Chapter 18: The Responsibility of Being the Chief (4K 2-in-1)
"Bow technique?" Julius asked in surprise.
"I have marked the upper and lower bows at key places." She removed the sheet music sheet and moved it to a position facing the conductor's podium.
From a closer distance, Fan Ning saw some sparse "V" up-bow marks and "n" down-bow marks, as well as some upper bracket legato marks.
"That's it?"
Fan Ning shook his head: "And I found that even the members of the group were not completely unified on what you were marking. Just now, the musicians in the fifth, sixth, and seventh rows behind you used bows that were inconsistent with yours in measures 79 and 80.
The students in the seventh row realized something was wrong, so they simply changed it to a long bow and pulled out more than twenty notes at once."
Hearing this, some of the other voices who had experienced minor flaws just now felt guilty.
Professor Fan Ning not only has a sharp hearing, but also has a particularly good memory.
"In this fast passing phrase, not only are you messing up, but you are also messing up the second violin part, and even the colored third note of the woodwind section in the semi-cadence has been weakened by you, Miss Julius, don't you
You are just the concertmaster, or the concertmaster of the entire orchestra. This is your dereliction of duty. How do you usually lead your team members to train?"
"I want them to follow me," Julius said, "Professor Fan Ning, is there nothing wrong with my performance? Why is it dereliction of duty?"
"There is a problem." Fan Ning denied her point of view mercilessly, "This is not your solo occasion. Your failure is that you did not think about the entire musical structure from the position of the principal."
Julius tried to explain: "But I studied the band fragments and made all the expression marks. I also thought that the pitch was fine. The bowing method was also divided according to the normal way. They only need to keep up. I took notes.
I also shared it and told them to practice more when they go back."
The eyes of many musicians were focused on the two of them, and Fan Ning suddenly wondered when this scene had happened.
It should be the concert hall of the college. At that time, I was sitting in the audience, and the person on the conductor's podium was Teacher Anton. He has a somewhat good-natured personality, and due to the frustration of his creations in those years, he always thought that musicians would be willing to perform his works.
I already had a feeling of gratitude, which led to the failure of the next performance.
Almost exactly the same.
After certain issues were pointed out, the exchange progressed to this point, and after the questions raised were compromised, there was only one sentence: "Go back and practice more", and the rehearsal continued as if nothing had happened.
Fan Ning slightly restrained the idea of scolding the concertmaster until he was bloody.
Teacher Anton is no longer here, and there is no point in simply venting emotions. I can neither punish according to the practices of professional symphony orchestras, nor is it appropriate to persuade all dissatisfied principals to quit.
Moreover, he has always held the view that the authority of a conductor is not conferred by this position, but comes from his insight into music and his accumulated trust in the musicians.
The student orchestra has already undertaken the function of music education. To slowly correct the unhealthy trends in the orchestra, the most important thing is to let the principals of each section understand their responsibilities...teaching them well is also a good preparation for their future professional symphony orchestra.
Develop or identify candidates.
Not everyone is as hopeless as others.
He calmly explained to the students: "In orchestras of the original style and earlier periods, as long as the string section determined the up and down bows and broken bows, it could basically produce a uniform effect. But with the later string playing techniques
With the expansion of music, rhythm patterns and orchestration textures have become more and more complex. This extensive model can no longer meet the needs of music. String strings must not only consider up and down bows and broken bows, but also need to unify the player's breathing rhythm in specific passages.
As well as the starting and ending points of the bow movement, the vibrato should not be too free and loose."
"In a passage like a 76-bar fast passage, the same bow is used. Some of you use the full bow, while others only use half of the bow. It will sound like every note is on beat, but the effect is still messy.
The truth is, the same is the tremolo of strings. Just imagine that someone is playing at the tip of the bow and someone is playing at the base of the bow. Do you think the sound effect will be satisfactory?"
Many string musicians looked thoughtful at this time.
For the same piece of music, the notes are obviously correct, but sometimes I feel that there is a gap between the performance and the performance of a professional orchestra. Perhaps this is the reason.
Fan Ning turned his attention to the right side: "Classmate Roy, please share with everyone how you think and do this section from bars 76 to 102."
"Okay." The girl nodded immediately.
"Although the violin has already played a more emotional passage here, the cello is still playing the Andante for the time being. This is a descending bass line. In order to express the resentful and implicit tone, I asked the team members to touch the bow hair to the piano.
The position of the string is controlled near the cardboard, and the G string is played in four positions..."
"There is a crescendo mark in bar 79, but I think you should not use too much force here. There are two reasons. First, the note density of the violin and viola here is too high, and the relationship is in thirds. If the cello is too aggressive, the texture will be blurred.
, Second, there are several downbeat chords in the score, and the melody sounds are also in the woodwind section. If the bass is too heavy, it will be difficult for their timbres to blend in, and the audience will feel top-heavy..."
Fan Ning nodded and agreed with her analysis: "There is a crescendo, but you can't exert too much force. Then tell me how you deal with it?"
The girl replied: "I designed this bowing technique to be performed with the upper half of the bow. The performance starts from the tip of the bow. As the melody progresses, I ask the team members to follow me and gradually move the force point to the root of the bow. In this way,
Use the distribution changes of bow sections to indirectly achieve the musical feeling of crescendo.”
Fan Ning looked at Roy with encouraging eyes: "Continue."
The musicians listened attentively to the explanation of this cello genius. Many students in the string group even took out their pens and started making notes on the music score.
It is very likely that the quota limit creates a sense of crisis.
"Then I quickly switched from sentence to cello, which was similar to the emotion of 'undercurrent'. At the beginning of practice, we also found it difficult to be unified. I organized a discussion with everyone, and found during the exchange that it was not due to our technical skills.
But we have fallen into the misunderstanding of solo thinking..."
…The misunderstanding of solo thinking? Many people’s interest has been raised. As performance majors with very solid basic skills, most of their daily piano practice is indeed solo or concerto.
"This misunderstanding is: Since these notes can be played in low positions, everyone has chosen this most direct method by default - from the perspective of solo thinking, the distance between the fingers of low positions is large and the pitch is easy to grasp, and conversely, high positions
The distance between the fingers is small, so there is no reason for us to increase the risk of intonation. But later we discovered that although this is correct, there is a characteristic of playing in low positions: frequent string changes!"
"This doesn't matter in a solo, but in an ensemble, due to the slight time difference between everyone's bow switching on the strings, it became an obstacle for us to be consistent. Later I designed a new fingering, and this sentence is all in D
Playing on the strings, although the position is higher and the intonation is more difficult, but because it does not involve changing strings, our bowing does not need to be scattered too much. After intensive practice, this uneven problem was finally solved."
Fan Ning nodded and said loudly: "Pitch and neatness are the most basic requirements of the string section. Principals of the other four parts, do you know how to solve similar problems in the future?"
"In today's classmate Roy, I see her rigorous attitude towards art and her enthusiasm for music study. She knows how to respect every musician by analyzing the score, and when she encounters problems, she talks with her group
Members try and discuss, collect everyone's opinions, and finally provide a solution... This is what every voice chief here should do."
"You don't want to cause the team members to lose the opportunity to perform in the Imperial Capital because of your negligence, right?"
At this moment, Fan Ning inadvertently caught sight of Julius's unhappy face from the corner of his eye.
…Instead of directly attacking you as the orchestra’s concertmaster, why don’t I first set a few examples of other outstanding concertmasters?
Hearing Fan Ning's praise, a smile appeared in Roy's eyes again, and small dimples appeared on her cheeks, but she suddenly realized that the musicians' eyes were on her, so she turned her head slightly to the other side
.
"Do it again. After passing the presentation department, continue walking back." Fan Ning held up the baton.
After the Andante of the theme ends, the music comes to the interlude that symbolizes the storm in the middle. Amidst the uneasy tremolo of the strings, the timpani rolls intermittently, mixed with short chords of the brass.
"Timpani player, make your crescendo a little more dramatic."
After listening to it again, Fan Ning prompted again: "Recall the effect of the thunder you heard during stormy weather? What is the difference between distant thunder and nearby thunder? The kind of thunder that scares you
What does it feel like again?”
"Your crescendo is too smooth. Try going from slow to steep."
The timpanist nodded and followed the band to follow Fan Ning's request again.
"It's still a little bit of a feeling. Next time, when the band rushes forward at bar 144, hit it boldly to create a sudden and strong effect before rolling, and follow my prompts."
"Very good. Keep going down." Fan Ning praised loudly as the band played in unison.
Near the end of the middle section, there is a transitional passage dominated by the woodwind section. The main melody is a recall-like duet of flute and oboe, while the bassoon intermittently plays an unsettling, foreboding bass.
"The note of the flute is too high, the note of the oboe is too low, and the bass of the bassoon is not closed. Start again from measure 220." Fan Ning stopped again.
After several attempts, including even the performance of the woodwind section alone, failed to improve, Fan Ning named the names of the three principals: "In this passage, the intonation and uniformity are both problematic. Can any of you give a speech?"
Let’s talk about my personal thoughts.”
Another sudden attack? This senior Fan Ning is wrong. Professor Fan Ning’s hobbies are so unique.
Several people looked at each other, not sure whether it was because Roy's previous speech was of too high a level, or because they felt that they couldn't explain it.
"Qiong, please say a few words." Fan Ning deliberately named her.
Although her face looked a little bad at first, her performance has been fine. She even took the initiative to choose a category paper during the sight-singing and ear-training exam.
Later, as the performance progressed, the state gradually returned, and there was even a vague tendency to lead the group. The people in the woodwind section felt more and more like they felt more at ease following her voice than following the principal.
So Qiong put down the flute he was holding, and the little man stood up. His soft voice floated in the rehearsal hall, attracting many people to turn around.
"Well...the range of this duet melody is very wide. The oboe has an extreme bass, and the flute has a higher range. It is necessary to listen to the other party's voice closely when playing. In terms of intonation, I can only talk about it.
How to avoid playing the flute too high..."
"Um... I just listened to the performance of two senior sisters. The problem is that the intensity is too high and the air flow is used too much, which makes the sound hard and tight. Then the effectiveness of the sigh is too low, and the sound drops downward after the air is deficient.
It's so powerful that it causes you to lose your balance when you raise it later. My suggestion is to practice using sighs to support the production of sound, and appropriately amplify the air outlet to fully vibrate and produce a stable pitch."
"This section is really difficult for students who play bassoon, because every time they enter the rhythm point, it is on the sub-downbeat. As a low-pitched instrument, the internal control point of the mouth is originally located at the back, with a lower vibration frequency and a slower pronunciation speed.
We have to go slowly, it will be more difficult to grasp... My suggestion is to focus on listening to the plucking sound of the double bass students in the previous beat, and imagine that your voice is 'brought out' by them, so that it will not be easy to misplace... I usually
I will also pay close attention to Professor Fan Ning’s gestures when playing, and make a shoulder-shaking movement similar to preparing for a shot, giving some tips to my teammates..."
"That... is purely a personal suggestion. Seniors and seniors can refer to it themselves." She smiled at everyone around her and sat back in her seat.
... As expected, he was the principal flutist under Professor Fan Ning, but he was actually a junior from another department. He was not a music major, but he was so strong. It was terrible. Everyone felt the gap again.
"Do you remember everything Joan said?" Fan Ning asked.
The three original principals of the woodwind section nodded like garlic.
"I would like to add two points. There is a big difference in the flexibility of the keys of the woodwind group. The distance between the keys and the base of the mid-bass instruments is larger, while the distance between the keys of the treble instruments is small. I suggest that after the rehearsal class, you think about making the key movements more uniform.
training methods.”
"Furthermore, since the size of your pipes and mouth shapes are different, the vibration frequencies are quite different, and the mouth shape and intensity will be deviated due to different airflows. Everyone must be highly concentrated mentally and auditorily.
The chief must first maintain your stability and let others have a standard to listen to."
"If you understand, continue."
"Trombone section, have you noticed that the two A notes in bar 235 have different timbres every time? Try again."
After a while, Fan Ning pointed out the problem again. Unexpectedly, the chief trombone who had previously questioned his assessment rules stood up.
The boy took the initiative to speak: "In front of this is the mid-to-high range, which suddenly jumps down from the octave, and then jumps up again at the sixth level. When playing this note, you should pay attention to the changes in the mouth. The mouth of the bass A opens first, and at the same time
Add air later, otherwise the air pressure and air velocity will decrease and the sound will be inconsistent."
Although he is not as detailed as Roy and Joan's sharing, and he talks about principles and problems, which is inspiring, he can still show his own thinking and concisely point out the solution.
It is Fan Ning's idea to start with the key few, the vocal chiefs, and gradually lead everyone to change the rehearsal atmosphere.
So he smiled and encouraged: "Very good. The big jump behind is the same."