1: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/01/21 18:17:56

“CD Journal” 2014 2nd issue Morning Musume ’14 Oda Sakura interview (excerpt)

── Would you like to talk about anything that’s been on your mind lately?
Is it okay even if it’s quite technical?

── Sure.
May I? I’ve realized the importance of consonants. When singing in unison, I was someone who tended to leave it up to the others to make it work — I used to think that since there were so many of us singing, there was no need for me to emphasize my own presence. But when we tried singing again after Tanaka-san’s graduation, I finally understood the extent to which she had been taking the lead even when it came to singing in unison. All of us used to figure out the rhythm and intervals by listening to Tanaka-san’s voice, so when she was gone, it made me further realize just how big of a role she’d played within the group. But when I went back and listened to Tanaka-san’s singing, I noticed how she was singing the consonants really distinctly. Like, she would put emphasis to her pronunciation of the “s” in “sa” or the “k” in “ka.” She pronounced things like even a simple “come on” more like “KYAmon.” That’s when I came up with the idea of singing everything while paying mind to the alphabet inside my head. That’s what me and Sato-san have now started doing.

── Oh, Sato-san, too?
Sato-san doesn’t want to be like Tanaka-san, she wants to be Tanaka-san.

── Ahaha. She wants to become Tanaka-san herself? (laughs)
Her singing, her way of getting the audience fired up, her way of creating facial expressions, her fashion — she’s going for all of it. Anyway, I’ve started hearing how clearly Sato-san sings the consonants and it’s made me think it’s now her who’s leading everyone vocally, so that’s motivated me to work harder.

── So highlighting the consonants makes the rhythm more defined.
It gives it liveliness. It gives it “bite.” That’s why I’m using Tanaka-san’s way of singing as reference and always keeping the consonants at the back of my mind.

── So when you’re singing, you’re always thinking of the lyrics in the context of the alphabet?
Conveying the message of the lyrics is the number one most important thing of course, but yes, that’s right. Sato-san, too, is very conscious about it. One day when our singing instructor praised her vocals, she told me she had been singing while thinking about the lyrics alphabetically that day. Having it recognized like that, I thought it must be important.

2: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/01/21 18:20:44
Holy shiiiiiiiiiiiiiit.

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