From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 62: First Vocal Lesson (3)

Because Jelissa suddenly called him out, Ari had no choice but to walk forward as the contestants in the room made way for him while staring.

William met his eyes for a second before he bit his lip and frowned at an angle not visible to the camera before turning toward Jelissa.

"I can do it next time. Give me another chance." William suddenly walked forward, crowding her as he tried to grab her hand.

Jelissa’s smile immediately disappeared, and her voice grew firm as she stepped back.

"Contestant William, I said, step to the side. Don’t interrupt rudely when I’m teaching other students, and please don’t try to touch me again. Understood?" Suddenly, Jelissa’s tone grew firm as she pointed off to her right where she wanted him to stand.

Her round brown eyes were narrowed, and the usually sweet smile was nowhere to be found.

Seeing the kindest trainer suddenly get harsh, the contestants let out audible gulps again as they wondered what the heck was happening, what William was doing, and how the PDs were going to edit this.

Ari stared at William, wondering if he had been trying to steal Jelissa’s stats when he tried to touch her.

"Move," Jelissa said again in a stern tone.

William, biting his lips after being scolded, stepped to the side, and Ari turned to look at Jelissa, who had regained her smile.

"What was your name?"

"It’s Ari," Ari responded politely.

"Lovely name. You tried to keep it quiet, but I could hear your beautiful voice all the way in the back. All four of you, start singing from the beginning, please."

Briefly meeting each other’s eyes in the mirror, Ari, Jamie, Carlos, and Jin read from the pages they held as the music played.

Carlos’s clear high voice, Ari’s slightly lower voice with a unique tone, Jamie’s mid-range voice, and Jin’s slightly lower voice sounded out in unison as they sang through the first verse.

Seeing that, Jelissa didn’t look like she wanted them to stop, the four of them continued into the second verse with Jamie lowering his voice a little to support the faltering Jin, and Ari lowering his a bit to fill in Jamie’s empty vocal spots that he identified with the Picky Listener skill.

The four of them collaborated seamlessly, with each taking turns adding the ad-libs before singing the next verse.

As the song approached its end, Ari slowly became out of breath, and his voice wavered and sounded breathy.

Pushing through, he somehow finished the song, but he knew his voice was much thinner and weaker than when he first started. Thankfully, he never went out of tune, but he was a bit concerned about what Jelissa would say.

Fortunately, she seemed happy as the smile on her face was quite wide and her brown eyes twinkled brightly.

Clap clap clap clap

Jelissa clapped her hands happily while nodding her head.

"That sounded pretty good, but I think we can do better."

She started off by giving tips to Jamie and Carlos, correcting their posture and giving advice, then she praised Jin for his slight improvements before reiterating some of her earlier words.

"And finally," Jelissa turned to Ari with a curious look.

"You have quite a good ear. I quite liked the way you filled in the vocal gaps to imitate the original recording, but your singing technique is pretty lacking. You use your throat a lot with no diaphragm support. If you try doing that, it will help with the lack of air and weakness in your voice after a while. Why don’t you try it out?"

"I don’t know how to do that," Ari replied honestly. "I’ve never taken vocal classes."

"Never?"

"Never."

At his words, Jelissa gave him an excited smile.

"Stand straight, Hands down by your side, take a deep breath until your stomach is fully expanded, as if you have a potbelly, and hold it."

Ari followed her instructions with a confused face, filling his stomach with so much air that it looked bloated.

Jelissa nodded in approval before continuing.

"Sing it again, from the beginning, while pushing the air out of your lungs. When you run out of air, stop singing and repeat."

With a simple nod, Ari began singing the memorized lyrics as the music began playing.

When his stomach was deflated, Jelissa would pause the music until he took another deep breath, then start the music again so he could sing.

As Ari was singing, he could feel his voice coming out louder and clearer with much less strain on his throat.

Singing the words felt so much easier, and he could sing for much longer without taking a deep breath or feeling like he was going to pass out from lack of air.

As he sang the sustained note right before the final chorus, this time without Jelissa having to stop the music for him to take a deep breath, his voice rang out in the clearest tone he had ever made for a full 10 seconds.

Even to his ears, it sounded amazing, and when he finished, he couldn’t help but smile to himself.

It was like some secret key inside of him had been unlocked.

It felt really good being able to sing like that.

And for some reason, he really wanted to do it again. ƒгeewёbnovel.com

Just as he was thinking that, his vision filled with a blue screen.

[Vocal + 1]

[Vocals: A -> A+]

Due to Jelissa’s coaching in correcting his breathing form, his Vocal stat went up.

Jelissa burst into a round of applause as Ari just stood there, and she seemed as if she were about to cry from happiness.

"Good. Good. That sounded so good! Why don’t you try singing it again just like that? This time one octave higher? So William here can hear what it’s supposed to sound like without straining and catch the correct note."

Jelissa glanced at William’s slightly red face before she played the instrumental, and Ari sang it with his diaphragm just as instructed.

He found it relatively easy, and between the changed singing technique and the increase in his Vocal stat, it sounded way better than the first time. Although his voice hadn’t gone as high as Carlos’, the higher octave made the clarity and his unique tone stand out.

"Oooooh, that was fantastic. Ari. Excellent job! Can you try it one octave lower? This is the starting note? Try opening your mouth a bit more when you sing."

As the instrumental sounded out again, Ari sang the song from the first verse to the chorus without stopping until Jelissa gestured for him to do so.

"Perfect. I love the way you apply the advice I give you."

Ari bowed politely and responded, "Thank you."

He truly meant it.

Because of her advice, he had gained an extra stat point, which meant he could save the ones he had for when he really needed it.

Ari truly hoped she would continue coaching him for as long as possible.

"Seriously, thank you so much!" Ari smiled genuinely at her in a less stiff voice, and Jelissa smiled back, her nose scrunching up cutely as she laughed.

"You’re quite welcome! William, this is the sound you should be going for since there are some similarities between you and Ari’s voice. If you listen to his voice, you can tell that there’s no strain while you strain quite a bit, right? Your throat was completely tight each time."

Jelissa paused while looking at William, hoping he would cave in after seeing clear evidence, but the boy continued to stubbornly glare at her, so she shrugged and continued.

"Singing in the right pitch and not overextending yourself on notes you can’t reach is much more important than being able to sing high notes. It’s not a crime to lower the octave of the song. And in the long run, your vocal cords will thank you. Not everyone can sing as high or as angelically as Carlos. That’s clearly his special gift."

Carlos blushed at the compliment before looking away, and Jelissa laughed before staring at William with an arched brow.

"Don’t you hear how beautiful Jamie, Jin, and Ari sounded even though they weren’t singing as high as Carlos was. You can still stand out without being the person who hits the highest notes in the room, understand?"

"Yes, I understand," William ground out through gritted teeth while forcing a smile.

Jelissa could see that he didn’t.

Well, she would use this opportunity to kindly humble him and show him that every voice was valuable and mattered.

"Well, if you say so. Ari, please stand beside those three while memorizing the lyrics. You, you, you, you. Come forward and let me hear you sing it from the beginning. William, please pay attention since we’ll focus on you once I’ve spoken to everybody at least once."

At Jelissa’s words, William’s brow twitched, but he kept his smile as his eyes followed Ari.

Jelissa pointed to another random four people in the class, making them sing through the song and correcting them as they went.

Some people had pitch issues like William, some had breathing issues like Ari, and some had voices that just kept cracking.

Most of them didn’t have the guts to argue back like William did. If they tried to take her advice, she coached them some more. If they faked it, she put them to the side with William.

Throughout the three-hour class, she would often call on Ari, Jamie, Jin, and Carlos to sing, having them demonstrate the song for those with vocal tones most similar to theirs.

When she had gone through everyone at least once, she began working with her "troublemakers," as she affectionately called them, using mainly Ari and Jamie to demonstrate since they hadn’t had pitch issues and had the widest ranges between the two of them.

By the end, Ari’s throat was slightly sore, but he felt accomplished in the fact that he had memorized the song and could easily sing all the vocal parts with no issue.

He hadn’t gained another vocal stat point, but he felt like he understood the mechanics of singing properly now and just needed to practice it.

And soon, class was over.

"Alright, babies! Time for you to head to lunch. I’ll see you all tomorrow for the vocal lessons, by class, okay? Make sure to drink lots of honey tea and rest your throat, and have fun in your afternoon lessons."

Okay!!!

Thank you, Jelissa!

The contestants clapped and cheered for her, and as Jelissa waved goodbye and left, the cameraman immediately exited along with her.