Zhou Yan knew why Fang Xiu said it was difficult, the Western percussion major of CCTV started quite early, but the subsequent development was very slow.

In the mid-fifties, the school opened a percussion specialist class by Soviet specialists, which was stagnant for a few years due to special reasons, and then began to slowly expand the field of percussion in the eighties.

However, the percussion of the central sound is mainly the teaching of keyboard xylophones, marimba and other musical instruments, which is still different from the drum kit.

Jazz drums have really entered the domestic performance stage for a very short time, probably less than ten years, and for many people, this is a new thing.

Some rock bands use drum kits when they perform, and this instrument is very cool to perform, especially popular with young fans.

Western percussion also belongs to the orchestral department in central music, which means that they are in the same department as Yu Ran's cello, but generally speaking, when it comes to this major, no one leans them towards the orchestra.

Moreover, their major recruits very few students every year, and it is almost one-on-one teaching, so they have no sense of existence in school, and some students don't even know that their school still has this major.

"It's okay, I'll inquire myself."

Zhou Yan was going to go back to Jia Guoping to ask, Lao Jia knew more about the situation in the school, and if someone in the school played these two musical instruments, he should know.

If you can't find it at school, then Zhou Yan is going to look for it outside the school.

At present, the development of percussion and electronic music in China is backward, and there are not many people who play drum kits, but it is not impossible to find them.

Zhou Yan's requirements are not high, as long as he can find someone to support the field when the time comes, the performance level does not need to be too high.

……

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhou Yan was in the classroom to exchange knowledge on equipment with Xu Lang and several of their younger brothers and sisters, and Sun Qin walked in with a smile.

"Director Zhou, something has been sent to you."

Zhou Yan knew that it was the synthesizer that arrived, so he couldn't wait to follow Sun Qin to the downstairs of the classroom.

Downstairs stood a tall and fat man, with long hair that was thin and curly, and the whole person felt very incongruous.

"This is Hu Guanglei, I'm small." Sun Qin introduced with a smile, "This electronic synthesizer was sponsored by him in friendship." ”

"Hello, hello."

Zhou Yan shook hands with Hu Guanglei, and then looked at the small trailer in front of him, on which were several boxes of all sizes, "Are these these?" ”

"The big ones are synthesizers, and the small ones are accessories." Hu Guanglei glanced at Zhou Yan, with a suspicious look on his face, "Do you know how to play this?" ”

Zhou Yan shook his head very dryly, "No." ”

This answer was obviously beyond Hu Guanglei's expectations, and after he was stunned for a moment, he looked at Sun Qin next to him, the meaning was obvious, it was to ask Sun Qin to give him an explanation.

Hu Guanglei and Sun Qin are indeed young, they are in the same class from preschool to high school.

Later, after graduating from high school, Sun Qin went to the directing department of Yenching Film Academy, while Hu Guanglei went to the physics department of Yenching Institute of Technology.

After graduation, Hu Guanglei did not go abroad or enter a domestic research institute like his classmates, but made a small band by himself, usually studied some trendy music, and rarely performed externally, which belonged to the kind of self-congratulatory.

Of course, being a band can't afford his life, so he also got a shop, and he sells everything related to music.

Yesterday, Sun Qin went to the store to find him and said that he wanted to borrow a synthesizer, he didn't agree at first, but then he heard that Sun Qin praised Zhou Yan for having something in the sky and nothing in the ground, so he reluctantly agreed, and followed him to have a look.

The main thing is that he is also very curious, after all, there are not many people who play electronic music in China, and most of them are blind play.

But who knows, Zhou Yan actually said that he can't play synthesizers.

Sun Qin was also a little confused, he heard Zhou Yan say that he wanted a synthesizer yesterday, thinking that Zhou Yan would definitely use this thing, but he didn't expect Zhou Yan to be unexpected.

Zhou Yan looked at the surprised expressions on the faces of the two of them, and asked Hu Guanglei with a smile, "Boss Hu, will you?" ”

"A little bit."

On Hu Guanglei's face, Zhou Yan read a trace of contempt, which seemed to mean: When I was playing synthesizer, you kid was still wearing open crotch pants.

Zhou Yan knew that Hu Guanglei must have played well.

Sure enough, someone sent a pillow if he was sleepy.

Zhou Yan smiled, nodded and said, "Oh, Boss Hu, you should be in charge of sales, you don't usually touch this thing, now there are few electronic synthesizers in China, I got this myself, and I also have to explore." ”

"What do you want this for?" Hu Guanglei asked.

"What else can be done? I recently wrote a set of tunes that some of the sounds didn't work with traditional instruments and had to be tried with a synthesizer. ”

Sure enough, as soon as he heard Zhou Yan say this, Hu Guanglei became a little interested, "What kind of sound do you want?" ”

"I needed some sounds of Chinese folk instruments, but more mysteriously and ethereally. I know it's a tough thing to do, and most people can't do it, so I can only figure it out slowly. ”

Hu Guanglei pondered for a while and said, "Maybe I can try." ”

These words hit Zhou Yan's heart, and he smiled, "Boss Hu, I don't have the money to hire you." ”

"I know you don't have any money." Hu Guanglei pursed his lips and looked at the small trailer again, "You even borrowed the synthesizer from me, I don't want your money, just let me see your tunes." ”

Sun Qin punched Hu Guanglei on the shoulder next to him and shouted, "Old Hu, you are righteous enough." ”

"Your hands are so cheap!" Hu Guanglei rubbed his arm and asked Zhou Yan again, "Where do you put these things?" ”

"Let's put it in our classroom."

Then the three of them moved the things to the composition department classroom and installed them, and the composition 88 students all gathered around, they had never played synthesizers before, and they were quite curious about this thing.

The students looked at the electronic synthesizer and asked questions, and Zhou Yan took the opportunity to throw all their questions to Hu Guanglei and asked him to answer them.

Seeing a group of students from the composition department around him, Hu Guanglei was also very happy, and he could be regarded as a teacher for the professionals of the composition department.

With this pride, Hu Guanglei is pouring his money on.

Essentially, synthesizers, like other musical instruments, are just musical tools, and the key lies in the user's understanding of the music.

However, unlike traditional musical instruments, electronic synthesizers also need to understand some "physical" aspects, such as frequency, amplitude, and so on.

……

Although Hu Guanglei opened a shop, he is actually an idler, since he promised Zhou Yan to help Zhou Yan make the timbre that Zhou Yan wants, he will run to the central sound almost every day.

Every day, the two of them are discussing and trying, first making subtle modifications to the original sound of some traditional instruments, trying to find the feeling that Zhou Yan wants, and also trying to break away from the sound of traditional instruments and create some special sounds.

The timbre that Zhou Yan wanted, in his mind, was just that he was not familiar with the use of synthesizers, so there was no way to make it directly, and even if he described it carefully, Hu Guanglei could not fully understand it.

So the two of them can only try slowly like this, trying to go in one direction.

With the deepening of study and discussion, Zhou Yan became more familiar with electronic synthesizers, and he was able to be targeted when describing to Hu Guanglei, and the exchanges between the two sides became more and more compatible.

A week later, although many sounds have not yet been made, Zhou Yan is very confident that he will be able to make them out in a few more days.

The most troublesome thing now is the lack of a jazz drummer.

Jazz drummers can also be obtained there, but jazz drummers are not easy to handle.

Zhou Yan inquired with Jia Guoping, and they didn't play this in their school.

He also inquired with Hu Guanglei and asked him if he could introduce a jazz drummer, and Hu Guanglei said a few names, but they were all people who had already become famous.

For example, Hou Muren, who was the first person to play a drum kit in China, is now busy performing all over the country, how can it be that Zhou Yan can be invited.

……

Ten days later, Zhou Yan still hasn't found a drummer, and he has already begun to consider whether he can use snare drums, cymbals and other musical instruments instead, anyway, the drum kit is originally composed of these things, but it's just a little troublesome.

At this moment, Sun Qin came to find Zhou Yan.

Seeing Zhou Yan's first sentence, Sun Qin asked Zhou Yan, "Director Zhou, I'll introduce you to a particularly awesome drummer, do you want it?" ”

Zhou Yan was lying on the piano, adjusting the score of "Memories of the Forbidden City", and with the practice during this time, he also found that there were still some minor problems with the music he wrote, so he would revise it when he was fine.

Hearing Sun Qin's words, Zhou Yan looked up at him, "What you want to introduce won't be Hou Muren, right?" ”

When Hu Guanglei introduced Hou Muren to Zhou Yan before, he also said the same thing about Hou Muren.

Unexpectedly, Sun Qin asked with a puzzled expression, "Who is Hou Muren?" ”

Sun Qin really didn't know much about the music industry, that is, he was thinking about the soundtrack during this time, so he took the time to understand a little.

"And who are you going to introduce?" Zhou Yan asked.

A smile appeared on Sun Qin's face again, "Do you know Wei Hua? ”

Zhou Yan nodded, "Of course." ”

Wei Hua used to be the host of CCTV, and she also hosted the Spring Festival Gala two years ago, and she was very famous in China, but the year before last she suddenly resigned from CCTV and ran to make music.

This incident was quite a sensation at the time, but I didn't hear Weihua's movement during this time, so it should be that the music career is not developing very well.

It seems that Wei Hua released an album after resigning, and the evaluation from the outside world is very average.

Sun Qin said with a smile, "In Weihua's band, there is a young jazz drummer, who is not much older than you, and he is very powerful. ”

Zhou Yan stared at the score in front of him and asked casually, "Really?" What's his name? ”

Sun Qin opened his mouth and said a name, "Zhao Muyang." ”

Zhou Yan raised his eyebrows, although he was not very familiar with rock music, he had also heard the name of Zhao Muyang, who seemed to have served as the drummer of many rock bands.

In these years, jazz drummers are rare talents in China, and there is a shortage of various bands, so Zhao Muyang will be recruited into so many bands.

Zhao Muyang's level, Zhou Yan must believe it, "Memories of the Forbidden City" is not very demanding for drummers, it should be a piece of cake for Zhao Muyang.

But since Zhao Muyang can form a band with Wei Hua, he is not a celebrity, can he be willing to help?

"What is your relationship with Zhao Muyang?" Zhou Yan asked.

Sun Qin shook his head, "I have nothing to do with Zhao Muyang, I haven't even met him, it was Sister Weihua who recommended him to me." ”

"Are you familiar with Wei Hua?" Zhou Yan asked again.

"We used to be colleagues." Sun Qin explained briefly, and then said very confidently, "Director Zhou, as long as you are willing, I will definitely be able to call Zhao Muyang." ”

Of course Zhou Yan is willing, his requirements are not high, as long as he can find a jazz drummer, Zhao Muyang has such a level, he must be very welcome.

"How does he charge?"

Sun Qin snorted and laughed, "Director Zhou, why do you always think about charging fees...... Zhao Muyang doesn't charge anything, and I heard that he doesn't charge in the Breath Band. ”

As soon as he heard that there was no charge, Zhou Yan stroked his palms and smiled, "Okay, then invite him here, and I'll invite you to a big dinner when I go back." ”

……

In the afternoon of the next day, Zhou Yan was practicing "Memories of the Forbidden City" with Yu Ran in the piano room, and Sun Qin took Zhao Muyang to find him.

"Director Zhou, this is Teacher Zhao."

Zhao Muyang stood next to Sun Qin, he was in his twenties, medium height, very thin build, with long hair and a pair of sunglasses.

In recent years, as rock music has become popular in China, long hair, sunglasses, and jeans seem to have become synonymous with "cool".

A lot of rock musicians are dressed up as if they came out of a barbershop.

Young people are following suit, and it is now common to see ghost fire teenagers dressed like this on the streets, and there seems to be more and more trends.

They are indoors, it is still cloudy today, and Zhao Muyang is wearing sunglasses, which is really a little strange. If you meet some people who mind more, you may still think that Zhao Muyang is impolite.

However, Zhao Muyang, who had a cool appearance, was very shy, and when he heard Sun Qin call him Teacher Zhao, he said a little embarrassedly, "Director Sun, you can just call me Muyang." ”

"Okay, Muyang." Sun Qin smiled and introduced him again, "This is what I told you about Coach Zhou." ”

Zhao Muyang observed Zhou Yan through his sunglasses, slightly surprised.

Wei Hua asked him to come, only to say that a friend wanted to make a tune and needed a drummer. On the way they came, Sun Qin had always been called by Zhou Gui and Zhou Gui.

So Zhao Muyang subconsciously thought that Director Zhou must be a teacher who is not young, but he didn't expect to be so young.

Will he be a teacher? Looks more like a student.

In fact, Zhao Muyang likes to wear sunglasses, not only to be cool, but also because he thinks that this way he doesn't have to look at people, which can make him feel more relaxed.

Zhou Yan walked over and took the initiative to shake Zhao Muyang's hand, "Teacher Zhao, thank you very much for coming over." ”

"Call me Zhao Muyang or Muyang, it's okay." Zhao Muyang seemed to be afraid that others would call him teacher, so he told Zhou Yan what he had just said to Sun Qin again.

Zhou Yan smiled, "Then I'll call you Brother Muyang." ”

"Yes."

Zhao Muyang nodded, in fact, he didn't like Zhou Yan's polite tone very much, it was not real enough, and of course, it was not annoying.

"I know you're busy, so let's get straight to the point." Zhou Yan took out a stack of scores from his bag and gave them to Zhao Muyang, "This is the score of "Memories of the Forbidden City", the drum has not yet arrived, you can take a look at the score first." By the way, let me introduce you to this violinist, Yu Ran. ”

Yu Ran took the initiative to greet Zhao Muyang, "Brother Muyang, hello." ”

Zhao Muyang nodded, but he didn't speak, his attention was now on the score.

At the first glance of the score, Zhao Muyang raised his eyebrows, and the drum score written by Zhou Yan was very beautiful.

There is no standard for the drum notation of jazz drums, and the research on jazz drums in China is relatively late, and some bands do not even have special drum notation when playing a certain song.

Zhou Yan's jazz drum sheet very clearly records the position, time value, musical expression, performance techniques and other information of each instrument component of a set of drums, so Zhao Muyang will think that this score is beautifully written.

In addition, unlike most of the songs that Zhao Muyang has participated in the production before, this "Memory of the Forbidden City" is not so strong in rhythm, nor is it so conformist, showing a very free state.

This is a challenge for Zhao Muyang, because he needs to temporarily put aside the "strong emotions" brought to him by rock music in recent years to adapt to the leisurely and atmospheric atmosphere of this song.

After Zhao Muyang looked at it for a while, Zhou Yan said, "Brother Muyang, if you have any questions, you can tell me directly." ”

Zhao Muyang shook his head, "There's no problem, when the drum comes, I can get started." ”

Zhou Yan smiled and nodded, "That's good." ”

……

The next day, after the drum kit borrowed from Hu Guanglei arrived, Zhao Muyang began to practice "Memories of the Forbidden City" with Zhou Yan, Hu Guanglei and Yu Ran.

I have to say that Zhao Muyang's drums are indeed very good, and after a period of contact, Zhou Yan also found that Zhao Muyang not only plays the drums well, but also has a strong talent in music, and also has his own understanding.

Even Zhou Yan felt that it was a pity that Zhao Muyang spent his time in a rock band every day, and he could be involved in other music genres while playing rock, which would help him have a better development on the music road in the future.

Domestic rock music will be booming for many years, but in the end it can only be a flash in the pan, and many rock bands have some deviations in their development, they are going to an extreme, and even get involved in some kind of self-struggle.

Of course, Zhou Yan didn't tell Zhao Muyang about persuasion, what he had to do now was to quickly pull Zhao Muyang and them to record the tune.

The key Zhao Muyang is also very busy, he is also the drummer of several bands, and he has a lot of things to do, and he has delayed a lot of other bands for Zhou Yan's song.

Zhou Yan also felt embarrassed, so he kept working overtime to catch up with work.

Before, Zhou Yan told Sun Qin that he would give him the tune after half a month, but Zhou Yan jumped the ticket.

Counting from the day Sun Qin went to the classroom to find him, a total of twenty-two days passed, and Zhou Yan handed over the tape recording "Memories of the Forbidden City" to Sun Qin.

Sun Qin looked at the tape, and was also a little excited, he also put in a lot of effort in the whole process of making "Memories of the Forbidden City", and the more he paid, the stronger the feeling became when he harvested.

During this period, when Zhou Yan and the others were practicing, Sun Qin also went there a few times, but he had never heard the complete tune.

So after getting the tape, Sun Qin couldn't wait to go back and listen to it again, so he directly asked for Zhou Yan's walkman and headphones, and listened to it live.

Zhou Yan and the four of them stood in front of Sun Qin, waiting for him to express his opinion after listening.

More than four minutes later, Sun Qin took off his headphones.

When Hu Guanglei was about to ask Sun Qin how the tune was, Sun Qin said to Zhou Yan, "I'll take the Walkman first", and then ran away with the Walkman.

Before Hu Guanglei could react, Sun Qin had already disappeared.

Looking at the door where Sun Qin left, Hu Guanglei scratched his long-haired sparse head, "What is this guy in a hurry?" ”

Yu Ran said with a smile, "Brother Sun should be in a hurry to send it to the stage and show it to the leader." ”

"That's not going to be so urgent." Hu Guanglei muttered, "I'm still waiting to hear his evaluation, we spent more than 20 days to make something, and I haven't heard him praise a word." ”

Zhou Yan gave Hu Guanglei a thumbs up and said with a smile, "It's okay, if you praise me, this piece is very well done, Boss Hu, you have made great contributions." ”

Hu Guanglei pursed his lips and said dissatisfiedly, "Since you yourself are a composer, it is boring to listen to your praise." ”

Zhao Muyang, who had not spoken, suddenly spoke, "I think it's also very good." ”

Hearing Zhao Muyang speak, Hu Guanglei said with a smile, "Brother Muyang, you praised it, I listened to it energetically." ”

Yu Ran was curious, "Why, Brother Hu, Senior Brother Zhou Yan is the composer, but Brother Muyang is also a performer." ”

"Because Zhou Yan is so good at praising people, he praises every day, and I have been raised by the threshold of his praise." Saying that, Hu Guanglei looked at Zhao Muyang again, "Brother Muyang, after today, we won't see each other for a few days, right?" You don't even think about taking off your sunglasses, I still don't know what your whole face looks like. ”

Hu Guanglei has mentioned this several times before, and there are some jokes, and Zhao Muyang has never paid attention to it.

However, this time Zhao Muyang actually nodded, and really reached out and took off his sunglasses, revealing his whole face.

Seeing Zhao Muyang's full face, Hu Guanglei joked again, "Brother Muyang, you better put on your sunglasses, seeing that you have eyes, I suddenly feel a little unaccustomed." ”

Zhao Muyang rolled his eyes, put on his sunglasses again, and said coolly, "I'm leaving." ”