1990: Starting from Baojia Street

“This is a good idea, but students in several majors in the composition department have a lot of coursework, so it may be a bit difficult for them to find time to go to the studio for internship,” said Liu Lin.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "It still depends on the students' own willingness. Time can always be squeezed out."

If the cooperation is really achieved, it will definitely be beneficial to students. Not only can they learn and practice in the studio, but they can also receive subsidies.

If you want to learn something, it is absolutely necessary to sacrifice some of your personal time.

Liu Lin pondered, "If this model is successful, can some four-year majors be extended to five years? This will free up time for students to spend more time in the studio."

"That's fine, but changing from a four-year system to a five-year system is a big step, so let's wait and see."

“The existing subject content can also be optimized…How many students can your studio accept in the first phase?”

Zhou Yan roughly calculated and said, "For the time being, it is no problem to accept ten to fifteen students per term."

"Ten to fifteen. I estimate that there must be more students who are interested. We will have to screen them. Should we set a grade threshold? Only sophomores or juniors or above?"

Zhou Yan shook his head. "No, it still depends on the overall ability. It is not appropriate to set a threshold based on grade. Moreover, since we want to train specialized talents, it is better to do it sooner rather than later. If the students in the lower grades are willing and talented, it will be more appropriate to train them."

"That's the truth, so should there be restrictions on majors?"

"Let's limit it to the composition department first. Another thing is to set a threshold in academic performance. For some students with poor professional course performance, they cannot be accepted into the studio. I am worried that because of career planning too early, some students will relax their professional course learning."

Liu Lin nodded, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and offered one to Zhou Yan first. Zhou Yan refused, so he lit one himself.

After puffing out a cigarette, Liu Lin said, "In addition to practical learning, is there anything else that attracts students to this school-enterprise cooperation model?"

Zhou Yan immediately understood what Liu Lin meant. He was asking what the studio could provide to students.

Zhou Yan took a sip of water from the teacup and said, "Students who come to the studio for internship will definitely receive subsidies. As for how much the subsidy is, I have to wait until I get back to make a specific plan. This is what I think. We can't eat from the same pot and give the same treatment to all students who enter the studio. We should make corresponding ratings based on the skill levels and internship duration of different students. Different levels will receive different subsidies, which can also increase the enthusiasm of students."

"I naturally agree with this, but please treat the students more favorably. Of course, when we discuss this issue now, you should not speak in the capacity of the principal's assistant or composition teacher, so don't be hesitant or embarrassed. You still have to consider the interests of your studio. Just give the students more preferential treatment on the premise that you guarantee the interests."

Liu Lin's move was to retreat in order to advance. It seemed that he was telling Zhou Yan not to worry about his identity as a teacher and assistant to the principal at school, but it was actually reminding Zhou Yan that he was a teacher at school and an assistant to the principal, so he should be nicer to the students.

In fact, even without Liu Lin’s reminder, Zhou Yan would definitely not treat his students unfairly.

He is willing to engage in this school-enterprise cooperation mainly to help the school train students.

Of course, this is not without benefits for their studio. As the studio continues to develop, they are beginning to be short of people. After all, the students of CAFA have a solid foundation and with a little training, they can help in the projects. They are much more useful than the people they recruit outside.

And the cost may be even lower.

"Principal, rest assured, I will definitely try to relax the subsidies as much as possible."

"Of course I'm relieved. You've always been very good to your students. I saw that when you formed the Youth Piano Orchestra."

When Zhou Yan formed the Youth Piano Orchestra, he set a subsidy standard for the students from the beginning, and the standard was not low. Many students made a small fortune in the group.

At that time, so many people were scrambling to join the Youth Piano Orchestra, and the high subsidies were an important reason.

However, there are fewer and fewer students in the youth piano orchestra nowadays, and the impact of the subsidy on students is smaller than before.

Although Zhou Yan encouraged the orchestra members to join other orchestras, more people chose to stay. After all, the Piano Youth Orchestra had been working together for such a long time and they had a tacit understanding with each other, and they might not be familiar with each other if they joined other orchestras.

Moreover, the formal members of the Piano Youth Orchestra are treated very well, better than most orchestras.

If those top bands didn't come to poach people, it would be impossible to poach them.

……

Liu Lin talked to Zhou Yan about the details of the school-enterprise cooperation for a while, and he suddenly said, "Zhou Yan, your promotion to associate professor should be put on the agenda. If you can be successfully promoted to associate professor next year, you can also apply for the Huo Yingdong Award, and then the Yenching Outstanding Teacher Award."

This was the second time Liu Lin had shown concern for Zhou Yan's job title evaluation. Zhou Yan didn't act pretentiously and nodded, "I will submit the information as soon as possible."

Zhou Yan had previously won the title of Outstanding Teacher of Xicheng District, which qualified him to be selected as an Outstanding Teacher of Yenching. His path had been paved step by step by Shi Wanchun and Liu Lin.

For Zhou Yan, there would basically be no surprises in the evaluation for associate professor. He just submitted the information as a formality.

As for the Ho Ying-Tong Award and Yenching Outstanding Teacher, although it is not 100% certain, it should not be a big problem. Zhou Yan meets all the requirements.

The key is that he is well-known among the public, and the judging panel will certainly take this into consideration.

Of course, all this depends on the school's attitude. As long as the school approves and recommends it, there will basically be no major problems.

"Well, you prepare the information, and other people will help you with the process." Liu Lin finished his cigarette and lit another one. "There is one more thing. The deputy director of the orchestra, Fu Xuwei, will be transferred to the Alto at the beginning of next year, and this position will be vacant. The orchestra now has four deputy directors. After Fu Xuwei left, there is no rush to recruit another one. But this position is vacant anyway, why don't you take over the transition."

Hearing Liu Lin's words, Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment. Could it be that Liu Lin called him here today to talk about this matter?

Or was it that Liu Lin had no intention of talking about this, but only brought it up because of the school-enterprise cooperation?

According to the path that Shi Wanchun had planned for him, he was to first serve as the deputy director of the Composition Department. Now it seems that the position of deputy director of the Composition Department is a bit stressful. Do you want him to transition to the Orchestra Department first?
Zhou Yan pondered and said, "I'm not too familiar with the orchestra department. The work to be carried out later..."

Liu Lin waved his hand. "If others say they are not familiar with the orchestra department, I still believe it. But if you say you are not familiar with it, I don't believe it. If I remember correctly, three or four teachers of the orchestra have been in your piano youth orchestra."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "I have been a regular for three or four times. As for the number of guest appearances, I can't even count them."

"So, if your band is doing well, you will have connections in every department."

Liu Lin was right. After Zhou Yan started the piano orchestra, his connections in the school increased significantly, especially in the orchestra department. The outstanding students in the previous years of their department were more or less connected with the piano youth orchestra. Some students stayed in the orchestra department as teachers after graduation.

The leaders of the orchestra had had a lot of contact with Zhou Yan before. The Piano Youth Orchestra provided great help to the training and employment of students in the orchestra department.

“If I go to the orchestra department, will there be more work to do?”

"I know you're concerned about this. Don't worry, it won't be more than it is now. As I said just now, the orchestra has four deputy directors, and the other three are all vying for work. Even if you want to work, there's no chance for you. If you have no problem, we'll hold a meeting in the near future to finalize this matter."

After hearing what Liu Lin said, Zhou Yan felt relieved. He smiled and said, "I will obey the organization's arrangements."

"Okay, go back and wait for news on this matter."

Seeing that the conversation was almost over, Zhou Yan also stood up and said, "If there is nothing else, I will take my leave first."

"Well, go ahead and get busy."

……

After coming out of the principal's office, Zhou Yan went to Shi Wanchun's office.

Shi Wanchun had just taken out a cigarette from the cigarette box. When he saw Zhou Yan coming, he curled his lips and said, "Assistant Zhou, how come you have time to come to me today?"

"I'm here to greet you, teacher."

"Oh, you are so busy and yet you still come to greet me. I am so scared."

Zhou Yan walked over with a grin on his face, picked up the matchbox from the table, took out a match, lit it, and moved in front of Shi Wanchun.

Shi Wanchun rolled his eyes, but still leaned over and lit the cigarette.

"Don't blame me, teacher. I've been busy lately and haven't come back to see you much."

Shi Wanchun certainly didn't really blame Zhou Yan. He took a puff of his cigarette and said, "Being a little busy is a good thing. If you come to my office every day, I'll be really scared. Are you from the principal's office?"

Zhou Yan was surprised and said, "You are a well-known person in the world, you know all this."

Shi Wanchun looked at Zhou Yan with a smile through the smoke, "I also know that he wants you to go to the orchestra department."

Just now Zhou Yan was still wondering whether Liu Lin had the idea long ago or it was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. Now after hearing what Shi Wanchun said, he knew the answer.

Yes, Liu Lin would not act on impulse for such an important matter.

It seems that Liu Lin not only thought about it carefully himself, but also talked about it with his teacher.

"Well, Senior Brother Liu told me to go to the Orchestra Department to serve as the deputy director."

"I know. He asked for my opinion. If it were anyone else in our department, I would definitely disagree. But your situation is different. You've done well in the Orchestra Department. It shouldn't be difficult for you to go there and become the deputy director."

"I am actually quite familiar with several of the leaders of the orchestra."

"We are familiar with each other, but don't cause trouble for others when you go there. You are just going to the orchestra for a transition period, there is no practical work, as long as you don't cause them trouble, they won't have any opinion on you. Among the other three deputy directors of the orchestra, Sun Dong is the youngest and has the most hope of promotion. He is a career-oriented person, but he has a big vision and should not make things difficult for you. Qin Hong is now focusing on her family and teaching, she doesn't care much about the affairs of the department..."

Although Shi Wanchun gave Zhou Yan the cold shoulder at first, he was still very patient in analyzing the situation in the orchestral department to Zhou Yan. He was still worried that Zhou Yan would suffer a loss if he went there.

After analyzing the situation of the orchestra department, Shi Wanchun said earnestly, "Although you have a good relationship with everyone in the orchestra department, orchestra is not as good as composition after all. Here, everyone can tolerate you infinitely, but it may not be the case in orchestra. What's more, if something happens to you over there, it will be difficult for the composition department to intervene, and it will be difficult for Principal Liu to deal with it either."

Zhou Yan nodded, "I know, teacher. If I go to the orchestra, I will definitely stick to the doctrine of the mean and not offend anyone."

"Actually, I think all these are unnecessary worries. You are much better at building relationships than I am. Of course, you don't have to deliberately build relationships at school. As long as you can get a few more awards like yesterday, no one can touch you."

Zhou Yan quickly flattered him, "Isn't it all thanks to your careful training that I was able to win the award?"

Although Shi Wanchun knew that Zhou Yan was flattering him, he still listened with joy.

As a teacher, he is of course happy that his students have made great progress.

After so many years of teaching, Zhou Yan is his favorite student.

In terms of talent, Zhou Yan has been outstanding in recent decades. In terms of character, although Zhou Yan has become a lot more tactful since he suffered a serious illness, he still has good character and has always been very respectful to his teacher.

"Okay, okay, stop flattering me. I don't want it."

"I know you hate it most when people flatter you, but what I just said was the truth. If you hadn't recommended me to Brother Zhao Jiping, how could I be where I am today?"

Shi Wanchun waved his hand and said, "Don't underestimate yourself. Even if you don't do film music, you can still make a name for yourself with your talent. Sometimes I still think that if I hadn't asked you to go to Zhao Jiping, you might not have done music, let alone made movies. You might have spent more time on the research of traditional music, and you would have won the award yesterday. Gains and losses are sometimes difficult to judge."

Zhou Yan knew what Shi Wanchun meant, but he didn't quite agree. If he hadn't gained international fame by composing music, making movies, and writing pop songs, the organizing committee would probably not have given him the second prize.

To win an award, the work is only one aspect; the organizing committee will look at the overall conditions.

After sitting in Shi Wanchun's office for more than ten minutes and chatting for a while, Zhou Yan left. He did not tell Shi Wanchun about the school-enterprise cooperation.

This matter has just been mentioned, and it is still uncertain whether it will succeed. There is no need to report it to the teacher now.

After returning, he planned to ask Liu Hang to come up with a preliminary plan. (End of this chapter)