Chapter 27, Song 27...
Yan Zheng returned the next day, looking apologetically at Qu Jiaying and the other two in the rehearsal room.
"sorry……"
Qu Jiaying said with dissatisfaction, "You didn't resist?"
Yan Zheng gave a bitter smile. Perhaps it was all the past events that made her unable to believe she had rebelled: "I talked to him. He said he'd look at my final exam results and if they're good, he'd give me an extra year."
Both the conducting and composition departments are five-year programs, so it's barely possible to transfer after completing the third year.
"But we still can't work together until graduation," Le Yi said sullenly.
“There was nothing we could do about it. He was in the same year as you two, and he was going to graduate a year later than you,” Xiang Min said.
Qu Jiaying stared intently at Yan Zheng: "One more year is still one year, so prepare well for the final exam."
The final exam for the conducting department is similar to a formal competition, but not as rigorous. In the competition, the piece is chosen by drawing lots on the spot, and the organizers will also compose a special piece. The contestants have to study the score in a short period of time and then collaborate with the same symphony orchestra.
Cai Rui wasn't that heartless to subject these conducting students to such a high level of difficulty right from the start. He informed the students in advance which pieces they would be given to prepare, and then they would draw lots on the day of the exam before conducting the school symphony orchestra.
In theory, Lü Yueming, as the assistant conductor of the school symphony orchestra, has an advantage, so recently several students from the conducting department have been asking him questions.
Lu Yueming complained to Qu Jiaying in private: "It's good that they come to ask me, but what do they ask most of the questions? They ask how to balance you and Ruan Qi. You two won't fight. And are you two angry with Qiu Xue?"
Qu Jiaying smiled and said, "You've really gone to a lot of trouble. Don't you have any serious questions to ask?"
“Of course there are.” Lu Yueming smiled slightly. “Yan Zheng was the first to come to me. He asked a lot of professional questions that I couldn’t answer. I couldn’t let go of this worthless pride.”
Qu Jiaying shook her head: "You're already better than most people at being able to say it. No wonder Senior Sister Ruan Qi took a liking to you."
Lu Yueming smiled helplessly and said, "However, Yan Zheng and I have different styles. Even if I tell him some of my tricks, it's still different from his style."
Qu Jiaying nodded in agreement. Senior Lü Yueming had a relatively peaceful personality, but his interpretation was more novel, while Yan Zheng was completely different from him.
Thinking back to this, Qu Jiaying glanced at Min and sighed.
Xiang Min walked up to Yan Zheng, looking down at him: "I'll teach you."
Yan Zheng gritted his teeth: "No need."
He can contact Lü Yueming, but not Xiang Min.
"Heh, do you think I want to?" Xiang Min said.
Qu Jiaying watched with great interest, but Le Yi pulled her aside and asked her how to practice arpeggios, thus shooing Qu Jiaying away.
Qu Jiaying set up her violin and demonstrated arpeggios to him: "The first group of chords must be pressed firmly, and then the pitch will rise in sequence."
Le Yi only watched her demonstrate once, and he mastered the trick.
"Not bad, your fingers are very nimble." Qu Jiaying commented, "You need to practice your right-hand bowing more, the tip, the heel, the middle, the half bow, the full bow, you need to practice each one."
Le Yi is very musically talented. He has long fingers and can easily master octaves. He also quickly found his rhythm in pitch through practice.
Yan Zheng glanced at Qu Jiaying and Le Yi, then sneered at Xiang Min, "Don't think I'll thank you."
Le Yi whispered to Qu Jiaying, "I think even if Yan Zheng is very capable, he can't transfer to Julia University with half a semester of preparation. It will take at least a year. Even if he doesn't fight, it will still take a year, so there's no need to worry about him failing."
“But what about a year from now?” Qu Jiaying said. “I understand what you’re saying. I just want to win gracefully. Maybe there will be a turning point.”
A strong will to persevere will earn the approval of others; without perseverance and without success, there will be no willingness to change.
The school symphony orchestra has been rehearsing a lot lately. In addition to rehearsing "The Sea" and the conducting department's assessment piece, fourth- and fifth-year composition students have been submitting their pieces recently. After receiving the full score and their respective parts, the musicians practiced them first before playing together. Composition students would come to listen to the rehearsals and make changes based on the performance and the instructors' feedback.
Ruan Qi discovered that Qu Jiaying could grasp the essence of the score immediately, but she herself could not, which was her fatal weakness. The junior group competition did not require cooperation with the symphony orchestra, but the final round of the youth competition now requires a concerto.
Ruan Qi is very confident in her solo performance. Even though Qu Jiaying has now found her interpretation, her unique delicacy is second to none. However, she still doesn't coordinate well with the symphony orchestra.
Ruan Qi took a deep breath. She had discussed this issue with Professor Muller a few days ago via video call. Professor Muller told her with a smile that it was not a problem, and she wished she could fly to Germany right now to start taking classes.
Qiu Xue was chatting with Qu Jiaying, and she was excitedly ranting: "How can you play so well all of a sudden! These scores written by composition majors are so boring. Do they have to think they are very innovative? Do they think that difficult techniques make a good piece?"
Qu Jiaying felt that perhaps with the help of Yan Zheng and Xiang Min, she had a better grasp of the score. Although she couldn't explain it clearly, she was able to play it well in coordination with the orchestra.
She had only ever encountered Xiang Min's adapted scores before, and overall they were quite nice to listen to. However, most of the compositions written by these senior students were rather strange, and the rest were retro but lacked originality.
But there was also an amusing incident. Qu Jiaying teased Qiu Xue, "Didn't you have a senior who writes music specifically for you? Isn't what he writes good enough?"
A fifth-year student in the composition department was captivated by Qiu Xue's clarinet solo after hearing her perform it, and he drastically revised his graduation piece into a clarinet concerto.
When the topic came up, Qiu Xue was half embarrassed and half annoyed: "He doesn't know anything about the clarinet, no, he doesn't know anything about any wind instruments, and he keeps asking me questions."
Qu Jiaying suddenly felt a little worried. Xiang Min had also written a piece for her. Although he could play many instruments, he was not very proficient in any of them except the cello. What if he was bad at it?
Someone complained that it was too hot, so Lü Yueming turned on the air conditioner and then announced from the front that the break time was over. Qiu Xue quickly returned to her seat.
After the rehearsal, Qu Jiaying carried her violin case outside. It was even hotter outside, and she sneezed several times.
Qu Jiaying messaged Xiang Min, wanting to see his score, but he declined, saying it wasn't finished and he couldn't see it.
"Anyway, we'll definitely see it next year," Qu Jiaying replied.
Xiang Min changed the subject and started talking about Yan Zheng's situation.
Qu Jiaying wasn't worried about Yan Zheng; as long as he performed normally, he wouldn't lose to anyone.
Xiang Min asked, "You trust him that much?"
“It has nothing to do with whether I trust him or not; it’s something he had no choice but to do,” Qu Jiaying replied.
There were many things to do in May, the first being a concert with the provincial symphony orchestra.
The concert was held at the old campus of the music academy, which was open to the public and could be attended by audiences from all over the city. With the internationally renowned conductor Cai Rui in charge, classical music lovers from other places also booked tickets in advance and arrived at the venue on time.
Ruan Qi changed into a black dress and put on makeup, then waited anxiously backstage. The students who lived on campus had all come together on the school bus today, but Qu Jiaying had not arrived yet.
This was their last performance together, so Ruan Qi specially messaged a well-known music critic she knew, asking him to come and listen to the concert.
Music critics asked Ruan Qi, "Have you recovered?"
Ruan Qi honestly admitted, "No, I invited you here so you could hear our school's concertmaster, that girl plays very well."
"Is that so?" The music critic was skeptical. If he were truly a great violinist, he should have become internationally renowned by now. He was still in China even at university, which hardly seemed like a "good" performance.
They finally arrived because of Cai Rui's command.
The phone on the bedside table kept vibrating, but Qu Jiaying didn't hear it at all. She had taken cold medicine and was still not fully awake.
Qu's parents were arguing in hushed tones. The weather had been fluctuating between hot and cold lately, and the air conditioning vents in the rehearsal hall were blowing directly on Qu Jiaying, causing her to catch a cold and develop a fever. She hadn't felt anything when she first fell ill last night and hadn't paid much attention to it, continuing to practice the piano.
This morning it got much worse; I had dizziness, a high fever, and a cough.
Qu Jiaying was worried about the performance, and it took her parents a lot of persuasion before she finally took her medicine and lay down to rest.
“I just took her temperature, and it hasn’t come down yet. She can’t go to the performance,” Qu’s mother said firmly.
Mr. Qu sighed, "She won't be happy."
"Health is the most important thing," Mrs. Qu insisted.
“…I’ll ask Mr. Cai Rui for leave.” Mr. Qu conceded.
Qu Jiaying was thinking about the concert, so she couldn't sleep soundly and finally woke up groggily.
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