1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Chapter 558 The Music Is Simpler Than You Think

After that, Nomura did not continue to talk about the topic of songs, but turned to talk about the music work itself. "We all know that you entered the film and television industry as a composer first, and then became a director. In fact, your main job is a music director. Do you mind if I say that?"

"It's okay. I don't mind." Zhou Yan smiled and shook his head. "I did enter the film and television industry as a composer. We talked about this experience when you went to Yanjing a few years ago."

Nomura Hide smiled and nodded, "Yes, that was the first time we met, and we talked about how you got into the industry. If there are any audience members here who haven't seen this interview, you can pay attention to the interview documentary "Distant Journey" produced by our Asahi TV. It not only contains an interview with Zhou Yanjun, but also three beautiful songs. Just call our hotline and you can buy it directly."

Just as Zhou Yan mentioned, Nomura Hide took the opportunity to advertise the videotape produced by their TV station.

He then continued, "In addition to composing music for your own films, you have also helped other directors compose a number of films and TV shows. Before the recording of the program, our program team roughly counted that you have participated in composing music for a total of eleven films and two TV series. This includes the films you have directed yourself. Our data should be correct, right?"

"If the Hollywood version of The Sixth Sense is included, there should be twelve movies. These are the numbers that have been released," Zhou Yan said.

"Oh, we put the two "Sixth Sense" together when we counted the data."

In fact, there is another short film that Zhou Yan did not include.

This workload is actually not comparable to that of Zhao Jiping and others, but compared to most composers, it is already a lot, basically maintaining a frequency of two works a year.

The key point is that in addition to composing music, Zhou Yan also has to direct movies, hold concerts, release albums, and publish books. That’s why people outside say that Zhou Yan is a model worker. After all, the intensity of each of his tasks is not low when taken separately.

Originally, Zhou Yan's writing output was relatively low. He only published a few short and medium-length stories over several years, and he was almost forgotten in the literary world.

However, this year "Never Let Me Go" came out first, followed by "Shutter Island". These two novels directly increased Zhou Yan's output.

After all, Yu Hua has been writing novels for so many years, but has only published three novels, and all three are short novels, none of which exceeds 200,000 words.

If Zhou Yan works harder, he will soon catch up with Yu Hua's output.

Compared to this, Zhou Yan can be considered to have worked hard.

Of course, on the other hand, it can be proved that Yu Hua is a very lazy writer.

"Your music composition efficiency is so high, do you have any secret?" asked Hide Nomura.

Zhou Yan smiled and replied, "Generally speaking, when I compose music, the feeling comes very quickly."

"So do you think this is a talent, or is there a method that can be taught to others?"

Zhou Yan nodded seriously, "There are methods, but not everyone can use them."

"Can you tell me about it?" Nomura Hide asked with a smile. He was also quite curious about the answer to this question.

"My method is to read the script first. If music comes to my mind after reading the script, I will take it. If music doesn't come to my mind, I won't take it."

After hearing Zhou Yan's answer, not only Nomura Shu was stunned, but the audience at the scene was also stunned.

For Zhou Yan, this is just like taking a test, because he only does the questions that he can do, so he can answer all the questions.

There is nothing wrong with this answer logically. Yes, I only take movies that I feel are fast, so that’s why I feel that the music comes quickly.

"Ahem, your method is indeed very effective." Nomura Hide smiled and then led the topic to the next link, "In fact, we have also prepared a special link today, and let Zhou Yanjun show us how he usually does music composition work."

After Nomura Shu finished speaking, Matsumoto Ken began to introduce the process of the session.

"The next part is divided into two parts. In the first part, we will select three paragraphs of text and show them to Zhou Yan. Then he needs to create at least three pieces of music on the spot based on these three paragraphs of text. In the second part, we will select a video and let him compose the music on the spot..."

Before Ken Matsumoto finished introducing the process of the segment, the audience in the studio were already talking about it.

The audience at the scene had all watched the first two episodes of "Music River", but there was no such segment in the previous shows.

Of course, the guests in the first two episodes were not composers, so it is understandable that there was no live music segment, but there was not even a live creation segment.

After all, the guests in the previous two episodes were all singer-songwriters with creative abilities, so it would be reasonable to set up a live creative session for them.

Obviously, this segment was prepared for Zhou Yan.

The live music segment is interesting as soon as you listen to it, and everyone is also very interested in Zhou Yan's usual music composition work.

After Matsumoto Ken introduced the process, Nomura Hide said with a smile, "We didn't discuss the next part beforehand. I can guarantee that the text and video that will be shown to Zhou Yan soon have not been shown to him before. He is definitely the soundtrack for the scene."

Before Nomura Shu said this, some viewers had actually thought of this.

As a TV station, it is normal to have some scripts, especially for this kind of live creative segment. If one is not careful, it will easily go wrong. For the sake of safety, the program team and the guests will usually communicate with each other.

The program team shows the topics to the guests in advance, so that the guests have plenty of time to create before going on the show. After going on the show, they can pretend to perform as if they created it on the spot.

In fact, even if the program team discussed it with Zhou Yan, the audience would not care too much. Anyway, the soundtrack to be shown later must have never been released before, so even if it was not created by Zhou Yan on the spur of the moment, it would not matter much.

You can't say that the music Zhou Yan created later was plagiarized from someone else, or a song that already existed before? Then this link would be meaningless, and I believe they would not do that.

Now that Nomura Shu said this, everyone is very surprised. The production team must have believed in Zhou Yan's ability too much. They didn't even inform him in advance?

Of course, it is not ruled out that Shu Nomura was lying, but everyone is still willing to believe him, or rather, they are willing to believe Zhou Yan and his creative ability, and there is no need for any script at all.

Moreover, Zhou Yan doesn't usually appear on variety shows, so there is absolutely no need for him to collude with the program crew to commit fraud for the sake of a little fame. If this were to be leaked, the result would be more trouble than gain.

Zhou Yan also spoke up at this time, "In fact, music composition is not as difficult as everyone imagines. There are rules and traces to follow. Sometimes practice makes perfect. If you do it more, you don't need any skills at all. Of course, the impromptu music composition is likely to be less sophisticated than the official music composition. I hope everyone is mentally prepared. If the music I make later does not satisfy you, please don't scold me too much."

Nomura Hide said with a smile, "Whether something is difficult or easy depends on who you are looking at it from. You may think it is easy, but it is too difficult in the eyes of people like us."

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "Come on."

Then, the staff brought out three white boards with three paragraphs of text written on them.

After the board was pushed up, Ikeda Mie began to read aloud, mainly for the audience. The board was written in Japanese, which Zhou Yan could not understand, so Nomura Hide and others gave Zhou Yan three pieces of paper with the Chinese translation of the three paragraphs.

Zhou Yan took a quick look and then couldn't help laughing.

It seems that Nomura Hideo and the others are still worried, so they let it go.

These three paragraphs are very short and the content is simple.

The first paragraph is about a couple sitting by a pond and looking at the moon.

In the second paragraph, a boy was abandoned by a girl and was walking on the bridge.

The third paragraph is about a traveler who has been away for a long time and is on his way home.

None of these three sections has a complete story. Not to mention asking Zhou Yan to come, just find a student from the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music and he could write it on the spot.

For this kind of music, you only need to write a general idea, and it is very short, much simpler than the entrance examination questions for the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music.

Zhou Yan walked directly to the keyboard, sat down, raised his hand and played a piece of music.

After he finished playing, he smiled and asked, "Which text do you think is suitable for the music I just played?"

After Zhou Yan finished speaking, many people immediately answered, "The second paragraph."

There was almost no dissenting opinion among the audience.

The reason why everyone had such a unanimous opinion was that the passage Zhou Yan played was very sad, and among the three passages, the second one was the most appropriate.

Zhou Yan smiled and said, "That's right. That's why I said that music is a simple thing. All you need to do is find the right emotion. You can all hear that the previous part is very sad. You also think that the boy must be sad after being abandoned by the girl."

After hearing Zhou Yan's words, the audience nodded continuously, but then Zhou Yan changed the subject and said, "In fact, the soundtrack is simpler than you think."

After saying that, he played another very bright and passionate major-key piece. The mood of this piece sounded completely different from the previous one.

When this performance was over, Zhou Yan turned to look at the audience and asked with a smile, "Now, if I put this paragraph in the second paragraph, what do you think? Do you think it is not appropriate, or do you think this paragraph is also appropriate like the previous one?"

After hearing what Zhou Yan said, the audience began to imagine in their minds what the effect would be if the second paragraph of text was matched with the music Zhou Yan had just played.

After thinking about it, many people found that it is actually possible.

The picture is still the same, but the feeling it gives is very different.

Who says you have to cry after being dumped? Can't you be more passionate? Anyway, this passage does not specify the relationship between the two or the boy's personality.

Zhou Yan smiled and played a softer piece of music.

Then he said, "Does the passage I just played fit in among these three passages?"

Some of the audience in the front row nodded frantically.

That’s right, the soft-sounding music just now is indeed suitable for the three paragraphs of text just now.

Needless to say, the first paragraph is about a couple admiring the moon, so it would be fine to use such a soft and lyrical song.

As for the second paragraph, the boy was dumped, and this song with a hint of nostalgia is also very suitable.

There is also the third paragraph, where the wanderer returns home, and the faint sadness and longing in the song are very suitable.

The key point is that the descriptions in these three paragraphs are not very detailed, so it’s okay to use this kind of universal soundtrack.

"Soundtracks are like this. For the same movie, different composers will always produce different results. Composers are also human beings. Since they are human beings, they have different artistic appreciation. Different audiences can see different things in the same movie, so different composers can naturally find different feelings."

"I don't know if you have ever heard of the saying that the core of comedy is tragedy. Many drama directors believe in this saying. So, if it extends to the work of composing music, do we not have to match some comedy clips with cheerful music? Can we put some sad and exciting music in them? And for some sad scenes, can we also use cheerful music?"

"There is a poem in the Book of Songs called "Gathering Wild Wheat", in which there is a line: When I went there, the willows were swaying; now I come back, it is raining and snowing."

When Zhou Yan talked about contrast, he subconsciously cited the example from "Gathering Wild Wheat", but after he finished speaking, he found that the translator next to him was swallowing his saliva.

Today's translation can only translate the normal communication between them. It is too difficult for him to translate sentences in the "Book of Songs".

He didn't even know what these sentences meant, let alone translating them.

Seeing that the translator was stumped, Zhou Yan smiled and explained, "This poem means that when I left, it was spring, with poplars and willows swaying in the wind, but when I came back, it was already winter with rain and snow. Parting is painful, and returning home is joyful, but the scenery here is completely opposite."

After hearing Zhou Yan's explanation, the translator breathed a sigh of relief and translated his explanation to the audience.

Although this level has been passed, the effect of what Zhou Yan just said has been discounted.

This is a communication problem.

So after the translator finished speaking, he added, "Everyone can read the Book of Songs if they have the chance."

Zhou Yan added, "Regarding the return of wanderers, I thought of a song I composed before."

Ikeda Mie was very sensitive and immediately asked, "Have we heard that song before?"

Zhou Yan shook his head, "Not yet."

"Not yet, does that mean there will be in the future?" asked Ken Matsumoto.

Zhou Yan nodded, "Well, you will hear it soon, because I made this piece of music into a song. It is one of the two singles that Akina Nakamori will release soon. The name is "Homecoming."

(End of this chapter)