Please, come home and practice the piano

Chapter 1288, Section 508: The Young Commander, the Fledgling Eagle Spreads Its Wings [Part 1]

The competition venue is the concert hall of Yunxi Middle School. It is located 50 meters straight from the east teaching building, then turn left.

"Theoretically, there are no seats for the audience, but it's not strictly enforced. In a moment, you'll put on your work badges and enter through the back door of the audience area. Just find a place to sit in the back row."

As Li Anzheng was speaking, a group of judges appeared at the entrance of the concert hall.

Leading the group were Lao Yuan, the head of the orchestral department of Rongyuan, and Lin Qingfeng, the principal of Rongai. Following behind them was Lao Nie, a first-class performer and director of the city's opera.

The three nodded to Ang Lee and his party from a distance, as it was not appropriate for them to get close and greet each other on such an occasion.

Ang Lee then led his entourage into the concert hall through the west gate.

Hai Tao chuckled to himself, realizing he couldn't find any reason why the scholar hadn't come in first place today.

Unexpectedly, one day he also experienced this feeling of being completely arranged for him.

It was really awesome.

To say it was something behind the scenes would be an exaggeration; he knew that Brother An hadn't spoken to these people.

But what can we do about it?

There are some relationships that An Ge can't sever even if he wants to.

Upon entering the concert hall, the golden stage, golden curtain, and electronic screen above the stage were quite striking.
The audience seats were nearly half full, mostly with team leaders and parents, as well as some people who came to observe and learn.

Haitao found a row of empty seats nearby and led a group of teachers to sit down.

Xiao Che and Xiao Xing sat alone in the row in front of the teachers.

"Isn't the teacher sitting with us?" Tang Xiaoxing asked.

The little car didn't know either: "Maybe the teacher has something to do."

The competition began soon after.

A host came on stage, said a lot, and then began to introduce today's judges.

Then came the applause—clap—clap—, and although the venue wasn't full, the applause was just as enthusiastic as if it were packed.

"I hereby declare the Third Citywide Primary and Secondary School Wind Band Competition officially open."

"The first team to perform is the Ninth Middle School from Guangyuan District. Their piece is 'In That Faraway Place,' conducted by Song Nan."

"Wow—"

As the host's voice faded, applause erupted once more.

Musicians from No. 9 Middle School, dressed in black formal attire, entered the stage from both sides. The conductor was a male conductor, also dressed in black formal attire, who looked to be around forty years old and was holding a sheet of music.

Conductor Song Nan first bowed to the audience, then walked up to the podium and spread the sheet music on the music stand.

Once he was sure that all the students from No. 9 Middle School were watching him, he raised both hands and waved them in one breath!
The musicians played the first note of the competition.

As a result, a piercing crack came from the clarinet part.

Unexpected events always happen unexpectedly; otherwise, they wouldn't be considered unexpected.

Fortunately, the crack in the sound did not affect the performance of the clarinet part later on, and Ang Lee thought the whole piece was pretty good.

From pitch and rhythm to interpretation, it's at an 80-point level.

However, the first crack in the voice was definitely a major drawback.

Li An stubbed out his cigarette and took the water Zhou Song offered him.

"It's really hot today."

"Absolutely, I'm drenched in sweat as soon as I step outside. They say it's going to be 40 degrees next week."

In the mixing room on the second floor, Li An and Zhou Song sat on the sofa, looking down at the stage.

That's their best perspective today.

"The next team to perform is from Harmony Secondary School in JB District. Their piece is Haydn's Surprise Symphony, conducted by Marvin Da."

Zhou Song: "This is also an adaptation."

Ang Lee: "Yes, all the symphonic works played by the wind band are adaptations, except for those written specifically for symphony wind bands. This one is simpler than the previous one."

Simple doesn't mean you can't get a high score.

Harmony Middle School's performance was flawless and received unanimous approval from the judges.

"Wow————"

When you see something good, you can compare it to something not so good. The next school to appear, Linyin District No. 2 Middle School, was a real disappointment.

The farewell to youth is blown away as if youth itself has vanished, leaving only goodbye.

The first thing to consider when evaluating an amateur student orchestra is its pitch accuracy.

No one knows how well the Second Middle School rehearsed in private, but based on this one live performance, the Second Middle School's pitch accuracy can only be described as terrible.

This made Xiaoche extremely uncomfortable; throughout the entire viewing process, her auditory nerves felt as if they had been rolled into a ball of yarn by Bawan and Xiaobai.

Fortunately, it's only a six-minute piece.

The little car thought to itself, "I can't give more than fifty points."

Tang Xiaoxing, standing to the side, gave a very objective answer: "Thirty points."

Tang Xiaoxing felt that giving the team a score of 30 was too high; this was the team that gave her the worst sensory experience so far.

Leaving aside the music, their stage etiquette was also poor.

After they went on stage, some musicians were even laughing and talking under the lights.

They completely lacked the discipline a regiment should have.

In contrast to the fourth group to perform, the Johor Bahru High School Orchestra, at least in terms of stage presence, gave people a feeling of high spirits as soon as they came on stage. All members stood quietly in front of their positions after coming on stage, and only sat down after the conductor came on stage and gestured for them to sit down.

That's excellent.

"Wow——————"

Tang Xiaoxing's intuition told her that the song "Colors of Life" from Xinshan Middle School would definitely be good.

The results confirmed Tang Xiaoxing's feeling; the orchestra demonstrated their level of pitch accuracy as soon as they started playing.

"Great!" Xiao Che thought to herself. This was the best band she had ever heard.

"when!"

As the percussion section entered, the stage instantly erupted into rock music.

The audience was completely engrossed.

A good performance will naturally attract more and bigger applause, even on the field.

"Wow————————"

As Johor Bahru Secondary School finished their performance, the audience erupted in the loudest applause to date.

Old Yuan, who was sitting in the center of the judges' panel, did not express his opinion, but the two judges next to him spoke up to give their approval.

Seeing this, Lin Qingfeng, who was sitting to Lao Yuan's right, didn't say anything, but picked up his pen and gave him a score of 90.

The mixing room.

Zhou Song: "Xinshan Middle School is good."

Ang Lee: "Very good. They won first place last year. Johor Bahru should be one of the earliest schools in Chengdu to establish a wind band."

Zhou Song: "No wonder, it felt different as soon as I stepped on stage. Do you know this conductor?"

Ang Lee: "I don't know him, but he's quite nice."

Seeing that they had reached the fifth one, Ang Lee sent a message to Haitao.

Haitao replied that he had arrived at the classroom: Shall we take the children there now? Li An: Yes, let everyone check the instruments again, I won't be going down for a while.

Haitao: Where are you?

Ang Lee casually snapped a picture of the scene before him and sent it to Haitao.

Then he sent Qin Yong a voice message: Not here yet? You don't care about your students at all. Hurry up, to the sound mixing room on the second floor.
-
As the fifth school finished its performance, the car noticed something noteworthy.

She asked Tang Xiaoxing, "Xiaoxing, is it necessary for a conductor to bring the full score when going on stage?"

She noticed that every conductor who went on stage had a full score in their hand, but some of them didn't even turn the page during the performance.

Tang Xiaoxing: "There is no rule that it is mandatory to bring it, but conductors usually bring the score when they go on stage, in case they forget some details in the middle. Symphonic works are usually quite long, and conductors cannot guarantee that they can remember the details of all the parts. So, just to be on the safe side, they need to bring the full score, so they can just flip through it at a critical moment and remember it."

Xiao Che: "I see. So, does not bringing the full score on stage make the conductor seem very confident?"

Tang Xiaoxing laughed: "Some young conductors will choose to go on stage without the score."

Xiao Che thought to himself that Wang Xiaohu probably wouldn't bring sheet music to the stage.
-
East Campus Teaching Building.

"Everyone, please double-check your instruments and make sure you have your sheet music."

While everyone was carefully inspecting the items, Wang Xiaohu was going through an internal struggle.

A voice told him not to bring the sheet music: You've already memorized every detail of each part, why would you need to bring the sheet music? Going on stage without sheet music is so cool, it might even be a plus!

But another voice told him to bring the sheet music: You should bring the sheet music. What if you suddenly forget a few parts on stage? As a conductor, you are responsible for the entire orchestra. Not bringing the sheet music might be a plus, but bringing the sheet music will definitely not be a minus. In addition, the sheet music is your last guarantee on stage.

call--

After carefully putting the sheet music away and holding it in his arms, Wang Xiaohu followed everyone to the waiting area.

The waiting area is occupied by No. 6 Jiangbei Liren Middle School, who just came off the stage, while No. 7 No. 13 Middle School has already taken the stage.

At this moment, everyone standing in the waiting area can faintly hear the sounds coming from the stage.

Haitao: "Let's start matching the sounds."

Wang Xiaohu: "Wait for Teacher Zheng."

“One voice at a time, the flute first.”

Haitao immediately understood what Wang Xiaohu meant: "Everyone, please maintain discipline."

Although sound mixing is allowed here, since the sounds from the stage can be heard here, it means that if the sound here is loud enough, the sounds from the stage can also be heard.

"Everyone, focus on rehearsing. I'll go backstage and keep an eye on things." Qiao Zhizhi ran backstage.

Afterwards, Wang Xiaohu watched each part complete the matching work. When applause came from the audience, he exhaled lightly and went to the mirror to straighten his bow tie.

"No need to rush! The staff at the front are setting up chairs for us."

Qiao Zhizhi reports from the front.

Liang Yudan: "Everyone, don't be nervous for a moment. Just treat it as a performance and have some fun!"

Haitao: "Keep it up!"

All band members: "Go for it!!"

When Ang Lee heard the children's voices in the mixing room, he couldn't help but feel a little nervous.

Zhou Song smiled and said, "You're here."

Ang Lee nodded: "They're here."

The audience members, including the family and friends of the four steelworkers and a group of teachers, perked up, knowing that Shuren was about to take the stage.

Tang Xiaoxing seemed even more excited than Xiao Che, her little face beaming as she looked around excitedly.

The host took the stage: "Next up is Shuren Bilingual Experimental School from Yudong District. Their piece is the Eagle's Peak Overture, conducted by Wang Xiaohu."

Upon hearing Wang Xiaohu's name, the judges all smiled.

"Wow——————"

The applause drew two groups of musicians dressed in black formal attire to the stage. Each musician smiled and turned to the side as they came up to the audience, then stood quietly in front of the music stand before their seats.

Tang Xiaoxing: "Great!"

Car: "It feels great."

"Wow——————"

Finally, Wang Xiaohu strode out from backstage in a black tuxedo, causing a stir in the audience.

No one expected that the person in charge of the book was actually a student!
Anyone with even a little professional knowledge knows that the more competitive the game, the more important the coaching becomes.

If it's a professional orchestra performing on stage, you could even have a dog tethered to the conductor's podium.

The biggest problem that student orchestras encounter on stage is unexpected situations. For example, the opening performance by No. 9 Middle School might have been more serious if the conductor hadn't made timely adjustments.

Letting a student conduct on stage... Is this kid up to the task? He looks like a spirited little boy.
Wang Xiaohu quickly silenced the doubters. He walked to the podium, turned around, crossed his hands and placed them on his abdomen, then nodded slightly to the audience, giving the impression of a seasoned stage conductor.

Then he turned around and gestured slightly with his left hand, inviting all the musicians on the stage to sit down.

Finally, he went up to the conductor's podium himself, placed the sheet music on the music stand, and turned to the third page, which the cart could not see.

Good, good. Xiao Che admitted her mistake for being too confident earlier and she should apologize to Hu Zi.

They actually brought sheet music onto the stage! Not bad, not bad at all. "They've learned to be more composed."

Hearing this, Tang Xiaoxing turned around and asked in a low voice, "Linlin, what did you say?"

The little car smiled and shook its head, giving a thumbs up.

Tang Xiaoxing smiled too. Indeed, Shuren's performance on stage was perfect in his eyes, especially the captain's demeanor and interaction with the orchestra.

The hall was quiet, and all eyes were focused on the young commander on the command platform.

But only the musicians sitting on the stage could see their conductor winking and grimacing at them with a ferocious expression.

Wang Xiaohu silently counted one, two, three, four, made four small gestures with his right hand in front of his chest, and then lightly tapped his hands in the air.

In an instant, all the bass voices played a deep and powerful rhythmic pattern at the same moment.

The resounding and bright melody immediately tells everyone what kind of work this will be.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Xiaohu raised his head and stretched his left hand straight towards the percussion section, and the rolling sound of the snare drum appeared on the stage like a wisp of fire lurking in the dark clouds.

Wang Xiaohu kept his left hand straight and controlled the speed of the bass part with his right hand until the snare drum roll resounded with thunderous power in the air above the stage with a loud bang!
At this moment, all the percussion groups roared! Wang Xiaohu suddenly raised his left arm high again and swung it around like a giant walking on Eagle Peak. Finally, he spread his arms like an eagle, and the orchestra played in unison with great momentum, as if opening the prelude to a grand ceremony.

Before I knew it, the backstage area was already packed with young musicians from various school teams.

They stared in disbelief at the scene unfolding on the stage.

The teachers from various schools in the audience were also speechless with astonishment.

This...this...Even though they knew that Shuren had signed with Rongai, the level of the Shuren Band in front of them was just too outrageous!

Especially this student conductor, judging by his presence and stage presence, he must have been brought in as an outside helper!
Given all this, why bother participating in the competition? Just give out the awards already.

The judges on the panel couldn't help but smile; the difference in skill level was indeed too great.

This piece isn't particularly difficult, but its high level of skill is undeniable.

But is it really true that the author's skill level was always that high?
Lin Qingfeng heard this student orchestra perform on New Year's Day last year, and his evaluation at the time was that it was alright.

That's roughly the level of today's Johor Bahru Secondary School, maybe not even that.

But after more than half a year, listening to them again today, this band has completely transformed.

As a professional musician, even from a strictly professional perspective, he deserves a thumbs up.

He also said that Wang Xiaohu's passion was the best unifying agent for the band.

If a different commander were used, the opening performance would likely be less effective.

There will be another chapter in a moment