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.

【红霞译文】

        钢琴主导我的生活，只要每天拨弄一个钟头键盘、每周听取一个钟头讲课、每月发布一个钟头汇报、每年完成一个钟头表演，其它时候我想干啥就干啥。音乐、音乐、音乐，古典音乐充斥着整个世界，简直不可思议。

        在我看来，除了体育课，学校管乐团堪称最受追捧的热门组织，在这里我能真正演奏一些非古典音乐，千万不要误会我的意思，古典音乐本来无可厚非，但六年如一日，每天个把小时的磨练不能不叫我伤透脑筋，由此计算下来，在过去115,680小时生命长河里我已付出2,190小时的光阴跟钢琴打交道，所占比率高达1.89315…%。与琴史相比，本人管乐资历十分肤浅，但丝毫不会影响我对它的喜爱，我觉得今天推出的春季音乐会像盏指路明灯，带我走进以前甚少接触的音乐天地。

        加入七年级管乐队算得上我人生道路上一个名副其实的里程碑，老师不再像对待拉不长长揉不团团的小学生管乐队那样吹胡子瞪眼珠，每吹奏一个小节都要挥舞手臂说这不行那不对，当然针对开小差的学生他还是依旧大喊大叫，因此别指望来此提高我的演艺水平，这正是为什么我又参加学校管乐团的原因。去年十二月到高中参加过冬季音乐会之后，乐团指挥兼教练发下来两首新歌，曲目非常有趣，调式变化多样。第一首先由莫扎特《管乐独奏及合奏回旋曲》打头阵，该部作品原为大管独奏，但后来根据旋律发展被改成单簧管独奏，说来有点过份，队里有一位大管演员吹得不错，不知他心里怎么想。独奏部分音阶上下起伏很大，而且越吹越快，但无论第三乐章和声部分还是第一乐章旋律部分，整个曲子几乎全由单簧管独挡一面，即使到了再现旋律的时候，指挥仍叫大家靠边站。

        能给观众营造和谐气氛的音乐当推下面一首我们吹奏的《平静》，单词“平静”表示均衡状态。尽管世间万事总是来去匆匆，但这首曲子表现平衡的方式却相当奇特。音乐一开始，木槌和钟琴先以不同节拍演奏，正好迎合了喜欢闹腾之辈的口味，指挥一只手摆出¾拍的手势，而另一只手则打着4/4拍标准节奏。不知他们怎么敲的，每十二拍双方会合一次，谢天谢地，这么做仅仅持续了几个小节而已。《平静》的乐曲及旋律非常有意思，既摆脱了古典流派的清规戒律，又舍弃了爵士风格即兴随意的节奏，滑稽的是这首曲子有点融合了爵士布鲁斯旋律与古典平稳速度之特征。中间部分由萨克斯管主奏，乐队其他成员稍作休息，我们几位萨克斯管手要在两个小节内接连吹出三和弦及三连音，既把韵律演奏得相当到位，同时又将不协和性表现出来，直到结束的时候，观众才听到祥和亦即“平静”的声音。

        用不着轻视七年级管乐队，我们确实臭不可闻。谁说不是，在舞台灯光的照射下，身着西装革履的演员早已汗流浃背，个个释放发熏人的气味，经过高强度聚光灯烘烤，出些汗恐怕在所难免，滴滴汗水足以汇成涓涓小河，我怀疑其中有多少来自冷汗惊吓，毕竟登台表演叫人神经紧张，况且管乐队一向帅气十足，万无一失的心理压力巨大。扫兴的是，当吹奏第二首曲子时，大家的表演水平急剧下降，我明白《上城方克》乐曲比较单调，但犯不上靠邀请观众上台跳舞振奋情绪，暂且不提这些自告奋勇的家长客串舞台是否安全，管乐队的注意力一下子分散开来，眼见老爸老妈们群魔乱舞，指挥为了给出他们等同的作秀时间，差点让演出陷入瘫痪，大家唇肌累得僵硬，呼哧带喘地吹着乐器，好歹应付完剩余部分，直至压轴节目开始，我的嘴唇才缓过劲来。

        人们总想期待意想不到的东西，而今晚没有比《星球大战》主题曲及许多相关的著名作品更加扣人心弦，我之所以喜欢它，就是因为每个乐器都有机会表现各自的旋律特征及和声元素。这首曲子持续演奏了一段时间，但我敢保证观众肯定觉得像颗流星划亮夜空一闪而过……

        顺便提一句，春季音乐会已上载到视频网站，你只要搜索“宾溪春季音乐会”，并按照2016年月日时间顺序即可找出欣赏。

相关博文：

2015 Band Spring Concert(2015年管乐队春季音乐会)