Miku Club Returns to Noe Middle

By Rosalind Frederick, The Noetice

In its second year at Noe Middle School, Miku Club will meet every Friday from Oct. 9 to mid-February. The club was organized by Ada Beachy, Riley Gallagher and Mae Gayhart and is sponsored by seventh-grade science teacher Stephanie Rogers. The club’s purpose is to celebrate all things vocal-synth related, as well as to connect more students with the same interest.

But what are vocal synths? Vocal synths (short for synthesize) are singing voice synthesizer software where you add melodies and type words and pitch them to make the software sing. Yamaha made the first vocal-synth software in 2004 called VOCALOID. As of today, there are 202 vocaloids officially released by Yamaha. Hatsune Miku is the most famous vocaloid.

Every week, the club organizers share a “vocal-synth of the week” where they listen to two songs featuring synth. According to club member Lily Tingley, this “helps new fans get more knowledge about other voices than the more well known ones.”

Members also draw fan art with supplies like markers and colored pencils provided by Ms. Rogers to hang up in a corner of the room and get the opportunity to hang out with other fans.

According to Ms. Rogers, “Whether you’re a longtime Miku fan or just curious about what Vocaloid is, everyone is welcome. Come hang out, be creative and have some fun with us.”