2017-01-26

【Aiden in English】

        So, in my piano life, I’ve been extremely active. I go to auditions, recitals, and performance every few months somewhere. But my band's side has been lacking. As of this year, I have yet to perform outside of school-related shows. Whether it is a Wind Ensemble meet at a spring concert.

        I guess it is now time to give the band some love. Recently, our band director handed out “Triumphant Fanfare”, a piece by Richard Saucedo. It really is a fast tempo song with flurries and blasts of arpeggios and chords. It has a real feel of firepower in the melody, which is given to the alto saxophones. And if you didn’t know, I play the saxophone.

        What is so special about this performance today? Well, we’re actually a showcase for a music workshop for teachers in this area. Richard Saucedo, the composer of Triumphant Fanfare, would be there to give tips and suggestions to the band and the audience of teachers, as well as highlight some positive qualities of the band. Of course, this was all new to the band since the music workshop sponsored by Conn-Selmer Institute just started this year, so everyone was on the seat for the entirety of the performance. Luckily, nothing went wrong, which was also quite surprising. Like I always say, focus on the possible negatives and not the positives, and hopefully, they won’t come true. If that goes against everything your childhood stood for, well, I don’t know what to say.

        Triumphant Fanfare flew by quite quickly, and other than a few squeaks from the trumpet section, we made it through alive. Following that loud piece, we have another raging pot of notes with “Arrows”, a song of war and dramatic movie-like phrases. For example, there is a specific section of triplets that go exactly with any action movie breathing-holding scene. Once again, I think we did quite well.

        Richard Saucedo, the composer of “Triumphant Fanfare”, was on the stage with us at one point, and he described our band in many good ways. He then asked us to do a few tests, like counting the 8 silently then speaking on 1. This exercise was something we did at rehearsal, which was probably why we didn’t have any mess-ups. Soon Mr. Saucedo lectured about tuning, using a trumpet player as a demonstration. Unfortunately for him, the audion caused his horn to become sharp due to the hot lights, and the sound produced was extremely sharp. Therefore, I felt kind of bad as the entire audience was consisting of teachers and parents.

        I think that this was a great experience for the band, not only because a lot of good advice was given, but also because of the importance of the event. The pressure of performing helps the band grow, so I believe the future should hold a stronger and better performance, especially since we just finished a quality concert today.

【紅霞譯文】

        在鋼琴生涯中，我一向全力以赴，每隔幾個月不是參加比賽及匯報演出，就是登台獻藝；而在樂隊方面類似的活動卻寥寥無幾，新年至今仍然沒有什麼課外演奏，校級管樂音樂會恐怕要等到春季到來之際。

        我覺得時下該是大搞樂隊活動的絕佳時機，難怪最近樂隊指揮發來由理查德·紹塞多創作的《勝利號角》譜子，這是一首藉助琶音及和弦演奏魅力來渲染強烈節奏感的樂曲，中音薩克斯管吹出極富戰鬥力的旋律，給人留下深刻印象。或許你有所不知，我是薩克斯手。

        那麼今天這場演出到底有何特殊？實際上我們為本地音樂教師研討會作示範表演，《勝利號角》作曲家理查德·紹塞多將對初中部演員及專業聽眾進行現場講解演奏技巧與要領，並對學校樂隊發展提出建設性意見，這是一種新型教學方式，今年首次由康塞爾默音樂協會主辦，樂隊成員自始自終坐在舞台上進行表演，好在整個演出沒出一點狀況，大大出乎意料。我再三強調應把注意力放到各個薄弱環節上而不是自己熟悉掌握的地方，但願這麼做能夠揚長避短，如果正好與你童年經歷相悖，算我沒說好了。

        《勝利號角》很快被吹奏完畢，除了小號發出少許怪音外，大家順利過關。排在這部洪亮作品之後的《箭》同樣熱情奔放，它是一首描述戰爭突出電影情節戲劇性的樂曲，舉例來說，有一段出現三連音，演奏效果就像動作片表現的那樣扣人心弦。用我的眼光來看，大家再次以出色的技藝圓滿完成了任務。

        理查德·紹塞多即《勝利號角》作者登台站到我們跟前，對樂隊表現給以高度讚賞，隨後要求大家做幾種訓練，比方說默數八拍再高聲喊出一拍，彩排時我們曾做過類似練習，也許正因如此沒人出現失誤。不久，紹塞多先生又叫出一位小號手現身演示調音，偏巧當時演奏廳燈光過強，而熱度本身足以使小號音質變高，小號經這小子一吹，音調顯得格外尖利，我反倒有點尷尬，畢竟觀眾席上到處都是老師家長。

        我認為這次活動讓樂隊受益匪淺，同伴們不僅聆聽到很多諄諄教誨，而且還體驗出演員與作曲家親密接觸的重要性，表演壓力促進樂隊成長，特別經過今天高水平演出全方位訓練，我堅信將來一定會越變越強越演越棒。

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-5(2017年鄉村娛樂籃球隊第五場比賽)

2009: 巴拿馬運河(Panama Canal)

2008: 聖托馬斯島(Saint Thomas)