Chapter 48, Song 48...
The four of them went to eat congee hot pot. After eating, they didn't smell of hot pot on their clothes, so it wouldn't affect Qu Jiaying's new dress.
She mentioned Ms. Pei's invitation at the dinner table.
"If we go this time, is there a high chance we'll get the right to use that Stradivarius violin?" Yan Zheng was getting excited.
Xiang Min, however, was somewhat skeptical: "Maybe not?"
"Then why look for Jiaying? Why don't they look for other more famous people?" Yan Zheng retorted.
Xiang Min was persuaded and actively joined the discussion.
Just as they were talking animatedly, Le Yi suddenly said, "I'm not going."
Qu Jiaying put down her chopsticks and looked at Le Yi.
Le Yi considered carefully and said, "I don't have any problem with you going, but I'm not going."
Qu Jiaying didn't ask Le Yi until after dinner, when she pulled him aside to ask, "Why didn't you want to go last time?"
After spending a lot of time with the three of them, Qu Jiaying also discovered some things.
There are some things they can't say or directly to someone of the same sex, but they can still tell her.
She found it both funny and interesting to observe.
Le Yi explained earnestly, "This is a special performance." Although he was occasionally confused and wondered what he was playing the piano for, he knew very well who he didn't want to play for.
Qu Jiaying actually understood his thoughts completely, but she advised, "But you still need to get involved first before talking about these things."
“But your current direction isn’t one of complete integration,” Le Yi pointed out sharply.
Qu Jiaying got angry immediately. She didn't want to say anything more and went to practice the piano in a huff.
But after she calmed down and finished practicing the piano, and came to her senses to think it over again, she realized that half of her anger was directed at herself, and she was still unsure whether the path she had chosen was entirely correct.
After getting to know Xiaoxing and Dawei, Qu Jiaying also had a new dilemma: which is better, performing classic works or creating new works?
She was also confused about how the composer perceived it, so she went to ask Xiang Min.
Xiang Min absorbed elements from traditional Chinese opera and folk music, adopting their tones, rhythms, timbres, and dynamics, but still used Western instruments overall, so it doesn't sound strange. He pays attention to ethnic music, but that doesn't mean he will use it wholesale or deliberately play the ethnic card. His innovation lies more in the essence, in harmony, phrasing, and structure.
“Music is essentially a language. When I compose, I feel like an immigrant writer creating. Sensitive people are actually more sensitive to language,” Xiang Min said.
Qu Jiaying realized why her music was so good: it was because she had a talent for languages and could easily master any foreign language.
“But I still want to write works that only I can write. I want to write about you, I want to write about my mother. This is my life experience, this is what I want to express now. However, I can’t guarantee how others will evaluate it in the future,” Xiang Min said with a light laugh.
With final exams approaching, Qu Jiaying has already received the score for the first movement of "Green Night" and is rehearsing with the school symphony orchestra. Comparing it with other composition works from last year and this year, she finds Xiang Min's talent truly outstanding. The work is innovative and fusion-based, yet beautiful and memorable, which is something not everyone can achieve. Even though the current work is still quite immature, the future is immeasurable.
As the first performer of Xiang Min's work, her interpretation is not exactly the same as the score. Isn't she creating something new?
Almost every performer reinterprets classic works. Is this really that different from creating new works?
This is the paradox of performers. Unlike film and television or modern music works, which have an original template and are often unsatisfactory when remade or covered, performers only have the sheet music, not the sound. They don't know what the works from hundreds of years ago were like, which is why there are endless possibilities.
Qu Jiaying herself is not very interested in composing, but she still wants to collaborate with different types of musicians. She really likes the sense of space created by the resonance of different instruments.
But I think it's better not to let her play the electric violin.
It's not possible yet, at least not at the moment.
Qu Jiaying refused the exquisitely designed white electric violin that Xiaoxing offered her: "Call me conservative if you want, but I really can't use it."
David quickly explained, "I understand your point of view, but the stage of a music festival is open, unlike the closed stage of a concert hall. The walls of a concert hall are specially designed to concentrate sound, but a music festival is outdoors, so even if you use a microphone, the amplification effect is generally not good."
They had already recorded the audio before, and today they came to rehearse. Only Yan Zheng came with them. He tried playing the electric violin with great interest and commented, "The vibration is so strange. Even if I were to use it, it would take me a while to get used to it."
Moreover, he had other concerns. A few days ago, Xiaoxing's team posted an update online about their collaboration with Qu Jiaying. Le Yi and Xiang Min were only concerned with their own affairs, but he saw Xiaoxing's fans questioning Qu Jiaying, who had never won a major award.
“I think it would be better for her to play the violin she’s familiar with, so that no one will doubt her skill level,” Yan Zheng said.
Qu Jiaying asked in surprise, "Who doubts me? You can say my performance is unconventional, but you can't doubt my technique!"
Yan Zheng was helpless. The person in question rarely went online and couldn't see these things at all, but it was enough for Xiao Xing to understand.
Xiao Xing paused for a moment, then quickly took out her phone and scrolled through it for a while before earnestly telling Qu Jiaying and Yan Zheng, "I'll handle it."
Qu Jiaying nodded in confusion, and Yan Zheng didn't say anything.
Aside from this little incident, the rehearsal went smoothly, and Yan Zheng learned a lot. Xiao Xing will be singing five songs this time, three of her representative works and two new songs.
The first three tracks have been rearranged, incorporating electronic music and paired with Qu Jiaying's strings, resulting in a more diverse sound that is still very harmonious and beautiful.
"It's really interesting to blend pop music and symphonic music together. You guys should have gone to the rehearsal today," Yan Zheng told Le Yi and Xiang Min as soon as he got back.
Qu Jiaying learned Xiaoxing's stage presence, how to coordinate with the band, and how to naturally and gracefully express and enjoy the music through body movements, but she couldn't explain it clearly; she could only experience the subtleties.
David's idea of rearranging the music also gave her a fresh perspective. His approach to arrangement was completely different from Xiang Min's approach of maintaining harmony between the various instruments without altering the overall structure. Instead, he transformed the original pop music into an electronic style and the rock music into a jazz style.
Le Yi and Xiang Min exchanged a glance. Okay, now's not the time to pretend.
Xiang Min put aside her competitive spirit towards Dawei and planned to go to the next performance with Qu Jiaying.
The music festival is scheduled for two days after the chairman's retirement party at the charity foundation, and the two venues are not far apart. I was going to ask the school for leave anyway, so a few more days wouldn't be a problem.
But the more crucial issue is Le Yi. He was originally going to the music festival, but the problem lies with the retirement party beforehand.
He paused for a moment, then agreed to go to the retirement party, but emphasized, "I'm not performing, I'm just helping you out."
Qu Jiaying said coldly, "Then it's settled. There's not much time left. They're all classic pieces, but they need to be changed into trio scores. I'll do the changes."
Yan Zheng and Xiang Min both subtly noticed that Qu Jiaying's attitude towards Le Yi was different from theirs; she was angry and dissatisfied with Le Yi, but neither Le Yi nor Qu Jiaying realized it.
Neither of them was kind enough to remind her. Even if Qu Jiaying was conscious, Yan Zheng didn't think it would have any impact because he knew Qu Jiaying. She wouldn't spend time worrying about these things. What she needed was someone who could be by her side and had their own ideas. Le Yi herself was still confused about the future and had no pressure at all.
Xiang Min cared deeply, but he had no position to uphold it, and due to his composing duties, he could not get any closer to Qu Jiaying.
Le Yi silently walked to the side to study the piano score for next month's exam, but he just couldn't calm down.
Qu Jiaying immediately stopped thinking about these things. She had been really busy lately. The school symphony orchestra was rehearsing for the conducting and composition departments' exams, she was practicing for her own final exams, and she also had things to do with Xiaoxing and the retirement party.
She not only wants to do everything well, but also wants to try things on her own. She can hardly make any progress in terms of technique now. Although she has found the knack for acting, there are many things she can't understand. She can only break through from other aspects. So in the past, she left the adaptations to Xiang Min and Yan Zheng. This time, influenced by Xiao Xing, she also wants to try to do it herself.
"Ms. Pei told me that the tone shouldn't be sad, but rather a celebration of retirement. Besides, most of the foundation's members don't know much about classical music. Even with classic pieces, many people find them unfamiliar except for the most familiar parts. So, let's just make a medley," Qu Jiaying said.
Yan Zheng and Xiang Min had played classic pieces many times before and were getting a little tired of them, so they both thought Qu Jiaying's idea was good.
Qu Jiaying medleyed together the most familiar excerpts from Vivaldi's "The Four Seasons: Spring," Offenbach's "Can-Can," Mozart's "Turkish March," the "Carmen" overture, and the closing "Radetzky March."
The results were surprisingly good.
The foundation members listened with great interest, and some didn't even know who started it. A man and a woman teamed up to dance ballroom. When Qu Jiaying saw this, she quickly slowed down. There was no other way, as most of the members were over fifty years old, and Liu Ru was relatively young among them.
The soon-to-retire chairperson, an elegant grandmother surnamed Yuan, also slowly danced a few rounds. Qu Jiaying and others' performance came to a temporary end, and Liu Ru gestured for Qu Jiaying to come over and say hello. Grandma Yuan was next to him.
Qu Jiaying put down her violin, took a deep breath, and prepared to walk over, but Le Yi stopped her and handed her a glass of iced lemonade.
Who would have thought that the retirement party would be held on a yacht? Her previous seasickness hadn't gotten better. She originally thought it was temporary, since she had never had this problem before. She never expected that she would get seasick again. Fortunately, she was focused while playing the music and didn't feel much, but as soon as she stopped, she felt dizzy and nauseous.
What she didn't expect was that Le Yi was the first to notice her physical condition. She looked deeply at the quiet Le Yi, slowly drank the water, felt that she had suppressed her discomfort a little, returned the water cup to Le Yi, and walked away.
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