Avoiding the Piano Grind (II)

By Aaron A. Vessup

培养孩子学习钢琴的关键在于培养孩子的兴趣，令其打心眼里喜欢这门艺术。如此一来，如果能在孩子成长的道路上，通过多种方式潜移默化地令其感受钢琴的魅力所在，渐渐喜欢或有欲望学习钢琴，那技能的掌握便会水到渠成。

The Growing Piano Industry in China

Of the many years that I have sat on a piano stool slumping over the keys in a fog of sleep and resentment, I cannot clearly recall the brand or company name emblazed with bold, golden letters on the headboard.1. piano stool： 钢琴凳；slump：滑动；resentment： 怨恨；emblaze： 使发亮。The piano may have been a Kimbal, Leconte, or perhaps even a Weber who knows? However, as I prepared a partial list of the hundreds of piano makers and brands on the market, it occurs to me that many names are distinctly of German origin, and where I lived during the major years of my university and college teaching career, most of the names were distant relatives of my classmates, business transaction contacts,2. distinctly： 明显地；transaction：交易。or as academic colleagues. The world is small, indeed, and much smaller when entering the arenas3. arena： 竞技场。of music. Today, in China alone a passion for piano playing skill seems a goal many parents seek for their young to possess. According to classical pianist Li Yundi, “Today between 40 and 50 million Chinese children are currently learning piano. In the summer of 2014 more than 8,000 youngsters in Beijing signed up for Central Conservatory of Music piano level tests.”4. sign up for： 报名参加；Central Conservatory of Music： 中央音乐学院。

Gentle Pushing of the Young

A Chinese friend’s 12-year-old son, Terry, has a mature love for the piano, mirroring countless other young Chinese passions for this instrument.5. mature： 成熟的；mirror： v. 反映。His mother told me that he chose this instrument on his own, a willing preference and has always been excited about preparing his lessons for his teacher who is patient, calm, and supportive. These parents have never demanded that their son play the piano, however,they have been quick to regard him for reaching new and higher levels of musical achievement. The effectiveness of this supportive approach was evident6. evident： 明显的。when I first saw him play at the age of 8 years old. He says, “I love playing the piano very much!” Just seeing and hearing this youth skillfully play keyboard classics is a pleasure. I would not call his parents “Tigers” by any means, as one can witness the quiet,gentle support near, but in the background, gently reminding him that someone really cares and will never harm him.

Great Music and Advice to Parents

Eventually no longer living at home, and happily graduating from my first university, a reward to myself was a cassette player and recordings of Ramsey Lewis’ “Sky Islands”and “Sun Goddess”.7. cassette player： 卡式录音机；Ramsey Lewis： 雷西·路易斯（1935— ），美国著名黑人爵士乐作曲家、钢琴家，曾获得三次格莱美奖。Ramsey was the “hot” classical and jazz pianist, who played a unique version of “The In-Crowd”. Years later I would hear this artist play “live”solo performances in Aurora and Chicago, Illinois.8. live： 现场的；solo： 独奏。In one performance there were two pianos played simultaneously9. simultaneously： 同时地。by Lewis and his guest artist. Listening to this musician helped me appreciate the piano challenge, especially after reading the life struggles of musician Count Basie10. Count Basie： 贝西伯爵（1904—1984），美国钢琴家，同时也是著名乐团领队。. I would make many recording of his piano and jazz works. This all came at a very difficult time in my personal life. As the years passed I have been fortunate to enjoy great piano music in concerts, recitals, ballets, and shows featuring legendary artists while in Africa,11. recital： 独奏会；ballet： 芭蕾舞剧；legendary： 传奇的。America, China, Europe, and the U.K.. My heart has been moved and spirits uplifted by the glorious sounds of compositions performed by orchestras and solo performers.12. glorious： 极好的；composition： 作品；orchestra： 管弦乐队。

雷西·路易斯

Exposing young people to the wonderful music world through movies, is perhaps a delicate way showing how music instruments can play a unique role in balancing man against brutish destructiveness of nature.13. 让年轻人通过电影来感受音乐或许是一个不错的方法，它展现了在平衡人类与残酷的自然灾害的过程中，乐器起到了怎样独特的作用。brutish： 粗野的。Lucky for me, the fun that can be derived from music was consistently instilled during Elementary School years.14. 于我而言比较幸运的是，音乐带来的快乐一直贯穿我整个小学阶段。be derived from： 来自；consistently： 一贯地；instill：逐渐灌输。For a start, the Russian musical play by Prokofiev, Peter and the Wolf15. Peter and the Wolf：《 彼 得 与狼》，是俄罗斯作曲家普罗柯菲耶夫（Prokofiev）于1936年创作的交响童话，故事里面的人物都是用各种不同的乐器来扮演的。, introduced an entertaining and wide variety of instruments for skill choices.Next, Amadeus, the life of the genius Mozart and how his talents were unfairly exploited;16. Amadeus：《莫扎特传》（1984）； exploit：利用。The Piano17. The Piano：《钢琴别恋》（1993）。, a tale about finding joy in a boring life to be filled by piano music in a foreign country; The Legend of 190018. The Legend of 1900：《海上钢琴师》（1998）。,is the story of a young boy who lives aboard a ship his entire life and knows only how to play piano music; and finally in Pianomania, we witness the struggles of a dedicated piano tuner’s desire to document the perfect sounds of Bach’s music, and young Chinese superstar, Lang Lang, is chosen to perform this music on a special Grand Piano.19. Pianomania：《我为钢琴狂》（2009）；tuner：调音师；document： v. 记录；Bach：巴赫，德国著名作曲家；Grand Piano：大钢琴，三角钢琴。I would urge all parents to let their little ones choose freely, allowing them to be inspired20. inspire： 激发。by instrumentations. As the Chinese words of wisdom advise, “Interest is the best teacher!” No matter what the instrument choice is, in the end the piano need never be a “bad” thing,nor its sounds avoided. Whether it is the nature or culture, surrounding this magic phenomenon, as British playwright William Congreve wrote,“Music has charms to soothe a savage breast!”21. 音乐有安抚野兽的魔力。playwright： 剧作家；William Congreve： 威廉·康格里夫（1670—1729），英国诗人、剧作家；soothe： 抚慰；savage： 野蛮的。