2016-11-05

【Aiden in English】

        I’ve stressed a lot about the upsides of music. Now it’s time to realize why many children quit playing instruments.

        So far in my music “career”, there hasn’t been any major slip-ups on stage quite yet. Not to jinx it, but there really is no reason to mess up things you practice over and over again. Right?

        Today the recital of Dorothy Sutton Performance Festival I was going to in West Chest Univ. was not the most “professional” which was hosted by Philadelphia Music Teacher Association, in the sense that things seemed to be done rather ruggedly. These types of performances are more for the experience than anything since it is one of the rare performances where difficulty doesn’t matter. This provides ups and downs for the performance. Some good qualities this brings to the table include an opportunity for everybody, but at the same time, it makes the show quite boring. Unfortunately for me, although this performance was very laid back, my private teacher saw this as a perfect opportunity to test us under pressure. I say “us” because the song my friend and I were performing was Sonata in D Major K448 3^rd Movement, and it was the only composition written for two pianos and four hands by Mozart.

        Yeah, it may be laid back, but performing never is quite like practice. My friend and I played it in two different pianos. Before I list all the mistakes we made under pressure, I would like to say in defense that practice together with my partner was limited, since we don’t live close together or have two pianos in either of our houses. So with this in mind, it kind of covers many reasons why areas in the piece went sour. Luckily, we could recover somewhat after each mistake. It began with a hiccup on my partner’s part, messing up a solo because he choked. Grinning with satisfaction that nobody was perfect since my mother always claimed my friend was always better than I was(he still is), I botched up my follow up melody very badly. The rest of the song went around like a plane ride: we reached the destination, but not without turbulence and being delayed several times at the airport. Finishing with a flurry, we stepped off the stage, blood pumping through our faces.

        After the performance, mother brought me to Manayunk, a famous neighborhood in the outer rim of Philadelphia, to see an old friend of hers. We had lunch in a great American restaurant Winnie’s LeBus Manayunk, as I tried to forget the day’s problems. There were going to be some very stern words said about the performance at home, but until then, I can run from the issue all I want. After all, the real competition comes in January 2017.

【红霞译文】

        好的音乐给我带来不少心里负荷，现在真该审视为什么青少年们放弃弹奏乐器。

        就本人音乐“生涯”而言，到目前为止尚未在舞台上出现大起大落的场面，且不说什么晦气话，你哪肯让那些经过自己千锤百炼的作品带有任何瑕疵，对不？

        今天我来西切斯特大学参加由费城音乐教师协会举办的多萝西•苏顿艺术节汇报演出，其实算不上最“专业”水准的音乐会，从某种意义而言无非就是现场献艺，凡事重在参与，既然这种表演并非追求技巧难度，因此演奏水平参差不齐，这里只不过为所有演员提供一个展示琴艺的交流平台，难免摆脱稚嫩无聊的作品。虽然表演本身无拘无束，但我的钢琴私教老师却把它当成考验我们学生承受压力的绝好机会，我只好积极响应。前面所提到的“我们”是因为我和朋友一起演奏D大调奏鸣曲作品K448第三乐章，这是莫扎特创作的唯一一首双钢琴四手联弹曲目。

        没错，音乐会固然氛围轻松，但是演出毕竟有别于练习，何况我和朋友要在两架钢琴上分别弹奏同一部作品，在罗列压力当前丑态百出之际，我想借机先解释一番，哥俩各居异地，谁家都没有两架钢琴，因此平常共同练琴的机会相当有限，如此说来临场出点状况情有可原，好在失误之后我俩都能拾起下面要弹的东西。这回因为朋友咳嗽而打乱他自己的独奏节律，我母亲曾一直夸他弹得比我棒（本人仍然这么认为），而我确实处理不好旋律变化，但智者千虑难有不失，人无完人。接下来我俩如同驾驭飞机：经过上下颠簸起伏反复延误降落时间，最终还是抵达目的地，结尾部分拿捏过急，待谢幕走下台来，我俩亢奋得满脸通红。

        表演完毕，母亲带我到费城郊区著名社区──马拉杨克面会她的老朋友，大家来到当地一家口碑不错的美式餐馆“温妮卷筒”共进午餐，我设法忘掉音乐会上出现的种种失误，针对那些忠言逆耳的讲评还是留待回家再说，眼下我要尽量干点自己想做的事情，不然转眼就到了明年一月份正式比赛。