2016-05-20

【Aiden in English】

        My life is dominated by the piano. I can do whatever I want, as long as it revolves around the daily hour of practice, the weekly hour of lessons, the monthly hour of recitals, and the yearly hours of performance. Music, music, and music, and the most annoying part: it’s all classical music.

        The wind ensemble is the hottest subject in school for me, other than Phys Ed since I can actually play some other form of music other than classical. Now, don’t get me wrong; classical is just fine. The simple fact how it’s been six years of an hour a day has scarred my mind. Doing the calculations, that’s 2,190 hours of my 115,680 hours of my life so far. More math, at least that’s what my mom would like me to do. This ratio comes out to be a whopping 1.89315…%. The wind ensemble is so small compared to my piano life, but it can’t be overshadowed. I think today’s Spring Concert brightened up my life, opening up more to a section of music that I rarely get to make.

        The seventh-grade band is a real landmark in my life. For one, there are no more elementary band skills where teachers have to finger you through each measure, although they still do that process to certain kids who don’t really play. So, it really doesn’t push me to my full capabilities, which is why I joined the Wind Ensemble. After the winter concert at the high school last Dec, our director and teacher handed out two new pieces. The repertoires are quite interesting because the songs that we play are a varied selection. The opener is a song by Mozart, the Rondo for Solo and Wind Band. This piece features a single soloist, a bassoon, but a modification was made so the melody was transposed to a clarinet. Unfortunately, our band was privileged enough to have a good bassoon player this, so I wonder how he must feel. The solo was a long scale up and down a few times, picking up speed as each one went by. The entirety of the song was based on the clarinets, whether it was the third harmony part or the first melody part, a solo would be given to them. Even if the other sections though they contained a fragment of the melody, our director would tell us to get out of the way.

       The song really would put peace to the crowd, which was exactly why we played Equilibrium next. The word “equilibrium” means a state of balance. It really is quite weird how this song reaches equilibrium since everything is hectic. For one, the beginning had the mallets and the bells were playing in different time signatures. So, for those who enjoy annoying challenges, our conductor had one hand waving a ¾ time, and the other waving a 4/4 standard beat. Somehow, every twelve beats the hands matched up, and fortunately, it only lasted for a few measures. The song and melody itself was another interesting topic. It didn’t contain the strict rules of classical music, nor the funky and irregular beat of jazz. Ironically, it had a somewhat jazzy melody and a classical steady tempo. The middle section was the sax’s highlight. The band had a small window of opening, and we crammed in two measures of triads and triplets. The sound was quite amazing, yet at the same time, not equal. It wasn’t until the end that the audience could hear the calming silence or equilibrium.

        Not to overshadow our seventh-grade band, but it stank. No, really, it reeked of sweat from the tuxes and suits due to the shining lights. Under the bright, shining spotlight, perspiration could not have been avoided. Although the band was sweating a river, I doubt any of it was cold sweat, the kind when you were nervous for a special performance, since the band was as cool as it could be. Unfortunately, most of the profession went down the drain in our second piece. I understand Uptown Funk was boring, but it was extremely unnecessary to ask audience members to have a dance-off on stage. Not only was it a safety hazard to the volunteers but also a major distraction. The moves pulled by the old were horrendous, and at times, the band would collapse into shambles because the conductor was conducting the dancers so each would get an equal amount of time. At this point in the concert, by lip muscles were quite tired, and as the band chugged through the song, they would have a difficult time playing. Luckily, it was near the end, and when the finale began, my lips felt a lot better.

        People always want to end with a bang, and what larger explosion can be made than the Star Wars theme song, plus many other famous works. I enjoyed this piece in the fact that every instrument had a part in the band, getting bits of the melody and harmony. The song went on for a while, but I’m pretty sure the audience thought it went by in a flash, brightening their night, like a star in space…

        By the way, this spring concert is on YouTube, and all you need to do is to search up “Pennbrook Spring Concert”. Find the one that has the 2016 date on it.

【紅霞譯文】

        鋼琴主導我的生活，只要每天撥弄一個鐘頭鍵盤、每周聽取一個鐘頭講課、每月發布一個鐘頭匯報、每年完成一個鐘頭表演，其它時候我想幹啥就幹啥。音樂、音樂、音樂，古典音樂充斥着整個世界，簡直不可思議。

        在我看來，除了體育課，學校管樂團堪稱最受追捧的熱門組織，在這裡我能真正演奏一些非古典音樂，千萬不要誤會我的意思，古典音樂本來無可厚非，但六年如一日，每天個把小時的磨練不能不叫我傷透腦筋，由此計算下來，在過去115,680小時生命長河裡我已付出2,190小時的光陰跟鋼琴打交道，所占比率高達1.89315…%。與琴史相比，本人管樂資歷十分膚淺，但絲毫不會影響我對它的喜愛，我覺得今天推出的春季音樂會像盞指路明燈，帶我走進以前甚少接觸的音樂天地。

        加入七年級管樂隊算得上我人生道路上一個名副其實的里程碑，老師不再像對待拉不長長揉不團團的小學生管樂隊那樣吹鬍子瞪眼珠，每吹奏一個小節都要揮舞手臂說這不行那不對，當然針對開小差的學生他還是依舊大喊大叫，因此別指望來此提高我的演藝水平，這正是為什麼我又參加學校管樂團的原因。去年十二月到高中參加過冬季音樂會之後，樂團指揮兼教練發下來兩首新歌，曲目非常有趣，調式變化多樣。第一首先由莫扎特《管樂獨奏及合奏迴旋曲》打頭陣，該部作品原為大管獨奏，但後來根據旋律發展被改成單簧管獨奏，說來有點過份，隊裡有一位大管演員吹得不錯，不知他心裡怎麼想。獨奏部分音階上下起伏很大，而且越吹越快，但無論第三樂章和聲部分還是第一樂章旋律部分，整個曲子幾乎全由單簧管獨擋一面，即使到了再現旋律的時候，指揮仍叫大家靠邊站。

        能給觀眾營造和諧氣氛的音樂當推下面一首我們吹奏的《平靜》，單詞“平靜”表示均衡狀態。儘管世間萬事總是來去匆匆，但這首曲子表現平衡的方式卻相當奇特。音樂一開始，木槌和鐘琴先以不同節拍演奏，正好迎合了喜歡鬧騰之輩的口味，指揮一隻手擺出¾拍的手勢，而另一隻手則打着4/4拍標準節奏。不知他們怎麼敲的，每十二拍雙方會合一次，謝天謝地，這麼做僅僅持續了幾個小節而已。《平靜》的樂曲及旋律非常有意思，既擺脫了古典流派的清規戒律，又捨棄了爵士風格即興隨意的節奏，滑稽的是這首曲子有點融合了爵士布魯斯旋律與古典平穩速度之特徵。中間部分由薩克斯管主奏，樂隊其他成員稍作休息，我們幾位薩克斯管手要在兩個小節內接連吹出三和弦及三連音，既把韻律演奏得相當到位，同時又將不協和性表現出來，直到結束的時候，觀眾才聽到祥和亦即“平靜”的聲音。

        用不着輕視七年級管樂隊，我們確實臭不可聞。誰說不是，在舞臺燈光的照射下，身着西裝革履的演員早已汗流浹背，個個釋放發熏人的氣味，經過高強度聚光燈烘烤，出些汗恐怕在所難免，滴滴汗水足以匯成涓涓小河，我懷疑其中有多少來自冷汗驚嚇，畢竟登台表演叫人神經緊張，況且管樂隊一向帥氣十足，萬無一失的心理壓力巨大。掃興的是，當吹奏第二首曲子時，大家的表演水平急劇下降，我明白《上城方克》樂曲比較單調，但犯不上靠邀請觀眾上台跳舞振奮情緒，暫且不提這些自告奮勇的家長客串舞台是否安全，管樂隊的注意力一下子分散開來，眼見老爸老媽們群魔亂舞，指揮為了給出他們等同的作秀時間，差點讓演出陷入癱瘓，大家唇肌累得僵硬，呼哧帶喘地吹着樂器，好歹應付完剩餘部分，直至壓軸節目開始，我的嘴唇才緩過勁來。

        人們總想期待意想不到的東西，而今晚沒有比《星球大戰》主題曲及許多相關的著名作品更加扣人心弦，我之所以喜歡它，就是因為每個樂器都有機會表現各自的旋律特徵及和聲元素。這首曲子持續演奏了一段時間，但我敢保證觀眾肯定覺得像顆流星劃亮夜空一閃而過……

        順便提一句，春季音樂會已上載到視頻網站，你只要搜索“賓溪春季音樂會”，並按照2016年月日時間順序即可找出欣賞。

相關博文：

2015 Band Spring Concert(2015年管樂隊春季音樂會)