what Xiao Che meant; they were going to bring a real-life scenario to the stage. Just thinking about it made him feel excited.
If it weren't for the eldest brother's orders, he would have wanted all the children in the audience to come up on stage and sing along.

But his idea was useless; the boss had to make the decision.

Ah~ Thinking about this, Fang Zheng suddenly realized that he was only in charge of the vocal part, and the main rehearsal work was handled by the two children.

It wasn't his idea to let the children from the audience go on stage; it was Xiao Che's idea!
The boss can't blame the car, can he? Besides, it was just a trial run.
Fang Zheng: "Okay!"

Xiao Che: "Teacher Fang is indeed the most handsome!"

Fang Zheng: "Absolutely."

Xiao Che: "Teacher Wu, could you please keep this a secret for us?"

Teacher Wu: "What were you saying just now?"

Ha ha ha ha--

Stepping through the rain-soaked campus, the three teachers and students returned to the auditorium with great enthusiasm.

On stage, everyone had just finished practicing their vocals and looked on with curiosity when they saw the instrument case in the little car's hand.

The small car walked onto the stage and, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, installed the harmonica.

It's actually very simple; it's just a short keyboard that can be hung on your hand, with a mouthpiece with a flexible tube inserted at the top.

After assembling the melodica, the little car held the mouthpiece in its mouth and gently blew a breath.

A soft, bright tone emanated from the small violin case; far from being as harsh as she had feared, it was even brighter than she had anticipated.

They exchanged a smile with Tang Xiaoxing, who was sitting in front of the piano. They both knew that this was the tone they had been waiting for the most.

The car then explained the situation to everyone: "We will be adding a melodica to the accompaniment."

Although no one was clear on what this meant, as long as Che Lin said she wanted to join, everyone just applauded.

"Wow—"

The applause amused the little car. "Alright! Today's rehearsal officially begins."

At her command, the entire stage fell silent.

Fang Zheng looked at this scene and admitted that he was a little envious. He also wanted to have such an experience.

Walking up to the small vehicle, Fang Zheng said, "Crawling Class, Rainbow Class, step forward!"

After a pause, Fang Zheng turned to look at the audience: "Little Sunflower Class children, please come up on stage!"

The children in the audience froze instantly, and Xiao Guan was the first to stand up: "What are you waiting for? Hurry up!"

With a series of loud noises, the remaining eight members of the Little Sunflower Class appeared on the stage.

Looking at the children's excited expressions, Fang Zheng felt an indescribable sense of joy.

"Ah!"

"Rehearsal begins!"
-
An hour later, Fang Zheng finished adjusting the balance of the vocal parts and handed the stage over to the car.

The car took over and led everyone from the verse movements into the scenario rehearsal mode.

Back in the audience, Fang Zheng and Teacher Wu watched, listened, and laughed. They had to admit that the various scenarios depicted in the car design were indeed very interesting.

It is childlike yet earnest, fun yet passionate.

"Teacher Fang, have you ever seen a scene like this in a choral competition?"

"I've seen it before, but it's always at the university level or above. I've never seen such an arrangement on the stage of a middle school choir competition."

Do you think this is feasible?

"Of course it's possible."

Putting the competition aside, Fangzheng has no reason to give such a stage a bad review.

He even said the car turned out better than he had expected.

However, not every teacher had any objections to this.

Half an hour later, Zhang Miao walked into the auditorium and was initially surprised to see people jumping and laughing on the stage. Then, looking at the audience, she realized that everyone had gone up on stage.

It's fine if everyone goes on stage, but can Fang Zheng just ignore the overall drop in pitch?

Since Teacher Wu was also there, she didn't say anything, but simply walked to the seats behind the two of them and sat down.

During halftime, she pulled Fang Zheng aside and asked him what was going on. Fang Zheng then recounted the whole story.

"Don't I think we should give the kids who have persevered this far a chance?"

Zhang Miao doesn't deny that the children who have persevered to this day deserve recognition and encouragement, but this is a competition: "Are they going to compete or not?"

Fang Zheng: "That's not up to me." Zhang Miao: "Does the boss know?"

Fang Zheng: "Linlin told us to keep this a secret, and you have to keep it a secret too. We have to be on the same side. If your senior sister finds out, she'll also make you keep it a secret."

Zhang Miao was speechless. This was utterly ridiculous: "Do you think the boss won't know by then? We have to tell him first."

Fang Zheng: "That makes sense. Then you can tell him. Anyway, I've already promised Linlin."

Rehearsals continue.

Even as rehearsals were almost over, Zhang Miao still hadn't sent out the edited message.

Every time she tried to send the message, a pleasant laugh would erupt from the stage, forcing her to put her phone down again.

It's raining very hard today. If she were a substitute, she probably wouldn't have come.

Hey.

Forget it, let Linlin and Fangzheng do what they want.

Zhang Miao was indeed a little angry when he first came in.

One of the reasons came from Haitao's side, as Shuren planned to cut the players who had a burst of courage this afternoon.

On one hand, they are laying off people, specifically those who don't sing well enough.

On one hand, they want to add more people, but those they add are already not good enough singers.

If we count today, we only have three days of rehearsal time left.

Hey.

The only thing that surprised Zhang Miao was the car's harmonica, which subtly raised the bar for the stage where courage exploded.

But can this compensate for the lowered minimum value caused by including all members?
Ultimately, this is still a choir competition.

Hey.

Just then, laughter erupted from the stage once again.
-
The morning was about to pass quickly, and in any case, Fangzheng's rehearsal goals for the day were achieved.

He meticulously examined every detail and sound, adjusting the balance of each vocal part; he did his job perfectly.

The car's operation went very smoothly, except that she was a little unaccustomed to the harmonica keyboard at first.

The key problem is that the keys of the melodica are narrower than those of the piano, so the muscle memory she developed on the piano is easily used to make wrong notes on the melodica.

Fortunately, she adapted quickly, and by the middle of the rehearsal, she had no more wrong notes.

The choir members adapted even faster than her; at first, they thought that adding the harmonica was just another instrument for accompaniment.

But when they actually experienced the full effect that the harmonica brought to the stage, they felt that they could no longer live without the sound of the harmonica.

It's like the harmonica should be the accompanying instrument for this piece.

Tang Xiaoxing also adapted very quickly.

In fact, she fully understood what Xiao Che had said last night when Xiao Che first helped her expand the harmonic framework.

Creating accompaniment for instrumental tracks is not only feasible, but also something that can be explored further.

She had to admire Xiao Che once again. She knew that coming up with such an idea required more than just a sensitivity to music; she wasn't sure what else was needed.

She had a feeling that she might not understand until she finished her study trip to Chengdu.

"OKGo, come on, come on!"

"OKGo, come on, come on!"

"OKGo, come on, come on!"

Unable to contain her emotions, Xiaoxing joined everyone in singing it one last time.
-
After rehearsal ended at noon, many parents who came to pick up their children crowded at the school gate.

Ang Lee mingled among them and even chatted with a few parents.

It's clear that most parents are very supportive of their children joining the choir.

However, one parent seemed dissatisfied with the school's arrangements.

“My child practices at home every day, but the teacher keeps refusing to let him go on stage. I’m starting to not want him to participate anymore, but he insists on coming anyway. Sigh.”

In fact, the parent knew that the choir was going to participate in a competition.

She could understand if her own child didn't sing well enough to make it into the competition team.

But it's been half a month since the holiday started, and the child only comes to practice singing every day. When it's time for a formal rehearsal, he goes offstage and sits for half a day.

“I think the choir teachers should at least give these reserve children some opportunities to sing. It’s fine if they don’t go on the competition stage, but making the children sit in the audience the whole time during rehearsals is a bit discouraging for them.”

"dont you agree?"

Ang Lee nodded: "You're right."

As the adults were chatting, the first group of children who had finished rehearsing appeared at the entrance of the auditorium.

The parents also stopped chatting and started moving around. Some took out umbrellas, some took out raincoats, and some took out thermos cups.

In the blink of an eye, the children arrived at the school gate in twos and threes.

"Mom, I'm going to compete!"

Upon hearing the sound, Ang Lee looked over and saw a boy wearing glasses running to his mother despite the puddles on his feet.

And this mother was the same parent who had just complained to her.

"Really?"

"Really! All the team members are going on stage today, and we even have to practice our formations tomorrow!"

"Great."

"Hehe, Mom, let's hurry home!"

Ang Lee waited and waited, and finally saw the car and the star walk out of the auditorium.

Seeing that the two children had umbrellas, he turned around and went back to his car.
-
five minutes later.

The two children, holding umbrellas, crossed the street and got into the car.

Across the street, in the electric vehicle parking area, the small electric scooters had been covered with red raincoats.

Tang Xiaoxing: "Teacher, didn't you go in and check?"

Ang Lee: "I just sent you a message before I set off, and I just arrived."

Little Car: "Oh, teacher, we lined up pretty well today."

Ang Lee: "That's good. Has Professor Zhang Miao arrived?"

Tang Xiaoxing: "I'm here."

Did Li Anxin laugh and even Zhang Miao get turned against her?

It seems the arranging this morning went really well.

Xiao Che: "Teacher, did you practice the piano this morning?"

Ang Lee: "Of course, I focused on practicing the interface between the development section and the recapitulation section this morning."

The little car: "(⊙o⊙)..."

Tang Xiaoxing exclaimed in surprise, "Teacher, have you been practicing here all morning?"

Ang Lee: Yes.

Tang Xiaoxing: "Aren't your arms sore?"

Ang Lee laughed: "My arms are fine, it's just my back that's a little sore."

Tang Xiaoxing: "Ah~ Teacher, your strength is coming from such a deep position!"

He paused, then said, "My favorite part is the recapitulation of the first movement of Rachmaninoff's Second Symphony."

Xiao Che: "Me too, I almost jumped up when I first heard it."

Tang Xiaoxing: "Haha, I'm super excited."

Li Anxin said he also liked this reenactment, but the problem was that after practicing diligently for a whole morning, he found even more problems.

Fang Yongbo hoped he could slow down a bit, but his current thoughts were the opposite of Fang Yongbo's; he wanted to go faster.

Little Car: "So, teacher, have you set the speed here?"

Ang Lee: No, I guess I'll have to fight with your Uncle Fang again.

Tang Xiaoxing: "This~"

As expected of a teacher, this was the first time Tang Xiaoxing had ever heard a soloist directly challenge the conductor in terms of speed.

Little Car: "Support the teacher!"

Tang Xiaoxing: "I support the teacher!"
-
Li An didn't cook lunch either; the three of them, teacher and student, ate beef noodles downstairs.

While the two children were taking their afternoon nap, Ang Lee went to the study alone.

He opened the score on the table and turned to the development section, where he fell into deep thought once again.

The rain is still falling outside the window.