Chapter 127: First Rehearsal
This Thursday night, before the weekend, Liu Lan, Li Xiaoru and Wen Fangfei performed "Butterfly Lovers" together for the first time.
Since the piano could not be moved, Wen Fangfei carried her guzheng from the guzheng department's practice room to the piano department's practice room. You have to know that a guzheng weighs fifty or sixty kilograms and is as long as a woman's average height, so it is a large object.
The two colleges are more than 1 kilometer apart, which is equivalent to Wen Fangfei walking around the 400-meter track three or four times with a weight of about 25 kilograms. By the time she arrived at the piano department's practice room, her back was wet with sweat.
Liu Man and Li Xiaoru were really grateful to Wen Fangfei and felt sorry for her. "After practice is over, we will take turns carrying you back."
Wen Fangfei smiled and said, "It doesn't matter if I'm alone. I've been carrying the guzheng since I was a child, so I'm used to it. It doesn't feel heavy, and I can also use it as a workout, saving me money on going to the gym."
She took out a stack of music scores from her shoulder bag and handed them to Liu Lan and Li Xiaoru. "This is the guzheng score I revised. Do you want to take a look?"
Li Xiaoru said, "No need, we don't understand guzheng music, we all trust you, as long as you think it's okay."
Liu Lan also nodded. Although she understood it, she didn't want to interfere with Wen Fangfei's work.
"Okay, then let's put it together first, and then make modifications based on the problems encountered during the performance," said Wen Fangfei.
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...
The three of them sat down in front of their instruments.
They have already divided the work according to the division of parts. Wen Fangfei's guzheng started, followed by Li Xiaoru playing the main melody on the piano. After four bars, Liu Lan's piano joined in to play the secondary part, and Li Xiaoru still played the main part. At the climax, Wen Fangfei played the guzheng again, and Liu Lan's piano entered the bass consonant part at the same time to prevent the volume from being too loud and covering up Wen Fangfei's guzheng sound. The three of them performed the most classic and beautiful melody together.
At the end, the piano stops and the whole piece ends with the sound of Wen Fangfei's guzheng.
Perhaps because the three of them had similar personalities and took the performance very seriously, their first rehearsal went relatively smoothly and there were basically no principled issues.
Of course, Li Xiaoru and Wen Fangfei are both excellent students ranked at the top of their respective majors. Even if they want to make low-level mistakes in their hearts, their fingers will not agree. The two of them have already mastered the instruments they have learned since childhood, and they are familiar with every keyboard and every string.
Liu Lan was not as nervous as she was when she played with Tang Tu before. She and Li Xiaoru had already practiced several times. She corrected all the shortcomings that Li Xiaoru pointed out, and her piano part was passable.
But the trio cannot win by relying on the showmanship of one person alone. The excellence of an individual does not represent the excellence of the entire group. Professionals pay more attention to the coordination of the duet. What the three girls need to do now is to seize the time to practice so that the three melodies can be perfectly integrated without any flaws. This is not a question of skill, but a question of tacit understanding.
"There are only two weeks left before the performance, and we have classes from Monday to Friday. Fangfei is also very busy, so it is impossible for her to carry her guzheng here every day," Li Xiaoru said to Liu Lan. She was very worried that there would not be enough time.
Wen Fangfei was considerate and said, "I can come on Thursdays and Fridays. Why don't we agree to rehearse every Thursday night, Friday night, and Sunday morning? Fifteen hours of practice a week means thirty hours in two weeks, which should be enough."
"Practicing piano for five hours a day, can your fingers bear it?" Li Xiaoru's gaze stayed on Wen Fangfei's artificial nails. It must be uncomfortable to have this thing sticking to the hand. She saw Wen Fangfei adjust it several times.
"I often practice piano from day to night, it's a common occurrence," Wen Fangfei said. "Besides, wearing artificial nails doesn't hurt or make you tired. If you were an ancient person, it would be painful to pluck the strings with your real nails."
"It hurts just thinking about it," Li Xiaoru looked at her fingers, and was glad that her parents let her learn piano instead of guzheng when she was a child.
But in fact, playing the piano for five hours straight is very tiring, your fingers will hurt, and it requires tremendous physical strength.
Otherwise, how can we say that one minute on stage takes ten years of hard work off stage? It is not easy to play any musical instrument.
Liu Lan thought back to her previous life. There were no such things as artificial nails in the Han Dynasty. Madam Xu once grew very long nails, which she used specially for playing the piano. However, due to being in the cold palace for a long time and suffering from malnutrition, Madam Xu's nails were very brittle and not thick enough. Her nails often broke while playing the piano. She then only used her fingers to play the piano, and the pads of her ten fingers were all covered with thick calluses.
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