Please, come home and practice the piano

Chapter 707 405. Journey Narrative Ninety-Two: April Fool’s Day, 1777, the Stubbornness of Circular Breathing [Part [-]]

"Chen Xuan was born in Yanshi, Jiaodong, China in 1996. He studied flute at an early age. At the age of 18, he was admitted to the Orchestral Department of the Huaguo Conservatory of Music and continued to study flute performance with Professor Xiao Hongxia. While in school, he served as the flute of the Youth Symphony Orchestra of the Huaguo Conservatory of Music. Principal vocalist, he has performed on the same stage as world-class flutists such as Emile Debst, Joseph Tebowen, and Shigenori Kudo. In 2020, he won ASCA's highest scholarship as the best graduating student, and won the Huayin Cup in the same year. Gold Medal in Category A, Flute Group, Skills Competition.”

The player introductions are divided into two times. As the organizer of this competition, the first player introduction is in Chinese and the second time is in English.

When the host introduced the third contestant of this round in fluent Mandarin, the people in front of the screen realized that their good friend, teacher, and sister was not just a top student who graduated from the Huaguo Conservatory of Music.

The kids in Piano Classroom No. [-] gathered around Senior Sister Ji Yang as soon as the get out of class started. Just as Comandini bowed and left the stage, the children didn't have time to "blame" Senior Sister for not being enough to read it in advance, so they listened to the host read it out. The name they hold dear to their hearts.

Listening to the host's enthusiastic voice, the children's little faces could not restrain their pride. This is their Teacher Chen!

There was also a commotion on the eighth floor of Yudong. Different from the children in the No. [-] piano classroom, the art candidates who were at the crossroads of life listened to Teacher Chen Xuan’s introduction. In addition to admiration, they could not help but have infinite longing in their hearts. For As far as they are concerned, Teacher Chen is already at the ceiling level.

Taozi, who came after finishing his work, couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard Chen Xuan's introduction. Unlike the art candidates, including him and Qin Yong, they all had experience of studying abroad after graduating from top domestic universities. If not, ASCA Scholarship, this resume is a bit too common. Anyone who has spent four years in a music conservatory can basically pull out such a resume.

But with the support of ASCA scholarship, this resume is very extraordinary.

"What is the ASCA scholarship?" Wang Panpan asked.

Qin Yong: "ASCA is a global foundation with the goal of cultivating music talents. It is selected every two years. You can understand it as an international college student music skills competition. The highest scholarship winner is equivalent to winning the third prize. A grade of one.”

Xu Hongxin: "Awesome."

Tao Zi: "Although each class will award top scholarships ranging from thirty to fifty, on average, there are only one or two places in each major."

Ma Tao: "Sister Xuan is too low-key."

Wang Panpan: "Yes."

Colleagues who have known each other day and night for more than a year, if it weren't for Chen Xuan's participation in this competition, everyone would have continued to be kept in the dark.

Everyone has to thank Ang Lee for this.

After the registration review was approved, the organizing committee asked the contestants to provide a brief introduction. Chen Xuan did not intend to make it that long. It was Ang Lee's coercion, inducement and hard work that made Chen Xuan submit such a long introduction.

This is the only one that has been deleted. There are also many competitions where the award-winning experiences were deleted by Chen Xuan. In Chen Xuan’s words, some competitions are really not worth mentioning.

Ang Lee's idea was very simple. Why should he keep such a low profile for such a good self-promotion opportunity? When he participated in the Xinhai Cup, he had no choice but to make his introduction so short. He couldn't make it up if he had little experience.

"Wow————————"

As the host's second introduction ended, the audience burst into the warmest applause since the start of the game.

Chen Xuan’s advantage of playing at home was immediately apparent. Let’s not talk about anything else. For the audience, they are not allowed to applaud vigorously when they are on stage.

Right, so beautiful!
  Under the spotlight, Chen Xuan, dressed in an elegant purple dress at the backstage entrance, stepped onto the stage lightly with a smile.

"Wow————————————" Another wave of applause sounded.

It was as if Chen Xuan's appearance eclipsed the golden light of the stage, like clear water hibiscus exuding the fragrance of jasmine. Until she stopped in the center of the stage, the audience's vision returned to the entire stage layout.

And Li An still felt like a landscape painting in front of him. Even though he was far away from the stage, he could still clearly see the faint fluorescent light of a four-leaf clover shining under the white neck that he was so familiar with.

It was a four-leaf clover pendant that he gave to Chen Xuan for his birthday last year. He always asked Chen Xuan before why he didn't bring it.

When the applause fell, Li An's heart dropped along with his hands. Seeing Chen Xuan's energetic state at the moment, he no longer had any worries.
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  Compared with the stage for the second round the day before yesterday, at this moment, Teacher Chen Xiaomi could clearly feel the temperature of the entire concert hall was burning.

With her face burning, she vomited lightly, turned around and nodded to Teacher Gangban.

Teacher Gangban received the signal and returned his affirmative gaze. The next second, he raised his hands and lowered them. The glory of D major suddenly filled the entire concert hall.

The sound of the prelude is like firing a bow and arrow. The moment the thirty-two measures of the prelude are completed, the flute will sound.

Like the audience at the scene and in front of the screen, Chen Xuan is also waiting for that moment to arrive.

Perhaps no one else would know at this moment. The moment Chen Xuan nodded with Teacher Gangban just now, she suddenly hesitated in her heart.

Regarding the key of D major, she mastered at least three ways to start the piece. The moment she nodded, she was in a trance, as if Teacher Holdbuster's suggestion about this piece of music appeared in her ears again.

But the moment the prelude sounded, it was as if nothing had happened.

Like a determination from the gods, she once again made it clear that she could only play the beginning in that way.

A confident smile appeared again. Chen Xuan followed the music and pursed her lips gently. When the accompaniment came to the seventeenth measure, she put the flute to her lips, made a playing gesture in advance, and then closed it gently eyes.

The audience was not surprised by this scene. High-level performers always meditate before starting to play. In Ang Lee's words, Teacher Xiaomi was about to draw his sword.

Ang Lee is not joking, Chen Xuan will close her eyes for a few seconds every time before "zooming in".
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  The inability to hear the piano player and the darkness in front of her reminded Chen Xuan, who was in the middle of the stage, of the time when Ang Lee played her the steel partner in D major. That day must have been the second time she and Ang Lee had played together. After that, they would play again. A talk about the Big Three of Classicism.

The two of them, who had already regarded arguments as after-dinner snacks, ate so much that day that they were full. It had been a long time since the two of them had such a heated argument, and they were so frightened that they didn't even dare to lie down at the door of the study.

In Ang Lee's opinion, the most iconic feature of Mozart's works is the area where all classical composers collectively failed, the drama department of the concerto.

In Ang Lee's view, when playing Mozart's concerto, one must follow a clear confrontation between the individual voice of the lead actor and the voice of the concerto group.

Indeed, it is not difficult to see from Ang Lee's k414 at the Chengdu Music Festival that the other party has developed this clear confrontation into a highly personal Mozart performance and a style.

At the same time, Chen Xuan also admitted that Beethoven and Haydn showed much less drama on the surface of music, but in her aesthetic, it was in this emphasized drama that Mozart's music seemed to need to be closer to convention.

Because Mozart's melodies are so theatrical and silky, any direct depiction or amplification would destroy that flow.

In Chen Xuan's understanding, Mozart's control over long sentences requires far more attention than his world-famous exquisite short sentences. The sensory impact of stable long sentences is the fundamental reason for the charm of Mozart's music.

She remembered her opinion very clearly. At that time, Li An gave her a thumbs up, but the other person's expression made her very annoyed. She couldn't describe what kind of expression it was, as if she was Talk about fun. Of course, it had been a long time since the incident, and later she knew that Li An had no other intentions and just thought her words were insightful. However, at that time, the two of them were arguing.

The reason for everything was that when the two got together for the second time, her first backbeat note was too flat. Ang Lee thought that she should make a voice shape with a richer expression.

Teacher Debst also gave her the same advice on this point.

Anyone else would have thought he was crazy, not even willing to accept the suggestions from the chairman of the jury!
  Chen Xuan respects Professor Debst, but if she could easily change the way she started playing, she probably wouldn't be in today's competition.

"Here we come." Listening to the accompaniment that was gradually ending, Li An muttered silently without blinking.

At this moment, the piano played again and started moving. Chen Xuan still had her eyes closed, but her body moved forward slightly, and the sound of the flute came out.

An extremely calm flute sound fell like water droplets onto the lake woven by the sound of the piano, and then it was spit out lightly, like a hummingbird waving its wings, the vibrato was dense but not tight, fast but not chaotic, followed by an elegant ascending scale. , with orderly vomiting, and finally landed on the high D, which is tender yet bright.

The long sound, which lasts for sixteen and a half beats, first becomes strong and then suddenly weakens with a baroque step intensity change. Then the whole sound makes a rising crescendo from below the horizon, and finally it is as high as a fairy tune. The ending sound vividly displays the dynamic changes of the music.

Who says you can't make dynamic changes to a note?
  The next second, Yu Xiaolu and several flute candidates were dumbfounded. Didn't they take a breath at the end of this long note?
  Three of the four flute candidates are practicing this piece, but Teacher Chen usually takes a breath here when giving demonstrations to them, and emphasizes to them that they must take a breath here.

It’s obvious that Teacher Chen didn’t take a breath just now. You can’t hide the matter of taking a breath. Even Gaowei Pahud would do something if he took a breath.

"Circular breathing?" Xu Hongxin, who was also a wind player, also felt that Chen Xuan's breath was a bit too long.

It has been seven measures since the beginning, and in the middle there is a long high-pitched note that is controlled from beginning to end. The control itself is very labor-intensive, and Xu Hongxin really can't accept it.

"It's circular breathing." Qin Yong, who is also a wind player, knows better than Xu Hongxin. For those who are good at using the breath, and the speed is not very fast, this sentence can actually be completed without circular breathing, but he is sure Chen Xuan used circular breathing.

But he couldn't find any trace of where Chen Xuan used it.

Norton Hall, Classroom.

Wang Xiaohu turned his head: "Teacher Chen, what is circular breathing?"

Lu Hanwen: "Aren't you studying wind music?"

Boss X: "Simply speaking, circular breathing is a wind instrument technique. You inhale during the exhalation process."

Breathe in while exhaling? Suddenly Xiaobei coughed, and everyone looked over with concern.

Boss

Xiaobei blushed and lowered his head.

Boss

"Really!" Liu Zihan immediately found the feeling.

Then several children tried it, and they all felt that the mouth was breathing out and the nose was breathing in at the same time.

Boss

The so-called circular breathing principle is very simple, but if you want to use it freely in music playing, you have to practice it. The most critical point is how to perfectly connect the performer's facial muscles to squeeze the air after inhaling through the nose.

And this interface blocks 99.999999% of circular breathing players.

Mr.

If the connection is slightly careless, the music may be interrupted, or the phrase structure may be completely intact.

But the other person covered everything up perfectly and made a very beautiful complete sentence.

So where exactly the other party used circular breathing, Boss X couldn’t tell.

Only flutists who have reached a certain level know what happened on the stage, such as the players watching the competition backstage.

Jin Shangxian, a frequent visitor to the competition, has heard too many K314 performances by Chinese players. In his subconscious, all Chinese players will make two short sentences in the first seven bars.

And this is basically an international practice, except for a few performers of the older generation who only play one sentence here.

If it were Elena, she would not dare to use circular breathing on the second beat of the long note. Although this would save enough breath for the rest, if something goes wrong, she would not dare to imagine the scene.

Xitanei was thinking and following Chen Xuan's music. Why did the other party treat it like this?

From the perspective of the West Tower, Chen Xuan showed a very high music processing IQ. The other party made a sudden weakening on the second beat of the long note, and then made a crescendo. The emotional contrast suddenly came out.

The great thing here is that the other party's beginning is very bland, so the drama here is fully reflected. If the other party takes the lead from the beginning, it will seem bloated to do so here.

It can be said that this treatment was just right. If he guessed correctly, the other party completed the circular breathing at the moment of weakness.

While minimizing the difficulty of the breathing technique, it also pave the way for the completeness of the entire sentence that follows.

Although Sitane didn't like this whole sentence treatment, he had to admire this beautiful lady's exploration of the work itself.

It just depends on how the other party connects later.

As Chen Xuan's first movement unfolded, the music seemed to have completely taken wings.

In the center of the judges' table, Old Debstku had already expected this scene. He had understood from the last competition that no one could convince this stubborn lady.

But as the game entered the third round, he began to appreciate this stubbornness more and more.

(End of this chapter)