Chapter 75

Tonight, there's a string department concert at the old music hall. Each major in the music college has a special performance every semester, which is a highlight, and every department takes it very seriously. The students are also happy to be the audience, especially the freshmen. Next week it will be the piano department's turn, so An Xin and Yu Xinting have been preparing recently and will also go to observe tonight. Yang Jingxing is also going to join the fun because Liu Siman and her group will also perform. Qi Qingnuo has also come, and they all sit together.

The concert lasted more than two hours, with both students and teachers performing. They are all elites, and the quality of the performance is excellent. The quintets were very impressive, and the solos had many highlights.

It didn't end until nearly ten o'clock, and Yang Jingxing went back to Room 402 to practice. He went home after midnight, checked on the Fu family's barbecue, and found that Fu Feirong hadn't returned yet. Yang Jingxing called her, and Fu Feirong said she had finished work but was helping to clean up. Her brother would come to pick her up later.

On Tuesday morning, Yang Jingxing was called to the office by He Hongchui, who questioned him about not participating in the composition competition organized by the Puhai City Music Association, as many freshmen had enthusiastically signed up.

Yang Jingxing said he wasn't mature enough. He Hongchui said maturity wasn't up to Yang Jingxing to decide and ordered, "Just give me the arrangement of 'Sunshine in the Rain,' and I'll add it for you."

Yang Jingxing was honored, "You've heard it."

He Hongchui was dismissive, "Do you think I don't know what you do all day!"

Yang Jingxing had no choice but to comply and finished the score in the afternoon and gave it to He Hongchui. After reviewing it, He Hongchui was very satisfied, praised him for a while, and then seemed to add casually, "You're making quite a stir in the North Building. Be mindful of the impact."

Yang Jingxing nodded in agreement, not knowing what to say.

He Hongchui added, "The music college is a romantic place, but it's also a serious place. I hope you can be serious in your life and romantic in your professional studies."

Yang Jingxing did not argue.

Before they knew it, it was Saturday. Yang Jingxing picked up Tao Meng early in the morning as agreed, even before he could drop off Yu Xinting. Tao Meng came down the stairs looking as beautiful as ever, with a bright smile. She got in the car and said she wanted to listen to "Morning Glow."

Yang Jingxing said he didn't bring the CD, and Tao Meng was quite upset. She had brought her MP3, but Yang Jingxing's car didn't support it. Tao Meng said her whole family had heard the song she wrote the lyrics for, and from her happy look, she had received a lot of praise.

Yang Jingxing pointed to the rolled-up sheet music on the dashboard, "Preview it first."

Tao Meng took it and scolded, "It's creased, how careless!" She carefully unfolded it and saw the title "Through Wind and Rain." She glanced at Yang Jingxing and smiled mischievously.

Tao Meng didn't have a strong sense of music, so she couldn't judge the quality just by looking at the score, but she could see it was a duet, and one part was simpler.

Yang Jingxing explained that the complex part was the piano, and the simpler part was the trumpet. A trumpet mouthpiece can't match the richness of 88 keys.

Tao Meng was dissatisfied, "You're favoring yourself!"

Yang Jingxing said, "We can switch."

Tao Meng was dismissive, "Hmph, you can't stump me, ding ding ding... Has Yu Xinting played it?"

Yang Jingxing shook his head, "You're the first to see this score."

Tao Meng didn't care, "What if I don't like it?"

Yang Jingxing wasn't afraid, "I'll keep revising until you do."

Tao Meng pointed out, "It's dirty here, you need to rewrite it! It's like doing homework; if it's messy, the first impression is bad."

Yang Jingxing complained, "Thousands of notes, do you think it's easy to write?"

After Tao Meng read through it, she was suspicious, "Is this eight minutes long?"

Yang Jingxing said, "If you want it to be longer, you can play it for 80 minutes."

"That doesn't count!"

Yang Jingxing said, "Just play it fast, if you can finish in eight minutes, you're amazing."

Tao Meng hurried to review.

When they arrived at the school, Tao Meng rushed to Room 402. It was before nine, and the building was almost empty, with no one in Room 402.

Yang Jingxing plugged in the electric piano for Tao Meng and set up the music stand. Tao Meng said, "I'll look again... you didn't mark the fingerings."

Yang Jingxing laughed, "That would be underestimating you."

Tao Meng huffed, "I know how to play... just this part is a bit difficult."

After Tao Meng finished looking, she put the score down, which was about twenty pages, and complained, "It's hard to turn the pages."

Yang Jingxing said, "I'll turn them for you."

Tao Meng asked, "Aren't you playing together?"

Yang Jingxing said, "You need to get familiar first."

Tao Meng refused, "No, you have to play together."

Fine, Yang Jingxing picked up the trumpet.

It started with a brief piano prelude, then the trumpet joined in. This was a somewhat loose two-part counterpoint work, with the piano and trumpet following each other, using various counterpoint techniques. Both instruments had many ups and downs in their melodies, and the piano chords were not very complex, considering Tao Meng.

Tao Meng started playing, and the rhythm was勉强对的，可惜毕竟是第一次，很不流畅。这可难为了杨景行，小号也吹得断断续续。

还好大致的旋律感出来了，优美动听。尤其是钢琴，旋律和和弦都经过精心设计，即使单独拿出来也是杰作。

陶萌本来想快速弹完，可惜弹着弹着又不忍心破坏优美的节奏感了。她还想一心二用去听杨景行的小号，非常吸引人……总之她很忙乱。

才演奏了两分钟，陶萌突然停了下来，表扬杨景行：“这一段好听……你先弹一遍给我看。”

杨景行自己也还没弹过几遍，但肯定比陶萌强很多倍。他坐到键盘前，边弹边给陶萌讲解：“前奏要非常轻……这里要稍微重一点，和弦轻一点……这里，两个声部是平行进行的，你注意小号……这里，你是主角，你刚刚弹得慢了一点点……”

陶萌瞪大眼睛听得很认真。杨景行断断续续地弹，花了一刻钟讲解完一遍后，陶萌又要他完整地弹一遍，不再讲解。

杨景行就完整地弹一遍，陶萌坐在他右边，一开始是看着他的手指，慢慢地就看到他脸上去了。

多么优美的旋律啊，那个漂亮的主题始终穿插着，时隐时现，可惜就是感觉有时候消失得太快，或者出现得太突然，有点不协和感。

钢琴的整段旋律有八分钟，前后结构比较复杂，除了轻柔若无的前奏，后面还有各种表现手法，变奏，卡农，模进，也有比较现代的无调性感。

当然，杨景行写这首作品并不是为了训练自己的作曲技法，他的一切出发点都是为了好听，而且是让陶萌觉得好听，又能相对容易地弹下来。

杨景行弹完后，看着陶萌，问：“满意吗？”

陶萌愣了一会，然后笑了，说：“现在还没决定。”

杨景行说：“你的笑容出卖了你。”

陶萌抿住嘴，尽量不笑：“换我来！我先弹，有不熟悉的地方你再告诉我。”

陶萌不熟悉的地方太多了，杨景行一个一个地告诉，好在陶萌表现出了很好的耐心，看看谱子，看看键盘，看看杨景行，点点头。

学习了半个小时后，陶萌勉强能流畅地弹下来了，叫杨景行又拿起小号。

新的一遍合奏开始，虽然在音乐学院里表现还不算合格，但陶萌脸上的笑容说明她对自己的要求好像突然不那么高了。

钢琴和小号两个声部，相互交叉追随，有时齐头并进，有时相互衬托，有时异军突起，有时你追我赶。可以把整个乐曲分为三部分，前两分钟是各自突出，互相对比，用变奏和模进各自凸显出主题。中间三分钟主要是互相模仿，时近时远，淡入淡出，复调为主。最后三分钟就是融合了，变成了卡农。第一部分钢琴显得清丽脱俗，小号则嘹亮慷慨。第二部分钢琴和小号都比较明朗起来，更加欢快，但几次变奏又略带忧郁。最后一部分是最为美妙的，钢琴中声部愉快地婉转，小号清新的昂扬，在旋律上渐渐越靠越近，在长达半分钟的结尾中回到两个主体的综合呈现，融为一体。

弹完后，陶萌看着杨景行。她或许还不能逐句地去分析乐曲的结构和内涵，也不能具体描述自己的感觉，但梅纽因说过，人耳难以想象的灵敏对我们的听觉与情感之间的复杂互动起着巨大的作用。

《风雨同路》对陶萌的作用显然是愉快的，她这时候的笑容比杨景行讲个无聊的笑话要灿烂真实得多，忘记了笑不漏齿的淑女规则，也没皱眉，更不烦。好像心底的感觉在她的脸上舒展开来，眉毛，鼻子，脸颊，嘴唇，眼睛……都有无数让人无法觉察的细节，却又让人赏心悦目。

杨景行也笑了，两人对视着笑，好一会。杨景行问：“满意吗？”

陶萌点点头，整理了一下刚才因为翻得太快而散落的谱子，再看杨景行，问：“你给别人看过吗？”

杨景行说：“还没有。”

陶萌说：“我以前没看过钢琴和小号合奏……你觉得我弹得好吗？”

杨景行点头：“好！”

陶萌谦虚：“肯定没专业的好。”

杨景行说：“对我来说比什么都好。”

陶萌似乎害羞，看着手里的谱子好一会才抬头，问：“那你什么时候给别人听？”

杨景行说：“已经是你的了，随你处置。”

陶萌又问：“你中午想去分子餐厅吗？”

杨景行说：“没多想。”

陶萌决定：“那我们就不去了，多练习一会。”

这一练就是一个上午，小号不是钢琴，差点把杨景行的嘴都吹肿了。还好钢琴不难，陶萌每一遍都有进步，她还沾沾自喜。

休息一会，陶萌问杨景行：“这么长的曲子，你为什么这么快就写好了？”

杨景行说：“运气好，灵感爆发，外加刻苦。”

陶萌不信：“你不是说不靠灵感么！”

杨景行说：“你证明我错了。”

陶萌笑了一下，问：“这是你的第几首作品？”

杨景行说：“按开始的时间算是第一首，按完成的时间，是第三首。”

陶萌不满意：“你同时写几首啊？”

杨景行说：“就跟同时学几门功课一样，不冲突。”

陶萌理直气壮：“那也不是第一首开始的！”

杨景行说：“构思很早就有了，原来是钢琴和小提琴，后来改小号了，原来是想纯赋格，现在元素比较多，音程和弦对位都比较复杂