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.

【红霞译文】

        在钢琴生涯中，我一向全力以赴，每隔几个月不是参加比赛及汇报演出，就是登台献艺；而在乐队方面类似的活动却寥寥无几，新年至今仍然没有什么课外演奏，校级管乐音乐会恐怕要等到春季到来之际。

        我觉得时下该是大搞乐队活动的绝佳时机，难怪最近乐队指挥发来由理查德·绍塞多创作的《胜利号角》谱子，这是一首借助琶音及和弦演奏魅力来渲染强烈节奏感的乐曲，中音萨克斯管吹出极富战斗力的旋律，给人留下深刻印象。或许你有所不知，我是萨克斯手。

        那么今天这场演出到底有何特殊？实际上我们为本地音乐教师研讨会作示范表演，《胜利号角》作曲家理查德·绍塞多将对初中部演员及专业听众进行现场讲解演奏技巧与要领，并对学校乐队发展提出建设性意见，这是一种新型教学方式，今年首次由康塞尔默音乐协会主办，乐队成员自始自终坐在舞台上进行表演，好在整个演出没出一点状况，大大出乎意料。我再三强调应把注意力放到各个薄弱环节上而不是自己熟悉掌握的地方，但愿这么做能够扬长避短，如果正好与你童年经历相悖，算我没说好了。

        《胜利号角》很快被吹奏完毕，除了小号发出少许怪音外，大家顺利过关。排在这部洪亮作品之后的《箭》同样热情奔放，它是一首描述战争突出电影情节戏剧性的乐曲，举例来说，有一段出现三连音，演奏效果就像动作片表现的那样扣人心弦。用我的眼光来看，大家再次以出色的技艺圆满完成了任务。

        理查德·绍塞多即《胜利号角》作者登台站到我们跟前，对乐队表现给以高度赞赏，随后要求大家做几种训练，比方说默数八拍再高声喊出一拍，彩排时我们曾做过类似练习，也许正因如此没人出现失误。不久，绍塞多先生又叫出一位小号手现身演示调音，偏巧当时演奏厅灯光过强，而热度本身足以使小号音质变高，小号经这小子一吹，音调显得格外尖利，我反倒有点尴尬，毕竟观众席上到处都是老师家长。

        我认为这次活动让乐队受益匪浅，同伴们不仅聆听到很多谆谆教诲，而且还体验出演员与作曲家亲密接触的重要性，表演压力促进乐队成长，特别经过今天高水平演出全方位训练，我坚信将来一定会越变越强越演越棒。

Today in History(历史上的今天):

2017 Twp Rec Basketball Game-5(2017年乡村娱乐篮球队第五场比赛)

2009: 巴拿马运河(Panama Canal)

2008: 圣托马斯岛(Saint Thomas)