Old-time musicians

"Only sixty or so people can go to Fort Santaram?"

"Well…"

Most of the people who were still cheering suddenly started to raise their voices, and a very subtle psychological reaction emerged.

At first, it was gratitude to Professor Fan Ning for striving for benefits, and the anticipation of the business trip to the Imperial Capital in August. As the conversation changed, the anticipation was mixed with anxiety... and after estimating the proportion, I felt that it should not be my turn. Bad luck…

All in all, it's extremely complex.

Fan Ning's voice continued: "Everyone still applied to join the symphony orchestra despite their busy studies and obtained the status of official members. I believe it is basically with the love of music and the desire to improve their performance skills. Of course, many people They may also have motivations such as obtaining extra points in assessments, striving for opportunities to stay in school, expressing themselves better, or meeting social needs..."

"This is all very good, but everyone must understand that commercial performance means that your performance is a commodity. Once fans are willing to pay to listen to it, its nature is not just as simple as love and interest. You need to be worthy of it. With every ticket and time spent by each listener, you need to take on heavier artistic and historical responsibilities for the notes performed on the stage.”

Although his eyes were directed towards the entire fan-shaped area, those musicians who were interested in three-minute enthusiasm, had too much performance mentality or social needs, and were dawdling in rehearsals always felt that Fan Ning was focusing on themselves.

"In addition to sharing the box office revenue from this concert, I will also ask the record company to conduct a live recording and distribute it throughout the empire... So you have two options now -"

"Experience a trip to the imperial capital, get a generous reward, have your name engraved on the cover of the record, and have your music played day and night on the gramophones and broadcast radio stations of tens of millions of people in Theoline... Or, you can treat your attendance as you like. , the rehearsals were muddled, and then the precious summer vacation came to nothing.”

"Choose for yourselves."

After these words, Fan Ning clearly saw the subtle expressions of each musician, either excited and calm, or ashamed, eager to try, or anxious, so he knew that this set of operations It did have an effect.

"A consensus has been reached on the new system, and the stakes have been informed to everyone. Now let's get down to business. In the past few days, assessments and rehearsals have been going on in parallel every day. Today's rehearsal opens with the symphonic poem "Lay" by the romantic master Swearinck. "Beach's Summer Nights".

Fan Ning smiled slightly when he said this, "Before that, let's take a warm-up assessment: sight-singing and ear training, which will account for 20 points."

As he spoke, he took the thick stack held by Kaplan in both hands and returned it after a brief inspection.

The content above is very simple: just one page, with more than ten lines of empty staff, only labeled with title numbers and scores. Some are one section, some are single lines, and some are a set of two lines.

It is equivalent to an "answer card".

"There are two sets of test questions. The chief voice is suitable for the first type paper, and the others are suitable for the second type paper. The former is more difficult than the latter. This time the questions are all listening exercises, which are common forms you have encountered in your freshman year. Now Find someone to come up and test it first, and you will be able to recall it after observing.”

"Who wants to come up first and give it a try?" Fan Ning swept his eyes and saw silence in the whole place. Everyone who was swept away looked away with guilty conscience.

Who dares to be dragged into a "public execution" by this beloved and hated Professor Fan Ning?

As if he sensed the timidity of the musicians, Kaplan tried to encourage him from the side: "Students, don't be afraid, don't worry, if you don't come up now, you will have to hand out the test questions later. Anyway, I don't have time to prepare, so it won't happen." Still not, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter…”

As he spoke, he observed the expressions of the musicians, and felt that the originally silent whole place had now disappeared, even the sounds of breathing and the friction of clothing.

Even Professor Fan Ning on the podium looked at him thoughtfully...

The assistant conductor choked on his saliva, adjusted his little hair, and added thoughtfully: "...The main thing is to come up now for testing. If you are not familiar with the process, you may have more opportunities to listen, right, so With many people watching, the presentation must be completed successfully..."

…Speak more next time you can speak. Fan Ning looked back at the orchestra helplessly: "Those who are willing to come up for the test first will get 3 points added to the encouraging part of the 'Daily Rehearsal'. If other musicians choose the first level paper of principal difficulty later, 2 points will be added."

Julius's eyes flickered, and she was about to stand up after hesitating several times——

"Let me give it a try." Roy's voice came from the principal cello position.

After hearing this, Kaplan quickly adjusted the table and chairs next to the piano, took out a first-class volume and placed it on it.

Under the mixed admiration and admiration eyes of the boys and girls, the girl walked to the podium in a few steps, raised her head and asked: "Professor Fan Ning, what do I need to do?"

At this time, she was facing Fan Ning, with her back to the musicians, a playful smile in her blue eyes, and a vague sense of expectation to be praised.

"Please take a seat, classmate Roy." Fan Ning opened his palms and pointed to the seat next to the piano.

"There are question numbers on the test questions, and I will also read them as reminders. Play all the notes twice, and you can just write the notes you hear... For demonstration purposes, you can read out the answers to the previous questions and tell everyone what you heard. "But the last two questions are a bit complicated. To avoid distracting your energy, I don't recommend you do this."

"Okay." Roy sat down at the desk and picked up the pen on it. From this position, he looked up directly and couldn't see the piano keyboard.

Fan Ning gave him an encouraging look and walked to the piano and sat down.

"The first question is interval dictation. I will play standard notes and random double notes, a total of 6 groups, 5 points for each group."

Fan Ning finished speaking, struck the standard note A, played a double note with his right hand, held it for more than three seconds and then released it.

Before he could repeat it a second time, Roy blurted out: "Major sixth, D and B." Then he wrote down the notes on the staff.

Fan Ning continued to play, and Roy continued to answer. The first three groups were single intervals within an octave, and the last three groups were compound intervals exceeding an octave.

"Minor third, C sharp and E... minor seventh, F and E flat... augmented eleventh, C sharp and G..."

In the sweet voice of the girl's answer, the audience breathed a sigh of relief, and they found the familiar feeling of freshman year.

...It doesn't seem difficult, why don't I go?

"The second question is chord dictation, a total of 10 groups, 5 points each."

Fanning continued to hit the standard notes and played a triad, which includes three notes sounding at the same time.

"D major triad, first inversion, F sharp, A and D."

"B minor triad, original position, B, D, F sharp."

Roy still blurted out, writing while speaking, and then Fanning began to play the seventh chord, including four notes sounding at the same time.

"...G minor seventh chord, original position, G, B flat, D and F."

"...A flat major seventh chord, third inversion, G flat, A flat, C, E flat."

The girl paused and spoke, her hands did not stop, she still did not wait for Fanning to repeat the second time.

Most people's thoughts began to fall behind.

"If it were me, I would need to carefully distinguish for at least several seconds, write down the root note, determine the type of chord, and then wait for the second play to identify the transposition, but the accuracy should be more than 90%."

Julius crossed her arms, not looking at the stands, staring at the empty music stand, concentrating on catching the sound.

"Miss Roy can play a group in three seconds. She is really a musical genius in the school!"

"As expected of her, my vision is too good..."

Some people are talented in playing, but their comprehensive foundation is weak. They gradually gave up listening to the questions and began to concentrate on appreciating Roy's performance.

Fanning's eyes showed approval, and the playing action in his hands did not stop. The chords became more and more, the composition became more and more complex, and Roy spent more and more time thinking.

In the 10th group, Fanning gently stepped on the pedal and played a major chord with tense and complex sound effects.

This time, the girl held the pen and stayed for a long time, her cheeks slightly raised, and her ears couldn't help but lean towards the piano.

She closed her eyes and tried to distinguish, and still did not ask Fanning to play again.

"I thought too much. It's such a difficult question. I almost decided to choose a type 1 paper just now... I took the 2 points of encouragement, but I'm afraid I'll lose 10 points." Many students have begun to feel scared.

The audience held their breath. Fanning saw that she was still trying to pass the test in one go. Her right foot stayed on the pedal and waited quietly.

"...F half-diminished ninth chord, F, A flat, B, E flat and G flat." After half a minute, Roy reported the answer.

Everyone was really shocked. 10 groups of chords, and finally reached this difficulty, Roy still heard it in one go!

...Is this answer correct? Many people looked at Fanning a few times, but they didn't see his expression.

Fanning continued to take the test. The next three or four questions were four-part harmony dictation and monophonic melody dictation. Roy completed all of them after one performance.

Until the last big question, two-part melody dictation, she needed to listen to a polyphonic performance performed by both hands at the same time, and then write out the two melodies together. At this time, she seemed a little unsure, so she asked Fanning to play it a second time.

However, she did not make any changes, which meant that she was sure of the result of the first attempt.

"Student Roy, how do you feel? Do you want to share it with everyone?" Fanning asked with a smile after taking the test paper she handed over.

The girl turned to face the musicians and said calmly: "I think the last few groups of chord dictation are more difficult, and the last two-part melody dictation is a bit difficult, because its rhythm is a bit complicated and there are some changes. Students who are not very skilled may find it difficult to take care of it, but in general, more than 80% of the questions should be answered correctly by a leader of a part."

Fanning nodded: "Your score is 5 points."

Several boys took the lead in applauding, and within a few seconds, warm applause rang out in the rehearsal hall.

"This is what a leader should look like." Fanning looked around at the musicians and said so.

Seeing the girl staring at him with a puzzled look on her face, he explained, "The 9th group of chords is an A major dominant ninth chord with the fifth tone omitted, but you wrote the B tone when answering the question, which means that you took the extra sound effect for granted and "made it up" in your mind..."

Speaking of this, he blinked and smiled, "The omission of the fifth tone of the dominant ninth chord does not have much impact on the listening experience, but with your level, if you don't show off your skills and listen to it carefully for the second time, you should be able to hear it."

"Thank you for your advice." The girl in a goose yellow dress leaned forward slightly, "Professor Fanning, can I ask what kind of difficulty you can handle if you do this kind of dictation questions?"

Fanning read a sly smile on her face with her back to the musicians.

...I have reason to suspect that you are deliberately "playing a trick". Fanning smiled and waved, motioning the girl to return to her seat, and then said:

"Don't try to challenge a conductor's ears, especially during rehearsal."

Before the test, Kaplun asked if there were any ordinary musicians willing to try the first-class test paper. Although Joan looked a little strange before, she finally raised her hand from the back row at this moment, attracting the attention of all the classmates.

After the test papers were distributed, the concertmaster and other musicians took the test in turn. Then the newly hired full-time score clerk Belinda came in and arranged the score of Sweelinck's symphonic poem "Summer Night in Lepić" for each musician.

"This short symphonic poem should be a reserved repertoire that everyone has practiced for a long time. I have heard everyone's performance for several consecutive years. However, before rehearsal today, I will give a general explanation first... Let me ask you a question. Does anyone know what "Lepić" in the title means?"

"Miss Concertmaster, can you tell me?" Fanning first pointed to the orchestra's second-in-command.

"Is it... a place name in the Kingdom of Holy Janus?" Julius' tone was not very sure.

"No, it seems to be the name of a poet." The new timpanist Noel raised his drumstick from behind.

"Yes, then do you know what the specific connection between this symphonic poem and the poet 'Lepic' is?"

The timpanist shook his head blankly.

So Fanning began his explanation: "A major feature of the Romantic period is that composers are keen on creating program music and deeply explore the internal connection between music and sister arts such as poetry, literature, painting, and philosophy. When studying the genre of symphonic poems, everyone should focus on understanding the humanistic background of the creation of the work..."

"Lepic is a poet of the Kingdom of Holy Janus. He was born in the 1930s. His life was short and he died in his thirties. Sweelinck's symphonic poem was inspired by Lepic's love poem "Midsummer Night". This poem is written in a sentimental narrative style full of romanticism. It roughly tells the story of Describes such a scene——”

“The protagonist and his lover dated at the Flower Square on a summer night. They had some conflicts and unhappiness before. Both of them subconsciously regarded this date as an opportunity to repair their relationship. When they were walking and talking, the atmosphere was warm and sweet. Suddenly, a storm came, so they got separated in the crowd. After the rain stopped, they saw each other again, but it was as if their memories were washed away. They regarded each other as strangers, and passed by each other from then on, disappearing at the end of the street scene…”

Everyone was fascinated by Fanning’s explanation, and they all felt that such a narrative was full of strange imagination and seemed to have strong symbolic meaning.

"So the three-part structure of this symphonic poem corresponds to the three scenes in the love poem. In the 6/8 E major theme section, we need to grasp the quiet beauty of the summer night and the sweet mood of lovers' date. The 4/4 E minor interlude in the middle section should show the scene of the coming storm vividly and delicately..."

"And the most subtle is the third section where the theme reappears. The music here is roughly the same as the first section, both depicting the tranquil scenery of the summer night, but the mood is completely different. We need to make some changes to reflect the melancholy of parting, as well as the complex mood of relaxation and loss..."

The principal clarinetist blew a continuous A note. After the band finished the pitch check, a cantabile andante was slowly played under Fanning's baton.

With Fanning's explanation, the musicians grasped the atmosphere of the theme very well. In the medium-speed rhythm similar to three beats, the column chords of the woodwind maintained a dreamy and romantic timbre, and the strings played a moving and long-lasting melody, like a summer night street scene with a hint of sweetness.

After the approximately 4-minute theme presentation section, Fanning signaled the band to stop.

"Start from bar 76, and play it again. The sound of the string group is a bit messy."

The music went back and flowed again. After eight bars, it was stopped by Fanning again. He frowned and looked at Julius.

"What's going on with this section? First violinist, you didn't customize the bowing method for your group members?"