() Music is intangible and insubstantial, it is transmitted through the medium of sound. It itself is more abstract, although there is some concrete content, but it is more of an abstract inner meaning.

Compared to the relatively concrete content of notes, chords, tempo, and dynamics, the emotion itself is a completely abstract thing, and it is inherently difficult to express it completely accurately.

The infectious power of music comes from a comprehensive ensemble, which is composed of different branches of melody, harmony, speed, dynamics, and emotion. And 情xù (feelings, expressions) is the central content of this ensemble.

If you remove the expressions on the score, and only melody, harmony, tempo, and dynamics are left, the performance will be mechanical, dry, and absolutely impressing.

No matter how beautiful the melody is, no matter how rich the harmonies, even if the most appropriate tempo and dynamics are added, what comes out is still not music. It was just a mass of high, low, fast, slow, long, and short sounds.

Only with the addition of the power of emotion, expression, can a piece of music become a real piece of music, and what the composer wants to express can be expressed.

Sentiment is the catalyst that brings these different musical components together.

However, this is also one of the most difficult aspects to memorize. Until now, there has been no perfect notation to record the emotions that a composer needs to express.

Neither does the staves!

Let me give you an example.

For example, if the composer wants to express a kind of "laughter with tears", how should the composer label this expression term?

There is no such expression term.

The terms of emoji are "joyful", "happy", "sad", and "tearful", but "laughing with tears" ...... No, not even anything close to the connotation.

So is there such a thing as a love itself? It's not a problem, a lot of money is saved in real life.

That's the contradiction.

The various expression terms of the stave are basically a simple description of feelings, such as "gentle", such as "excited", etc., and there are almost no complex feelings similar to the hybrid type of "laughing with tears".

The expression terms used in staves are nothing more than hundreds of them. But if a composer wants to express a rich human emotion, can these hundreds of expression terms fully cover what human beings need to express their emotions?

Are you kidding!

"Laughter with tears" cannot be accurately labeled, "outbursts in silence" are difficult to describe precisely, and "love and hate" are even more difficult to express. And so on and so forth.

There is another situation.

In the first two phrases, the composer needs the emotion of "gentleness" in the first sentence, and the composer wants the next phrase to be transformed into the sentiment of "firmness". In real life, such a plot twist often occurs, and it can be described with music, but how to notation?

Unable to notation.

Either "gentle". Or is it "firm" and needs to change? After the whole paragraph.

Otherwise, the performers are still at a loss.

These are just simple examples, and some are more complex than that.

You must know that there are times when feelings are simple and feelings are good, but more often than not, it is also a combination of several situations. Loving and hating at the same time is a common situation in our daily lives, and the composer can describe this emotion through the ups and downs of guò music, but the expression terminology cannot fully record it. Phrase it.

In this way, the expression jargon is very awkward. No, can't describe the feelings that the composer needs? Color. But if you use it, you can't describe it completely accurately.

This is the situation of expression terms in the system of staves, and it is a pity to discard it if it is tasteless. But until there is no more advanced and accurate notation, composers can only use it this way.

What to do?

Nowadays, it is common practice for composers to mark a general impression of the mood with emoji terms, supplemented by a large amount of textual explanations.

However, there are also problems with this.

First, how the transcript compares to the music.

Second. There are few literal explanations in the works of predecessors, what should I do? Third, the accuracy of describing music in words cannot be guaranteed. Fourth. Even with a written description, the ability of the performer to comprehend is another problem. The ability to comprehend music is completely different from the ability to comprehend words.

The situation of emoji terminology is still awkward. This is also a common dead end for all notation.

Even a notation method that has been extremely well-established and systematic, such as staves, is equally powerless in the face of this.

The composer only has the word "helpless" for this, and what is recorded on the score can only be a vague, approximate, modest, and eclectic description.

This is the status quo of stave and all notation.

What the master pointed out to Ye Zi. That's exactly what it is.

Ye Zimao suddenly opened up, and suddenly understood what the master meant. This is actually similar to the re-creation of song singing.

"Re-creation of song singing?" The master sank for a moment and nodded: "From a certain point of view, this is exactly the case, but it is not completely consistent. ”

"We'll analyze this later, and there is a fundamental difference between singing a song and playing an instrument."

"For us musicians, of course, it is necessary to respect the score, which is the starting point for all music performances. But respecting the score doesn't mean that we just have to stick to the score itself, as I'm sure you can feel by now. ”

"Yes Master, I already know that." Ye Zi nodded and said, "Since the score itself is not a perfect record, it is impossible to fully express the composer's intention if you stick to the score. ”

"Master, this is too important!"

Ye Zi's tone was filled with irrepressible excitement. Such a fundamental change in philosophy was crucial for his future career.

Ye Zi seemed to see a closed window, which had opened a gap in him.

Outside the window, the sun is shining.

"That's true. But my child, have you ever thought a little deeper, what is the composer's true original intention? The master asked further, pushing the window a little wider.

"This ...... It is necessary to take into account the background of the time when the composer composed the music, his personal circumstances at the time, etc., as well as ...... And ......"

Ye Zi frowned.

There are so many things involved, and many composers are already in the past, and it is impossible to be completely sure of the details of when a composer wrote a piece.

What about that......

"Can't really know for sure." The master cut off Ye Zi's continued thinking and made a straightforward judgment: "Even if the composer himself performs, he may not be able to express his thoughts accurately and completely. ”

"You should know that Rachmaninoff's performance of his Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor is only one of the definitive recordings of this work, and Horowitz's version is in no way inferior to his."

"Rachmaninov is also an excellent pianist."

This time, Ye Zi was really confused.

The example given by the master is very convincing.

"Then my child, I ask you again, if the composer's true intention can be determined, will the performer be able to interpret it perfectly?" The master asked a question again from another aspect.

"This ......" Ye Zi wanted to say that he could do it, but he knew that it was actually impossible.

"No, right?" The maestro smiled slightly, and seemed to be in a very happy mood: "We are all performers, and we all know that no virtuoso can guarantee that their interpretation of a certain work can truly and perfectly reflect the composer's intentions. ”

"What they can embody, in fact, after careful analysis, is more about their own intentions."

"There is a well-used saying that is very appropriate to describe this situation, that there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people."

"For any piece, every performer has their own ideas in their hearts, more or less."

The master did not continue to ask questions, but continued along his own train of thought.

Ye Zi listened carefully to the master's story.

"The beginnings of a professional performer invariably begin with studying the true intention of a work and trying to interpret it. This is the right path. ”

"But after a certain amount of time, some of the performers will find that we have just discussed, that is, no matter how thoroughly they study and how well they practice the technique, it is almost impossible to truly and perfectly express all the creative intentions of the composer."

"The flaws in notation make it vague for the musicians to even refer to things."

"What then?"

The master paused slightly, and asked himself a question.

"Some of these people can't find a way to continue going down, so they can only go back to the original path. These people can never become a master performer, even if their playing skills are extremely high, it is just a playing machine. ”

"That's the kind of person who has the most people in the music scene."

"The other part of the people, they found the problem and faced it squarely, and at the same time, with great courage and patience, more hard practice and continuous thinking, they were finally able to find another different path."

"But finding the path is not the same as success, they are brave enough to move forward on this new path, but there is no one in ten who can really reach the destination through this path."

"All these people who can get to their destination, we call them Maestros." (To be continued.) )