ECG -Chapter 36 The First Piano Concerto

Fan Gang stood in front of the piano, his eyes filled with tears.

“Teacher, what’s wrong?” Lin Hao hurriedly stood up and went over to support him.

Fan Gang’s emotions were extremely complicated at this moment. This piece, The First Piano Concerto, was something he had only reached this level of performance on when he was thirty-one years old. Although Lin Hao had three slight moments of hesitation while playing, it had not affected the quality and feeling of the entire piece at all.

The key point was that when he had reached this level at thirty-one, it was after countless hours of practice!

But Lin Hao was sight-reading!

For a piece of such difficulty, he had never seen it before, never played it before, yet he completed it in one smooth flow!

He knew that ever since Lin Hao finished playing Flight of the Bumblebee, he had understood. He knew that he was not worthy of being the teacher of the genius standing before him.

But he couldn’t bear to let go. His heart was filled with endless conflict.

Lin Hao was not an immortal, nor could he read minds. Naturally, he had no idea what Fan Gang was thinking at this moment. He helped him over to the sofa and assisted him in sitting down.

Fan Gang steadied his emotions. He had to speak honestly, otherwise his conscience would not be at ease.

“Lin Hao, I was wrong!”

Lin Hao was startled. He didn’t understand why Fan Gang would say that and quickly replied, “Teacher, where did I go wrong? Please tell me!”

Fan Gang shook his head, pointed beside him, and said, “Come, sit down.”

Lin Hao sat over.

Fan Gang pointed at the piano and said, “Do you know? The piece you just played, The First Piano Concerto, was something your teacher only reached your current level on when I was thirty-one years old! And now, because of work and other reasons, even if I can play the whole thing completely, it’s impossible to achieve the quality I had back then!”

Lin Hao was extremely shocked. He never expected Fan Gang would expose his own shortcomings in front of him.

After all, for a teacher, even if this kind of thing was true, most people would never say it out loud. It was an extremely embarrassing matter.

Many piano teachers, because of family matters and other reasons, when teaching at music schools, even if they teach children who have reached Grade 10, many Grade 10 pieces can no longer be played by them. This is because their hands have become unfamiliar with the instrument.

Of course, this does not affect their ability to teach students, because they have experience. They know how a piece should be played, and even if a student makes a small mistake, they can still hear it.

“Teacher, I didn’t play it well. There were mistakes in several places!” Lin Hao said sincerely.

Fan Gang shook his head. “But you were sight-reading! Now bring any piano performer here and ask them to sight-read a piece of this difficulty. Let’s see who can do better than you!”

Fan Gang’s tears fell.

“I’m sorry, Lin Hao. I can’t teach you!”

Lin Hao understood what he meant, and admiration rose in his heart. In Fan Gang’s eyes, he had truly only sight-read this piece. In reality, in his previous life, he had been very familiar with many sections of it. But he could not reveal such a thing.

He reached out and held Fan Gang’s arm.

“A teacher must first correct himself before teaching and educating others. This is the foundation of a teacher’s moral character! Teacher, today you have helped me understand this principle. If you judge whether someone is qualified to be a teacher solely based on their piano skills, I think that is inappropriate!”

Fan Gang stared at him blankly.

“Considering my age, my skills are still acceptable, but there are also many things I lack! For example, music studies, music theory, music history, and other theoretical knowledge!”

“You are older and have rich social experience. There are countless things you can teach me. Besides, you are also a famous pianist in the industry. After I graduate, I’ll still need to rely on your support, Teacher. How could you refuse to take me as your student?”

When Fan Gang heard his final sentence, he immediately burst out laughing.

He gently patted Lin Hao’s hand and let out a long sigh.

He understood very clearly that Lin Hao was comforting him.

But no matter what, after finally speaking out what was in his heart today, he felt much more relieved.

“Alright. From now on, every week on this day, we’ll meet in this room and summarize what you’ve learned and study together!” After saying that, Fan Gang reached out and patted the stack of books on the coffee table. “These are all prepared for you. Take a look!”

Seeing that he had gotten past this hurdle, Lin Hao finally felt a weight lift from his heart.

He only wanted to enjoy his four years of college life. He didn’t want to be persuaded to leave school just because his level was too high.

Moreover, Fan Gang was truly someone worthy of respect. Lin Hao had never received proper systematic training before, and in reality, he was lacking in many, many areas.

He picked up the books on the coffee table and looked through them one by one.

History of Contemporary Chinese Music, History and Appreciation of Chinese Music, Song Composition and Writing, History of Instrumental Music Development, Folk and Traditional Music, Harmony, Musical Forms and Analysis of Works, History and Appreciation of Western Music, Arrangement Techniques for Electronic Bands…

There were nearly twenty thick volumes in total. Lin Hao was overjoyed. Many of these were exactly what he needed to study!

In his previous life, he had been a prodigy on the piano, but aside from Teacher Ai Qing at the orphanage who had taught him how to play, nobody knew about it, and nobody cared.

Especially in that relatively closed era: a remote northern town, a small orphanage, an old broken piano with two pedals that no one knew where it had been donated from, and a little child who never went to play with the other kids, sitting in front of the piano every day.

All of Lin Hao’s skills in various instruments and vocal performance had been obtained through practice and diligent training. As for theoretical knowledge, he had only read books after growing up, and later searched for information online to study.

Now that he had the opportunity to systematically learn this knowledge, it would bring about a qualitative transformation in all of his instrumental performance and vocal skills. It was just like the protagonist in a martial arts novel who encountered a great opportunity deep in the mountains and obtained a secret martial arts manual.

Suppressing his excitement, he stood up and respectfully bowed to Fan Gang.

“Thank you, Teacher. I will definitely work hard and study!”

Fan Gang could feel his sincerity. Satisfied, he reached out to help him up and smiled.

“Good! Come over to my house for dinner tonight. Your teacher’s cooking skills are pretty good!”

Lin Hao was even happier. This meant that Fan Gang had already untied the knot in his heart and completely accepted him.

“Thank you, Teacher!”

Before leaving, Fan Gang gave him the door key, allowing him to come here to practice.

While carrying the books back to the dormitory, Lin Hao suddenly realized something.

Shouldn’t Fan Gang have said that his teacher’s wife’s cooking was good? Why did he say his own cooking was good? Could it be that his wife didn’t know how to cook?

While Lin Hao was playing The First Piano Concerto, Wu Xiaozhou was waiting for his first professional class.

Lin Hao’s teacher, Fan Gang, was the department head and had not taught first-year students for several years, so the place where Lin Hao had classes was very quiet.

But Wu Xiaozhou’s class environment was completely different. On the third floor corridor of the teaching building, groups of two or three students were all waiting for class. The classrooms’ soundproofing was only average, and with electric guitars and electric basses becoming very loud once plugged in, the entire floor seemed extremely noisy.

In this environment, Wu Xiaozhou sat on a chair in the corridor outside the classroom, holding his electric bass in his arms and dozing off out of boredom.

“Wu Xiaozhou!”

Someone called his name, and Wu Xiaozhou instantly woke up.

He hugged his electric bass and entered the classroom.

His professional instructor was in his early thirties. He had a square-shaped face and was somewhat well-known in the provincial capital’s music circle.

Wang Leping sat on a chair in front of the amplifier, still holding a large glass jar of peaches in his hand. The black tea inside had already faded almost completely in color.

“Wu Xiaozhou?” he asked.

Wu Xiaozhou gave an honest, goofy smile. “Yes!”

“Hmm?” When Wang Leping saw the bass in his hands, he was stunned for a moment.

He thought to himself: This kid’s family background must be pretty good. He can actually afford to use a KS.

“Alright, plug it in and play a section. Let me hear it first.”

After saying that, he took a sip of tea.

Wu Xiaozhou didn’t stand on ceremony. He bent down, picked up the cable, plugged it into the bass, and immediately started playing.

Only a few bars had passed when—

“Pa!”

A sharp crack rang out.

Wu Xiaozhou was so startled that he quickly stopped.