KTV

Interesting what a simple activity can do to you when you have absolutely no idea how to handle it before going there.

Suffice to say, it all started with the KTV arranged by the '06 batch of A*STAR scholars.

I missed the first session the last time round simply by not being in the correct loop (ie the people whom I was checking for information were not part of the organising committee). In a way, that's a good thing, as I actually don't really know how to sing.

Sad but true.

So, when the next KTV session was planned, I thought to myself: Okay, I'm not going to make a fool out of myself by croaking my way through the songs. That said, what was the next logical step to take?

Well, I went to look up on singing techniques on google.

It is quite amazing... There are actually sites out there that teach you how to use your voice, how to control your voice through the various "resonant" chambers (like the chest register, head register, falsetto) and even the use of vibrato.

Nice.

I lapped up all the information gratefully, and started to combine the processes learnt with the basic training that I have mastered from years of woodwind playing.

The result?

I survived the KTV session! My opening number was the ultra-unfitting song (for a guy to sing)—Teresa Teng's 《我只在乎你》. Well, if you know that song, you'd realise why that it is so unfitting for a guy to be singing that song. For one, it's original singer is a female (a non-point, but important nonetheless), and for two, the singing is very high pitched!

I must have looked like an idiot standing there with the microphone as the prelude to the song was playing.

Then, I started to sing. I thought I could make it, but realised (to my horror!) that the pitch of this rendition is a tad higher to the ones that I've heard on CDs! Oh my goodness... I didn't know how I tonged the song; I was using my falsetto almost exclusively. In the background, someone was singing the Japanese version of the song (lyrics which were, strangely, appearing on top of the Mandarin version on the same screen). That sort of helped cover up my flaws (simply by covering up my weak falsetto), and allowed me to survive the trip with only a minor bruise to my ego.

At least I wasn't jeered off the set.

And then, after several other songs by others, I picked up a song that I was fairly familiar with—李茂山's 《夜空》. Here's the lyrics to this song:

《夜空》—李茂山

忘了吧！再想他又有什么用？
还不是烦恼多一重？
还不是有始无终？
来匆匆，没想到去也匆匆。
昨夜梦，却见你含情笑容。

啊...
漫长夜空！星月无踪！
夜空之下只有我在回想着往事如云烟。
忘了吧！还是把希望托夜空！

Only three words: Oh-My-God. My voice was full of volume for this song, completely utilising my innate vibrato ability and infusing as much emotion as I could into this song. The amount of power that I exuded for this song was too much for the microphone to bear; it had to be held a good 20cm away from me. And boy, were they all amazed! The instance the song came up, they went jaw-dropping, especially when they realised that it was a very old song. And then when I started my rendition of it, they were very appreciative of it. Along the way, someone else (dang, forgot who) wanted to sing along, but had to drop out after figuring out that she could not hear herself (so sorry...). At that time and space, I felt that it was magical, where they could share in the feelings of the song the way I put it.

You had to be there to hear it.

At the end of my song, everyone applauded, and I turned around and gave a nice bow, as if to say "Thanks! I've done it."

Later on in the night, when the KTV session was over (a nefarious ending engineered by the management of the place), Ding Ding told me that my falsetto was quite good, and that my voice had the "power". I felt so great just to hear that.

Oh yes, maybe I should be taking up chorale when I'm in CMU.... :-)