Tokyo: The evil god doesn't want to be the top star

As soon as I walked out of the door, a high-pitched and ethereal male voice came from the practice room next door...

"The group next door is singing the same song as us..."

"It seems to be Kishi Siya's voice. How scary! Can he also easily perform the high notes of the original tune?"

"I was planning to lower my score by two or three keys, how can I compare with this..."

Looking at the tenor singing in the practice room next door, led by An Ziyao, several trainees looked unhappy.

"The opponent is really strong. I need to think of a way to win the singing part."

Xia Fan scratched his head in distress.

With [Yamagami Yobuko] around, he didn't worry about not being able to reach the high notes. Instead, he had to be careful not to make the sound too high and shatter the audience's eardrums...

However, the performance is a collaborative stage after all, and the performance of teammates is more critical to the overall stage effect.

……

That night, in dormitory 501.

"The teachers on the show were so perfunctory in their instruction to us. I heard that the local trainees were all helping with each move. It was really discriminatory..."

"It's the same here. I can only work out the details myself according to the original stage video..."

"There are people from different countries in a team, so communication is difficult, it's like talking to a deaf person."

Jack and Basong, who were serving as captains for the first time, leaned weakly on the edge of the bed and complained about today's rehearsal.

After washing up, Xia Fan lay on the bed, listening to "Prayer" in his headphones, still thinking about tomorrow's song practice.

"At this time, Mr. Horie should have been resting, and it seems that he doesn't have a LINE account..."

He knew a lot of people who sang well, but the first person he thought of asking for help outside the venue was naturally Keizo Horie, who was good at vocal teaching.

"By the way, someone should be still awake."

After thinking for a while, he edited his troubles into a message and sent it to Horie Tsubasa.

"Horiie Tsubasa: There's no quick fix for not being able to hit the high notes, so generally you can just lower the key. But if your opponent sings in the original key, then the audience will already be impressed by it..."

"Horiie Tsubasa: Dad has gone to bed. I will discuss this with him tomorrow morning and give him some technical advice on this song."

Within a few minutes, Horie Tsubasa replied to the message.

"Xia Fan: Thank you for your support, monitor. I am very grateful."

"Horiie Tsubasa: In order to help you canvass for votes, I have been setting up a stall in the school for the past few days and I have become tanned. How are you going to thank me, a big star?"

But Horie Tsubasa obviously had no intention of letting him go, and complained sadly.

"Xia Fan: I don't deserve to be called a big star... Please feel free to thank me, monitor."

"Horiie Tsubasa: Forget about the rest. It feels like I haven't seen you alive for a long time. Just treat me to a meal."

"Xia Fan: The phrase 'I am alive' seems a bit... The dinner is settled. Contact me when I come out."

"Horiie Tsubasa: Heh, you talk as if you're in prison..."

Since he had a request to ask of someone, Xia Fan quickly said a few words of flattery before saying good night to Horie Tsubasa and closing his eyes to fall asleep.

……

Chapter 254: Master's Breath

2024-07-13

The next day, in the practice room.

"..."

Six trainees, including Martin, were surrounding Xia Fan, staring at the video on his phone in amazement.

"I watched the original version of the song 'Prayer'. It should be tailor-made for those high-pitched lead singers. It has a lot of showmanship and the live performance effect is great."

"But those few high-pitched lyrics were sung by four people in turns, which made it much easier than singing them all by one person..."

"In the first sentence, don't change your voice too early when singing. When you reach the limit of your natural voice, squeeze your vocal cords and use falsetto to break through the pitch..."

"You can also strengthen the closure of the vocal cords by 'strengthening the articulation of words and applying force to the nasopharynx' and 'tightening your jaw', and then use the 'lower back' movement to tighten the diaphragm and obtain stronger breath support..."

"Next, let me demonstrate it again..."

In the video, Keizo Horie is sitting in front of the piano with the score of "Prayer" in front of him, teaching in a very methodical manner.

"This song tutorial even includes different versions for comparison and singing. Isn't that too detailed?"

"Compared to this uncle, the vocal training arranged by the program team is simply rubbish!"

"He said the round-robin was easy, but he ended up singing the original key all at once. Who the hell is this old man?"

Although it was just a video teaching, Keizo Horie, who was separated from the screen, not only taught carefully word by word, but also exaggeratedly demonstrated different singing methods for the same line of lyrics.

When it comes to the most critical high notes in the song "Prayer", he provides several feasible techniques to break through the vocal range in a short period of time.

Only Keizo Horie, a national treasure-level musician, could break down a difficult song into such a "fool-proof" instruction in such a simple and easy-to-understand way.

Even Xia Fan, who had taken several vocal lessons from him, felt that he benefited a lot, not to mention the other trainees who had never felt the "master's aura".

"Hey, hey, what are you talking about, sir? Old man... You stupid old fools, don't you know him?"

"This is the national treasure-level music director, Keizo Horie!"

Martin merged into the shadows of the crowd, his only remaining eyes were bloodshot...

Unlike other foreigners, he grew up in District 11 and naturally knew the name of Keizo Horie.

"I heard that Master Horie has been living a secluded life since his retirement. Apart from participating in the supervision of the super popular song "Gurenhua" some time ago, he has only published some music reviews on the Internet..."

"Many big companies can't hire masters, but you, Mr. Xia, can actually hire someone to shoot this kind of low-quality short video teaching and give us 'special lessons'?!"

Martin, who was extremely sensitive to "connections", looked at Xia Fan with an expression of extreme shock.

The reason why Xia Fan received "special treatment" from Yayoi Tsuki could also be said to be because he was a seed trainee of the Burning Department...

But even the usually neutral Keizo Horie was invited, so the connections behind this must be extraordinary.

"Well, Mr. Horie was once the head of the music department at Tokyo University of the Arts, and he is now an honorary professor, so I tried to ask him for advice..."

"I didn't expect that he would record such a complete teaching video just because I said so casually."

Xia Fan was also moved when he noticed the reflection of a beautiful figure behind the lens of Keizo Horie's glasses.

Squad Leader Horie's work was as flawless as ever.

Judging from Teacher Horie's pajamas and messy hair, she was probably pulled out of bed by her daughter early in the morning and was "forced" to film this teaching session.

"After watching the teaching of this master, I was enlightened!"

"It's more than a sudden enlightenment, it's like a sudden revelation..."

"Suddenly, I was enlightened, and all my seven orifices were opened. It was more open than a suppository!"

After watching the teaching twice, several trainees were full of confidence and felt that they could easily master the song "Prayer".

"Okay, practice makes perfect, so let's start practicing!"

While the excitement from the "Master-level Vocal Lesson" had still worn off, Xia Fan led everyone to start practicing the song.

"Girl, I don't know where you are, but if you can hear me praying, please give me one last chance..."

"I always say it in my heart, I say it with my heart, I have prayed devoutly..."

Although they were full of confidence, once they started singing the song, the difficulty of "Prayer" reminded them of the cruel reality.

The song "Prayer" has a gentle crescendo in the prelude and verse, and the range is within the acceptable range of everyone, and the breath and technique requirements are not high...

But what needs to be interpreted in the song is that the boy prays for the girl to come back to him, and the strong emotions of regret, desire, despair, and reluctance are extremely difficult for several foreign trainees with weak language foundation...

No matter how rich the emotions in a song are, it still requires the correct pronunciation of each word in order to convey them to the audience.

On the contrary, the rap part of the song was easily mastered by Martin in the District 11 dialect with machine gun speed and standard pronunciation, which really amazed everyone.

"Let's leave it like this for the first part. Now let's take our time to work on the pronunciation."

"Let's move on to the next part..."

Knowing the language problems of international trainees, Xia Fan did not dwell on this part and directly started practicing the climax of the song.

Following the melody, the climax, the participle comes first, it is Ken.

"I will be your man, never let you go, and never leave you again!"

His neck and face turned red, and he used his face to compensate as he sang this line that required high notes to support it.

Xia Fan took a look at the pitch test app and nodded.

Although the lyrics are not clear enough, the breath is very forced, and the emotions are not in place, but at least the pitch of this sentence is up to C2 of the original version.

The next person to take the turn was an Iranian trainee named "Ahmed".

"Call my name softly, I can't live without you, let me hold you in my arms again... I won't leave you alone again, darling, I just... pray!!!"

He sang his part in the disaster-style District Eleven dialect, with a high pitch like a classic car engine, and with an expression as if he had been constipated for thirty days.

"You are always in my heart, in my mind, that girl always appears in my mind..."

The three people in charge of rapping rapped steadily and at high speed during the interlude. Martin, who was in charge of setting the rhythm, did not forget to roll his eyes at Xia Fan.

They didn't understand what Ahmed was singing just now, but they could confirm that not only was the pitch not right, but his voice was also broken.

After the rap, the next person to start singing was Sid, who claimed to have practiced for ten years.

"Please, give me one last chance, please come back to me again!"

His eyes were oily and he sang this high-pitched song with deep passion.

"Sorry, I can only sing it in lowered key..."

Then he moved his head left and right and smiled apologetically.

Originally, the chorus here should be higher and higher, with the pitch rising step by step and the rap speed getting faster and faster, ushering in the climax of the song...

However, due to the "efforts" of the two people in front, the AE86, which had not yet reached the top of the Akina Mountain, had its tires stuck in the drainage ditch in advance and began to slide in the "downhill" direction.

Chapter 255 Off-tune

2024-07-13

"Almighty Lord, hear my prayers and give her back to me, a weak lost lamb, until I hear the sad words..."

Faced with the embarrassing situation of the two people in front of them failing halfway through, the rap trio could only try their best to complete their part, but all their eyes were on Xia Fan...

Because, next is the key part that starts the first climax of the song.

Not only will the pitch rise again, but the mood of the song will also begin to change...

The pressure of the "slippage" of the teammates in front fell on Xia Fan, who was responsible for the solo part.

Under everyone's complicated gazes, Xia Fan licked his lips and spoke carefully...

……

"Humph, a mob is just a mob..."

What Xia Fan and the others who were rehearsing seriously didn't know was that in the corridor of the practice room separated by a wall, An Ziyao, who had come out to take a break during the rehearsal, was leaning against the door frame.

Although the walls of the practice room are made of soundproof materials, the door is an ordinary wooden door, so even if the door is closed, you can clearly hear the singing inside the room from outside...

"Except for the rap part which was supported by Martin and was a little more professional, the singing part was totally amateurish."

"It's really uninspiring to meet such an opponent."

He listened to the rehearsal in the room from beginning to end, his eyes behind his curly bangs full of contempt.

Songs like "Prayer" require the collaboration of four tenors, but they basically never appear on talent show variety shows because the quality of the trainees varies greatly and it can easily ruin the reputation of the show.

For this performance, the program team specially arranged an "open-book test" for him as he is good at singing high notes, and the repertoire was confirmed long time ago.

Therefore, since the initial stage as a trainee, Kishi has been looking for local trainees who are good at high notes, and has been deliberately building good relationships with them in private.

All these preparations were made in order to amaze the audience with his high notes on the first performance stage, and to label himself as a "high-pitched handsome man"...

In previous talent shows, the person who impressed the audience the most was often not the first place winner, but the contestant with strong specialties in certain areas...