Chapter 13 First Performance 1.0
After the song selection was completed, each team went to the practice room assigned by the program team.
The seven contestants in the "Banana Over the Atlantic Coast" group - Xie Qingyu, Bai Yan, Qian Song, Sun Lele, Huang Ke, Cai Jiashu and Zhu Xiaojun - sat in a circle. No one spoke first, and the atmosphere was a bit awkward.
The style of this song is too weird, and the lyrics and melody are confusing.
Bai Lang, Qian Song, Sun Lele and other contestants should have songs that they prefer and are more suitable for their own styles, but by accident they were "tricked" into this song by Zhu Xiaojun.
Although he didn't say anything on the surface, he was still more or less shocked in his heart.
Zhu Xiaojun also felt the silence of his teammates. He lowered his head, his fingers twisted together nervously, wanting to say something but not knowing how to start.
He knew that the song he chose might not be suitable for stage performance, but he was too excited at the time and he particularly liked this song, so he directly chose his favorite contestant to perform the song with him.
The person who was drawn automatically became the captain of this song. Everyone was waiting for Zhu Xiaojun to assign tasks, but Zhu Xiaojun really didn't know where to start. He scratched the back of his head and thought his teammates were all very good.
"That..." Zhu Xiaojun finally spoke with a red face, but was stuck when Bai Yan gave him a cold look.
Time was short and the task was heavy. Xie Qingyu sighed, broke the silence, tapped the floor with his fingertips and said, "Let's get straight to business.
The original version of this song sounds too much like the theme song for a children's animation. If we perform it as is, the audience might think we are playing clowns."
He held up the sheet music, on which he had circled several outrageous lyrics in red pen: "For example, the line 'Banana peel skateboard rushes into the Milky Way'. I really can't imagine how to perform it on stage with a group without it sounding too awkward."
"Change it." Bai Tang suddenly spat out a single word, leaning against the mirror with his arms folded. "Change the personification of tropical fruits to a Star Trooper setting, and replace all the fruits in the lyrics with mecha elements."
He used the tablet prepared by the program team to play the soundtrack of a science fiction movie. "The disco rhythm of the original song can be retained, but the synthesizer sound effects need to be replaced with heavy metal electronic music."
Qian Song also picked up the lyrics sheet and echoed, "Yes, I agree.
The chorus "Flying Over the Atlantic" could be changed to "Breaking Through the Dimensional Wall," and the jumping movements could be changed to robotic dance steps."
As he spoke, he stood up and tapped the beat on the floor with his toes, "That's it, it won't be hard."
“But there are only three days left before rehearsal.”
Sun Lele twirled her pen impatiently. "Re-arrange the music, change the lyrics, and choreograph a new choreography. And then re-design the costumes and props... This intensity is going to be fatal, right?"
Huang Ke sighed: "It has to be changed even if it's too late, otherwise the first public performance will be really over."
He pointed to a paragraph on the lyrics sheet and made a little joke: "Let me sing 'Banana Spaceship Launch Biubiubiu' with an innocent expression? I might as well just withdraw from the competition."
What everyone said made sense. Xie Qingyu picked up a pen and started scribbling on the lyrics sheet. In order to retain the essence of the original song, he placed the lyrics paper in the middle and circled the beginning with a pen.
He said carefully: "The whistle tune for the opening beat must be retained. We must also respect the original creation when doing secondary creation. We can't open the show and the audience still don't know which song we are performing."
Cai Jiashu scratched his head and said, "I think the costumes and props for the second creation must be well communicated with the teacher in charge of stage design."
Xie Qingyu noticed that Zhu Xiaojun had not participated in the discussion, so she took the initiative to throw the topic to him: "Xiaojun, do you have any ideas?"
Zhu Xiaojun was stunned for a moment, then he clapped vigorously, his face full of smiles: "Everyone is right! I completely agree!"
Xie Qingyu smiled helplessly: "Do you know how to make props? I think that glowing robotic arm on the first stage looked like you modified it yourself?"
Zhu Xiaojun's eyes suddenly lit up: "Yes, yes! I brought LED light tubes! I'll borrow a welding gun from the production team when the time comes. I can make mecha-style goggles for everyone, and even install sensor lights on the gloves so they can drag light tracks when you wave your hands!"
"I'll go talk to the costume designer." Xie Qingyu quickly drew a storyboard on the back of the lyrics.
"Bai Tang mentioned the concept of the Star Troopers. We can design it to resemble survivors of future ruins, using distressed metal colors paired with fluorescent green..."
"Wait!" Sun Lele suddenly raised his hand. "The lyrics for 'Banana Brothers Holding Hands' absolutely need to be deleted! What should we change them to? The mecha number? The team code name?"
"How about naming it after a constellation?" Huang Ke suddenly interrupted. "Naming it after everyone's constellation is both romantic and in line with the cosmic theme."
"Good idea." Xie Qingyu marked the constellation symbols on the storyboard. "During the chorus, we can move together to form a star map of Orion. During the climax, we can use laser pointers to project the Milky Way effect. Xiaojun, can this be done?"
"Yes, yes, yes! I have a starry sky mini projector in my dorm!"
Zhu Xiaojun excitedly rummaged through his backpack and dumped out a bunch of electronic components.
"Look! This photoresistor can be linked to the stage lights. When we sing 'Breaking Through the Atmosphere,' the entire ceiling lights will explode with white light!"
Bai Lang, who had been keeping a straight face until now, suddenly squatted down and fiddled with the parts: "Install a vibration motor on the armor so that it can produce a mechanical vibration with the beat when dancing."
When he looked up, he found everyone was looking at him. The tips of his ears turned slightly red. “…Just a suggestion.”
Qian Song suppressed a smile and hooked his arm around Bai Tang's shoulder. "Has our teacher Bai finally shown some fighting spirit? Then I'll leave the arrangement to you. I'll send you the Chinese style electronic music material package."
Then everyone added their own opinions one after another, and finally the most difficult part was solved.
Xie Qingyu summarized everyone's opinions and nodded: "Okay, then we'll decide on this.
Bai Lang, Qian Song and I integrated everyone's ideas and were responsible for the secondary creation and adaptation. Sun Lele and Huang Ke were responsible for the subsequent dance choreography. Cai Jiashu and Zhu Xiaojun were responsible for the design of costumes and props.
If you have any ideas, please feel free to communicate with us.”
After a morning of intense discussions and revisions, the "Banana Over the Atlantic Coast" group finally completed the first version of the lyrics, music and choreography adaptation.
Everyone stood in line, temporarily divided into parts, and prepared to go through it one by one.
Xie Qingyu stood in the middle. The music started and a lively whistle was heard. He looked up at himself in the mirror.
He crossed his arms, shrugged his shoulders, turned his back and connected to the opening part: "Breaking through the dimensional wall, the mecha roared--" His voice was clear, with a faint playful smile on the corner of his mouth.
Suddenly, he raised his hand to block him, and Bai Lang grabbed his wrist from behind, and the two switched positions.
A low, hoarse voice slowly rang out: "Sagittarius is locked, the target is ahead—"
The movements were clean and crisp, and every turn was performed with mechanical precision.
At this moment, Qian Song rushed out from between the two of them, dancing as if struggling with his life, his voice filled with passion and struggle: "In the galactic storm, we walk side by side -"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone lined up with him as the center, raised their hands, put them down, and then started dancing together.
When it came to the chorus, Zhu Xiaojun took over the part a little nervously: "The light tracks cut through the night, and the future is before our eyes——" He obviously had trouble singing the rest of the song.
Because I was moving smoothly, I didn't stop and continued to move down.
After finishing the recitation, everyone stopped and looked at each other.
Xie Qingyu frowned: "The chorus part is a bit messy. We will borrow a camera from the production team later and shoot it first so that everyone can see the overall effect. We still need to make some changes."
The movement in the middle part is indeed not well arranged.
Bai Lang also pointed out that there was a section of the group dance where everyone could use a little more force and lift their arms a little higher. It was a bit too soft now and the overall effect was not very good.
Sun Lele stood in the middle and adjusted the dance to Bai Lang's requirements. She said with some hesitation, "If we change it this way, the movements in the first half will have to be simplified a bit, otherwise we won't be able to keep up with the physical strength. After all, there's a long and difficult section at the end."
Zhu Xiaojun also spoke about his problem a little embarrassedly: "I have a hard time singing the high notes in the latter part of the chorus. I want to avoid this part as much as possible when choosing the final version."
Because everyone more or less felt that there were problems, but it didn't matter, now we just had to focus on the details, so Xie Qingyu marked the changes again based on the original.
It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon and everyone was dizzy with hunger.
Xie Qingyu looked at the wall clock and said helplessly, "It's almost one in the afternoon now. The cafeteria should be out of food. Let's eat some bread first."
Zhu Xiaojun brought out a box of brand-name bread and yogurt from the corner and shared it with everyone. Sun Lele took a bite of the bread and muttered, "This bread is too dry. There's not even... woooooooooooooooo much jam!"
He had just said half of it when Huang Ke noticed that something was wrong with his tone and immediately stepped forward to cover his mouth.
He said on the show that the sponsor's food was not tasty, but he was complaining that he had too many shots. He has never suffered from bad editing!
Sun Lele quickly patted Huang Ke's arm, signaling him to let go. He was choking and rolling his eyes.
Huang Ke let go of his hand and handed him a bottle of yogurt with a smile: "Le Le is so delicious that you can't say anything. Come, have a bottle of yogurt."
Sun Lele turned her back to the camera and rolled her eyes at him. She understood that Huang Ke wanted to "improve" too much!
Qian Song ate while flipping through the music score: "I think the movements in the chorus can be changed to this..." He gestured as he spoke and sprinkled some yogurt on Xie Qingyu's sleeves.
Bai Lang, who was standing next to him, held the bread in his mouth, turned around, grabbed a few tissues and was about to press them on his sleeves.
Xie Qingyu dodged helplessly, took the tissue and cleaned it up himself: "Let's finish eating first and then discuss it. Don't dirty the music score."
After a quick lunch, everyone continued discussing the changes for the second edition. Xie Qingyu quickly noted on the sheet music, "The beginning of Xiaojun's part is completely fine, and it suits him well. I saw the progression for the high notes, and Lele could use a little cushioning. Jiashu's movements could be changed to this..." He demonstrated as he spoke.
"We also simplified the movement during the chorus. When the light track effect appears, everyone strikes a fixed pose. This is both neat and labor-saving."
Qian Song added: "I think we can add a collective turning movement in the chorus. When combined with the light track effect on the stage, the visual impact will be even stronger."
Everyone nodded in unison.
After another afternoon of deletions and revisions, the final version was finally finalized. Because there is no concept of C position in the revised version, everyone takes turns to stand in the center position, so everyone just accepted the part of the first order.
The hardest part has been solved. What remains is to practice the positioning and movements over and over again, striving to achieve perfection in every detail. Only when you truly give 200% off stage can you give 100% of your strength on stage.
The result of practicing without sleep and forgetting to eat is that when everyone feels hungry, mealtime has been missed again.
Sun Lele lay on the ground and couldn't get up, staring at the ceiling with lifeless eyes, and said he didn't want to eat the dry bread provided by the sponsor at all.
When I was practicing in Class A, I had this bread every night. Now, I have to eat dry bread all day long during the practice of the selected songs. This thing can fill me up, but it is not suitable as a meal.
Looking at Sun Lele lying on the ground, Huang Ke no longer wanted to "work hard" or "make progress". He collapsed beside him and didn't move. He wanted to eat, white rice!
In the end, except for Xie Qingyu and Bai Lang, the entire "Banana Over the Atlantic Coast" team practice room was wiped out and lay down.
At this moment, a savior appeared. Leo and Ding walked into the trainees with the packed meals. Sun Lele sniffed his nose and sat up in shock. He hurried forward to take the packed box, his voice choked with sobs: "Thank you, thank you for your care for empty-nest elderly people."
Ding Zai looked at him with loving eyes, patted his shoulder gently, and said peacefully: "Child, eat, eat, there is still more."
Leo handed the extra takeout box to Bai Tang and then squeezed in between him and Xie Qingyu. His brother could only be best friends with him!
Bai Lang moved a seat for him aside with an expressionless face. Leo then handed the takeaway box to Xie Qingyu and said to him as if to ask for credit: "Brother, I haven't seen you all day today. You didn't go to the cafeteria at noon. I was practicing very hard, but Ding Zai insisted on coming over to check on your practice progress.
I had no choice but to come with him to take a look. On the way, I suddenly remembered that you hadn't finished your meal yet, so I quickly ran back to the cafeteria to get you some food. You have some, but others don't."
When he and his brother separated in the morning and went to their respective team practice rooms, he promised his brother that he would practice hard. Well, it’s all Ding Zai’s fault!
Xie Qingyu opened the takeaway box and found that the dishes were obviously much more abundant than those of others. There was also a small transparent box of fruit next to it, which no one else had!
"Little brat, I'm older than your brother Xie Qingyu, why don't you call me brother?"
Ding Zai looked at him with a gloomy face as he kept talking nonsense. It was obvious that this kid had been urging him to come and find Xie Qingyu all day long, and he had to accompany him here because he couldn't get him to do anything.
Seeing Leo turned his head away guiltily and not looking in Ding Zai's direction, Xie Qingyu understood and did not dwell too much on this topic.
He turned around and asked Ding, who was sitting next to him, how their group's practice was going. It would be best not to delay their training.
Ding looked relaxed. Their group was basically composed of players from Class A and Class B. The remaining two players from Class C were also quite strong. The overall training progress was very fast.
Hearing this, Xie Qingyu looked at Ding Zai with some envy, then lowered his head and started eating.
It's okay, it's okay. Their "Banana" team is on the right track and everything is developing well.
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