Chapter 68: Try harder! Try harder! You will definitely catch up with Brother Shu! Definitely!
On Saturday, the ensemble performed as expected.

The first thing to do when playing an ensemble is to move all the large instruments to the appropriate positions.

All seats and sheet music are fanned out around the music classroom podium.

At the back is the percussion group. From left to right, they are the first violin, second violin, viola, and cello.

The brass and woodwind groups occupy the middle position, sandwiched between the violins and percussion instruments. There are music stands in front of the students' seats, and after adjusting the angle, they can clearly see the position of the conductor in the middle.

Fujii Itsuki arrived half an hour early. When the later students saw him, they all held their instruments and bowed their heads in greeting.

At nine o'clock in the morning, the entire wind band officially assembled.

Fujii Itsuki looked around the classroom. Except for the new beginners, all the members of the club took their instruments and sat in the seats that had been planned in advance. The beginners were just starting out, so they watched from the side.

When everyone was quiet, he clapped his hands and motioned for everyone to look at him.

"How do you feel after nearly a week of training?"

They looked at each other, whispered to each other, and their responses were incoherent.

Fujii Itsuki knew what the situation was. He said nothing and called the principal oboe of the second grade department.

"Shiina-san."

"teacher."

"Start tuning, A, 445."

Following Fujii Itsuki's instructions, the oboe player blew the first note, and then the other sections followed suit.

"stop."

The members put down their instruments and looked at the expressionless Fujii Itsuki on the podium.

Rinka Hiiragi, who was hugging the cello at the back, felt even more nervous. She didn't expect that the ensemble would fail at the very beginning. It seemed that Shiina-san got the pitch given by the teacher wrong.

"Shiina-san."

"exist"

"It was 440 just now, right?"

"Yes"

"No 445?"

"For A key, isn't it usually 440?"

Fujii Itsuki did not respond.

Of all the people present, only Matsumae Shinchun understood the teacher's thoughts.

Normally, the tuning will be to a standard pitch, which is A, 440hz.

The teacher's tuning is five hertz faster, which is difficult for ordinary people to distinguish. But for an orchestra, this tuning will make everyone's voice appear brighter and highlight the soloist's voice.

Because not everyone has particularly good skills and cannot grasp the pitch accurately, it is better to tune the overall pitch higher. This is a clever trick played by the teacher.

Fujii Itsuki looked at the leader of the string group, Matsumae Shinharu, who also happened to notice her teacher's gaze. The girl was about to agree when the sound of an oboe suddenly rang out in the orchestra.

It's Jushizawa Yuzu.

The tone is warm and quite beautiful.

The tone given is also very consistent with Fujii Itsuki's standards.

"Then everyone should tune according to the pitch given by Jushizawa-san."

The members of the club looked at each other in bewilderment, and the former oboe principal Shiina also looked a little embarrassed.

But this atmosphere only lasted for a few seconds, and the members followed Fujii Itsuki's instructions and blew out sounds one after another.

"Prepare."

After the last person finished tuning, Fujii Itsuki raised his baton in front of everyone. He looked around at everyone in the club who were looking at him, then turned to the drummer at the far end. His right hand trembled slightly, and he reached out and pulled slightly.

The girl in charge of the snare drum immediately understood his intention and started beating the rhythm.

Fujii Itsuki waved again, and then the brass group followed closely, producing a majestic sound. The bass group filled in the background, and the sound began to be heavy and profound. Just like the opening ceremony of the parade, it was exciting and inspiring, making people unconsciously raise their chests and want to step forward.

"Very good, very good, change the first violin, make the sound softer."

Everyone's eyes were focused on the conductor. Fujii Itsuki looked at Chitose, Kuka, Matsumae, Hiiragi Rinka on the cello, Jujube Juju on the oboe, Sasahara Riro on the harp, Takahashi Hotaru on the recorder, and other members of the other clubs.
Everyone followed their own movements.

I won’t say much about Matsumae and Chitose, but Kuka is really surprising. In just one semester, she can already play the trumpet quite well.

This may be related to the fact that she learned vocal music since childhood.

Hiiragi's cello is also good, with a low note that is neither arrogant nor irritable.

Fujii Itsuki closed his eyes and felt the music flowing in his ears.

"stop."

When the piece reached the middle part - the bar where the trumpet group led the main melody, Fujii Itsuki abruptly stopped the ensemble.

He turned his attention to Chitose Yang Kui from the trumpet group.

"what happened?"

"I" Yang Kui Chitose opened her mouth and looked at Fujii Itsuki, her heart tightening.

At this time, Hiiragi Rinka also noticed Chitose's stiff hands from behind and became worried about her.

"Bar 182, try playing it again."

Chitose Hyōkui tried again at measure 182. After listening to it, Itsuki Fujii closed his eyes and said, "Hōkui-san."

"exist"

"what happened?"

"."

no respond.

"Have I given you enough time to practice?"

Fujii Itsuki's tone was very calm, but it was this calmness that instantly made the temperature in the classroom drop by several degrees. Everyone couldn't help but look towards the middle, where Chitose Yang Aoi was holding a trumpet.

"."

"Do you know the purpose of our ensemble this time?"

Chitose Yangkui replied: ".This ensemble is practicing for the Nakajima Festival parade in Sapporo in May. This is the piece we will be participating in. The teacher will give us guidance later."

"Can you blow it better next time?"

"."

"Hinako-san?"

"can"

Fujii Itsuki looked away from her.

"Well, Yang Kui-san, you can take a break now," Fujii Itsuki turned back to face everyone in the club, "The rest of you continue, start from the beginning, snare drum."

Rinka Hiiragi noticed that the atmosphere in the classroom was too solemn, and the senior student in charge of the snare drum was slow to respond after two or three seconds.

"Yes."

Boom, boom, boom, boom.

The drum beats restarted. As Fujii Itsuki gently pulled the baton, the brass instruments sounded again, followed by the woodwind instruments and string instruments.

While playing, Hiiragi Rinka and Jiuhuayue, who was standing at the same position as her, both looked at Yangkui Chitose's lowered face.

All the members of the wind band were playing music, except for her. She was the only one holding the trumpet, lowering her head and standing in the middle, silent.

*
The ensemble ended. Everyone put down their instruments with embarrassment. Everyone knew that the ensemble had become completely chaotic in the middle and later parts, with the noises of various instruments intertwined together. It was not a song at all.

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?"

"."

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."

"."

"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?"

"."

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."

"."

"What did you promise me when school started?"

"."

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?"

"."

"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.

(End of this chapter)