931. Schubert's Classical and Romantic American Trip【Part 1】
For the first time, Qin Jian was a little excited when he set foot on this land that is considered a dream by countless people.
This stems from his favorite 1900, a famous scene in The Pianist at Sea - on the silent deck, people were waiting for the dawn, and suddenly a "Uh McRickin!" awakened the enthusiasm in everyone's eyes.
Through the sea fog, they saw the Statue of Liberty looming.
...
It's a shame there is no Statue of Liberty in Rochester.
So Qin Jian's curiosity about the land beneath his feet gradually faded.
The three of them were driven by Lin Xiao. After half an hour's drive, they visited downtown Rochester in May and finally arrived at Gibbs Street.
Eastman School of Music, a Broadway-like entrance.
I have heard about the name of Eastman for a long time, and this is the first time I saw it in person. Just speaking from the exterior, it really shows a modern atmosphere that is different from most traditional European music schools.
Qin Jian guessed that students here would not have to study the history of Western music in a cathedral that smelled of rotten wood.
After getting off the bus, Lin Xiao wisely left, leaving time for the two bosses.
He Jing: "Go back and take a nap?"
Qin Jian: "Turn around."
He Jing: “Want to go to the store?”
Qin Jian: "No, I want to see your school."
The two siblings walked into the school.
——
After the tour, Qin Jian saw how wealthy the private aristocratic music academy was.
The 17th-century Italian Baroque organ located in the Art Memorial Hall alone is difficult to price. He Jing said that there is only such a large organ of its kind in North America.
In addition to art museums, Qin Jian also went to large rehearsal halls, sound laboratories and other places.
Generally speaking, Eastman's professional and complete ultra-modern hardware facilities are currently unmatched by ordinary music colleges in China.
"hi, ho."
Walking out of the teaching building, a middle-aged professor who looked like a professor greeted He Jing.
This was the sixth time Qin Jian saw someone actively greeting He Jing during his short trip to campus.
"Popular people." Qin Jian joked.
He Jing smiled noncommittally, "Have you earned enough? Let's go back and have some rest. I'll take you to the store this afternoon."
Qin Jian looked around and said, "Piano room, I want to go and visit the place where you first came here to practice piano."
He Jing brought Qin Jian to the door of a small piano room, where someone was practicing.
"mozart."
After listening for a moment, Qin Jian gave up the idea of going in, and just felt the piano practice life of He Jingchu from the sound of the piano.
"Is it far home from here?"
"It's not far now."
Qin Jian nodded, looked at the thin figure in front of him, and sighed in his heart, his sister has always been working hard.
"Sister, let's go, I'm hungry."
After a simple lunch, the two siblings returned to He Jing's current residence.
Just a two-bedroom cottage on Gibbs Street.
The moment Qin Jian entered the room, he felt as if he had returned to 206 of the Ink Painting Garden. The decor was simple and elegant, and everything was still so simple.
There is no living room in the two-bedroom apartment. To the left of the door is a smaller bedroom with a small bed and a family photo beside the bed.
On the other side of the bed is a simple wardrobe attached to the wall.
Next to the wardrobe is a piano, an upright piano covered with a floral cover.
He knew the piano. It was a second-hand Kawa piano that He Jing bought after she entered school. There was an obvious paint chip on the leg.
Walking to the piano, he picked up the water glass on the piano. There was still tea in the water glass.
But after two more years of running around, the writing on the water glass has become completely unclear.
"Qin Jian."
Qin Jian turned his head, put down his cup and walked in the direction of the sound.
He came to a large bedroom.
He Jing had already placed Qin Jian's luggage, and then said, "Your room."
The brand new bedroom looks like it has been prepared in advance, and the bedding on the big bed is new.
"When I rented this house, I considered that you and Teacher Qin and Aunt Fang would come over in the future."
After saying that, He Jing looked at the large bedroom again with her hands on her hips, and then clapped her hands with satisfaction, "Have a rest. I'll call you later and go to the store to meet your employees in the afternoon."
"Sister, you should also take a rest."
Seeing He Jing's faint look of haggard under her makeup, Qin Jian expressed concern.
"Well, I'll take a nap too."
The two siblings each rested for a while.
...
In the afternoon, He Jing brought Qin Jian to the store, which is also located in a luxurious area on Gibbs Street.
A completely white signboard has only one Chinese character and one English word on it.
The simple black "Qin" character is full of Chinese cultural atmosphere, plus a "Piano" full of design sense.
"How is it?" He Jing asked.
Qin Jian: "Would it be too ostentatious?"
The two siblings looked at each other and smiled, then followed the sound of piano coming from the store door and walked into the mysterious wooden frame door.
The employees welcomed the two people with great enthusiasm. After Qin Jian entered and was spotted by the first person, everyone rushed to the lobby on the first floor.
As their leader, there is no need to say more about He Jing.
Although they have followed He Jing to meet many big figures in the music industry in recent days.
But the Qin Key class is different. Not only is there a new Chopin champion, but also their boss is the founder of the Qin style piano teaching method.
Under the lively atmosphere, He Jing introduced every staff member to Qin Jian.
Qin Jian listened carefully to He Jing's introduction and tried to match each person's name with their appearance.
He Jing had already told him on the way here that these people in front of her were the first batch of teachers she had recruited, and she had personally conducted pre-job training.
It's very good. There are seven piano teachers plus two academic staff and a receptionist. They are all energetic young people.
What makes Qin Jian even more satisfied is that five of the seven teachers are Chinese students.
This is exactly what he wanted.
Out of some curiosity, after He Jing introduced everyone, Qin Jian raised his hand to signal everyone to be quiet.
moment.
"Who can teach me a lesson?"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at each other in shock.
this...
He Jing did not expect Qin Jian to ask such a question, but she was not nervous and looked at everyone.
“What do you need to learn?”
A tall and thin young Chinese teacher stood up, and his actions attracted the attention of everyone present.
"It took five minutes to teach me how to touch the most basic keys."
As he spoke, Qin Jian sat in front of the piano in the hall, and everyone gathered around him with interest.
What follows will be an interesting scene.
Five minutes of piano instruction.
The lecturer is a courageous messenger among the first batch of teachers trained in the Qin-style piano teaching method, and the listener is the founder of the Qin-style piano teaching method.
"Touching keys is a very easy thing in our teaching method."
The young teacher placed his right hand on the keyboard, "You only need to relax your wrist and gently push your arm forward."
With a "dang" sound, a crisp note floated up.
"In this way, the power of the arm is transmitted to the fingers, and a basic key-touch process is completed."
"You try it."
Qin Jian followed the young man's description of the key-touching process, and like an obedient piano boy, he raised his arms and lowered his fingers, and played the exact same note.
He asked: "Is this so?"
Applause from the crowd immediately erupted behind him.
Qin Jian looked at the young man unmoved.
The young man shook his head, and he saw Qin Jian twist his wrist slightly the moment he dropped his finger.
"I'm sorry, your wrist is exerting force. We must avoid exerting force on the wrist in the early stage of piano learning."
The scene was quiet again.
"Then how should I prevent my wrist from exerting force?" Qin Jian asked again.
The young teacher answered: "First you can imagine a very pianissimo sound, and then make this weak sound sound on the piano only through the force of pushing."
"Just focus on the finger you want to pronounce, but keep it elevated."
Qin Jian did as he was told.
An almost inaudible weak note floated softly from the piano.
The young man encouraged, "Very good, you have mastered the most basic touch keys."
"Thanks."
Five minutes had expired, and Qin Jian stood up from the piano.
"So when can we use the power of our wrists?"
He threw a new question to everyone.
Lin Xiao raised his hand and replied: "Leato, the teaching content of the second stage."
Qin Jian nodded, "Very good."
Chris's beginner piano textbook is divided into three stages, and each stage has corresponding problems to be solved.
Like most piano textbooks on the market, the most basic content is introduced in the first stage.
However, his focus is somewhat contrary to the mainstream teaching methods. He abandoned the traditional emphasis on hand shape, and instead focused on letting beginners focus on feeling the touch keys at the beginning.
Imagine - press - auditory feedback.
This is the core essence of Chris's piano teaching method.
This is true from the beginning of a note to a concerto.
Qin Jian believes that piano performance will ultimately come down to "human experience and musical expression."
There is no fixed hand shape requirement that can satisfy everyone's hand shape conditions.
So using the correct hand shape to play the correct music becomes a false proposition here.
Hand shape is of course important.
But if a beginner develops playing habits with awkward hand shapes, then he will lose most of his vitality in the sound pressed by his fingertips.
How can we play music full of vitality from notes without vitality?
At present, it seems that the teachers have done a pretty good job in the initial training. I think I have put a lot of thought into it in the past few months.
——
Afterwards, everyone kept company, and He Jing took Qin Jian to visit the entire institution.
The entire institution is divided into two floors.
There are 11 independent piano rooms on the first floor, which are used for classes.
Each piano room is equipped with an upright piano, and one of the piano rooms is also equipped with a Daniel Brothers fortepiano.
The second floor is divided into two parts.
On the left hand side is a modern multimedia classroom that takes up about three piano rooms and is used for music theory sight-singing and ear-training lessons.
On the right is a small auditorium that can accommodate 80 people, equipped with a stage and a grand piano, and is used to hold small concerts and chamber music ensemble classes.
Amid everyone's expectations, Qin Jian personally tried out this small stage, which was built at a high cost.
He played Chopin's Ballade No. 3.
Of course, the stage sound effect cannot be compared with that of a large concert hall, but for a music training center, it is enough.
After the visit, Qin Jian was very satisfied with this place.
He would feel better if employees didn't have the word "Qin" in capital letters on their work uniforms.
Qin Jian made a promise to everyone to treat him to dinner in the evening. Everyone dispersed with laughter and went back to their work stations to get busy.
What awaits them is the official opening the day after tomorrow, although the location of the opening ceremony is not here.
The two siblings came to the office.
"How do you feel, boss?"
He Jing poured a glass of water for Qin Jian and sat across from him.
"Don't."
Qin Jian sat on the boss's chair, waved his hands and retorted.
On the issue of who is the boss, joking aside, Qin Jian's thoughts are clear.
He provided part of the capital and teaching patents, and He Jing was responsible for opening the business. He did not care about the early profits and losses in the United States.
Even if you lose money in the United States, as long as you can learn from experience and lessons and lay a solid foundation for the next step of exploring the Chinese market, then the money will be considered well spent.
Furthermore, he believes that with his current influence in the international piano community, the beginning of this training institution will not be too difficult.
Of course, there is a key premise here, whether He Jing is willing to be the boss.
From the current point of view, the answer is obviously that He Jing is willing to do such a thing, otherwise the other party would not have proposed opening a training institution in the United States as early as last year.
He Jing no longer wants to work for others, she wants to do it herself.
As a younger brother, he is naturally happy to see such a situation, and with things like Chris' Piano Guide, he can't find another suitable agent besides He Jing.
One person holds the resources, and the other person has the idea, and we hit it off immediately.
What's more, they are two siblings.
His original intention of taking out this thing was to promote the development of piano education in China, and profit was only secondary.
If He Jing really creates a lot of wealth through this teaching method in the future business process, well - he can't say that yet.
He hopes to see that every child who learns piano through the Chris Piano Teaching Method can gain substantial benefits. At the same time, he does not want this course to become an educational luxury one day in the future.
It may be too early to consider these now, but it is undeniable that the industrialization of education is an old topic today.
Some people rely on education to list their companies on Wall Street, some rely on education to make a lot of money, and some rely on the education industry to become a model of the times.
As for the future valuation of Qin-style piano teaching methods, how can I put it? Qin Jian is just a piano player.
So the future problems are left to the future, but the current problems must be stated again.
"Sister, the organization is yours, I am only responsible for providing the help you need."
He Jing smiled.
Qin Jian pouted, "How about we establish a written document now?"
He Jing didn't answer, "Let's talk." Then she pulled out a folder from the pile of documents on the table.
"Look at this first."
Qin Jian took it and opened it.
Enlightenment stage.
[One-to-one piano lessons]: 40 quality piano lessons (30 minutes each)
[Group courses]: 40 music theory and sight-singing ear training classes, 5 music appreciation classes, 2 open classes by professors
[Student Benefits]: Participate in more than one campus concert, receive discounts on textbooks and products
Tuition: 4999$
Qin Jian: "Thirty thousand."
This program is limited to two semesters, after which you will enter the junior program.
Primary Stage.
[Piano one-to-one course]: 40 quality piano lessons (45 minutes each)
[Group courses]: 40 music theory and sight-singing ear training classes, 10 music appreciation classes, 4 open classes by professors
[Student Benefits]: Participate in more than two campus concerts, receive discounts on textbooks and products
Outstanding students can participate in the Qin Jian International Master Class (the quota must be approved by the teacher)
Tuition fee:7000$
Qin Jian turned to the next page and did not see the plan behind it.
——
"For the time being, there are only the first two teaching plans."
He Jing added, "And we only recruit students for the first batch of students."