Old-time musicians

Ten days later, St. Lenya Conservatory of Music, permanent conductor's office. Google search reading

"The renovation and expansion construction and building materials costs, advance payment of 10,000 pounds, and it is likely that more will be needed later..."

"Piano, the most advanced instrument must choose the 'Boethius' large nine-foot piano. The price of the limited custom-made model of 100 pianos per year starts at 10,000 pounds, which is a bit scary. Moreover, customization is based on personal preference, which may not meet the universal needs of different pianists. It is likely to be a thankless task. It is better to choose the ordinary large nine-foot piano first. Well... This is already a first-class hand feel. 3,000 pounds per piano. Considering the potential demand for double piano repertoire, buy two pianos. The total cost is not as expensive as the custom-made one..."

Fanning sat at his desk, looking at a pile of exquisite GG folding pages, writing and drawing on paper with great interest.

"For the harp, choose the golden harp from the Virsa Company in the Holy Janus Kingdom of the Western Continent. I always feel that the sound of the school's domestically made Theolian harp is not moist enough. Well, this thing is not much cheaper than the piano... The 'Golden Apollonia' is a popular model for concert harps. It has a loud volume and beautiful sound. It can stand up to the sound of a large symphony orchestra. It costs 2,800 pounds... And a high-cost-effective 'Diva' model for large concerts is also available. It costs 1,100 pounds... I guess many of the songs I will perform in the future will be composed of two harps..."

"For the timpani, buy the 'Hodanius' brand in the school. It is stable. It's pretty good after listening to it for a few years. The fine-tuning system is scientific and friendly, even I can use it... 32 size, four sets per set, huh? If you place an order before the end of July, you will get two extra sets of spare drum heads, free detachable brackets and tuning pointers... Two sets for 1600..."

"The most common percussion instruments must be equipped, triangle, snare drum, cymbals, vertical cymbals, xylophone, celesta... There are too many brands and styles, let Lu refer to it later..."

"How should the operating expenses be planned? And the salary and benefits of the staff and musicians..."

The girl sitting opposite suddenly coughed twice.

"Sheeran, what's wrong?" Fanning looked up and asked.

"Carlon, calculate first, how much money you have for the current priced procurement projects..."

"10,000 pounds for construction, 6,000 pounds for two pianos, 3,900 pounds for two harps, and 1,600 pounds for two sets of timpani..." Fanning suddenly froze in place.

"That's 21,500? With the cash I have on hand and Lu's investment, there are only more than a thousand pounds left according to this method?"

"I once thought that the extraordinary expenses of the wise were the most expensive things in the world... Did I misunderstand something?"

He has not yet calculated the fixed monthly expenses such as daily office supplies, music stands, chairs, gas fees, water and electricity fees.

Shiran said: "Caron, when you talked to me last year, you didn't seem to say that you wanted to purchase such top-grade instruments."

"This is really not top-grade, it is at best first-class, normal concert standards." Fanning shook his head helplessly, "It can only be said that it is high-end in the privately built urban art space... Mainly because the construction specifications have been raised, once it goes up, other things can't be too bad."

He reluctantly crossed out the other piano in the double piano purchase plan, and then crossed out the more expensive harp, both of which were mid-range.

This leaves 5,000 to 6,000 pounds, which will first be used to cover the rest of the percussion instruments and miscellaneous purchases, and the remaining funds will be used to pay the musicians' salaries.

By the way, the issue of musicians' treatment.

In Theolian, for full-time artists employed by colleges and universities, churches, and professional symphony orchestras, there is a clear industry bottom line standard for salary levels. This standard is even written into the recommendations of the Central Council's Culture and Media Committee -

A weekly salary of no less than 25 pounds!

Because an annual income of 300 pounds is currently recognized as the threshold for the middle class in the empire.

Take professional symphony orchestras as an example. The performers they employ are all capable of meeting the requirements of serious commercial concerts... Born in a musical family, talented, and graduated from public schools, at least one of the above factors is present.

Professional musicians should never fall below the bottom line of the middle class. This is everyone's attitude towards art, and the situation in other countries is similar. In fact, musicians usually earn 8-10 pounds a week. If top orchestras, first voices, or other factors are added, the salary is higher.

The price of musical instruments, performance tickets, gallery tickets, painting prices, artist hiring fees... Fanning has long discovered that compared with the proportional conversion relationship between the prices of other daily necessities and the prices of the previous life, the expenses in the field of art in this world are more expensive.

However, from the perspective of consumers, the price that appreciators accept for art consumption is also higher than in the previous life.

"…According to the three controls and 80 people, if I hire them at an average salary, it will cost more than 3,000 pounds per month, and I have to add the salaries of ordinary staff or operating and publicity expenses…"

If it really needs to be fully operational, my annual salary is only enough to support one month, and the current surplus of funds is also enough to support one month.

Fanning sighed: "Xilan, why am I so poor? Where do you think I should go to get money next, so that I can get a lot of money?"

When he first discovered that the key to the art gallery could gather the Yaozhi spirit liquid, he thought he had found a money-making tool, but this was not the case. The extraordinary control of this world is still quite strict. Although there is a black market and the official organization has a certain purchasing ability, there is no channel that can be digested in large quantities for a long time.

The few 100% pure spiritual liquids he sold in the past six months were less than his income from the publication of inscriptions, manuscripts, and music scores.

"This...I don't know about this." The girl shook her head blankly, "I can help you do some things, so that you can hire one less person. If you really have a gap, I can also help you fill part of it with your family savings..."

"That's not necessary. I should pay you the same salary in the future. How can I ask your little girl's money to fill in this kind of risky investment project... Well, there was some complaining and ridicule just now, I will do it myself Find a way,"

"It doesn't matter... But speaking of which, you invited those painters to hold an exhibition at the art museum before. Instead of charging rent, you paid for it with paintings. Did you value any potential value? I know you have a good sense..."

"I hope that the group of people in the Salon of Losers will be able to produce a few impression masters...hint flow masters as soon as possible. In this way, I can have all the top-level instruments, get full salary, and gather all the outstanding musicians and soloists in the world." Come here, play high-level repertoire, record historically influential records, and have sold-out concerts... Forget it, stop dreaming now, there are still a few months left, think about how to raise more start-up funds. Let’s organize art exhibitions and concerts at the end of the year, and at least guarantee the musicians’ salary expenses for three months…”

Fan Ning stood up: "Let's go, Sheeran, let's go to the rehearsal hall. We have been tossing them for ten days in a row. I have arranged for two days off tomorrow and the next two days, so today's work tasks are quite heavy... After today's work, let them do it on the weekend. Let’s digest it ourselves, and we can also spare time to look for the so-called non-existent ‘Vaznai Town’.”

He opened the door and stared at Huxley, who was just about to knock on the door.

The vice-principal seemed to be recovering well and was not polite. He asked directly: "Caron, what is the pricing situation of your concert? I think the favorable factors you mentioned are reasonable, but the 18-pound respect Is the customer price too exaggerated?

His tone was a little worried: "How about we change it to 12 pounds, and multiply each price by 2 instead of 3 based on the original plan, at least keeping the same price as the Royal Academy of Music, because for consumers, this is still There is a subtle competitive relationship and comparison mentality..."

During the entire summer arts festival, each school's concerts are scheduled separately day by day. In theory, there is no time conflict. Audiences who want to attend the Royal Academy of Music concerts can still buy tickets for the St. Lenia concert. But there are probably very few music fans who listen to music for ten consecutive days. Naturally, they still need to weigh and compare and choose the few shows they like the most.

"Where is Professor Commons?" Fan Ning asked.

"I'll wait for you in the rehearsal hall." Huxley said. "He called a few professors and prepared to hear the results of your ten days of rehearsals...Caron, we will submit the ticketing plan to the Santa Claus Tower soon. Ramburg, I advise you to make adjustments as soon as possible, otherwise, the University of St. Lenia sells ticket prices that are more expensive than the Royal Conservatory of Music. I feel that this will immediately make the headlines of several mainstream music media... "

"Really? Wouldn't that be just right..." Fan Ning smiled easily and led Sheeran towards the rehearsal hall.

"What do you mean, it's just right? It's just the right time for us to come here today?" Huxley's eyes widened and he strode behind, "You don't mean to say that it's just right for this kind of thing to make headlines, right?"

"Everything is just right..." Fan Ning did not look back. When he pushed open the half-open side door of the rehearsal hall, he once again stared at Professor Commons.

"Professor Fan Ning, what are you going to do!?" Commons's eyes behind his thick-soled lenses were wider than Huxley's, and his face was crowded together. "Damn it, where did these people come from? ? Why does Roy know them? You weren't the one who called them?"

In the rehearsal hall, Roy was directing about a dozen people who were obviously not students and were busy. Some people were unloading various complex equipment from carts, some were in charge of assembling it, and some were lying on the ground to make connections. There was a guy carrying a trumpet and walking around, trying to play it in different positions. Pick-up electrode microphones were set up in several positions.

Some of the students who have arrived are looking curiously, and some are scratching their heads in confusion. Only Belinda, the new full-time music clerk, is concentrating on distributing music scores on various music stands.

"Carron? Are you... going to record a record?" Huxley felt that he understood, but also felt that he still didn't understand. "Aren't we going to have a concert? Why are you recording a record? And the quality of the orchestra, Including the current rehearsal progress, it shouldn’t be at a level where you can release a record, right?”

"To be precise, it's a 'trailer'." Fan Ning smiled slightly, but he felt that the professors might not understand the word, so he further explained, "Only for my new work that is about to premiere, I only recorded a short paragraph. At that time, I will let several broadcast companies use this as a musical background to broadcast GG a few days before the ticket opening date..."

Sheeran asked: "Did you hire people from the Hoffman Record Publishing Company? The company that owns one of the three most authoritative music media in the imperial capital, "Hoffmann Gramophone"?... Speaking of which, my father was publishing "D Big" when he was young. They were considered for the recording of "Violin Concerto", but due to various reasons, the cooperation was not achieved. "

As the top representative of the Tioline recording industry, Hoffman Records Publishing Company has relatively expensive prices and high commissions, and there are certain thresholds for the selection of publishers. They generally do not accept cooperation intentions from newcomers who have not received any previous response as a reference.

"Well... I have to thank Miss Roy for helping me connect the dots." Fan Ning said, "I showed them the snippets of the score, and since they were only recording the snippets and not for publication and sales, they agreed to this request that did not violate their principles. , shorter duration and recording cycle, and the money spent is not as much as expected..."

As for the recording on the day of the performance, although Fanning Toroy had said hello before, they said they still had to see the response first, but Fanning also had alternative record companies.

...record a trailer-like clip to broadcast on radio station GG? Several professors thought this line of thinking was unheard of.

Although the Empire's GG industry has developed rapidly in recent decades, most of the areas involved are ordinary industrial goods. Marketing in the field of art is an unfamiliar concept to everyone. When it comes to the question of how to increase the popularity of concerts, everyone's conventional thinking It is to improve business level, open up media relations, seek cooperation from masters and slowly accumulate reputation.

But they understand logically... For concerts with premieres, this operation seems to indeed affect ticket sales, but it needs to be of high quality to have a positive effect, otherwise it may have a counterproductive effect.

Is this new permanent conductor so confident in his new work?

His "Symphony No. 1" did attract a lot of attention, but...

"Carone, I'm not questioning your composition ability. It's just that a large-scale orchestral piece often takes thirty or forty minutes to start. Even if you only choose to show the first movement, it's only fifteen minutes... How many seconds can you put on the radio? 30 Seconds? 50 seconds? ...100 seconds to the end, what can others hear?”

Huxley's doubts were not unreasonable, and Commons and several other professors also believed in them.

Take Fan Ning's own "Symphony No. 1" as a direct example. This work was previewed on the radio for one and a half minutes, and it didn't even end with the introduction. I'm afraid everyone was confused.

"Don't worry, you will know after listening to it later." Fan Ning smiled mysteriously, "Some works cannot be heard for a minute and a half, and for some works, if you cut it out for a minute and a half, the audience may feel itchy. Can’t sleep…”

Otherwise, why would you choose this song?

Fan Ning has already considered it.

"Stop talking so much, let me listen to the results of your rehearsal first." Commons raised his eyes, and his tone became more and more serious, "The concert has more than one piece, and the performance level cannot be improved. The premiere of a master-level New works are all a waste of effort... Professor Fan Ning, the vice president is here today. I reiterate what I said to you before. If I find that your rehearsal results are not satisfactory, I will ask you to cancel those blindly radical plans. "

"Have you noticed that everyone has arrived?" Fan Ning asked.

"All admitted? Yes, what?" Commons asked doubtfully.

But after a few seconds, he followed the gazes of the other professors and looked at the clock pointing to 7:50.

A look of disbelief flashed in the old conductor's eyes.

He still doesn’t know what these students were like before?

What happened?

Fan Ning said no more, and he stepped onto the podium: "Let's play Svelink's "Summer Nights in Lebich" first."

As the gesture fell, the cello and double bass sounded the sound of plucked strings in 6/8 time, and the Andante Cantabile in E major slowly played. The columnar chords of the woodwinds not only had a warm and unified tone, but also highlighted the second melody line implicit in the chords. , a sweet summer night street scene was displayed in front of the audience.

"The sound coming out here is completely unlike this orchestra!?" Several professors immediately noticed the difference.

Although the difficulty of this section is relatively simple, but this...is this too detailed?

And when the dramatic storm scene inserts in the middle, the string parts are fierce but uniform, the timpani sound is hearty, and the brass full of chilling and violence sounds, the sound balance of the other parts is still maintained. Sustain...especially the reappearance of the last section, they actually heard more complex and subtle processing and mood in basically the same musical material...

How come in ten days, it already has the flavor of a first-rate professional symphony orchestra?

The eyes of several professors have become dull.

Ten minutes of music passed, the baton fell, and a few pitifully sparse applause sounded. Kaplan found that he was the only one applauding, and he took his hand back in embarrassment.

Without giving the professors time to organize their words, Fan Ning smiled slightly and said, "Let's invite our soloist to the stage next."

"Violin Concerto in E minor, dedicated to Miss Sheeran Conor."