2016-12-13

【Aiden in English】

        Music for the past few years has really been growing on me. Since the start of piano lessons, there was always a part sectioned off for music. But unfortunately, it became more of a liability as time passed, and the time to practice got slimmer and slimmer.

        Then I entered the band in the fourth grade. It wasn’t all “oh my goodness, I am now going to be a dedicated musician for life”. This event simply said, “Hey, you still have more music in you to be played”.

        Now I sit, in the Wind Ensemble concert, waiting for the all-too symbolic raise of the conductor’s arms. The Winter Concert was the one we as a band prepared for around 3 months, in which we desperately planned which and what songs to use. In the end, the band decided on a few, holiday songs, and a special movie track sounding piece.

        The very special movie like song deserves a lot of attention, and I must say, there really aren’t many things that get your blood moving like a musical war. The piece titled “Arrows” by Samuel R. Hazo was a fierce, raging musical one that captured a lot of the sounds of battle, from the blazing main melody to the pounding of the bass drums. The saxophone section mainly focused on the strong melody, countered by the trombones, providing leverage from behind. Most of the strong are quite rampaging and messy, but somewhere in between, a soothing scene develops seemingly out of nowhere.

        At this point during the rehearsal, the song seemed to be … less of a set tone and more of a random bunch of beautiful melodies. Just one simple change was made to the song. We cut out around fifteen measures of music. Why you may ask? Well, it sounds a lot like “elevator music”. Obviously, it is quite rude to put it this way, but there is simply no other way of saying it. Therefore, the cut was made, and the audience was saved from the painstaking elevator tune that could be heard in … an elevator. Luckily, the cut was not awkward, nor was it noticeable. But as a band, we knew what was going on.

〖Bloopers〗

        During rehearsal, the risers behind the saxophones were set up, so the instruments like the trombones and trumpets could point their bells at the audience. Well, the seat kept sliding back, and back, and back, until one kid’s chair’s back legs fell into the crevasse between the risers. He was okay, but it gave everyone a laugh.

        Upon finishing another round of “Arrows”, I leaned back and rested my arm on the riser behind me. My shoulder was cramping, and the rehearsal was basically finished. Laying my hand on the riser, I heard a faint splat as it landed in a pile of spit from the trombonist behind me.

【紅霞譯文】

        過去幾年裡音樂確實伴我成長，可以說自打上手彈奏鋼琴開始，它便成為自己生活的一部分，只可惜隨着年月推移，音樂反倒更像一種責任，真正付諸行動的時間越來越少。

        進入小學四年級之後，音樂不再是“天哪，現在我準備當一名專業音樂家”，而被單純地視為：“嘿，你搞音樂還有點悟性。”

        此時此刻，我坐在冬季音樂會演奏席上，正等待指揮揮舞手臂示意演出開始，這場冬季音樂會我們歷經選曲練曲周折，前後大約準備了三個月之久，最後才決定表演幾首節日歌曲，外加電影仿聲樂。

        像特殊電影插曲的音樂作品值得引起高度重視，說實在的，眼下沒有太多東西像戰爭片那樣令人熱血沸騰。由塞繆爾·羅伯特·哈索創作的《箭》是一首情緒激昂鬥志旺盛的樂曲，通過鏗鏘有力的主旋律和渾厚悲壯的低音鼓來表現混戰場面，薩克斯管重點突出強撼旋律，與溫柔委婉的長號伴奏形成鮮明對比；多數強音用來刻畫凌亂不堪的戰鬥，不過中間有些地方突然舒緩起來。

        排練期間就在這個部位，樂曲顯得……固定音色比較少，悅耳動聽的旋律倒是比比皆是，對此我們稍加改動，乾脆從譜子上拿掉十五個小節，你或許要問為什麼？原曲聽起來很像“電梯音樂”，顯然這麼處理感覺非常生硬，而其它辦法又不奏效。刪減之後，觀眾大可從電梯所發出的痛苦聲中解脫出來，幸虧剪輯做得並不唐突，沒人察覺有何不同，但作為樂隊演員，大家都知道怎麼回事。

〖出醜後記〗

        排練期間，薩克斯管後排安裝了抬高座位的升降板，以便讓長號和小號之類的樂器能夠擺正喇叭直對觀眾，不料上面的座椅一點一點地往後滑，致使一位小演員凳子後腿掉進兩排升降板空隙當中，他倒完好無恙，可真逗樂了大夥。

        吹奏完另一輪《箭》，我背靠升降板好讓胳膊擔在上面休息一下，結果膀子抽了筋痙攣不止，直到全部排練基本結束。這回我正把手伸向升降板，隱約聽見啪唧一聲，手掌一下子捂在身後長號手吐的一大灘唾液上。

相關博文：

2015 Winter Concert of Seventh Grade(2015年初二冬季音樂會)