1990: Starting from Baojia Street

Zhao Jiping asked Zhou Yan to work with him on the soundtrack for Raise the Red Lantern. Firstly, he felt that Zhou Yan was a promising talent and wanted to lead Zhou Yan around; secondly, with Zhou Yan, he could indeed relax a little bit. ; Thirdly, Zhou Yan is Shi Wanchun's student, which can also give Shi Wanchun some face.

In addition, Zhao Jiping is also looking forward to the next cooperation.

After Sun Ling went to the kitchen to cook, Zhao Jiping asked Zhou Yan, Do you know Tomson Film Company?

Tomson?

Because Tomson Yipin was particularly famous in later generations, Zhou Yan knew about the Tomson Group, but he was not sure whether the Tomson Film Company mentioned by Zhao Jiping had anything to do with the Tomson Group.

Zhao Jiping nodded, Well, the film company under the Tomson Group, Xu Feng, who just came here, is the wife of Tang Junnian, the founder of the Tomson Group, and is also the general manager of the Tomson Film Company.

Zhou Yan was a little surprised. It turned out that the wife just now was the chairman's wife of Tomson Group, but he didn't understand why Zhao Jiping suddenly said this.

Seeing that Zhou Yan was a little confused, Zhao Jiping continued, Tomson Film Company found Chen Kaige and planned to make a movie. Today she came here to invite me to be the soundtrack director of the movie.

Hearing this, Zhou Yan understood everything at once.

At this point in time, it was filmed by Chen Kaige and scored by Zhao Jiping. This movie should be Farewell My Concubine, which is known as Chen Kaige's pension insurance.

In this way, Xu Feng is an investor in Farewell My Concubine.

Is the movie going to be shot soon? Zhou Yan asked.

No, the main character has just been decided. Preliminary preparations will begin in June and July, and the crew will be formed at that time. If the filming actually starts, it will probably not be until the spring of the following year... In fact, according to the solar calendar, it should be said to be Next year.”

Zhou Yan nodded, Zhao Jiping was right, it was already January 1991.

At this time, the preparatory work for many movie shootings was very thorough, and Zhou Yan also knew what aspects of the preparatory work were involved.

For a professional film like Farewell My Concubine, the early training of actors takes the most time and energy.

The protagonist of Farewell My Concubine is a Peking Opera actor, but regardless of the performance or the actor's popularity, the director will not find a real Peking Opera actor to play the role.

Zhou Yan does not know whether Zhang Fengyi, who plays Duan Xiaolou, has studied Peking Opera, but Leslie Cheung, who plays Cheng Dieyi, probably has not.

If he hasn't learned it before, he must learn it, just like He Saifei did before.

He Saifei at least has a background in drama and can learn quickly, but Leslie Cheung is different. He lacks basic skills and the training time must be longer.

If you don’t have a foundation in Peking Opera, even if you want to be good at it, you won’t be able to do it without practicing for the first half of the year.

Zhou Yan looked at Zhao Jiping and tried to figure out Zhao Jiping's intention of suddenly telling him this matter.

Zhao Jiping didn't let him guess any more and said directly, I have an idea and I want to ask your opinion. We worked well together on the filming of Raise the Red Lantern. For this new movie, do you think you can do it? Continue to participate?”

Hearing what Zhao Jiping said, Zhou Yan was also a little moved. The movie Farewell My Concubine has a special status in the country, and of course he wanted to study it.

But he also thought that he was still on leave from school, so he said with some embarrassment, Teacher Zhao, you know, I am just on leave now. I will go back to school in April next year. I'm afraid it will be difficult to follow the group by then.

Zhao Jiping smiled and waved his hand, You don't need to join the team this time. The filming location for the new movie is in Yanjing. You can just go there every now and then. It's more convenient for you to go from school than for me to go from Chang'an. Just go to school. Be a part-timer, if you agree, your salary will not be cut off in the middle, it will start directly from joining the set of Raise the Red Lantern until the end of the filming of the new movie.

Zhou Yan couldn't refuse such a good offer. He smiled and agreed, Teacher Zhao, if that's the case, then I have no problem.

Seeing Zhou Yan's agreement, Zhao Jiping said cheerfully, Well, I wish us a happy cooperation again.

…

Zhou Yan did not leave at noon. He stayed at Zhao Jiping's house for dinner and had two drinks with Zhao Jiping.

After drinking, Zhao Jiping stayed with Zhou Yan to drink tea.

While drinking tea, Zhao Lao was also sitting next to him. Sun Ling took the opportunity to say, Xiao Lao, if you don't understand something in your study, you can ask Brother Zhou Yan.

Zhou Yan smiled and waved his hand, We have passed the exam for so many years, and our studies may not be as good as Zhao Zhang's.

Xiao Zhou, you are too humble. I heard Lao Zhao say that you are Teacher Shi's favorite disciple. Sun Ling first praised Zhou Yan, and then sighed slightly, Xiao Ao will graduate the year after next. Now We worry about this every day.”

Zhou Yan suddenly had a taste for it, and asked, Is Zhao Gao going to pursue music?

I want him to follow the path of composing music like his father.

Zhao Jiping rolled his eyes and said in a nonchalant manner, You don't have to inherit your father's legacy. Don't put too much pressure on Zhao Xi.

Although Zhao Jiping said this, Zhou Yan knew from his expression that he definitely wanted his son to inherit his mantle.

Their family is considered an artistic family. Zhao Jiping's father is the famous painter Zhao Wangyun. During the Anti-Japanese War, he and Lao She founded the Anti-Japanese War Pictorial. As for Sun Ling, she also studied music. She was a classmate of Zhao Jiping before, and she specialized in cello.

In such a family, it seems natural for children to pursue an artistic path.

Zhou Yan didn't know much about Zhao Zhang's situation, and he couldn't give any specific advice, but he knew that since Sun Ling told him about it in front of him today, it definitely meant that they still wanted Zhao Zhang to take the Yangyin test.

Yangyin University is the highest music school in the country, and composition is its top major. Of course, anyone who wants to learn composition wants to attend Yangyin University.

In fact, Zhao Jiping studied at Yangyin before, but he didn't get into it seriously, and it was a long time ago. The times were different and the situation was different.

Of course, Zhao Jiping can also use his connections to help his son run the business, but Zhao Jiping may not be willing to show off this face.

Zhao Jiping's son may lose face if he fails to get into Yangyin, but if his son gets into Yangyin through the back door, then he will be even more disgraced, and the relationship with the composition department of Yangyin is really difficult. It was even more embarrassing to open this door and not send my son in yet.

Zhou Yan smiled and talked about some of his own experiences, Actually, there are three key points in taking the test for our department, piano, sight-singing and ear training, and finally composition. Our department used to take the composition test, and only one piano piece was tested, but later it was added I wrote an art song, and the art song should be written according to the given words. The piano music is the same as before, and the theme is usually written as a single or three.

The single three is a single three-part form, also called a three-paragraph form, which consists of three similar-sized and relatively independent paragraphs.

These are very basic things. Anyone who has ever thought about taking the composition exam should have understood it. Just like the college entrance examination, there are only a few subjects and the syllabus is also drawn up. The score depends on the student's usual study. How's it going?

Of course Sun Ling knows all these things, but after all, she has never experienced the current art student examination, let alone the examiner preferences of the Yangyin Composition Examination.

Seeing Sun Ling's worried look, Zhou Yan couldn't help but sigh. Being a parent is not easy. It seems that Zhao Zhang's level is not very good, which is why Teacher Sun is so worried.

He has been a teacher for more than ten years and has seen expressions like this many times. However, education is a very complicated matter and cannot be solved in a hurry.

Zhao Lao is already in his second year of high school and will take the exam in one year. At this time, he can only focus on the key points. It will be difficult to improve in other areas.

After thinking about it, he decided to be a good person.

Teacher Sun, don't worry too much. Zhao La and I will go to the piano to have a chat and check on his condition first.

Okay. Sun Ling stood up happily, and then said to Zhao Lao, Xiao Lao, go to the piano with your brother Zhou Yan.

Zhao Lao stood up obediently and followed Zhou Yan into the room with the piano.

After entering the room, Zhou Yan habitually closed the door and cut off the contact between the children and their parents. This is what teachers must do when teaching students, so that students, teachers, and parents can all relax.

Many times, parents like to watch teachers educating their children. As a result, the parents become anxious while watching, the teachers feel uncomfortable being stared at, and the students are unable to stabilize their emotions, and end up in a mess.

After closing the door, Zhou Yan sat on the piano stool first.

Although I was a monk halfway through learning piano, I started learning it from the first grade of junior high school and had good talent, so I played the piano quite well.

After completely accepting the memory, Zhou Yan now feels ready to move when he sees the musical instrument, as if he has some special connection with the musical instrument.

When he first arrived, Zhou Yan felt itchy when he saw the piano.

Zhou Yan raised his hand and played a random piece on the piano to try out the feeling.

Although he had never played the piano before in time travel, he was still very fluent now. It was already muscle memory.

Next, Zhou Yan was going to play a piece of music by himself.

Since he wanted to treat Zhao Xi as his student, Zhou Yan decided to give Zhao Xi a small shock first to establish prestige in Zhao Xi's heart.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Yan put his hands on the keys again. First, he slowly played an introduction, and then suddenly started to move, his fingers flying on the keys, especially his right hand, and he continued to play fast and difficult sound groups.

This is Chopin's East Wind Etude, which is one of the more difficult etudes of Chopin.

The piece is only over three minutes long, but maybe because he hasn’t practiced it for a long time, Zhou Yan’s fingers felt a little tired after playing it.

But overall, Zhou Yan is still very satisfied. He completed this piece well.

The reason why he chose Dongfeng Etudes was that the difficulty of the piece was appropriate and he was very familiar with it. He could show off his skills while playing without any surprises.

After the performance ended, Zhou Yan glanced at Zhao Zhang.

He originally thought that his hand could calm Zhao Zhang, but he didn't expect that the boy's expression didn't change at all.

Zhou Yan thought for a while and asked Zhao Zhang, Do you know this piece of music?

Yes. Zhao Lao nodded.

Then give it a try. Zhou Yan stood up with a smile and gave the stool to Zhao Gao.

Zhao Lao sat on the stool and started playing without much thinking.

The first introduction was nothing special, but when Zhao Chang played the second part, Zhou Yan was stunned.

This kid even plays better than me!

Damn it, the pretense failed.

Zhao Zhang was probably thinking just now that if Zhou Yan could get into Yangyin in this way, then he should be fine.

To be honest, there is no problem with Zhou Yan's piano skills. Although he cannot compare with players who major in piano, he is still much better than the average person. In their composition department, his piano skills are also above average.

It's just that this kid Zhao Lao is stronger. At Zhao Lao's level, he must have been learning since elementary school, and he doesn't just learn it casually, he must practice diligently every day.

Piano requires no need to mention talent. Apart from talent, it relies on a lot of repeated practice. The process is very boring.

More than three minutes later, Zhao Zhang finished playing and turned to look at Zhou Yan, Brother Zhou Yan, I've finished playing.

Ahem, you play well.

Brother Zhou Yan, you are not majoring in piano, right?

This was a very normal question, but Zhou Yan saw a hint of provocation in Zhao Zhang's expression. This kind of provocation is not malicious, it is just a way for children to show off themselves.

Zhou Yan smiled. Although this boy looked like a boring gourd, he had quite a personality. He also knew at the same time that if Zhao Kuo was not convinced at this time, he would not be able to listen to what Zhao Kuo said.

After pondering for a while, Zhou Yan said, I major in bamboo flute and minor in piano. For me, piano is just to assist me in composing. The most important thing in our composition department is to compose the music.

Zhao Xi smiled and said, Brother Zhou Yan, can you teach me how to compose music?

Logically speaking, with Zhao Jiping, a master composer, it is not Zhou Yan's turn to teach, but Zhou Yan still nodded, Okay, you get up first.

Zhao Yan stood up with doubts, then stood beside him to see what Zhou Yan was going to do.

Zhou Yan sat down after a while. He was a bit pretentious and was not used to sitting on someone else's warm chair. He wanted to wait until it was cold before sitting.

After sitting down, Zhou Yan started playing again.

The piece Zhou Yan played this time was softer, and it was an Andante in the key of F major, with a relatively even tempo.

In the first part, the transition between notes is relatively large, and the overall melody is beautiful. In the second part, it becomes slightly more emotionally intense.

Zhao Lao had never heard this piece of music before, and he couldn't tell which composer's style it was.

In this piece of music, Zhao Xi seemed to hear many small animals jumping and running non-stop in nature, running through the forest and jumping over streams...

The piece was also not long. A few minutes later, Zhou Yan finished playing and looked at Zhao Zhang again. This time, Zhao Zhang was no longer calm, but asked eagerly, Brother Zhou Yan, what is the name of this piece?

Zhou Yan said four words with a calm expression, Be with me forever.

Zhao Lao did not find this name in his mind, so he asked again, Whose work is it?

At this time, Zhou Yan smiled and pointed at himself, Me.