Josephine Swan never imagined that her stay in South Korea would lead her into K-Pop's glittering and challenging world. Each day, she encounters new hurdles and adventures that fate has in store for her and her four team members. Between gruelling...
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"Annyeonghaseyo. I am Josephine Swan," I introduced myself to my counterpart. The tall Korean acknowledged this with a nod before crossing the small room with giant strides. Similar to the rest of the rooms in this building, it was furnished with light laminate flooring. The walls were mostly white and bare, with several side seating areas. The only noticeable thing was the state-of-the-art music systems and fixtures. Curious, I watched my teacher switch on some of the instruments and turn back to me. The next moment, Ariana Grande's "Break Free" rang out from the speakers and I winced as I recognised my voice on the tape. My voice in the background filled the entire room and goosebumps ran down my spine as I began to sing the chorus. Kim Gyeong, on the other hand, stood unconcerned in front of the music system and watched me silently. At the beginning of the second verse, he lowered the volume.
"My name is Kim Gyeong and I am one of the many vocal teachers in addition to being a vocal coach." the black-haired Korean introduced himself and I bowed.
"Yang Hyun-suk handed me the recording of your song. Remarkable...for someone who I think has never sung before," explained Kim Gyeong, adjusting his black glasses. I lowered my gaze under his words and hot blood rushed to my cheeks as I restlessly kneaded my fingers.
"Your voice, on the other hand, is untrained and can lead to problems regarding your singing technique, which will be decisive because it teaches you how to use your voice healthily. Poor technique is therefore damaging to your voice and can be heard clearly in performances and auditions," he said sternly.
"You will be taught singing by different teachers, similar to dance training. I will teach you voice training or even vocal training, the importance of which I have just explained. Others, on the other hand, will focus on your expressiveness, stage presence and performance, microphone work and repertoire, as well as on finding your style. In addition, you will receive enough preparation to overcome stage fright, which is necessary due to the monthly assessments and possibly later on stage."
I nodded in understanding and Kim Gyeong clapped his hands.
"Let's start with the warm-up exercises, followed by proper posture and breathing techniques," he said and his brown eyes slowly ran over my body.
"You are slightly tense. We need to correct that." he finally said and walked toward me.
"Correct posture is a prerequisite for good sounding tones and functioning breathing. In the correct singing posture, all the muscles of the body are evenly tensed and the parts that need space are relaxed," he explained and I slowly began to relax my muscles. Satisfied, he nodded, circled me once and stopped in front of me again.
"Despite your slight tenseness, you have good posture," he said and I smiled slightly.
"I will not only help you train proper posture and breathing techniques and, but also find your vocal range and improve your singing tone. Followed by training the low and high notes in connection with using the chest and head voice. Finally, we dedicate ourselves to projecting," he summarises. he summarises.
"Projecting meant that you had to be able to reach every person in the room without damaging your voice. At concerts in large halls, this skill is essential," he explained and I nodded in understanding.
"All right. Let's start with the warm-up exercises," he said and his posture adjusted to mine in the next moment.
"The most important thing about these warm-ups is that you are encouraged to do them every day. Vocal warm-ups help to expand your range, hit higher notes and gain more control."
♛
I could hardly suppress the trembling in my legs as I wandered out of the shower and towards my bed. By now, night had long settled over Seoul when we finally reached our accommodation around midnight.
Our last lessons after singing were spent dancing again. Just as in our first dance lesson, Hong Eun-ha's brown eyes flashed over our bodies each time, taking in every little detail. Just as she indicated in her speech, she kept an eye not only on our dance steps but also on our facial expressions. After two runs through the choreography, she sat down with her back against the mirror and watched us silently as the four of us danced. If we made any mistakes, she would stop the music and correct us before we had to start all over again. This process went on for three or four choreographies, until the end of the dance lessons and beyond.
Jinny, Hannah and Su-a were already in their beds when I entered our dormitory. Despite the warm water, I felt every muscle in my body. Even my face seemed to ache with every single movement. A condition to which I had to slowly get used to myself and my body.
Tired, I lay down in bed with a low groan.
"Are you all right, Josie?" asked Su-a above me, and her head appeared above the railing in the next moment. The other two also looked down at me from their beds.
"I'm just...done," I murmured, looking at them. A sympathetic smile appeared on her face.
"I thought...you did better for your first time than most of the other trainees. It took me months to keep up with the others," she replied softly, smiling. Amused, I just shook my head.
"She's right. For someone who hasn't had much experience in this field...even your expression was controlled. With too many trainees, you can see the effort it takes to dance. It eventually costs points in the evaluation or brings harsh criticism." added Hannah.
"I agree." I heard Jinny mumble tiredly in her bed and heard her yawn a little later. Thoughtfully, I let my head slide back into the pillows and my grey eyes ran over the gift box from my former roommates. Slowly I reached for it and opened the box. Out came the white and black book. I ran my fingers over the cover and smiled before opening the black ribbon with a simple motion. I flipped through the blank pages until I finally returned to the opening page. I bristled when I recognised my roommates' writings on the first page.
"Sometimes the path only reveals itself when you start walking it." (Paul Coelho)
"No one knows what he can do until he tries it." (Publilius Syrus)
