2018-05-31

【Aiden in English】

        Last performance of Pennbrook MS, onto the high school. Can’t say I’m not nervous, because I am, but at the end of the day, it’s nothing more than just a simple performance. If anything, this is less than a normal concert, since each selection is played by groups consisting of less than ten people. Most of the bands were put together by music directors, from the jazz band to the orchestra and some vocal ensembles. A few were formed from people who just wanted to play a song before the end of our Pennbrook experience, such as mine.

        In the end, I participated in a total of three different selections. The first was a saxophone small ensemble, where we majorly screwed up. We played twisty “Sabre Dance” by Aram Khatchaturian, probably the most annoying song for any bass instrument. It’s almost the exact same concept of “March of the Dwarfs” by Edvard Grieg, with a repetitive back and forth eighth note harmony. For most of the song, I felt as though my thumb was going to fall off from pressing the octave key so many times. In total, I played an exact six different notes. While that may sound simple, the physical load pretty much broke the entire bari-sax section.

        I think the song was a massive failure, even though we made it through. However, things got better quickly. I was essentially cornered into playing Rachmaninoff's Prelude in G Minor Op. 23 No. 5 again, but this time I felt alright getting through the song, even after practicing on such short notice. I will say it boosted my confidence going into the final piece. 

        Earlier this week, our band director asked us to be the closure of the concert, which we accepted with alacrity. Not going to lie, that was a lot of pressure, considering how good the other performances were tonight. The final piece was the Monsters Inc. theme by Randy Newman and arr. Trombastion, a song all of us wanted to play for quite some time. So after searching around for a bit, I found sheet music for a trombone, sax, drum set, piano, and bass. Wow, that’s convenient, it’s like a jazz gig… 

        Because of weird scheduling for me, the practice was somewhat of a problem. I didn’t have lunch study, and other times were filled with classes. So we all decided to sacrifice a few lunches to practice. I wasn’t complaining because it’s one of the rare times when the band room is expectedly quiet. 

        Eventually, we got the gist of the thing. When performance time came around, I feel we were pretty lucky. Not only did the introduction to the song go alright, which it normally never does, I actually didn’t look as if I was going to puke. Not going to lie, this performance freaked me out immensely, since I don’t consider myself a jazz pianist. Somehow, I had it work and didn’t botch up a solo, which is seemingly easy but difficult for a novice not used to play piano on a swing beat. End of the story, I made it through the entire thing. I also finished off the last chord an octave too high. Guess you can say we ended on a high note. 

        At the end of the day, Pennbrook really feels like the start of my musical life. I totally understand how the numerous performances for piano have begun a trend long before, but nothing beats playing in front of friends.

        “Music is to the mind, as air is to the body.” (Plato)

【紅霞譯文】

        進入高中之前賓溪初中舉辦最後一次音樂晚會，千萬別說不犯怵，我內心緊張得要命，待回過頭重新再看其實無異於普通演出，如果硬要瞎白活，未必趕得上一般性音樂會，畢竟每個節目都未超過十個人，況且多數樂隊均由音樂總監撮合而成，演員不是來自爵士樂隊或管弦樂隊，就是來自合唱樂團，只有少數樂隊才由個別想要同台獻藝的好友自行搭夥，譬如像我就是這種情況。

        今晚，我總共參加了三個節目表演。第一個薩克斯管小合奏，好生生砸在了我們手上，提起阿拉姆·哈恰圖良旋風式《馬刀舞曲》大概稱得上低音樂器最難擺布的曲目，與愛德華·格里格《侏儒進行曲》的創作風格幾乎一脈相承，八分泛音重複出現，演奏過程中有很多小節需要來回按八度鍵，大拇指快要壓折了。總的來說，我吹了整整六個不同音，這些樂符也許聽上去簡單，但要靠上低音薩克斯管吹奏出來還是挺吃力的。

        走完一遍過場，我覺得曲子演得漏洞百出，然而情況很快好轉，我被趕鴨子上架，再度彈奏拉赫瑪尼諾夫《G小調前奏曲》鋼琴作品23第五首，儘管事先沒工夫準備，但這回我發揮得不錯，為下面最後一個節目出台增添了信心。

        早在本周演出前幾天，學校樂隊指揮要求我們幾個壓軸登場，大家爽快應允。實話實說，這可帶來很大壓力，要知道參加今晚表演的個個身手不凡，而《怪獸電力公司》(蘭迪·紐曼作曲、特羅姆巴斯申改編)主題曲則一直是我們想要演奏的作品。我上網不大功夫，竟一下子搜出長號、薩克斯管、架子鼓、鋼琴和貝司樂譜，甭提有多給力！儼然爵士樂隊陣容……

        由於時間衝突，合奏練習讓我大傷腦筋，主要因為我沒有午餐過後的自習空擋，其它時段又東奔西顛忙於上課，所以大家只好擠掉幾頓午餐硬湊在一起排練，這樣反倒讓我們撿了個便宜，我毫無抱怨之意，但唯有午休期間琴房才會消停下來。

        我們終於大功告成，演出自始至尾進展得順順利利，不能不說福星高照，這種際遇可謂前所未有。坦率地講，我心情十分緊張，畢竟自己不是爵士鋼琴手，合奏沒捅婁子，獨奏也未卡殼，對於並非善長彈奏鋼琴搖擺節拍的新手來說談何容易。我如願以償，並把樂曲最後一個和弦抬高了八度，你說得沒錯兒，我們完美收官。

        說一千道一萬，賓溪初中真是我音樂生涯的開始，雖然我投入鋼琴表演已有很長時間，但沒有什麼比在朋友面前演奏更令人情緒激昂。

        “音樂之於心靈，猶如空氣之於身體。”（柏拉圖）

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015 GHCS Commencement—Bitter-Sweet-Salty(羨慕嫉妒愛)

2014 Golden Key in Carnegie Hall(2014年卡內基金鑰匙音樂節)

Crosslinks(相關博文):

2018: Ninth-Grade Pit Orchestra(高一伴奏管弦樂隊)

2017 Eighth-Grade Spring Concert(2017年初三春季音樂會)

2017 Pennbrook MS Spring Concert(2017年賓溪初中春季音樂會)

2016 Seventh-Grade Spring Concert(2016年初二春季音樂會)

2015 Mont Band Spring Concert(2015年蒙小管樂隊春季音樂會)

2015 Sixth-Grade Spring Concert(2015年初一春季音樂會)

2014 Fifth-Grade Spring Concert(2014年五年級春季音樂會)