Chapter 109: Chapter 98: Voice Changing, Songs, Light Music
Jinling Normal Music College.
"Hello, Teacher Zhang. I’m Xiaoyuan!" Tutor Qian firmly grasped the round-faced middle-aged man’s hand and shook it vigorously. "Let me introduce you. This is Chu Bamboo, the student who’s hoping to borrow your facilities."
"Of course, of course!" Teacher Zhang said with a sincere smile. "We’re sister schools, so you only had to ask. To be honest, I’m the one who should be a little embarrassed... you even went to the trouble of having Principal Li call ahead..."
Teacher Zhang spoke eloquently, "Actually, our college’s vice dean was supposed to greet you personally, but he happened to have something come up, so I came instead!"
Teacher Zhang appeared warm and friendly on the surface, but he was subtly sizing up Chu Bamboo while internally screaming, ’Which rich kid is this?’
’Just to record some music, he actually got the principal to personally make a call? That’s way over the top... This is definitely something money alone can’t buy.’
’In fact, if their surnames weren’t different, he’d suspect the kid was Principal Li’s own son or nephew... Otherwise, he really couldn’t make sense of the situation!’
Next, they signed the contract.
Then, under Teacher Zhang’s guidance, Chu Bamboo logged into the relevant national website and, through an extremely fast process, completed the copyright applications for all the songs and instrumental pieces he was about to perform.
"After it’s approved, there’s a thirty-day public comment period! It should be fine, basically!" Teacher Zhang cleared his throat, then opened the door to the recording studio. "Come on in! By the way... do you know how to use this equipment? If not, I can help you set things up!"
...
「A few hours later.」
Teacher Zhang followed Chu Bamboo out of the recording studio in a daze.
As he recalled the instrumental pieces Chu Bamboo had just played—some cheerful, some solemn, some somber, some sorrowful—he still felt as if he were in a dream.
’Where was he? What had he done? What had he just heard?!!’
And it wasn’t just the instrumental pieces... After finishing those, he had also listened to and recorded song after song that Chu Bamboo sang—
Love songs! Folk! Classical! And pop!
Dozens of them in total—and every single one was a perfect take on the first try. He was nothing like other singers writing new songs, who had to constantly make adjustments as they sang, adding new lyrics, or even overhauling the songs until they were completely unrecognizable from the first draft!
It was as if this kid, who he strongly suspected of being some rich heir, already had the finished songs fully formed in his head!
For a moment, he even suspected that this rich kid had threatened or bribed a bunch of genius producers and stolen their work.
Of course, he quickly dismissed that possibility! It was just impossible. Something that outrageous couldn’t be accomplished by brute force... Besides, and most importantly, you might be able to steal the composition, the lyrics, and the arrangement... but could you also just start singing them perfectly?
’How do you steal singing ability?’
’Singing in a male voice is one thing, but you can actually switch your vocals and sing in a female voice?!’
’And on top of that, his voice sounded different for every single male and female song.’
’It’s not that he’d never heard of voice changing, but he’d never seen anything like this... This is just too ridiculous!’
Even if Michael Jackson came back to life and stood before him, Teacher Zhang felt... the shock he’d feel would probably be about the same as this.
As everyone knows, famous singers, or pop superstars, become popular because of their high-quality songs and their unique, highly recognizable voices—that is their most distinct personal trademark.
Compared to these predecessors, Chu Bamboo’s style... he couldn’t see through it. If he really had to name a style, it would probably be "ever-changing."
Meanwhile, Tutor Qian kept glancing over at Chu Bamboo.
First, he pinched himself hard. After feeling the pain, he fell into deep thought. A moment later, he pinched himself hard again, grimacing in pain, and once again fell into deep thought.
The tutor had originally thought Chu Bamboo was just there to mess around. But even though he didn’t know much about music, he could tell that the songs Chu Bamboo sang in different voices were beautiful and incredibly captivating. Even he was mesmerized, especially by the instrumental pieces.
Because he hadn’t studied music, he couldn’t really judge the specific quality of the songs with lyrics. But the instrumental pieces were a different story.
With no lyrics, instrumental music is arguably the easiest genre for an ordinary person to distinguish good from bad.
He felt that the solemn and somber piece Chu Bamboo had played earlier, which he called "Bathing in Fire," was almost on par with "Guanghan Palace Array Entry Song." That piece was practically the official anthem of the military!
And the other instrumental pieces played alongside "Bathing in Fire," though different in style, were... he felt, not much inferior in quality!
Chu Bamboo held the portable digital recorder, a little device that stored the fruits of his entire afternoon’s labor. "Well, that’s everything sorted. I should be getting back..."
"Wait!" Tutor Qian suddenly cut Chu Bamboo off. His expression shifted, and finally, clenching his jaw, he looked at Teacher Zhang. "Teacher Zhang, I’m really sorry about this! I didn’t think of it before, but I have to solemnly stress this now... Even though you helped Mr. Chu apply for the copyrights, I don’t really understand this stuff. Your side... you won’t try to pull any tricks during the review period, will you?"
Teacher Zhang froze for a second. When he realized what the tutor meant, he was stunned, and then his face flushed red, mainly from anger. "You... you’re being...! How could you think that! You’re simply..."
"I know it’s not good to say this, but it’s better to get the unpleasantries out of the way first," the tutor said with a wry smile.
He really hadn’t expected things to turn out like this.
Although he couldn’t estimate the value of these songs, seeing Teacher Zhang’s earlier state of shock—as if he’d been struck dumb—and considering the quality of the instrumental pieces he had heard... it was most likely an extremely high figure!
Especially in this day and age, where, compared to twenty years ago, all kinds of copyrights were gradually being taken more seriously.
"Don’t worry!" Teacher Zhang said, his face dark. "We’re a proper school, not some company. We wouldn’t scheme to rip off a student!"
"Besides... you have Principal Li looking out for you. Hmph, even if you hadn’t come to us but had gone to one of those companies... if those music companies had any crooked ideas, they wouldn’t dare pull any shady tricks once they knew Principal Li was involved."
A university principal might seem like an ordinary person, but their network within the system is vast, especially the principal of a prestigious university—
To put it bluntly, even ignoring the principal’s own rank... who knows what powerful alumni have graduated from that school?
As long as the university is in the right, no matter how big of a fuss a company makes, there’s nothing they can do. They might even end up making things worse for themselves.
Even taking a step back, without the connection to Principal Li, as long as Chu Bamboo is a current university student, he’s naturally afforded a thick layer of protection.
"Then I can rest assured." The tutor broke into a relieved smile, then glanced at Chu Bamboo with pleading eyes.
He was sending a signal with his gaze: ’Dude, I really stuck my neck out for you this time. If you actually make it big in the future, don’t forget to pull me up with you.’
In response, Chu Bamboo made an "OK" gesture.
"Oh, right!" Teacher Zhang suddenly remembered something and hurriedly asked, "Um, I was wondering, could I let the professors at our college have a listen to this music? Don’t worry, it’ll have nothing to do with any copyright issues."
"No problem, feel free." Chu Bamboo waved his hand and started walking toward the university gate.
"Hey, you... at least..." The tutor’s facial muscles twitched. He turned back, his attitude a complete one-eighty from before—warm, and with a hint of apology. He grabbed Teacher Zhang’s hand again, shaking it vigorously. "I’m so sorry about my attitude earlier!"
"You’ve been running around all day for us, you’ve been a huge help! Thank you so much... In the future, if you ever come to Jinling University, I’ll personally host you! I’ll even throw a banquet to apologize!"
The tutor even bowed twice. To be honest, although he didn’t know Teacher Zhang’s exact position... he was most likely a professor or an associate professor. A lowly tutor like him would never have been able to bring Chu Bamboo to meet this man, let alone have him run around for them all afternoon, if Principal Li hadn’t made the call!
Especially considering he had questioned the man just a short while ago...
"It’s nothing, and not so dramatic... We’re sister schools, it’s what we should do—wait, that’s not right!" As Teacher Zhang spoke, he suddenly realized something was off.
He whipped his head around, only to find that Chu Bamboo was already gone. His lips moved, but no words came out.
Seeing this, the tutor’s eyelid twitched a few times. He had a strange, bad feeling, but for the moment, he couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. In the end, he just said his goodbyes.
After watching the tutor’s figure disappear as well, Teacher Zhang stood rooted to the spot for a long, long time.
Finally, he murmured aloud, as if talking to himself, or perhaps asking an unseen listener, "This level of musicality... this level of voice changing! And all those songs he played and sang, those instrumental pieces... I’ve never heard any of them before. And... and he applied for copyrights..."
Teacher Zhang’s body trembled slightly. Before, he had been purely stunned by the musical skill. Now that the two of them had left and he was alone, he slowly processed everything that had just happened and came to his senses, realizing something seemed very wrong—
"If they’re really original, this level of quality... that’s not right! Does his university even teach music? I don’t think they even have a music department. And if they did, why would he need to come here to borrow our recording equipment?"
"But if they don’t teach it... if he wasn’t taught, then where did those singing techniques, those arrangement skills, and those lyric-writing skills come from?"
"It’s not that self-taught singers don’t exist! But when Chu Bamboo sang earlier, he clearly displayed the style of an academically trained singer—to a teacher like him, the difference between someone who has been trained and someone who hasn’t is glaringly obvious! It’s impossible to hide."
"Something’s wrong, something’s very wrong!"
"No, this is just... I must be seeing things!"
