God’s Song

Volume 1 / Chapter 52

TL: LightNovelCafe

Jo Hyung Joong who had been watching an excited Jun Hyuk saw the sign the VJ was giving him and brought out the mission song,

“I chose something because I heard you play the piano well. What do you think about this song? I think it could be great if you arrange this into a piano song. You can put in some orchestration too.”

The song Jo Hyung Joong had selected was the OST ‘From the Sun to the Boy’ from Shin Hae Chul’s animation ‘Soul Cavalry Lazenca’.

“Have you heard this song?”

“No. I’ve heard Shin Hae Chul’s other albums but this is a first.”

“Really? Then listen to the original first.”

When the elaborate introduction came out of the CD player, Jun Hyuk moved naturally with the rhythm. It was a good choice. It was a song full of the trademark heaviness and pomp of Shin Hae Chul’s experimental band N.EX.T. It was like rock opera.

When the song ended, Jun Hyuk opened his mouth slowly,

“Teacher, I would like to do a different song.”

“Huh? A different song? Why? You don’t like this one? It would sound really good as a piano instrumental. The audience could enjoy it even if it’s an instrumental with the original’s orchestration in the background.”

Jo Hyung Joong looked at Jun Hyuk with disbelief and brought up the rule that they had to abide again,

“Haven’t you heard? There are issues with copyrights. If we change the song now, the staff has to go get the rights to that. There’s also a problem of royalties. It’s hard.”

“Then you’re saying it’s okay as long as there are no copyright issues?”

“Right. Oh, are you thinking of doing an original song? Ha ha.”

“Well…”

“Want to hear me out first? During a live performance, if an audience full of young people hear an instrumental they don’t know, they’re just going to sit there. You won’t get any response. There’s no producer who will air that on TV.”

It was hard for anyone to respond to music heard for the first time. Even if the audience reaction were to be edited, it could not be done in a natural way to hide the awkwardness. The live stage had to be fun.

“It’s not an original song… It’s a song from about 300 years ago, but would the copyright still be an issue? It’s a song that young kids all know, too. It’s famous and has been played in many different versions.”

“What? Are you thinking of a classic?”

“Yes. I was thinking of doing Pachelbel’s Canon. Since there isn’t a copyright, the producer and staff don’t need to worry.”

Jo Hyung Joong fixed his glasses as if trying to hide his frustration. As Jun Hyuk said, anyone would know the song just by listening to the introduction. It was overplayed though.

“Jun Hyuk, that song is already famous for people like George Wilson and Lee Galloway. And if you want to perform classical, you can go on a concurs. You’re going out on a competition for popular music.”

“Not the piano. I’ve tried making two versions. The original is three violins but… the first version is three guitars instead of violins. The second is a rock version like the ones you see on YouTube. I wanted to do it like that.”

“Change the violins to guitars…..?”

Three guitars. There was nothing to expect if he was just switching the violins to guitars. The rock version of Guitar Kids on YouTube was good, but there was too much of that as well. If you search Canon on YouTube, there were more videos of the song done in electric guitar than there were of the classical version.

Jo Hyung Joong did not like how Jun Hyuk was thinking and he did not bother to hide it,

“Jun Hyuk, the song is good. I’m not saying it’s bad. As much as it’s a famous oldie, there’s nothing new. I don’t know how you’ll make the new version, but you won’t be able to show your own creativity.”

The VJ who had been silently filming the two spoke carefully,

“Teacher, what if we try hearing Jun Hyuk play it?”

The VJ wanted to film Jun Hyuk play his two versions of Canon and Shin Hae Chul’s ‘From the Sun to the Boy’ to make more material for the broadcast.

Jo Hyung Joong had forgotten that the camera was filming everything and that this was all content to go on air. It seemed like a good idea to try listening to everything since they still had a lot of time.

“Um… Should we? It wouldn’t be bad to listen to everything and choose then, right?”

Jun Hyuk nodded.

“I’ll objectively assess which of the three will have the most impact on the audience for the first stage.”

Jun Hyuk went into the recording booth and sat in front of the electronic piano instead of the guitar. The VJ focused the camera on him and looked confused,

“Jun Hyuk, I thought you said it was a guitar version?”

“I’ll play From the Sun to the Boy first. I only need to play the piano once, so let’s finish this first.”

Jo Hyung Joong was at a loss for words. He had said that it was his first time listening to the song. He was changing a song he had heard for the first time into a piano instrumental. If he was able to do this, he was in fact the genius that Yoon Jung Su had said he was.

While Jun Hyuk played the piano, the VJ and sound engineer were puzzled and Jo Hyung Joong who had been frozen began to smile widely when the song was ending. Yoon Jung Su had an eye for people. His eye for seeing talent was unmistakable.

Jo Hyung Joong’s smile did not disappear until Jun Hyuk finished his song and came out of the recording booth,

“Jun Hyuk, the music stops too much.”

The sound engineer had been wondering the same thing. The running time of the song was over five minutes, but there were too many parts where Jun Hyuk stopped and the piano did not even play for four full minutes.

“I thought you said you wanted to put the orchestration in this song. Since it’s not a piano solo… I matched it to the orchestra.”

Yoon Jung Su was wrong. It was not that ‘He could be a genius’; he was a genius.