1990: Starting from Baojia Street

After Nangong Songzi left, Kudo Shizuka ran to sit next to Zhou Yan.

She looked at Zhou Yan and asked curiously, Whose hand is the small hand or the big hand in the lyrics?

Zhou Yan did not answer the question directly, but just said, When your Chinese level is higher, you will be able to understand the meaning of these lyrics. Now your task is to memorize these lyrics as soon as possible. You won't be able to stay in China for long. Oh my god, and there are still two songs to record, so time is tight.”

Kudo Shizuka blinked, Now that I have a new song, I should stay in Yanjing for a few more days.

Yeah, pretty good.

This time, after returning to Neon, I will come back again in a while. The company is planning to let me hold two concerts in China. When the time comes, I will sing songs from the new album.

When is the concert going to start? Zhou Yan asked casually.

Maybe next year, spring. Shizuka Kudo tilted her head and looked at Zhou Yan with piercing eyes: If I invite you to be my concert guest, are you willing?

Zhou Yan smiled and said, Do you want me to sing? You also know that I will sing out of tune, and you are afraid that your fans will ask for a refund on the spot after hearing my singing.

You can play the piano for me.

Zhou Yan shook his head and stood up directly.

Kudo Shizuka asked quickly, Are you leaving?

I'm going to get a ukulele. This song sounds great with a ukulele.

When she heard that Zhou Yan was not leaving, Shizuka Kudo breathed a sigh of relief. She nodded, Oh, I'll wait for you.

Zhou Yan went to find a ukulele and quickly returned to the practice room. There are many musical instruments in the studio, but instruments like ukulele are hard to find because they rarely use them.

This thing has had a small-scale development in the mainland before, but it has not developed. Now there are not many people in the country playing this.

Most people don't have access to such instruments, and those who are serious about music don't really like this kind of gadget.

Later, the rapid development of ukulele in China was also because more and more non-music professionals had the opportunity to come into contact with music and learn the instrument by themselves. This simple and easy-to-use instrument became popular among the public.

Can you play this? Zhou Yan asked.

Shizuka Kudo shook her head, No, but I know a little bit about the guitar. Isn't this similar to the guitar?

It's much simpler than the guitar, and it doesn't require any skills to play the song. You just need to play the rhythm.

Zhou Yan casually demonstrated it to Kudo Shizuka, playing the ukulele while humming Little Hands Holding Big Hands.

There is a version of the arrangement of Little Hands Holding Big Hands that mainly uses ukulele. Although this version of the arrangement is not amazing, it fits the fresh style of the song itself. The reason why many people like to play and sing this song , also because of ukulele.

Most importantly, simple.

It is very difficult for Shizuka Kudo to play the piano well, but the ukulele is different. This instrument is relatively simple, and the ukulele in Little Hands Holding Big Hands is also very simple, regardless of the rhythm. Both shapes and chords are easier to learn, and Kudo Shizuka can easily pick them up.

Zhou Yan thought that if Shizuka Kudo could learn the accompaniment of this section, she would be able to play and sing on stage when she held a concert again, which would add a lot of points to her performance.

Zhou Yan has watched some live videos of Kudo Shizuka before. Her early Typhoon Zhou Yan didn't like very much. Although there have been changes in the past two years, it is still more of a dancehall style.

These days, many singers are like this on stage. They like to hold the microphone and twist around on the stage. It's not singing or dancing, it's just like twisting in a dance hall.

Zhou Yan wanted to change Shizuka Kudo's style, but he couldn't dance on stage while singing First Dream and Little Hand Holding Big Hand. That would be very strange.

In fact, Zhou Yan himself didn't realize that after yesterday's incident, he became much more concerned about Kudo Shizuka.

If it were before, he would never have led Shizuka Kudo to go through the lyrics in such detail, sentence by sentence, and would have asked her translator to help her after roughly speaking it once.

There is also the matter of typhoons. Zhou Yan would have never been able to take care of it before, but now he specially found Ukulele to teach her.

But Shizuka Kudo can feel these changes, and she is very happy for this.

After Zhou Yan finished playing, he handed the ukulele to Kudo Shizuka, You have a try.

Kudo Shizuka took the ukulele and scratched her head in confusion, How do you play it?

Seeing her confused look, Zhou Yan took the ukulele from her hand and said with a smile, First, let me tell you the rhythm pattern of strumming.

Zhou Yan demonstrated while strumming, This rhythm pattern is, down, down up, empty up down up. This rhythm pattern runs through the whole song, that is to say, your right hand repeats this set of rhythms throughout the song. You don't need to Change. The difference is that in different places of the song, the chords used are different. This song uses seven chords, most of which are quite simple, c chord, Am chord, f chord, these three you should Do you know?

Kudo Shizuka nodded, I know.

Zhou Yan smiled. If she didn't know these three chords, it would mean she had never learned guitar. Anyone who had learned guitar would not know these three chords.

Ukulele chords are much simpler than guitar chords. If you cover the fifth and sixth strings of the guitar, you can get a chord that spans fifths...

Zhou Yan originally wanted to explain the simple principles to Shizuka Kudo, but halfway through, he decided to teach more directly, I'll first teach you how to play the c, f, and am chords in the ukulele. The c chord It's very simple, just hold down the third fret of the first string...

These three chords are really simple, and the ukulele chords are also very easy, so Shizuka Kudo picked up very quickly and mastered these three chords in a short time.

After she mastered these three chords, Zhou Yan began to teach her how to play and sing the first line.

From the word boiling water in the concert sound, use the c chord. After the fireworks are sung, use the am chord. From the first word liang, use the f chord.

As Zhou Yan spoke, he marked the lyrics with a pen, so that it would be clear at a glance what chords were used.

For the rest, as long as Shizuka Kudo learns the chords used in the song, becomes familiar with the rhythm, and can practice playing and singing with the lyrics.

Because the ukulele is really simple, and Zhou Yan taught it very well, Shizuka Kudo received good feedback on her learning, and she became more and more interested in playing it. Eventually, she became addicted to playing it.

In fact, practicing playing and singing also has a benefit. It can help Shizuka Kudo quickly find the rhythm of the song, and practice will get twice the result with half the effort.

After more than an hour, Shizuka Kudo was basically able to play and sing Little Hands Holding Big Hands completely.

Playing and singing the song completely for the first time, Kudo Shizuka ran to Zhou Yan to ask for credit, How did I sing this time?

She had a proud look on her face because she felt that she had learned an instrument so quickly, which was very impressive.

Because her performance was indeed good, Zhou Yan nodded and praised, She sang very well.

Before Shizuka Kudo could be happy, Zhou Yan added, However, the pronunciation of this song is still a little bit off, and the singing is not exciting enough.

Excited? Shizuka Kudo looked confused. She didn't understand what this word meant.

You can understand it as happy.

But, I'm already very happy.

I still feel a little bad. Just practice hard. Zhou Yan looked at his watch. It's almost time today. You can practice by yourself later. You don't need me to teach you anything.

But, I practice better with you next to me. Can you practice with me? Kudo Shizuka made a pitiful expression.

Her trick worked. Zhou Yan thought for a while and said, I will practice with you for another half hour. If there are any problems, I will correct you at any time.

Shizuka Kudo said happily, Okay.

After that, Zhou Yan accompanied Kudo Shizuka to practice singing seriously.

Neither of them mentioned what happened yesterday. They both had their own struggles, and at the same time they felt that it was good to be like this now.

Half an hour later, Zhou Yan stood up and left. This time Kudo Shizuka didn't act coquettishly and kept Zhou Yan around. She also knew that Zhou Yan was indeed very busy. She was already satisfied that he could stay for her for an extra half hour.

Not long after Zhou Yan left, Nangong Songzi returned to the practice room. Seeing that Zhou Yan was not there, she asked, Is Mr. Zhou Yan gone?

Kudo Shizuka nodded, Well, he just left a while ago.

Nangong Songzi looked at the time and said, He has been practicing with you for a long time today.

Um.

Shizuka Kudo was in a good mood, hugging Ukulele and said, Matsuko, do you want to hear the effect of the practice just now?

certainly.

Shizuka Kudo smiled and started to play and sing Little Hands Holding Big Hands in front of the lyrics book.

Seeing Kudo Shizuka holding the ukulele and playing, Nangong Songzi was full of surprise, because Shizuka's playing and singing were actually decent.

I had never heard Shizuka say that she knew how to do ukulele before. Could it be that she learned it now? It has only been a while, but the effect is so good.

Although I know Zhou Yan is a teacher, the teaching effect is too good.

Previously, the company hired a guitar teacher to give Kudo Shizuka and her girls guitars, but after a month or two of teaching, Kudo Shizuka couldn't play with the same effect.

With this effect, Nangong Songzi believes that after practicing for a while, he can perform directly on stage.

If Shizuka Kudo can go on stage and play ukulele, it will be like adding another form of performance.

The richer the performance form of a singer, the more advantages he will naturally have.

Singers who can play and sing are always a plus.

If it weren't for the lack of video equipment at hand, Nangong Songzi would have wanted to record the scene of Shizuka Kudo playing and singing and send it back to the minister and others to see. The minister would probably burst into tears, Shizuka finally understood.

Nangong Songzi was also very emotional. There is an old Chinese saying that those who are close to vermillion are red and those who are close to ink are black. During the time when Kudo Shizuka and Zhou Yan were in contact, the typhoon also began to change.

This time, I really made a lot of money.

After Kudo Shizuka finished playing and singing, Nangong Songzi asked, Did you just learn this?

Well, I just learned it, so it must be awesome. Shizuka Kudo said proudly.

Nangong Songzi praised it without hesitation, It's very good. Mr. Zhou Yan taught me so well.

So I was praising Zhou Yan. Kudo Shizuka curled her lips, but she was very happy. Zhou Yan taught her really well, making her feel that it was very easy to learn.

You take the time to practice these days. We'd better record this song before we go back to Neon.

Can't we postpone our return for a few days?

Nangong Songzi shook his head, No, we have an event in Nagoya. If it's not necessary, don't delay.

All right.

…

After Zhou Yan returned to the office, he first called Yang Guohui.

Yang Guohui was very happy when he received a call from Zhou Yan. He knew that there must be progress on the soundtrack.

Director Zhou, is the soundtrack ready?

Probably, I've written some, but I still have to see the finished film you edited before I can finalize it.

Director Zhou, is this necessary?

The soundtracks of many movies in Hong Kong are different from those in the mainland. Whether it is Zhou Yan or Zhao Jiping, when they score the movie, they will basically participate in the entire process and eventually write the music for the finished film.

But it's different in Xiangjiang. In many cases, the composer writes some songs and then lets the director choose them. Even where the songs are ultimately placed is not decided by the composer, but by the director.

Yang Guohui also had the same idea. He hoped that Zhou Yan would write out the music and then let Stephen Chow choose it.

Of course Zhou Yan didn't want to do this. He said, When you came to me before, I already said that the process of scoring must follow my rules. Although I can't see the finished film, I can write a rough outline, but in order to let It ended up being better and I got to see the finished film.”

this……

Yang Guohui remembered that Zhou Yan did say this at that time, and Zhou Yan's tone was quite strong, so Yang Guohui could only say, Okay, let me tell Xingzai about this.

Well, let's talk about it and see when the film will be sent over.

I'm just worried that there won't be enough time.

No, after the film was delivered, I completed the recording of the soundtrack within three days. Later, it didn't take much time to cut the soundtrack track into the tape.

Hearing Zhou Yan say that the recording of the soundtrack could be completed in three days, he was relieved. If this was the case, it would indeed not waste their time.

Okay, I understand. In addition to completing the film, is there anything else you need?

You don't need anything else, just have it sent over.

It will probably take a while.

It doesn't matter. When you send it over, I will record it for you.

…

After talking to Yang Guohui on the phone, Zhou Yan took out all the songs he had written for Westward Journey and sorted them out.

This set of music scores is quite thick, and it mainly contains the music scores of Journey to the West Fantasy. This piece is very long, and the music scores are relatively complex and paper-consuming.

After sorting it out, he took the score of Journey to the West Fantasy to the large recording studio.

The orchestra is currently rehearsing Drinking the Water of the Yangtze River, an adapted version of The Street Where the Wind Lives. Previously, this piece was only a duet, but in order to make it more suitable for performance in medium and large concert halls, Zhou Yan changed the song to Drinking the Water of the Yangtze River. It was adapted into a symphony with many other parts.

After the revision, the story of this piece is stronger and the plot is more complex.

The previous duet version had only two characters, the male and female protagonists, but after adding other instruments, there were many more characters.

For example, if the male and female protagonists are separated, someone will always appear to separate them.

In addition to the characters, Zhou Yan also used some soundtracks to depict the environment.

The orchestra has rehearsed this piece many times, and now they are much better at playing it than before.

In fact, the reason why Zhou Yan made the arrangement of The Street Where the Wind Lives so complex is not only to make it suitable for performance in medium and large concert halls, but also for the musicians in the orchestra.

If they are always asked to play some simple pieces of music, it will be difficult for them to improve even if their level does not deteriorate.

Now let’s make the music more complex, so that it can be enjoyed by both refined and popular people, and at the same time, the performers must be able to maintain their level.

After their rehearsal was over, Zhou Yan waved to Fang Xiu and Ma Dongfang.

The two came quickly.

What, senior brother?

Zhou Yan showed them the score of Journey to the West Fantasy: This is a new piece I wrote. The main instrument is the erhu. I can practice it recently.

Looking at the thick stack of music scores, Ma Dongfang couldn't help but be ecstatic, Brother, you have written music for the erhu again.

The first thing these musicians in the orchestra strive for is naturally the principal of the same type of instrument.

Ma Dongfang is now the erhu principal of the orchestra, and what he hopes is that Zhou Yan can write more songs for erhu.

In fact, every principal musical instrument has the same idea as Ma Dongfang, hoping that Zhou Yan can write music specifically for their instrument.

Zhou Yan previously wrote The Street Where the Wind Lives and adapted it into Drinking the Water of the Yangtze River Together. Many musicians expressed their envy and hatred.

Ma Dongfang glanced at the score and his eyes widened even more. The complexity of this score was not comparable to The Street Where the Wind Lives.

This is definitely a very complex, very advanced piece of music.

If Zhou Yan hadn't been in front of him, Ma Dongfang would have even snatched the score from Fang Xiu's hand. He couldn't wait to play this piece of music.

Zhou Yan saw the ecstasy in Ma Dongfang's eyes and nodded, This Erhu Concerto is quite difficult. You have to take it seriously.

Ma Dongfang was full of energy. The more Zhou Yan said the music was difficult, the more excited he became.

Senior brother, don't worry, I will take it seriously.

You should practice your solo first. If possible, I hope to put this piece on the concert program this winter.

Promise to complete the task. After saying that, Ma Dongfang stared blankly at the score in Fang Xiu's hand.

Fang Xiu smiled and gave him the score, Go and practice.

okay!

Ma Dongfang took the score, quickly ran to his seat, set it up, and prepared to sight-read.

Seeing Ma Dongfang's posture, other band members came over curiously. They had just seen Zhou Yan give Fang Xiu a music score, and this music score was later handed over to Ma Dongfang. They also wanted to see what it was. What song made Ma Dongfang so excited.