At the corner of the four-story road of the Meng Minwei Concert Hall at Tsinghua University, an old piano that has been idle for many years is placed. Because of long-term non-use, there is no special invitation to someone to tune, the piano keys are loose, press down a bit out of tune.
On many days without performances, before night falls, there is always an intermittent piano sound in this corner of the concert hall.
"Doraemon... The sound of the piano is jerky, even a little clumsy.
Few people know that the piano player has a bit of a hunched back, a pair of hands covered with thick cocoons, wearing black cloth shoes, blue overalls, and a badge on the chest that reads: "Cleaner 004".
Until the evening of January 11, on behalf of the property team, she performed the piano solo "My Chinese Heart" at the New Year party inside the Art Education Center of Tsinghua University. "The cleaners at Tsinghua University can play the piano!" The unusual but robust, fast-paced performance shocked everyone in the audience.
That night, Zhao Hong, director of the Art Education Center of Tsinghua University, took a small video and released a circle of friends, and then the story of "Tsinghua cleaning aunt secretly teaching herself piano in her spare time" spread quickly.
Her name is Xing Guoqin, 55, and she is a cleaner at Tsinghua University's Art Education Center.
On January 12, a reporter from the Beijing News met Xing Guoqin, a "Tsinghua cleaning sister who can play the piano", still wearing the blue overalls, and told the story of herself and a "sound-out" piano in the new Tsinghua Academy.
Scene of Xing Guoqin playing at a party inside the Art Education Center. Photo/ Screenshot of Tsinghua University video
More than 30 years later, the harp "continued the frontier"
The first time I saw the piano, Xing Guoqin did not know.
On May 1, 2014, she joined the property company team in Tsinghua University and was responsible for the cleaning of the new Tsinghua Academy. By chance, she saw a piano used in the arena that she had never seen before. She asked the people around her: What kind of piano is this?
She suddenly remembered that more than thirty years ago, she was still a junior high school student, studying in a rural school in Jilin Province. There is a music lesson every week, and the teacher will carry the organ to the classroom and play it for the students. "At that time, there was only one such organ in our township." Xing Guoqin liked it so much that every time he got out of class, he and his classmates would take turns running to the organ to try it.
However, after graduating from middle school, in order to make a living, Xing Guoqin began to work everywhere and never had the opportunity to touch musical instruments until more than 30 years later, when she came to the new Tsinghua Academy.
The impression was that the organ was made of wood and needed to be stepped on with a foot. And the piano in front of you is painted a beautiful black, and you can make a nice sound without stepping on it. "Wow, it's a piano, it's so pretty!" At that moment, Xing Guoqin felt that she and the piano were particularly close.
However, playing the musical instrument Xing Guoqin cannot be touched at will. Working as a cleaner at Tsinghua University, both the school and the property company have strict disciplines and regulations.
If there is no performance in the venue, she goes to work at 7:20 every morning and leaves at 5 p.m.; but the performance in the venue is often in the evening, and the staff responsible for service guarantees must also arrange the schedule of the performance activity, as a cleaner, Xing Guoqin often works until late at night.
"We can't do anything else during working hours, and we have to do a good job of support first." And we have clear regulations that the performing instrument employees can not use at will, only in their leisure time outside of working hours, with idle pianos. ”
After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, the performances in the venue decreased, and Xing Guoqin began to have some leisure time after work. At the end of the day, the other colleagues all went back to the dormitory to rest, and Xing Guoqin put down the mop and rag in her hand and ran directly to the old piano on the fourth floor for an hour or two.
At that time, she couldn't play at all, and could only press the keys. "It's very relaxing to see the piano."
Don't know the score, don't talk about fingering, "how to play by yourself to decide"
This piano, which has not been appreciated for many years, is still regarded as a treasure by Xing Guoqin. "The tone is out of tune. But I can know which key is which tone. ”
The more you grope, the more you can pop up a tune. She does not know the score, nor does she pay attention to the fingering, using the most clumsy method, according to her familiar tune, in the keyboard one by one to find the corresponding tone, slowly find the tune of the whole song, find the practice several times.
"When I play the piano, I play it in my own head." She does not use paper notes, nor does she use any tools and external forces, "if you find it and play it, you will not forget it, even if you forget it, you can find it next time." ”
In the interview, Xing Guoqin repeatedly stressed that she "didn't play well, it was really not good." She said she could only play a song from beginning to end, but if you compare it with a score, it is absolutely not standard. "But I like it, and I think it's good to be able to play like this."
While watching other people perform, Xing Guoqin noticed that the performers were "busy with their other hand." She asked a teacher next to her: Is the left hand and the right hand playing the same? The teacher told her: Differently, the left hand plays the chord, which is matched with the right hand.
"What are chords?" Xing Guoqin, who heard the word for the first time, asked hard. "It was very difficult for me to hear this, because I couldn't play it with my left hand when I played it with my right hand."
When she got back, she wondered for herself how to make her left hand bounce with her right hand. A song is played with the right hand, and the left hand is accompanied by a little melody to play the song. "I found that the feeling that popped out was similar to what other people played, so I thought it was a 'chord.'" Xing Guoqin said.
"For example, if I want to use la-do-mi, it doesn't feel harsh when combined with the song I want to play, so I think of it as a 'chord.'" She said that she could only play the chord with her left hand with 3 tones, and if she couldn't match it, she was busy.
Later, she would have a prelude to the song, and slowly, when she played it herself, she would add a prelude. "When it pops up, I think it's okay to hear it, and I just play it."
Xing Guoqin played the piano very freely, "it is all up to herself." No one set a rule for her, told her that this is not okay, that it is not okay, that she can play freely. Xing Guoqin said that she played the piano very casually, and she was comfortable listening to it and liked it.
Xing Guoqin with "sound-walking" piano. Photo / Beijing News reporter Feng Qi
Don't dare to rub the class, "secretly" self-study
The new Tsinghua Academy often engages in some large-scale activities, concerts, concerts, concerts and so on. Xing Guoqin said that at the end of each activity, there were teachers on the stage to summarize. Xing Guoqin was cleaning at the bottom, listening to the summary, and he was also particularly excited, "I was particularly excited when they said how the music was and how the vocabulary was. ”
Xing Guoqin is sensitive to musical instruments and music. Usually, no matter where she is walking or going, she will not look or listen to someone next to her, but if there is suddenly a musical instrument playing, she will immediately go over to see. From her youth to the present, she has always liked to listen to songs, and sometimes she hummed a few words herself, but "I didn't dare to let our manager hear, let alone affect the order of the venue, this is work discipline." ”
Xing Guoqin attaches great importance to the boundaries of her post work. Although working in such an environment as the New Tsinghua Xuetang and the Meng Minwei Concert Hall, there are art masters and professional musicians everywhere, but she never thought of going to them to "click" herself. "The teachers in the art education center all work late and very hard; in addition, we are doing venue security services, first of all, we must do our own work well, and we cannot bring hobbies to work."
The management of the art education center is strict, and students are not allowed to disturb the staff in the teaching area during class. Therefore, when there is a teacher in the classroom to teach students, she will not "rub the class". Even when cleaning, she occasionally heard students practicing, she was afraid of affecting the children and did not dare to ask.
Xing Guoqin chose to "secretly" practice the piano herself. Not many people know about this. The first to be discovered was her supervisor leadership manager. Usually patrolling the venue, Manager Fang occasionally hears the sound of a piano in the corridor. "It's very strange, I thought that this piano is out of tune, how can anyone still play it?" Manager Fang quietly walked over to take a look, and it turned out to be Xing Guoqin.
"Later, I thought, in the spare time of the employee, if she is not allowed to do this, what can she do?" Manager Fang told the Beijing News reporter that allowing employees to play the piano is better than letting employees play cards in the dormitory, which is a positive thing. Later, the leader of the art education center heard about it and said that as long as it does not affect the work, it is okay to develop hobbies in spare time. Employees were also encouraged to enrich their amateur cultural life, and even offered to help open introduction letters for employees to borrow books from the library to read. ”
Xing Guoqin is doing cleaning work at the new Tsinghua Academy. Photo / Beijing News reporter Feng Qi
"Don't wait for your age to leave regrets"
"Three days ago, the manager told me that I was going to have a party, and the company recommended me to come out with a show." In this way, on the evening of January 11, Xing Guoqin hurried to the stage.
After taking power, Xing Guoqin could not restrain her nervousness. "Sitting below are the teachers of the art education center, and when I play, they listen very quietly, and the quieter I am, the more nervous I am."
Xing Guoqin did not expect that his "self-created" bullet method actually won warm applause from the audience. After the end, colleagues came to congratulate her, and some colleagues were particularly surprised that she could play the piano and praised her for playing well. "I knew in my heart that I was really unprofessional, and they said this to encourage me."
At this party, she chose a song "My Chinese Heart". "Now it is the epidemic period, I often see some foreign epidemic news or videos on my mobile phone, many countries for the prevention and control of the epidemic, the protection of the people, not as important as our country, do so well." Investing so much financial, material and human resources can only be done by our country. I especially wanted to play this song to express my feelings. ”
In addition to "My Chinese Heart", Xing Guoqin will also play some old songs. She also often plays "Fifteen Moons" and "Mother's Kiss", "It's a song from 40 years ago, it was with me growing up, I like it." ”
Xing Guoqin played "Mother's Kiss" for reporters at the new Tsinghua Academy. Photo / Beijing News reporter Feng Qi
Art is not divided into positions, everyone who likes can learn; regardless of age, no matter how old they are, they can do what they like. These Xing Guoqin did it.
In fact, when she heard the teachers encourage students and guide students how to rehearse, there were also waves in her heart. "If you are still young, you must take the time to study and practice, and do a good job of art." She especially wants to tell the children that for the things she likes, she should do them when they are young, and don't wait until they are older to leave regrets.
Lang Lang and other musicians have come to Tsinghua, and these names Xing Guoqin are remembered in their hearts. When she is fine, she also likes to go to Tsinghua's auditorium and near the lotus pond to look at the flowers, and maybe meet people who play musical instruments and sing songs. Every time she met, she stopped to take a look, but never got off the scene. "I don't dare to compare with others at this level, they are all masters."
The afternoon sun shone obliquely through the huge transparent glass of the theater, and at the end of the interview that day, the piano in the theater was pushed back to its original position, and the ground still needed to be cleaned, Xing Guoqin picked up the mop, and pushed forward and swung to the left and right, such a movement she was all too familiar with.
Beijing News reporter Feng Qi Editor Miao Chenxia Proofreader Guo Li