2015-04-23

【Aiden in English】

        Pop music is just a bass, a beat, and a melody, with an occasional quiet harmony. It’s simple, yet people of the new generation absolutely adore it. But when written down, practiced, and closely inspecting it, the music that I loved suddenly seemed so much duller than ever before.

        Now, everyone hates pop music just because of Justin Biebe, (which I do). I mean that I think pop is so uncomplicated in a musical way. The Montgomery and Bridle Path Band Spring Concert at Bridle Path proved my thoughts when we performed. All of us were dressed in our best attire, which for some reason meant wearing the ugliest sneakers you could find, and with their flashy instruments, I could see some really nice jazz musicians in this band. The hallways were stifling hot, and the fancy clothes were not helping at all. The concert time crept closer, and with the speed of a striking snake, we were hustled on stage. 

        Today’s performance was unique from all the other years. There were the usual, easy, yet beautiful songs, fast and slow, featuring every section. But it was mainly two songs that really felt strong among 6 musical pieces. The first was a jazz piece called “Slidin’ the Blues”. This song featured the trombone section which was huge. There were 18, I believe, trombones in the band, and some had tons of talent. This jazzy tune really got some people rocking to the beat, and it caught me as well. Bobbing to the rhythm was dangerous as a sax player, and so our section had to settle with simply tapping feet. Jazz had irregular notes, bending the rules of classical music, which is also why I like it. No rules to how a chord needs to sound, or how half steps sound weird or how F to B (augmented 4th) is the devil’s tune. With differences like these, people can really only like one side, and I’m sitting in the middle. However, that “middle” is the middle of three sides. I also enjoy pop. Boy, liking pop, jazz, and classical seems like picking A, B, or C when all of them are correct, but there’s no all-of-the-above selection. 

        So the band played “Happy”, another intriguing piece. We also played this piece in Wind Ensemble of North Penn. The pop song was so simple that it didn’t take an advance band to play it. As much as it was cool, the notes weren’t as sophisticated as one would think. We aced the performance, though the grand finale wasn’t as hard as the other pieces.

        Split among the three main music groups is difficult. Pros and cons even out, leaving a balanced diet. But someday, I’ll have to choose a side.

【红霞译文】

        流行音乐强调低音、节奏以及旋律，偶尔表现出静谧和谐，由于曲调简单，年轻人都趋之若鹜。可一旦整理成章加以排练，再经仔细推敲，我突然发觉流行音乐相当朴实。

        目前因为贾斯汀•比伯主导潮流，人人讨厌流行歌曲（本人就是其中一位）。我指的是，单凭从音乐角度来看，流行音乐曲式简单平淡，在马径小学举行的春季音乐会恰好证实了我的看法。管乐队全班人马衣冠楚楚，当然也不排除个别人脚踩一双丑陋无比的运动鞋，各自握起金管银号，我不难发现这支队伍当中有几位爵士乐演员身手不凡。时下走廊闷热，身穿西服革履更无凉爽之意，演出在即，大家神速地走进大厅闪亮登台。

        今天的演出与过去几年有所不同，每段曲子都通俗好听，节奏不快不慢，但六首乐曲中主要有两首最扣人心弦。第一首爵士乐《逃避布鲁斯曲》由长号领奏，如果没有记错，总共有十八位长号手一起表演了这段节选，其中有的天资超群。爵士乐起，不少人情不自禁地跟着节奏摇摆起来，我也没有例外，只是来回摆动对吹萨克斯管极为不利，因此我们只能用脚尖点地轻打节拍。爵士乐即兴，其音阶无规可循，不及古典音乐清规戒律说道特多，这也是为什么我喜欢爵士乐的原因，你大可不必顾虑和弦怎么配置，半音为啥降得这样突兀，从F音到B音增四度音程怎么听起来像鬼哭狼嚎，鉴于爵士音乐与古典音乐之间诸多区别，无论萝卜还是白菜，大家终有自己的喜好，而我则坚持走中庸之道，这里所说的“中庸”完全基于三种音乐形式，我本人还非常喜欢流行音乐。天呀，喜欢流行、爵士、古典音乐就像要在A、B、C三个答案做出任意选择一样，而每个答案都对，但偏偏没有“上面三个答案全部正确”这种选择。

        管乐队奏起了另外一首旋律激昂的《快乐》作品，我们曾在北宾州管乐团汇报演出中表演过这首曲子，流行乐简捷易行，对技巧功底要求不高，只要作品好听，吹奏音符并非像一般人想象的那么复杂，再加上大家鼎力合作，这首压轴曲的难度反倒不如其它节目。

        流行、爵士、古典三种主要音乐形式争芳斗艳，各有千秋，谁都无法取代对方，但总有一天，我会搞清楚自己到底喜欢什么。