One morning in 1974, in the hazy drowsiness of Yuci City, Jinzhong City, Shanxi, the girl heard a crisp sound of "ding-ding-dong", suddenly opened her eyes, and jumped up from the bed. I saw that my father was facing a four-row trapezoidal xylophone, holding a "hammer", freely tapping the sound bar, and where his hand fell, sometimes he made a "ding-dong" sound like a spring, crisp and pleasant; sometimes like a strong wind, the sound was urgent.
"Dad! You are amazing! ”
During this time, the girl saw that her father only slept four or five hours a day to make this piano. From the processing of sound strips of varying lengths to the later tuning, and then to the production of the piano stand and hammer, it is completed little by little with a pair of hands, pulled with a wooden saw, split with an axe, filed with a wooden file, and cut by wood.
"Ying Zi, do you like it?" In the past, the piano of the literary troupe was too small and the sound range was narrow, only two and a half octaves, and I would use this to practice later. ”
The girl's name is Liu Ying, and she was born and raised in this small city. His father was a flute and whistle player in the Jin Chinese Troupe, and his mother was a dancer in the troupe. Perhaps it is precisely for this reason that the artistic genes of the parents are more or less reflected in Liu Ying's body.
Liu Ying knew that her father always wanted a boy so that she could teach him to play wind music. But I didn't expect it to be a girl. In those days, it was almost impossible to see girls learning to play wind music. Later, by chance, my father took a small xylophone in the regiment home to practice, it was a very simple violin, although the range was not wide, the sound was particularly good, very crisp, a bit like a child's toy, Liu Ying went forward to fiddle with it.
"Try it, knock it twice."
The father encouraged his daughter. No, Liu Ying really has a bit of spirit, and after simply familiarizing herself with the keys and tapping methods, she started playing. Since then, my father has taught Liu Ying to play different pieces one by one, and told her the name of the instrument, called the xylophone.
After getting this xylophone made by her father, Xiao Liu Ying was like a fish in the water, so she opened her "tapping life". When she was eight or nine years old, she had become a "famous corner" in Yuci City, and she could be seen in performances large and small.
By chance, my father took Liu Ying to watch a performance by the propaganda team of the cultural and industrial troupe of the garrison troops. A young man's xylophone playing attracted his father's attention. He moves smoothly, rhythmically, and plays music that is spiritual. After the performance, Liu Ying and her father were still unsatisfied and impressed. Soon, the father got in touch with the actor. His name was Liu Xuelin, which was Liu Ying's later xylophone teacher.
At that time, Liu Ying had already gone to middle school, and her father had finally saved enough money to buy a xylophone. In 1982, he personally went to Shanghai National Musical Instrument Factory to buy a high-end xylophone, and the hardships on the road were difficult to describe.
When she was a child, Liu Ying performed on stage, and her father played the flute in the back to accompany her
His father took Liu Ying on the train and asked Liu Xuelin for advice. When I first learned the piano with Teacher Liu Xuelin, some of the pieces had musical notation, some did not, sometimes, Teacher Liu Xuelin played a sentence, Liu Ying knocked a sentence, just like this, often down again, Liu Ying can play it from beginning to end. This made Teacher Liu Xuelin feel very surprised, and he couldn't help but exclaim:
"This guy, the memory is simply amazing, it's really good material for learning music!"
In fact, Liu Ying knows in her heart that in terms of memorizing poems and endorsing books, her memory performance is very general, only when memorizing musical scores, her performance is sensitive, her musical memory is superior, and perhaps, in the blood, it really jumps from the music cells from her parents.
During that time, Liu Ying took a train to Taiyuan to find Teacher Liu Xuelin for a lesson a week. Teacher Xiao Liu is particularly serious every time he attends class, and he never collects tuition. From Teacher Xiao Liu, Liu Ying learned many professional songs such as "Carmen Overture" and "Song of the Wanderer". They are teachers and students, but also relatives.
In the summer of 1983, my mother went to Beijing to participate in training, and Liu Ying accompanied her. In Beijing, through the introduction of her father's long-time friend Ren Guihe, Liu Ying's father and daughter met Liu Guangsi, a percussion teacher at the Central Conservatory of Music.
Since then, Liu Ying has embarked on a monthly journey to learn the piano. After taking a class with Teacher Liu Guangsi, Liu Ying began to come into contact with the small snare drum. After several courses, Liu Guangsi was very satisfied with Liu Ying's learning status, whether it was the hammer holding method or the music processing, as long as she had spoken, she could quickly understand. In addition, the little girl in front of her, no matter what she does, is very serious and careful, and Teacher Liu Guangsi also appreciates this. After studying for a period of time, the examination deadline approached, and Teacher Liu Guangsi took the initiative to shorten the course cycle to 20 days. In this way, Liu Ying began to go back and forth every 20 days. Take the train at noon on Saturday and arrive in Beijing in the evening. His father's friend Ren Guihe waited at the train station, picked him up for one night, and then went to the conservatory the next day for classes. After class, she took the bus directly from the college back to Shanxi and arrived home at 8 p.m., so that she did not delay going to school on Monday.
Liu Ying on the stage
At the beginning of the study, her father insisted on accompanying her to class, and each round-trip train ticket for the two of them cost 40 yuan, which was also a big expense at that time, and the cost of a transportation was almost worth a month's salary of her father. Teacher Liu Guangsi resolutely did not charge tuition fees, which made Liu Ying's father and daughter very moved. Every time I went to Beijing, I also got the enthusiastic help of Ren Gui and the teacher. His family lived in a large courtyard in a Beijing hutong, and the area of the bungalows was limited. Even so, he also tried to make room for Liu Ying's father and daughter so that they could squeeze in for a night's rest. Until now, Liu Ying's father is still full of gratitude when he mentions this old friend who has passed away and has been selflessly helping.
Later, in order to save money, his father had to let Liu Ying go to Beijing alone for classes.
In 1984, there were still two months to go before the examination, and in order to prepare more fully, Teacher Liu Guangsi suggested that Liu Ying go to Beijing in advance and concentrate on studying. After the Spring Festival, Liu Ying and her father moved to Beijing to live, still the house that Ren Guihe helped find. Liu Ying and her father began to live in the borrowed house and prepare for the exam. For two months, she and her father went to the Central Conservatory of Music to take classes while practicing the piano themselves. Recalling that time, Liu Ying felt calm and fulfilled.
Teacher Liu Guangsi is humble, follows good manners, has patience, and cares for Liu Ying, and under his guidance, Liu Ying's progress is very fast. During the exam, she performed very well on the spot. The examiners on the scene not only recognized her performance, but also took the initiative to help her move the instrument. The examiners unanimously said: This little girl is very talented. But because the school has never recruited percussion girls, although Liu Ying plays very well, but this little girl is so thin, I don't know if there is a future for development? In the face of the unanimous inquiries of the examiners, Teacher Liu Guangsi had a resolute attitude and said responsibly: This child must be no problem.
In this way, Liu Ying became a transfer student in the first year of the high school attached to the Central Conservatory of Music, which was a rather difficult thing at that time. Compared with accepting transfer students, the school is more willing to recruit new students in the first year of junior high school and teach from scratch. The situation of Liu Ying also set a precedent in the history of school admissions, and since then, percussion is no longer the patent of boys.
In 1991, after graduating from university, Liu Ying was assigned to the China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra and officially began her professional playing career. The orchestra attaches great importance to Liu Ying and plays important vocal and solo roles in the orchestra. In addition, Liu Ying also often participates in music recording and social welfare performance activities of some films and TV series, and is active on the stage in the 1990s. Her performance has been recognized by many people inside and outside the industry, and has also attracted the attention of some news media. As the first female percussionist trained by the Conservatory of Music, Liu Ying has attracted more and more attention from all walks of life.
After working in the orchestra for a while, Liu Ying realized that the origin and development of the Western percussion she was engaged in came from the West, and if she wanted to study more deeply and grasp its essence, she needed to go to the West for further study. In 1997, Liu Ying chose to study at the Sibelius Conservatory of Music in Finland. After returning to China, she returned to school to teach or continue to play in the orchestra, and before the crossroads of her life, she finally chose to stay on the stage she loved. At that time, the orchestra was undergoing restructuring, renaming it the China Philharmonic Orchestra and recruiting worldwide. After a rigorous examination and selection, Liu Ying was hired as the chief timpani drum with the highest score in the whole regiment, and has been until now.
Liu Ying in teaching
Engaged in professional performances, embarked on the professional path of percussion, the hardships of which, the tempering of experience, I am afraid that only those who are in it can know. One minute on stage, ten years offstage, many things, must be carefully considered, details and skills need to be honed and accumulated, which can not be achieved in a short period of time.
Engaged in professional performances must always ensure the function of the hand, even the most famous performers, every day to take time to practice the scale, climbing and other basic skills. From the student days, all the way to old age, not a moment can stop.
After entering the orchestra, in addition to performing and rehearsing, Liu Ying used to take part-time classes at the Conservatory of Music and the university, taking students. At that time, the orchestra had just been restructured and restructured, and the top conductors from abroad were invited to train the orchestra, and the rehearsal was very intense. Liu Ying rushed to the two sides of the school and the orchestra, waiting from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, and then hurried to the conservatory to give lessons to the students, which was very hard.
After a rehearsal, Liu Ying rushed to give lessons to the students. Because of the rapid walking, I just walked to the school gate, and when I went up the steps, I fell down at my feet. The doctor recommended surgery, but Liu Ying was afraid of delaying the performance and proposed conservative treatment. On the way to the doctor, Liu Ying's first thought was the students who were waiting for her to go to class, and the first time to notify the students, telling them that they could not go to class today. There is also the performance of the orchestra, the orchestra of more than a hundred people, has been rehearsing for several days, in two days will be performed, but he was injured at this time, Liu Ying was upset and anxious.
Fortunately, after communicating with the group, a colleague went up to the top and successfully completed the performance task. Liu Ying recuperated at home for more than a month, and then went to work on crutches and rehearsed with everyone. She knew that the orchestra had just been restructured and needed to be run-in. During that time, she practiced a skill: one foot stepped on the foot pedal of the timpan drum to complete the diacritical changes of the four drums.
Speaking of that unforgettable "accident", what was the force that made her persist in training in plaster cast? Liu Ying laughed and said that on the one hand, she really loves this profession; on the other hand, it is out of the sense of responsibility that the orchestra should have as a band member.
Liu Ying played in the orchestra while teaching part-time at school. Because I have been running all over the show, I have not put the matter of having children on the agenda. Nearly a certain age, she and her lover, whom she had known and fallen in love with in college, realized that the family should be made more complete. So a cute boy came to the house.
Liu Ying said: We must always be soberly aware that you are a professional woman, an orchestra member, you are still a mother, for the child, his childhood is only so limited for a few years, and it is more important to accompany the child to grow.
In the year the child was born, the elderly in the family could not help, and Liu Ying could only rely on herself. In order to accompany the growth of her children, she is conscientious and responsible, in addition to completing her own work, most of the rest of her time is handed over to her children. As the children grew older, the teaching activities that had not stopped began to increase.
Liu Ying, who has been tempering her acting career for many years and has learned a pure fire skill, hopes to pass on her years of experience and skills. For children, Liu Ying originally developed the "Percussion Magic" classic series of percussion courses, which is also the inheritance of percussion popularization education and is loved by the majority of music lovers.
Text/Wang Yonghua
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