Chapter 1, Song 1...

In a classroom at the music academy, the melodious sound of a violin drifted by like a spring breeze, as Qu Jiaying played the violin with focused concentration.

Three handsome young men with distinct styles were peering through the glass at the classroom door, observing the class inside. The room was well soundproofed, but the sounds were still clear even when pressed against the wooden door.

The blond youth at the front of the group was excited: "Her violin playing is beautiful. Yan Zheng, Xiang Min, we haven't been able to finalize the first violin for our quartet. Why don't we ask her?"

The young man looking through the glass in the middle of the wooden door, Yan Zheng, said in a cold tone: "Le Yi, don't rush. Ask Teacher Xia first and see what candidates she recommends."

The last person leaned against the wall by the door, not paying attention to who was playing. He said in a soft, critical tone, "Yan Zheng, do you think this is acceptable? This is Brahms' only violin concerto. I can't hear the pastoral idyll it should have. This person's performance is too boring, all that's left is showing off his skills."

Before Yan Zheng could answer, Le Yi, whose golden hair was sticking to the glass, retorted in a low voice, "This girl's technique is so good, she must practice diligently to have such a beautiful voice."

“Jiaying, well, her musicality has never been very good, but her technique was already very good before. I didn’t expect her to make such great progress in just a few months. Her pitch is even more accurate now,” Yan Zheng said.

Xiang Min suddenly realized and chuckled, "You know the violinist inside."

Yan Zheng nodded in a seemingly indifferent manner: "We both learned piano from Teacher Xia when we were young, and we would sometimes run into her on the way to and from get out of class."

Xiang Min glanced at him. His attitude didn't seem like they had only bumped into each other during get out of class, but what did it have to do with him?

Xiang Min stretched and yawned, raising his arms. "I'm getting sleepy listening to her performance. Asking Teacher Xia about something like this doesn't require so many people. I'll be leaving now."

Le Yi turned to him and asked, "Aren't you coming along?"

Xiang Min had already turned around and waved to those behind him: "I believe in your music, and I'll choose a good violinist, but this one isn't good enough."

Le Yi turned his head away dejectedly. After the three of them decided to form a quartet, they couldn't decide on a lead violinist. Finally, they found someone he liked, but Xiang Min still thought it wasn't good enough.

He continued to stare at Qu Jiaying, the violinist in the classroom. Her posture while playing the violin was beautiful, and the way she was completely absorbed in playing the violin showed that she truly loved it. She was clearly the best violinist.

After Qu Jiaying finished playing the piece, just a door away, Xia Xiaolei smiled and nodded: "Very good, you must have practiced a lot of basic skills before."

Qu Jiaying was still not satisfied. Holding her violin, she said, "But even so, I still can't win a championship in an international competition and become a soloist."

"You're not even nineteen yet, don't worry. Improve slowly. Your main problem is in acting, but that can't be improved quickly just by practicing hard," Xia Xiaolei, who was nearly fifty, gently instructed.

Qu Jiaying sighed slightly. In the previous playthrough, she chose to change teachers at this time because Teacher Xia Xiaolei told her that it was unlikely she would become a soloist. So she left the teacher who had lured her to learn the piano with snacks when she was five years old and went to Germany.

Changing teachers is an inevitable path for most classical music students, who basically want to find a teacher who can help them improve more.

Teacher Xia Xiaolei had always been very kind to her and recommended her to her former teacher.

Mr. Müller from Germany is a first-class soloist who has trained many famous performers. He is also a judge for some international competitions in Europe. His students can basically reach the finals, but the same goes for the students of other judges. At this stage, it still comes down to who plays better.

Qu Jiaying understands the rules of the game here: becoming a champion does not necessarily mean becoming a soloist, but to become a soloist, one must at least win a championship in an international competition.

First, she needed to be accepted as a student by a renowned teacher. Her abilities were sufficient to be accepted by the German teacher Müller, but taking the next step would be extremely difficult.

She participated in numerous competitions, always making it to the finals to compete against five other people for the championship, but never managing to reach the top three.

Who wouldn't want to be Lang Lang or Yuja Wang? But how many such legends are there in the classical music world?

Qu Jiaying admits defeat; she simply cannot become a soloist.

She returned from the music academy's anniversary celebration and sat in the audience, watching the performances of all the renowned musicians since the school's founding. She was still unwilling to accept it.

Perhaps it was this intense sense of unwillingness that gave her a chance to start over.

The years of studying under Mr. Müller have greatly improved Qu Jiaying's piano skills, and Ms. Xia Xiaolei has praised her highly. However, she still believes that the lack of musicality is not enough to make Qu Jiaying a soloist.

As for the next level, concertmasters of symphony orchestras, in the increasingly competitive world of classical music, concertmasters are all very talented, and Qu Jiaying's performance makes it difficult for her to stand out in the solo parts.

Qu Jiaying couldn't understand how musicality should be expressed. What she understood was that if the performance was too novel, it would challenge the judges' past perceptions and wouldn't win an award. But if the performance was too ordinary, lacked personality, and didn't show the potential of a soloist, it also wouldn't win an award.

However, the latter listen to the teacher's guidance more and practice more diligently during the learning process, and teachers are more willing to accept such students, while the former are too opinionated, unwilling to work hard or want to stick to their own style, and teachers do not want to accept such students.

Simply learning the performance methods taught by the teacher without having one's own independent thinking will prevent one from becoming a soloist.

Ms. Xia Xiaolei pondered for a moment: "The midterm exams are just around the corner. Do you have enough time to speed things up? This might be more suitable for you."

Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major has three movements, and Qu Jiaying prepared the first movement.

Most of the other students have practiced for at least a month to prepare for the midterm exam. If it's a competition, making major changes at the last minute would be a big disadvantage. However, the midterm exam is not about competing with other students, but just showcasing a stage of learning, so there's no need to take it too seriously.

But Qu Jiaying agreed.

She treats each performance as seriously as a solo concert.

Teacher Xia Xiaolei was the same; unlike other teachers who simply let students cope with the midterm exam, she tried to find ways to bring out Qu Jiaying's strengths.

Qu Jiaying's performance was somewhat lacking in technique, so she used the unique characteristics of the piece itself to cover it up.

Brahms' Violin Concerto in D major is already quite difficult, and if the tempo is increased, it becomes even more challenging.

When the bell rang, Qu Jiaying put her violin back into its black case, said goodbye to teacher Xia Xiaolei, and pushed open the classroom door. She immediately saw the two people standing at the door.

A man with dyed blond hair, the orange glow of the sunset reflecting on his radiant smile, said: "Hello, I'm Le Yi, a freshman in the piano department."

Qu Jiaying nodded slightly, her gaze sliding to another person. No one suited a suit better than Yan Zheng. She still remembered him from their middle school days when they competed together.

After all, it was her first love.

"Yan Zheng, long time no see," Qu Jiaying greeted with a smile.

A slight ripple appeared on Yan Zheng's calm face as he fiddled with his left sleeve with his right hand: "...Yeah, long time no see."

Le Yi stared at the two of them curiously.

"You need to see Teacher Xia, right? I'll be going now." Qu Jiaying smiled politely at Le Yi.

"Wait a minute, we're planning to form a string quartet and we're missing a first violinist. Are you interested?" Le Yi asked enthusiastically.

"A string quartet?" Qu Jiaying stopped in surprise. "I remember Yan Zheng, you gave up playing the violin and switched to conducting. You were involved too?"

Under Qu Jiaying's gaze, Yan Zheng had a strong desire to explain: "I haven't completely let go. I still play occasionally. By chance, Le Yi heard me and wanted to start a string quartet. I had never tried it before. String quartets and symphonies are closely related. I wanted to learn more, so I agreed."

Le Yi enthusiastically introduced, "I'm in charge of the second violin part, Yan Zheng is the viola, and we also have a cellist from the composition department."

Qu Jiaying was speechless: "What kind of makeshift troupe is this?"

“But my attitude is not casual.” Le Yi looked into Qu Jiaying’s eyes and said seriously, “Yan Zheng switched from violin to viola in junior high school, and then switched to conducting. Not counting violin, he studied viola for six years. Cellists also start learning from a young age. Only I started playing violin in college. They are all very good.”

Qu Jiaying looked at Yan Zheng: "I understand how you joined."

Yan Zheng sighed helplessly. Based on his understanding of Qu Jiaying, this was her way of politely refusing.

However, he couldn't say for sure whether he wanted her to join or not, so he turned to Le Yi and reminded her, "Let's ask Teacher Xia first."

As the sun sets, the campus is bathed in orange-yellow light, and the faint sounds of drums, bel canto, and zither music can be heard from the windows of the soundproof classrooms and music rooms.

This is the best music academy in the country. Even after all the classes have ended, many students are still practicing.

Qu Jiaying opened her phone to check the school's system and saw that the practice rooms were already occupied; she needed to find a place to practice.

As she walked towards the cafeteria, she texted her good friend Gao Ying, telling her that she had sped up her practice of the concerto.

Gao Ying sent a crying emoji: "I will practice hard!"

Gao Ying is a piano student and has been classmates with Qu Jiaying since the middle school affiliated with the music academy. She usually accompanies Qu Jiaying on the piano during school activities. The two have been working together since they were twelve or thirteen years old and have a very good understanding.

For formal competitions, Qu Jiaying would ask a professional pianist known to her teacher, Xia Xiaolei, to accompany her.

Gao Ying's piano skills are very high; otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to get into this school. You should know that this top music academy in China only admits twenty students to its piano department each year.

Gao Ying is under a lot of pressure right now. Qu Jiaying has made great progress, and she doesn't want to fall too far behind Qu Jiaying, let alone hold her back. So she's practicing in the music room right now.

"That's perfect, I'll come find you." Qu Jiaying felt that practicing with a piano accompanist would be more effective.

Qu Jiaying bought two sandwiches at the convenience store and rushed over.

Each practice room is not large, spanning several floors. Students need to make reservations to use them. However, instruments like the harp, guzheng, and drum set are large and difficult to move, so their practice rooms are basically fixed. On the other hand, students like Qu Jiaying can carry their instruments around and practice wherever there is an empty room.

As for pianos, almost every practice room and classroom has one, but the ones in classrooms are slightly better, the ones in the auditorium are even better, and the ones in ordinary practice rooms are just average, but functional.

Therefore, people often go to the auditorium or classrooms when there are no classes to practice piano.

Gao Ying didn't eat anything that night, so Qu Jiaying ate both of the sandwiches in the end.

She wiped her fingers clean and opened the violin case: "Let's play it once at the previous speed, and then at the new speed, okay?"

Gao Ying hummed in agreement, then turned her head in confusion as she typed on her phone: "Do you know Le Yi?"

Qu Jiaying tightened the bowstring and asked blankly, "We only met today, we just said hello, what's wrong?"

“He’s a well-known figure in our department!” Gao Ying, who was always proud and arrogant, was also impressed by Le Yi. “He’s simply a genius.”

"A piano prodigy? Then why don't you just play the piano properly and instead insist on doing something like a string quartet?" Qu Jiaying said.

"Don't you know? Many people in your department wanted to join, but none of them were approved," Gao Ying said.

"No way?" Qu Jiaying asked in surprise.

Gao Ying explained, “The three of them are all very talented in their respective fields. People with outstanding talents are naturally very noticeable. Many people want to achieve their goals indirectly. The one in the conducting department, if he becomes a famous conductor in the future, he will have made connections. Not to mention the composer, if he becomes the first performer of his works, he will gain fame no matter what.”

“They might not even succeed, right? This path is so difficult,” Qu Jiaying said.

“The conducting and composition departments only admit three to five students each year. The graduates from previous years are all doing well, so statistically speaking, the chances of them succeeding are very high,” Gao Ying said.

"You all thought that far ahead?" Qu Jiaying asked in surprise.

“Only you don’t care about these things, and only have that ultimate goal in mind.” Gao Ying asked again, “He wants your contact information, should you give it to him?”

Qu Jiaying placed the sheet music in front of her, gesturing for her to start practicing quickly: "No, I'm not interested in their makeshift quartet."

A note from the author:

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