1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhou Yan chatted with Song Xu for a while, and then many teachers came to the office one after another.

Almost every teacher who came back would ask Zhou Yan when they saw him, curious about why he had time to come to the Orchestra Department today.

Some people saw Zhou Yan sitting at the workstation Qin Hong prepared for the new deputy director and guessed something, but still asked in disbelief.

Song Xu was standing by and enthusiastically explaining the situation to them.

When they heard that Zhou Yan was the new deputy director, everyone had a different reaction.

The young teachers were very happy to know that Zhou Yan had become their leader. After all, they had a good relationship with Zhou Yan before.

Those who are older may have more complicated feelings, after all, Zhou Yan is only in his twenties and has become their leader.

Zhou Yan was previously the assistant principal, which was a high position, but the assistant principal mainly served the principal and was relatively far away from them, so there was no special feeling.

Now, Zhou Yan was parachuted into the Orchestra Department and became their direct supervisor. This feels a bit strange.

The situation in the orchestra is very different from that in the conducting and composition departments. In the orchestra, everyone moves up step by step, and there are very few young people who can get to the top all at once.

When Sun Dong came back, he warmly welcomed Zhou Yan.

He is the deputy director and knew in advance that Zhou Yan would come to the Orchestra Department to fill a vacancy. He also had a general understanding of Zhou Yan's specific situation, so he did not react too much to Zhou Yan's appearance. At least at this stage, Zhou Yan would not become his opponent.

However, on the way back to the office after lunch, Sun Dong still tested Zhou Yan.

The two were originally talking about the piano youth orchestra, but Sun Dong suddenly changed the subject and said with a smile, "Now that you are in the orchestra department, you must share some of the work with us, right? But you are a very busy person, how do you divide the work? Has Director Qu told you about it?"

Zhou Yan understood what Sun Dong meant. He smiled and shook his head. "Director Qu said that since I just came to the orchestra department, I shouldn't worry about work right away. I should adapt to the rhythm first. The leadership of the orchestra is very stable, and there are no problems with management. I won't disrupt your rhythm easily. If there are any odd jobs that you can't handle, you can leave them to me when the time comes."

Hearing Zhou Yan lower his posture so much, Sun Dong laughed and said, "Isn't that a waste of your secret weapon?"

"How about this, I can take on some of the responsibilities for the connection between the Youth Piano Orchestra and the department in the future," Zhou Yan said.

"Then you are connecting with yourself, right?" Sun Dong laughed. "But there is an advantage of you being in the orchestra department. If the orchestra and the piano youth orchestra need to connect with each other in the future, I can directly contact you. This is much more convenient, don't you think?"

Zhou Yan nodded, "Indeed."

Only then did Sun Dong change the subject. "By the way, Song Xu said that the piano youth orchestra will be divided into two groups. What are your specific plans? Will Group B only accept students in school in the future?"

"In principle, that's true, but there will certainly be some non-school students by then."

"Well, it's right for the old to guide the new. This way the students can grow faster. So how will we select them? Will it be the same as before?"

"Yes, the selection process is the same. Group B is actually the reserve of Group A. If they perform well, they have a chance to enter Group A. Starting next year, Group A will be touring outside and may not return to China for a long time throughout the year. Group B will be mainly responsible for domestic performances."

In the past two years, the Piano Youth Orchestra has received many performance invitations from all over the country, but there are so many that the orchestra cannot cope with them.

When not performing abroad, the orchestra basically performs in major cities such as Yanjing, Shanghai and other cities, and the number of performances is limited.

The ticket prices for their performances in China are not expensive, and the shows in cities like Yanjing, Shanghai and other cities are basically sold out.

But the performances cannot always be held in big cities. The purpose of setting up a Group B is to expand the market further and go to second- and third-tier cities as much as possible.

After hearing Zhou Yan's plan, Sun Dong knew that Group B was very promising. At least, it would have no fewer performance opportunities than Group A, although the scale might not be as large as that of Group A.

For students in school, the scale of the performance is not important; what is important is that there are enough formal performances.

As time goes by, the role of the Piano Youth Orchestra in student training becomes more and more obvious. The students who first joined the Piano Youth Orchestra generally have higher levels than previous students.

And because the piano youth orchestra performs frequently, it is easy for its members to become famous.

For example, the orchestra’s current principal pianist, Zhang Zuoqun, is already the most well-known pianist among the younger generation.

There is also the erhu principal Ma Dongfang, who is also very popular. Some time ago, Sun Dong actually saw a report about Ma Dongfang in the newspaper, which was about how popular Ma Dongfang is in Europe and the United States.

Sun Dong has also met Ma Dongfang recently, and he can clearly feel that Ma Dongfang's temperament is indeed very different from before.

Sun Dong was a little worried about Zhou Yan's sudden appearance before, but after talking with Zhou Yan now, he was completely calm. He even felt that Zhou Yan's arrival was an opportunity.

Director Qu will retire soon. Now Sun Dong is in charge of most of the department's affairs. He plays a role similar to that of a crown prince.

Now that Zhou Yan has come to the orchestra, he has brought a lot of resources to their department. If they can make good use of these resources, the development of their orchestra will be taken to a higher level.

Sun Dong is a very ambitious person. He has higher expectations for the orchestra and even the Central Conservatory of Music.

This is very rare. In fact, many teachers at CAF Conservatory of Music already lack this kind of ambition. They think that since they are already teaching at CAF Conservatory of Music, the next step for them to move up is either to become a leader or to obtain a professional title. However, they do not have any ambition for the long-term development of their profession, department or even the school.

In fact, let alone a middle-level cadre like Sun Dong, even the principal may not have such ambitions. The domestic plate is here, and CACON is now the undisputed number one.

It seems that there is no room for improvement, and all we need to do is maintain stability.

In this regard, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music obviously does better than the Central Conservatory of Music. In recent years, the Shanghai Conservatory of Music has had more international exchanges than the Central Conservatory of Music, and its teaching is also more lively.

I can feel that the gap between the two schools is gradually narrowing, and who knows if they will be on par with each other one day.

……

At noon, Zhou Yan called Mingxuan Hotel to book a private room, and then went to find Director Qu to tell him the information about the hotel and the private room.

When Qu Ke heard that they were going to Mingxuan Hotel, he raised his eyebrows and said, "Isn't that too expensive?"

Mingxuan Hotel is right next to the West Second Ring Road, between their school and the CCTV building, not far from the school gate. Qu Ke has also eaten there and knows the standards there.

Normally, a meal for a table of people at Mingxuan Hotel would cost at least several hundred yuan, and more than a thousand is normal. For them, one meal would cost more than a month's salary.

The key point is, it is definitely impossible for only a few people to go today.

"No problem. Mingxuan is close to the school. We can just walk there after get off work and save on transportation costs."

Qu Ke was amused by Zhou Yan, "We're already going to Mingxuan Hotel for dinner, but you're still thinking about saving on transportation costs."

"We should save when we should save, and spend when we should spend. Let's all go over there to have some fun in the evening."

"Everyone going?" Qu Ke frowned. "How about a small gathering? We have quite a few orchestra teachers." Qu Ke thought, it would be fine for their leadership team to just go and get together.

The orchestra's leadership team has quite a few people, including a department director, a branch secretary, four deputy directors, and several directors of teaching and research sections, totaling more than a dozen people.

This was also what he had planned before. Otherwise, it would cost too much to call all the teachers.

Even if it's not at Mingxuan Hotel, it will still cost a lot of money.

"No, the box I booked is big enough."

After a moment's silence, Qu Ke said, "Okay, I'll take advantage of you and have a nice meal today. I'll go tell everyone."

Qu Ke went to the big office in person and told everyone about dinner.

The department head came personally to notify everyone and to welcome Zhou Yan, so there was naturally no reason for everyone not to go.

There are many teachers in the Orchestra Department, dozens of them, which is far more than the Composition Department. Many teachers are in the teaching and research offices. Qu Ke naturally would not notify them one by one, so he gave the task to Sun Dong.

Sun Dong ran around and finally counted that, except for some who were not in school or rarely showed up, more than 50 people would be present tonight.

Zhou Yan knew that there were many orchestral teachers, so he booked a private room that was large enough with four tables, each of which could seat more than 20 people at most.

Now if there are more than 50 people there, it would be quite suitable to sit at four tables.

……

Zhou Yan invited all the teachers in the department to dinner, of course not just to build good relationships with everyone, he also wanted to use this meal to get a glimpse of the situation in the Orchestra Department.

Many times, the interests of a group can be seen over a meal or a few drinks.

Although Zhou Yan is only in transition in the Orchestra Department, he may have to stay here for quite a long time, so it is very necessary to understand the relationships.

Overall, Zhou Yan feels that the orchestral department is quite harmonious, mainly because the leadership team is very stable.

Qu Ke is about to retire, and he is seeking stability at this stage. Of the remaining three deputy directors, the other two are not very competitive, and only Sun Dong has great ambitions, so the conflicts between them are almost invisible.

It can also be seen that the teachers in the Orchestra Department seem to have recognized that Sun Dong will take over Qu Ke's position, which shows that Sun Dong has done a very good job in the Orchestra Department over the years.

……

The fact that Zhou Yan invited the teachers of the Orchestra Department to dinner attracted quite a bit of attention. The next day, he went to find Shi Wanchun to talk about it, and Shi Wanchun specifically mentioned this matter.

Zhou Yan was quite surprised that Shi Wanchun knew about my dinner invitation so quickly. "Teacher, do you have an informant in the orchestra department?"

Shi Wanchun rolled his eyes. "There are only about 200 teachers in our school, and one third of them are from the orchestra department. You invited one third of the teachers to dinner at once, and I need an informant to know about it? And you went to Mingxuan Restaurant, so I had to know about it. When Zhao Pingguo was going back last night, I ran into him in the corridor."

"Oh, many of you live together." Zhou Yan patted his head.

Many of these teachers live in the same building. With so many people eating together yesterday, there must have been some noise when they returned home. It was not surprising that Shi Wanchun knew this. Zhou Yan himself did not usually live in school, so he had not thought of this just now.

Shi Wanchun curled his lips, "You are becoming more and more high-profile now. Forget about treating me to a meal, but you insisted on going to Mingxuan Restaurant. How much did you spend yesterday?"

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Not much, maybe a few thousand dollars."

"Isn't that enough? I think you make money too easily now." At this point, Shi Wanchun waved his hand again, "Forget it, just invite him, it doesn't matter. Anyway, you are just a transitional member of the Orchestra Department. Principal Liu told me that the school-enterprise cooperation has been planned?"

"Well, the preliminary plan has been made, and I will report it to the principal later."

When coming to school yesterday, Zhou Yan told Liu Lin about this.

"Then go over now."

"How about I report to you first?"

Shi Wanchun waved his hand and said, "No, wait until you have discussed it with Principal Liu, then tell me. I may not be involved in the subsequent connection matters."

"You're not going to participate?"

"Well, the latter matter will probably be handed over to Wen Jing. I don't have the energy to deal with these things now."

Zhou Yan immediately understood that the school wanted Guo Wenjing to take over Shi Wanchun's position as department head.

Zhou Yan was not surprised at this, because there were rumors before that Guo Wenjing would take over. After all, he is the most suitable person at this stage.

Another person from the same department, Ye Xiaogang, was in the same class as Guo Wenjing, but he had been back to China for too short a time, so it was considered good enough for him to be a deputy director.

"Okay, I'll go report to the principal now."

……

Zhou Yan went over and Zhijia put a plan on Liu Lin's desk. Liu Lin immediately put down the work at hand and started to read it.

This plan looks thick, but the content is very clear and you can read the key information in less than ten minutes.

After reading it, Liu Lin smiled and lit a cigarette. "This plan is very good. It can be said that it takes everything into consideration, and also takes the students' courses into consideration."

“Since it is a school-enterprise collaboration, students’ time must be taken into consideration.”

"I think the welfare aspect is good, but I have a question about one thing, which is the skill rating. How did this standard come about? Are there any practical cases?"

Zhou Yan shook his head. "No, we figured it out on our own, so there must have been some inappropriate parts at the beginning."

Liu Lin nodded, expressing his understanding that it is not easy to set a standard, especially when there is no precedent to refer to.

Judging a person's ability level often requires comprehensive consideration of many aspects, which is not as simple as taking a musical instrument test.

Moreover, even if you take the instrument test, it is actually useless.

Take the piano grading exam for example. Many people spend a lot of time practicing a few pieces in order to pass the exam. In the end, after passing the tenth level, they may not even be able to master the pieces of level two or three in a short period of time.

So standards are sometimes ridiculous. (End of this chapter)