Please, come home and practice the piano

Chapter 923 183. The Longest Road? The Twelve-Year-Old Plan Starts
It was his first time in Guangzhou. When answering questions from Ang Lee during dinner, Fang Yongbo spoke frankly about some practical situations.

"It's obvious that without a patient heart, you are not even qualified to enter this profession."

"A real orchestra needs at least 40 musicians, but students majoring in conducting can only conduct an orchestra simulated by two pianos. This is the case across the country."

"Some people said that this was impossible to learn, that it was completely different from conducting an orchestra, and that they had taken a fake major. Don't laugh, because these words came from my classmates. The result was naturally inevitable. He was the first to be eliminated. He was not suitable for this job."

"After getting through undergraduate studies, it's even harder to get into the master's program. There's competition within the same department and across departments. We're afraid of people who are really good at playing the piano competing with us. They have strong musical notation skills, can play reduced notation, and have considerable stage experience. As long as they're willing to endure hardships and learn conducting very quickly, we'll have to eliminate another group of people at this stage."

"Then it's almost time to apply to schools abroad. At this stage, the school's credentials alone are definitely not enough. If we wanted to apply to a good school, language credits were a prerequisite, and the rest would depend on whether you had stage conducting experience."

"Among the five students who applied with me, all of them were applying for the first time, but only one of them was accepted. He had three more orchestra conducting experiences than us during college. We had nothing at the time, but he had three video recordings of conducting orchestras, so he was admitted."

"Besides that, you need to be recommended by your employer. As for those who can get recommendations, they will have stage experience, you know. So it's really difficult. There's no other way. Some people will be eliminated at this stage."

"You can't understand it now. Look at how many performances there are all over the country every year. Back then, it was rare for us to see a large-scale concert."

"After successfully applying to the school and graduating, the real hell began: the two levels before reality."

"At the first level, I have finished studying the conducting major, and there is nothing more to study after that."

"The next step is to study a second major, education, which basically tells everyone that you have given up and don't want to pursue your dream anymore. To use the current popular term, you don't want to compete anymore."

"You may as well not study a second major. After all the trouble, at least you have a diploma. Let's go back to China as soon as possible."

"Ninety-nine percent of people will choose to stop at this stage. They are not young anymore and have to consider the pressure from all aspects."

"For the remaining one percent of people, the second stage is job hunting."

"We all knew at the time that this profession was basically not recruited, and even if there was an announcement, it was not for us to prepare. We could only rely on ourselves to find ways. Some of us started preparing as soon as we entered the school, using all kinds of tricks, both dirty and dirty, overt and covert. Above that, it was luck. If the instructor liked you, then you were lucky. If you had a good foundation in piano, you could basically get a job in a small theater as a helper for the deputy conductor."

"Don't think that doing odd jobs is a bad word. For us at that time, it was already winning the lottery."

"Then you just have to endure. Most of the time you just serve tea and water to the conductor and carry bags. That's your job. Unless your family owns the theater, this process can easily wear you down. You either have to endure two years and return to your home country, so that you have at least two years of relevant work experience in your file, or you can find a side job to make money."

"If you can get through this stage, you still have to work hard to learn and improve yourself, and then you can see a little light at the end."

"Oh, haha, isn't it difficult?"

"Let me calculate the time for you. For a conducting graduate, if he is lucky and works hard, it will take about seven to ten years from graduation to stepping onto the real stage."

"If we count from the first year of undergraduate studies, we need to add at least seven to ten years of schooling. This means that for a child from an ordinary family, it will take about fifteen to twenty years before he or she has the opportunity to step onto the conducting stage."

"The prerequisite is that he works hard enough, is talented enough, is lucky enough, and can endure loneliness enough."

"Of course, the other situation is not within the scope of our discussion. It is our tradition for sons to inherit their father's business."

Ang Lee still remembers Fang Yongbo's smile when he said this. It was quite complicated.

How many fifteen or twenty years are there in a person's life, and these are the most valuable fifteen or twenty years in life. Ang Lee could feel the cruelty of this industry just by listening.

How much hardship does a child from an ordinary family have to endure to realize his dream?

Perhaps Fang Yongbo was talking about his own life experience, and perhaps the process was much more difficult than it sounded. Fang Yongbo did not say anything about this, and Ang Lee did not ask any more questions.

At least from the current perspective, Wang Xiaohu is very lucky. Today he wanted to remind Wang Xiaohu to behave well in the next two days, but he didn't say it.

Judging from how Fang Yongbo and Wang Xiaohu interacted throughout the night, Fang Yongbo should like Wang Xiaohu quite a bit.

If Fang Yongbo accepts Wang Xiaohu as his disciple, would Wang Xiaohu's future path be much easier?

This possibility is not impossible, but at the same time he is more worried that Wang Xiaohu will deliberately behave because of his words. If some extraordinary behavior and words fail to leave a good impression on Fang Yongbo, it will be counterproductive.

There is another question. He has already started planning for Wang Xiaohu's future. So has Wang Xiaohu really made up his mind?
So taking advantage of tonight's topic, he hit Wang Xiaohu hard, and the answer he got made him happy.

Someone may ask here, is it a bit too early to start planning for a twelve-year-old child?

So if Wang Xiaohu is Ang Lee’s son, is it too early?

Wang Xiaohu is not Li Ang’s son, but what no one can change is that the Wang and Li families have become a community of interests.

The key issue is that Ang Lee himself has not considered this issue. His idea is very simple. Wang Xiaohu is twelve years old and has already shown his talent for conducting. He has been obsessed with reading the score for many days.

Qin Yong had the idea of ​​changing his major before graduating from college, and Fang Yongbo said that he only learned about the score three months before the art exam.

Wang Xiaohu deserves it.

Besides, hey, all the children are his good children.

sleep.
-
The next morning at 7:30, Li An got up and called Xiaoche Xiaohu first.

He called the car first.

Xiaoche picked me up promptly and said he had finished washing up and was memorizing words.

Wang Xiaohu picked up the phone about ten seconds after it rang. He pretended to be awake and said incoherently that he had woken up a long time ago but had accidentally fallen asleep again.

Li An was too lazy to expose it, "Hurry up and wash up."

Fifteen minutes later, the teacher and the students went downstairs to meet Fang Yongbo.

"Morning, Uncle Fang."

"Morning, Uncle Fang."

Fang Yongbo got up at 6:30 and went downstairs half an hour ago to wait for the three teachers and students.

"Good morning, Wang Xiaohu, didn't you sleep well?"

As Fang Yongbo was asking, Xiaoche yawned.

Li An was also wondering what was wrong with the two kids. When they met in the corridor just now, he noticed that they were not in a good mental state. He wondered if it was because of the water and soil.

Faced with Uncle Fang's concern, Wang Xiaohu could only smile secretly. Che Lin left at 1:30 last night and he didn't go to bed until 2 o'clock.

"The bed is a little soft." Wang Xiaohu explained, "Uncle Fang, what time did you get up?"

Fang Yongbo smiled and said, "No matter where I am, I get up on time at 6:30 every day. Let's go have breakfast."

set off!
-
At Fang Yongbo's recommendation, the two children ate wonton noodles, but Xiaoche actually wanted to eat rice rolls more.

After eating and drinking, the four of them set off towards today's destination, Xinghai Concert Hall, under the blue sky and white clouds.

Different from the streets at night, the city during the day presents a completely different scene.

The concert hall that seemed to be right in front of them last night was actually not close. It took the four of them seven or eight minutes to reach the door of the concert hall.

Without the blessing of lights, Wang Xiaohu found that the concert hall in front of him looked quite old.

In the square next to it stands a statue of the people's musician Mr. Xian Xinghai, and both children ran over to take pictures.

The river breeze blowing from not far away seemed to sweep away their tiredness.

After the two children finished taking pictures and ran back, the four of them continued to walk inside.

Then a huge poster appeared.

"Wow!"

The two children were stunned; they had never seen such a large physical poster.

"teacher!!"

"And Uncle Fang!!"

Both children's eyes widened!
They only then noticed that there were teachers, Uncle Fang, and a beautiful aunt on the poster. [Symphony Concert in Memory of the 190th Anniversary of Brahms' Birth]

Wang Xiaohu said sourly: "The performance will be on January 2023, 1."

Xiaoche also felt jealous: "Saturday at 7:30."

Wang Xiaohu wants to watch it: "The first half is Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77."

Xiaoche wanted to watch more: "The second half is Brahms Piano Concerto No. 83 in B flat major, Op. ."

If before the two children were just a little regretful that they couldn't come to see the show, then after seeing this poster, the two children could be described as heartbroken.

It hurts so much.

"OK OK."

Ang Lee coaxed the two children and took a few more glances at the posters. The last time he came, the posters had not been put up yet.

Entering the concert hall, Fang Yongbo took his two children on a tour.

Along the way, the second child met many people who took the initiative to greet Uncle Fang, but these people did not greet the teacher.

Finally, I met a man who greeted the teacher. The uncle who greeted him was carrying a large musical instrument box.

"The main hall is in front."

Walking into the main hall, the two children were shocked again.

This concert hall is too big. The two children’s eyes and necks are not enough.

Standing here and looking at the stage, the piano on the stage looks like a small square.

Then the two children whispered something.

"What are you two talking about?" Fang Yongbo asked with a smile.

Wang Xiaohu: "Uncle Fang, why aren't those uncles and aunts down there wearing formal attire?"

Ang Lee: "~"

Fang Yongbo: "Because we are rehearsing today and will be walking on stage tomorrow, we don't need to wear performance clothes for rehearsal."

Wang Xiaohu: "Oh, I see."

Fang Yongbo looked at his watch and signaled to Ang Lee to settle the two children while he went backstage first.

Ang Lee walked with the two children to the audience seats closest to the stage. At this time, many eyes on the stage were already fixed here.

"Do you remember where the toilet is?"

The second child nodded.

"Don't run around, don't yell, don't move around randomly, don't record anything, call me if you have anything, don't yell at me directly, ok?"

The second child continued to nod.

"All right."

Patting the two children on the shoulders, Ang Lee took off his coat and put it aside, then went on stage carrying his bag.

At this time, half of the performers were already in place. The performers who were far away from the piano cast smiling glances, while those who were close to the piano took the initiative to greet Ang Lee.

After the last four days of rehearsal, Li An had already gotten to know most of the musicians.

Watching the teacher calmly greeting the musicians on the stage, the two children in the audience thought it was so cool.

Suddenly, Wang Xiaohu thought he had heard wrongly.

"Did the teacher say something in a foreign language?"

The two children saw clearly that after the teacher finished talking to an aunt who played the flute, he talked to a blond foreign uncle.

A minute later, the two children looked at each other.

Xiaoche: "The teacher's English is great."

Wang Xiaohu frowned: "Are you sure the teacher is speaking English? It doesn't sound like English to me."

Xiaoche: "I'm not sure about my poor English, but the teacher speaks so fluently."

Wang Xiaohu was also puzzled. He had never heard the teacher talk about this before, and the teacher had no experience of going abroad. "Strange, have you ever heard the teacher talk about this when you were at home with the teacher?"

The car shook its head.

After a moment, Wang Xiaohu's eyes sparkled: "You are worthy of being a teacher."

"Good morning, you two little musicians."

A familiar voice came from behind them, and the two children turned around, "Uncle Yao!"

Yao Libin came over with two signs, "One for each of you, hang around your neck."

Yao Libin then added Erhai on WeChat and left his phone number. “If you have any questions, you don’t need to look for your teacher. Just call me.”

Yao Libin glanced at the stage and saw that Li An was busy, so he didn't say anything to interrupt him, "Have fun."

Leave a word and then leave.

"Uncle Yao."

Yao Libin turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

Wang Xiaohu was a little embarrassed and asked, "Can we take this sign away?"

Yao Libin thought it was nothing and said with a smile: "No one will care if you take it home, so keep it as a souvenir."

Yeah! ! Wang Xiaohu felt that he had made a fortune.

Xiaoche: “You are so excited.”

Wang Xiaohu: "With this, we can come in here anytime in the future. Didn't you see just now that some people can't come in?"

Xiaoche: "Can you take a closer look?"

Wang Xiaohu looked down and saw that this pass was time-limited and would expire after tomorrow.

But, "It can also be a souvenir. I want to collect passes to all the concert halls in the world and hang them all over my bedroom wall."

Xiaoche: ".I hope you can collect them soon."

Li An didn't know that Yao Libin had been there. He finally caught a German and he had to negotiate for another five dollars with him.

His enthusiasm had almost overwhelmed the Bavarian clarinetist last time, and it was no different today.

Fortunately, in addition to piano, the two of them have a common hobby, playing badminton.

Comrade Koch didn't understand why a Chinese pianist asked him about his hobbies before they even had a few words when they met for the first time. Perhaps this is the enthusiasm of the Chinese people.

However, Koch had to admit that the Chinese pianist's spoken English was quite good and his music was very thoughtful.
-
At half past nine, everyone was present and the rehearsal officially began.

As Fang Yongbo waved his hand, the sound of the golden horn made the entire stage really turn golden.

Wang Xiaohu in the audience was so frightened by the noise that he broke out in a cold sweat. Is this a real symphony orchestra?
For a moment, he felt as small as a speck of dust in the air.