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At the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympic Games, a "blind children's wind orchestra" composed of 47 members was played live. With the raising of the Paralympic flag, the International Paralympic anthem, "Hymns of the Future", was played. Blind children dressed in sky blue costumes, like ice elves, spread notes in the night sky of the Bird's Nest.
Notes spread in the "Bird's Nest" night sky
The group of children from the Chongqing Special Education Center formed a blind wind music team, the Yangfan Wind Orchestra. In 2011, the Yangfan Wind Orchestra was officially formed by the Chongqing Special Education Center (formerly the Chongqing School for the Blind).
At the opening ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, according to the requirements of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the flag of the Paralympic Games must be raised and the song must be played live.
Shen Chen, director of the opening ceremony, said: "At that time, we were looking for and considering whether to play with a band of able-bodied people or a band of disabled people. After searching for a long time, I suddenly found that there was a blind children's wind orchestra in Chongqing. ”
In November 2021, the Yangfan Wind Orchestra received a performance task, from receiving the score to the official performance, only 49 days. Screening musicians, notation, rehearsals, the teachers and children of the Sail Wind Orchestra gave up their winter breaks to prepare for the performance intensively.
Before meeting the children, Shen Chen was full of worries in his heart: the children could not see how to get on stage, and whether they could play the repertoire well. But after seeing them, the moment he heard them playing music, Shen Chen was moved to tears.
The children can't see the score and the conductor, they play according to the rhythm of their hearts, one person, and more than forty people working together. "The cost of their communication is much greater than that of others, but this does not affect the quality of the final performance, but through their state, everyone can see more beautiful stories behind it." Shen Chen said.
The Wind Band participated in the opening ceremony of the Winter Paralympic Games with a total of 47 members, the oldest being 22 years old and the youngest being only 10 years old. Most of the children are born in rural areas, and many are flying for the first time and coming to Beijing for the first time.
The youngest member of the group was named Wu Haoyu, this was the first time he left his parents to go out, and before leaving, his family also raided the teaching, teaching Xiao Haoyu to wash clothes and take care of himself. "When I didn't know about the nest before, I thought it was like a bird's nest, with birds in it, and those bird eggs and other things." The naïve fantasy of the "Bird's Nest" in Haoyu's mind makes people can't help but be amused. After arriving at the Bird's Nest, Haoyu discovered that the Bird's Nest turned out to be a "very large" national stadium, with a stage, auditorium, and the Beijing Olympic Museum underground.
In this performance, Haoyu was responsible for playing the symphonic drum, a role equivalent to the deputy conductor in the orchestra, and the rhythm requirements were very high. Accustomed to playing in a concert hall, suddenly coming to an empty outdoor place like the Bird's Nest, it is difficult for musicians to hear themselves and their companions playing, and the rhythm of Haoyu is even more difficult to grasp. To this end, the teacher and the orchestra rehearse outdoors every day. In the winter in Beijing, it is very cold outside, and rehearsals require long standing, which is a big test for young children. Haoyu did not flinch, and kept cheering himself up during rehearsals - "Insist on insisting and insisting!"
In the continuous practice, the children gradually adapted to the outdoor playing environment, the rehearsal performance became better and better, and this biggest difficulty was overcome.
Cai Xiaoxue, 17, is the band's clarinetist. During the rehearsal process, the posture and timing of entering the field in line and holding the instrument must be in line with the whole group, which is very difficult for Xiaoxue, who is completely blind. In order to make the action standard, the teacher and Xiaoxue both made great efforts to correct it repeatedly. Facial expression management is another problem, because you can't see your own expression, let alone imitate, Xiaoxue had to experience the scale of the smile during the performance by holding chopsticks, and then keep this "beautiful smile" in mind.
Many small things that healthy people are accustomed to take for granted take dozens of times harder for the children of the Sail Wind Orchestra to complete. Despite this, the enthusiasm of the children to play has never diminished. "Bitter, but worth it." The kids summed it up this way. Participating in the opening ceremony performance of the Winter Paralympic Games, Xiaoxue said: "There is actually a little bit of pressure, but I am more proud. ”
In 1 minute and 58 seconds, in the short time before the world, music has brought far more meaning to children than music itself.
"Raising the sails" is to set sail against the wind and be fearless
In October 2010, Principal Li Longmei led more than 200 blind children to listen to a symphony concert in the Chongqing Municipal People's Auditorium, and the magnificent symphony stirred the hearts of the children, and many children were stunned and sat in the audience and clapped non-stop.
After the concert, the children sat in the bus back to school excitedly discussing the instruments they heard and the different timbres, some saying: "I heard my favorite saxophone voice, so I wanted to cry..." Some said: "I have heard the tune they played I have been taught by the teacher, if you give me that instrument, maybe I can play it!" Children, you say every word, full of longing and longing for music.
Li Longmei, the principal sitting in the back row, did not make a sound, but listened to his heart. A bold idea also emerged— to form a wind orchestra for blind children. Li Longmei went around making preparations, hired 8 tutors with the help of relevant government departments and professional music conservatories, and selected the first batch of more than 30 students to establish the "Yangfan" wind orchestra.
"Raising the sail", which means setting sail against the wind and being fearless, contains Li Longmei's expectations for children.
Children can't see musical instruments, can't read sheet music and conductors, and visual impairment has become the biggest problem facing teaching. Li Longmei decided to find a responsible teacher for each child and teach by hand. Most of these teachers have never studied music, they come from various positions in the school, they study with the children, rehearse, record sheet music for the children, carry musical instruments, iron performance costumes... Gradually become the "eyes" of the children and the family.
With the help of the teacher, the children learned more and more repertoire: "Radsky March", "Triumphal March", "African Symphony", "The Color of Life", "Kang Kang", "In That Distant Place", "Playing the Tambourine and Singing", "Happy Lattice"... Over the past 10 years since its establishment, the orchestra has also embarked on many stages, large and small: the "Shanghai Spring" International Music Festival Wind Art Festival, the Beijing People's Liberation Army Military Music Hall, the National Centre for the Performing Arts...
At present, the orchestra has 32 teachers and more than 70 blind children's musicians. On May 12, 2021, in the presence of the British Forbes World Record, the Sail Wind Orchestra also created a world record for the "largest blind wind band".
"A child once told me that when I play the trumpet, I feel like a light will appear in front of my eyes." Principal Li Longmei found that music makes blind children more confident, brave, and more aware of responsibility and cooperation.
Because of music, these children who can't see the colorful world can turn their instruments into paintbrushes and paint another color of life! It is also because of music that children can embark on a larger stage of life, face the world, and sing their own "hymns of the future"!
Source 丨China Magazine for Persons with Disabilities(ID:zgcjrzzs)
Wen 丨 Wu Lijun
Picture 丨 Chongqing Daily
Editor 丨 Zhang Shuai
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