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Fujii Itsuki put down his baton and glanced at all the members of the wind instrument club.
"Do you know why I didn't interrupt you just now?"
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Fujii Itsuki turned his attention to one of the few boys in the club.
"Do you know why?"
"me?"
The boy was as if facing a great enemy, holding his tuba and stammering, not daring to look at the podium. The classroom was so quiet that even the chirping of birds flying around the cherry trees at the school gate could be heard.
"Maybe. Maybe it's because everyone blows it so badly."
Fujii Itsuki smiled gently: "It is full of flaws."
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"If it was just Yang Kui's mistake, I could stop for now and let everyone continue playing, but all of you have made mistakes, some are out of tune, some are out of tune, and the bass horn is stealing the show from the flute. I don't even know who to stop."
"."
"Sit down."
The moment the boy's butt touched the chair, he breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that he was not singled out and scolded.
"Do you think your level is very poor? Are there any beginners among you? Do you have ensemble experience in junior high school?"
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Fujii Itsuki smiled and said, "Actually, everyone's level is pretty good. This little ensemble is something that experienced people can perform after just one or two days of practice, or three days at most. But it's been a week, why haven't you practiced well yet? The second-year students can't even perform as well as the first-year students who just joined the department."
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"What did you promise me when school started?"
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The students all lowered their heads and no one wanted to answer.
"Is this the result of your hard work in playing together this week? The second graders have been working on this since last semester, and now this is the result you have produced?
"If an orchestra can't even do the most basic, slightly complete ensemble, there is really no need for me as a conductor to guide them. Because they haven't reached the basic level of teaching. It's like a primary school student learning Chinese characters. They haven't even learned all the hiragana and katakana. As a teacher, how should I teach you to write a qualified composition? Should I guide you one by one for every word in every composition in this ensemble?
"I remember that the second-year students have had the goal of winning the gold medal in the national competition since I took over. Even during the holidays, I came to school to organize you to practice. What do you think we spend so much time on? Why do we spend so much precious holiday time practicing the basics? Is the goal of the national competition so trivial?"
The teacher didn't utter a single curse word the entire time; every word he spoke was calm and gentle. But precisely because of this, the atmosphere in the classroom made people feel like they were almost suffocating.
Everyone's pain points were hit and there was no way to refute it.
Fujii Itsuki lowered his head and opened the schedule that had been planned in advance on the podium. He picked up the pen beside him and began to cross out some things for the next week.
His voice became much softer:
"For an orchestra, the most important thing is coordination, the rhythm between notes, and the matching between instruments. If you don't even know the rhythm of your classmates, how can you play a piece of music well? During the Nakajima Festival, we still need to play while walking. I am very disappointed with you now. Let's stop here today. You can rest this weekend. Can we play together at the same time next Saturday?"
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"What's everyone's answer?"
Only after Fujii Itsuki urged them a second time did some of the students respond with reluctant, tiny voices.
"Can."
It was the president, Shoko Aoyama, who took the initiative to lead everyone in promising to do it next time. Only then did Fujii Itsuki nod and leave the music classroom.
The teacher left, but the heavy atmosphere he left behind still filled the classroom.
Hiiragi Rinka didn't dare to say anything and could only peek at the undercurrents in the classroom from behind.
The atmosphere has been brewing in an unnatural state.
Finally, a third-year trombonist couldn't hold it in any longer and couldn't help complaining:
".Really? How can we play well together in just one week?"
As soon as she started, the resentment in the society poured out.
"Yes, we are not here to play in the club. One week is too short."
"This teacher is just forcing people to do things that are difficult for them."
"Senior thinks so, right? Mr. Fujii is being too difficult."
"Besides, he didn't really guide us last semester. He only gave us some individual guidance during the holidays. Every time, he would ask us to train on our own, even when we were running on the playground, and he would just watch us from there."
When talking about last semester, some second-year students also started complaining because of the failure of the ensemble.
"That's it."
"What do you think, Matsumae-san? We are asked to play an ensemble successfully with the first-year students in just one week. This is simply impossible."
Matsumae Shinchun could only smile bitterly at everyone.
She couldn't explain some of the reasons. In fact, many students slacked off during the afternoon practice because of the hard practice in the previous semester, which resulted in them not being able to calm down and study the music scores given by Teacher Fujii.
There are no beginners in this ensemble; everyone is an experienced member.
Last time the teacher asked everyone if they could complete the ensemble, and everyone said yes. In fact, the teacher's questions were reasonable in terms of emotion and reason.
Another girl echoed, "It's so annoying. Yang Kui has been keeping her head down since just now. He can't be a little gentler. There are things that can be said in private. He doesn't care about Yang Kui's face. She is obviously the one who practices the most here."
The atmosphere of complaints became stronger and stronger, and the endless words even escalated to the rumors from last semester, and everyone started discussing it in a low voice.
"If you ask me, the rumors from last semester might be true. Mr. Fujii is so young, he must have been parachuted into Tachibana Kita through the backdoor."
"Could it be that Mr. Fujii himself has no talent in music?"
Jiu Huayue couldn't stand it anymore. It was bad enough that these guys didn't take the training seriously and didn't do what they promised the teacher, but they also spoke ill of the teacher behind his back.
What's the difference between this and the group of people who spread rumors about the teacher in the cafeteria?
Obviously when they did this themselves, they said they did a good job.
"enough!"
Jiuhuayue was about to stand up to refute, but unexpectedly, Yang Kui Qiansui, who was a seat away, suddenly stood up with a gloomy face.
bang——
When Yang Kui Chitose stood up, it seemed that she kicked a chair, making a loud noise. And because she was standing in the middle and was the key target of being called out this time, all the students in the classroom looked at her.
When Rinka Hiiragi saw her good friend's lonely back, she could feel her inner entanglement and complexity.
Having talked so much with Chitose yesterday, she certainly understood what kind of mood Chitose was in when practicing the trumpet.
But now.
There were still tears in the corners of Yang Kui Chitose's eyes, but she clenched her fists and shouted to all the students in the club:
"Who allowed you to speak ill of Mr. Fujii in the club? You don't even trust your own instructor, who else can you trust? It's obviously your fault! It's obviously your fault! It's obviously your fault! It's obviously your fault that you didn't do well enough! It's obviously your fault that you didn't pay enough attention! What's the point of blaming others? If you are not willing to give up, then practice again! Speak with your strength! You can only speak ill of him here! You can only complain here! Besides this, what else can you do!"
After saying that, Yang Kui Chitose seemed to be holding back something, lowered her head, and quickly left the classroom.
"Thousand, thousand years old."
Hiiragi Rinka chased after her, and when Matsumae Shinharu saw Chitose Haruki walk out of the classroom, she also followed.
The remaining people in the club didn't know what to do now. After a long silence, they all looked at the minister.
Shoko Aoyama coughed twice, stood up, and spoke to everyone.
"Since Mr. Fujii said we can take a break, then let's take a break. I think everyone is under a lot of pressure right now. Instead of practicing now, why don't we go back and think about the problem carefully? Then we can practice again after we figure it out."
The minister has said so, and no one has any objection.
Today's events were very unpleasant and I'm not in the mood to continue practicing.
Everyone began to pack up their instruments and music scores, and left the music classroom in groups of three or four.
Jiuhuayue also packed up her instruments. She put the suitcase on her chair and suddenly caught a glimpse of the trumpet next to Yang Kui Chitose's seat.
The golden trumpet was placed diagonally on an open black instrument case. On top of the case, there was an eye-catching line of words engraved that Qiansui used to encourage himself.
——[Work hard! Work harder! You will definitely catch up with Brother Shu! Definitely!]
Jiuhuayue was silent.
Chapter 69 Let’s Meet Chitose
"Fujii, are you being too strict with the students in the wind band?"
That afternoon, in a izakaya, Fujii Itsuki looked at Akai Muko who was sitting next to him.
The lights in the izakaya were orange and yellow, and the area was full of tourists who came here to eat skewers. There were only one or two tables of local customers.
Fujii Itsuki did not directly answer Akai Muzi's question, but asked back:
"What do you think of the current level of the wind band?"
"It's still not good. After all, you have only taught them for one semester since you took over."
"Wrong." Fujii Itsuki sighed, "Everyone's level is very good, because they all have a basic foundation. I led them last semester and conducted individual training for them and practiced their cooperation. I also conducted one-on-one guidance during the holidays, but I don't know if it's because I didn't supervise them during the holidays that everyone became lazy after school started."
“Where does it come from?”
"Do you know what piece of music I chose for the ensemble?"
“Bach’s?”
"It's Borodin's Wilderness Rhapsody. I picked out the middle part and asked them to play it together."
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Akai Muzi was silent. She even asked in surprise, "It's not that serious? You can't even play well with such a simple piece? How can you make mistakes? Isn't it enough to practice for one or two days? I only practiced for half a day and I was able to play with the band."
"That's the problem. Even the new freshmen can play better than the sophomores. Once the sophomores start to mess up, the freshmen and juniors start to mess up as well. The rhythm is disrupted, and even those who didn't make any mistakes start to make mistakes. Basically, everyone makes some mistakes."
Akai Muzi probably knew the difficulties Fujii was facing.
In this case, there is no way to provide guidance at all.
Ensemble is not an individual practice. If an individual has problems, the instructor can teach and correct the problem privately.