Jack Of Arts

April 16, 2012 – Monday 9 am – Minarrie St. East Ouigab

"Alright. That's our time. Keep doing this at home alright? I also want your pitch to me a little more accurate next week, Ike." The vocal coach said. "Thank you ma'am." I said and I left the sound proofed room. As I exited to the corridors, I saw Jenna already waiting, sitting on one of the benches outside the center's entrance. "Your turn." I told her. "Thanks. How did it go?" Jenna asked. "It's fine, she's satisfied with my progress." I replied.

I rubbed the bridge of my nose as I watched Jenna go in. The lesson today was about fixing the nasal sounds I make when I sing. 'It sounds whiny' were the exact words of the coach. She had me pinch my nose throughout the whole lesson and now it feels annoying. I get why she wants to fix my nasality when singing, but I'm still going to put some nasal sounds in my singing. I mean, Tayaw does it and it sounds awesome.

Still, the coach is right. I don't want to sound whiny either when I sing, so I'm not going to overdo it. I think it's cool if I can control the nasality of my voice and use it when I add some subtlety in my singing.

The second lesson the coach taught me is pretty simple. It's just pitch exercises. I'm going to borrow Bay-an's keyboard from time to time to use it when I sing along the notes in it. I never realized how pitchy my voice until I started recording my singing. I can't believe I sang in front of people with my vocal skills before. It still keeps me up at night thinking of what people who heard me sing before were thinking when they heard me.

I then went down to the parking lot of the building where I parked my motorcycle. I'm not going to wait for Jenna for an hour so I'm leaving first; she can handle herself. She doesn't like riding with me either because she feels unsafe riding a motorbike. She can just take a cab like she usually does after we're done with our lessons, and have Tayaw reimburse the fare.

I wonder how Ramil's lessons are doing. Unlike Jenna and I, Ramil is learning to sing rock. He has a raspy voice so it suits him a lot. I heard him sing a few times since we started our vocal lessons and he sounds cool.

As I got to my bike, I saw a man wearing a suit standing near it, studying my bike. Heh. It's customized by my cousin, the man must have noticed. "Excuse me." I said to the man as I saddled on my bike. "Hey. Ike, right?" The man asked which freaked me out. "Alright. Be cool." The man said and he stepped back. I feel relieved. He doesn't look confrontational.

"Wrong person." I said. "Hey. I know you, kid. Let's talk for a moment. It might interest you." The man said, lightheartedly. I'm not falling for that. I saw my cousin's dog act nice to me but when I turned my back, it attacked me. However, the man I got interested, indeed about what the man wants. "I have somewhere to go though." I said.

"I won't need much time." The man in suit said and he reached to the inside pocket of his coat. I almost started my bike and bolted. Does he have a gun? Guns are banned in Teungeb, though. I was relieved when he pulled out what looks like a business card.

"Here's my card. I'm Ingdon Nyan from Alpine Entertainment." He said and passed his card to me. I took it and studied it for a moment. The card looks shiny with 'Ingdon Nyan, Alpine Entertainment, Talent Agent' written on it. Huh. Cool. I think I've heard of them before.

"I can print out a business card too and put my name on it." I rolled my eyes though. They guy might be fake. "Okay. Do you have time? You can follow me to the office. If you feel odd, just bail. You have your bike, right? It looks fast too, so my car won't be able to catch up." Ingdon said. "Alright, f.u.c.k it. Let's go." I said, deciding to indulge the man. If it's legit, then it's not every day an agent talks to me.

Ingdon then got in his blue shiny sedan and started his car. I don't know how this guy found me, but now I'm interested, and I started my bike as well. A few minutes later, I saw Ingdon's car slow down and stop in front of a fancy looking building. Seeing him park his car, I stopped as well and parked my bike in front of his car. I saw two fancy letters hanging on the face of the building; 'AE' with smaller letters under them reading 'Alpine Entertainment'.

I've passed by here a few times before, I just wasn't interested what's in it. Now though, I think I'm going to enter it for the first time. Ingdon got out of his car, locked it and walked towards me. "Follow me." He said and he led the way to the entrance of the building. "Good morning Mr. Nyan." The guard greeted Ingdon. Seeing this, I think Ingdon is legit.

As we stepped into the lobby, Ingdon turned around facing me. "Ike, wanna have a tour?" He asked. "Sure." I said. I'm very curious now. The lobby looks not that fancy, but its artsy. The color blue they chose for the walls look pleasing to the eyes. It also goes well with the gray tiles on the floor. What got my interest though, is Yoeka Mulyae, a famous pop singer. I just saw her walk by and get on the elevator a few steps beside the receptionist's table. Man. She's pretty. I wish I had gotten a closer look.

"Let's take a look at the practice rooms first." Ingdon said and he led me to the bas.e.m.e.nt of the building. Bas.e.m.e.nts of buildings usually look gloomy, but Alpine really spent money making the bas.e.m.e.nt corridor look pleasing. "Here's where our artists and our… kids practice dancing." Ingdon said as he stopped in front of a door and opened it.

What I saw inside was interesting. It contains nothing else but a wide space, a sofa by the wall, and a wall of mirror. I guess dancers would look at their reflections when dancing. It looks very clean, but it has a faint smell of sweat.

"Kids?" I could not help but ask at the odd word Ingdon said. "Oh. You know. Good singers are not easy to find so we find talented people and train them here." Ingdon said. This blew my mind. Isn't Tayaw doing the same thing?

"You train them for free?" I asked. "What? Well. It's not that simple. Our … students don't pay upfront for the dancing lessons and vocal lessons. But when they make their debut or release albums, we take away their profits to pay for what cost to train them." Ingdon said.

I guess it makes sense. If I think about it, it's like what my aunt does. She invests money to an album and when the music does well, she gets her money back plus the profits.

Alpine though, they invest money in training '…kids' and when the 'kids' do well, Alpine makes their money back and some more. It's strange though. My aunt once lost money when an album she invested in didn't make any money. Does Alpine lose money as well?

"What if the singers you train don't do well? You lose money? How would your trainees pay you back if they don't do well?" I asked Ingdon. "Oh. We don't lose money." Ingdon replied. That's strange. He sounded so sure. "Do you have somewhere for band practice?" I asked putting the matter aside. "Sure. This way." Ingdon said and he led me to another room in the bas.e.m.e.nt. This time, it's another practice room with instruments in it. Acoustic, Electric, and Bass Guitars. A keyboard and a drum. The usual set-up.

I'm kind of disappointed though. Tayaw has a better practice room in his bas.e.m.e.nt and his instruments there are cool too. The instruments here are not that great. Is that?! … That drum set looks like a f.u.c.kin imitation. "I've seen enough." I said. Ingdon looked at me strangely. "Don't like it? I'm sure you're in a band." He said. "Yeah. But this is nothing new to me." I said. Ingdon shrugged his shoulders.

He led me next to the second floor of the building this time. "Here's our vocal practice section." He said and pointed at the numerous small, bathroom-sized soundproofed rooms. It looks just like my vocal coach's practice rooms, only smaller. I guess it's for solo practices. It's just a small soundproofed room, nothing special. But the number of these rooms blew my mind. "Just how many singers do you have? You have 12, 13… 15 practice… cubicles?" I could not help but ask.

"Oh. Plenty. These are practice rooms for the singers who can't afford their own practice rooms, so it's rare that they're all occupied at the same time." Ingdon explained.

"Alright, wanna check out our canteen? I think you'd like it." Ingdon said and he led me out.