Music flows in the blood
The first time I met Mr. Yang Fan was at the appreciation dinner after he received the "U.S.-China Special Contribution to Music Award". As I recall, Mr. Yang Fan was dressed in white, with an extraordinary demeanor, and was surrounded by guests and friends, and cheered by the audience. At first, I didn't understand the significance of such an award, but later I learned that the "U.S.-China Music Special Contribution Award" was founded by the U.S.-China Business Association (USCN), which is dedicated to honoring elites who have made unremitting efforts in exchanging and cooperating with the U.S. and China in various fields. Yang Fan is the only artist in the Chinese music industry to be honored with the U.S.-China Special Contribution to Music Award. Also honored were Kissinger, the famous American politician and diplomat, Dai JiaShun, the president of Coca-Cola China, and Mr. Huang Yongyu, a leading figure in the Chinese painting industry, among ten others. After learning about these in awe at the same time can not help but have a few doubts, such an award, why would choose the accordion such a decline in China's almost trend of art categories, Yang Fan teacher's charisma in the end?
Yang Fan's love affair with the accordion
Yang Fan was born in the early 1960s into an artistic family. Her father was one of the first musicians to be influenced by the Soviet Union, and he was a talented musician. Mother is the host, is a warm and elegant lady, childhood music in the vinyl record swing, the heart of the rhythm at that time began to dance ------ and then a world-famous holocaust changed the life of Yang Fan's family, stay in the United States and returned to the United States to run the education of the grandfather was buckled with the hat of the cultural agents, along with the father was sent to the Northwest, and was eventually driven out of the cultural compound. The musician's father became a clampsman, and was dragged around daily to be criticized, and his mother almost had a nervous breakdown. The culture became a disaster, and Yang Fan's sensitivity to music was rejected by everything around him. But secretly follow his father's friends to learn the violin, and follow his father's students to learn the accordion so that the experience of stealing art has become his greatest joy, playing the piano has also become the best way to vent his bitterness. Once by chance, he played "Sea of Blood" from North Korea on the accordion in the house, and the hope and fighting spirit hidden in the sad song moved his father who was working outside the house. In order not to let this sensitive artistic expression die out, his father finally agreed to teach him to play the violin.
The catastrophe gradually passed, day by day better, Yang Fan love ballet, early years worked as a dancer, 1978 enlisted in the Lanzhou Military Region Air Force Civilian Troupe as an accordion player. 1981 after the discharge of Tianjin Conservatory of Music Accordion professional training, in 1984 to the Sichuan Conservatory of Music Accordion Department of the Piano Department to study. During his time at the school, he had already made a name for himself, not only winning the scholarship for the best student and the title of outstanding youth league member, but also raising the controversial issues of the synthesis of technology, the synthesis of music, as well as the relationship between music and human beings, and then stayed at the school after graduation to teach, and began a multifaceted exploration of the art of teaching practice.
In 1991, he was awarded the accordion performance prize in an art competition jointly organized by Sichuan TV and Taiwan TV. 1992 Taiwan TV recorded a special program of Yangfan's accordion solo music for him, which made him the first mainland accordionist to be introduced to Taiwan. In the same year, at the invitation of the British authorities, he held his first solo concert in Shanghai, and was invited to hold concerts in Britain and Australia. 1994, the "Yang Fan Accordion Symphony Concert" held in Beijing Concert Hall was a great success, and Yang Fan broke the stereotypes and became China's first accordionist to play with a symphony orchestra, which was a great success. Yang Fan broke the stereotypes and became the first accordionist in China to play with a symphony orchestra, which fulfilled his dream of cooperation between accordion and symphony orchestra, which he had envisioned for many years, and his young age created another most important thing in the world of accordion music. He has also published a solo CD album. In the movie "Peacock" directed by Gu Changwei, a thread of mournful accordion runs through the story from beginning to end. In Zhang Yimou's movie "Love at the Hawthorn Tree", the melancholic accordion also tells a moving story, in which Yang Fan also participates. It was Yang Fan who gave the movie a fuller life, and as the two films gained international prominence, Yang Fan and his accordion began to receive more attention outside of the professional world.
Yang Fan's new approach to education
Perhaps because of his grandfather's influence, Yang Fan has a deep-rooted sense of mission for education, and in the teaching and learning of music education, the teaching concept of "love inspires love" is well reflected in Yang Fan's teaching.
In the 1990s, the accordion still had a place in China, and people from the 50s and 60s grew up as a new generation of young parents. In their footsteps, "learning from the Soviet Union", "Big Brother", "Paul Kochakin" and so on. Paul Kochakin" was a civilization that was present in their lives throughout their studies. The accordion, a musical instrument that has a close relationship with Soviet culture, has attracted a lot of attention and is loved by the public. Coupled with its own beautiful sound, easy to go out and carry, affordable and other superiority, so that a large number of 80 after 90 children to join the ranks of millions of children, began to learn the accordion playing skills.
With the advent of the new millennium, Chinese culture seems to be undergoing a more dramatic impact in the midst of change. In music life, more people began to appreciate the former glory of the classical era of European and American music, and more young people grew up favoring European, American, Japanese, and Korean fashions and pop styles. It seems that in an instant, people embraced the guitar and switched to the piano, discarding the accordion as a bulky instrument that seems not to be able to reach the hall of high art. Today, all kinds of music colleges and art education, for the accordion enrollment and education in the continuous "thinning", accordion education popularization has been greatly impacted. In this way, an art category with such individual characteristics has been cold-shouldered, which makes Mr. Yang Fan sad and regrettable, and the most painful for Mr. Yang is not only this ------
"When you watch Yang Fan's performance, you can forget about any technique. It's as if one can forget the lips and teeth of the ode writer and become completely enamored with his deep emotion." In response to such praise, Mr. Yang Fan replied, "The technical aspect is the simplest, the real music expresses the spiritual insights brought by experiences, and people prefer the emotions I convey to them with my music. My music can make people cry and make them laugh. In my opinion, accordion, piano and voice are all the same to me, it is just a means of expression, a tool. I just use it to convey my inner emotions ------" had the honor to visit Mr. Yang Fan's classroom, I have to say he is a very strict teacher, "passion", "loud voice", his teaching style His way of teaching is just to let the students actually realize the profound language and artistic emotions in music. What pains Mr. Yang Fan about education is that he has discovered the mechanical nature of music education in China. "I can't hear the emotion of the performer in the sound of the music, his music is not spiritual, only technique, no life, his music can't move himself, how can it move others? This kind of education concept and training method is gradually depriving students of the stage on which they will live in the future. In arts education, why can't we inspire students' true feelings as a way? In addition, in today's art education, many teachers do not pay attention to their own professional qualities and artistic cultivation, claiming that their functions have deteriorated when they are just 30 or 40 years old, not giving demonstrations to their students, putting money first, and not being responsible for the content of the classroom. This is now a very serious problem in China's art education, is the sadness of China's education, if it has been going this way, do not dare to imagine that China's education will become a what."
Of course, Mr. Yang Fan, in his teaching, is not just the pursuit of musical emotion, do not pay attention to the basic skills, in the classroom, Mr. Yang most often emphasized a "pick", a "chakra". In his classes, Mr. Yang most often emphasizes "picking" and "chi chi". He opposes the "stiffness" and "awkwardness" of the fingers in playing. He used the word "picking" to describe the movement of the fingers when playing the keys. "The chakra is impassable" is also a common phrase used by Mr. Yang Fan when describing his students' playing. According to Mr. Yang Fan, "Like human language, music has a language, and the chakra runs through the language, and naturally runs through the music, which not only connects the emotions, but also connects the fingers to the techniques. "
For the creation of accordion music works, Yang Fan also has his own opinion: "Art is not hierarchical, there is no difference between high and low. The accordion is a musical instrument that can wander around the audience, and is a very good art category that can delight people physically and mentally. The new attempts in modern works can be used as reagents for music, but not as therapeutic agents. As a music carrier reflecting people's social life and emotional thinking, it must keep abreast of the times and try to adapt to the changing times and people's appreciation tastes, and cannot be closed in its own small world, cut off the connection with other instrumental music and art disciplines, and be stuck in a rut with old-fashioned methods of expression, which will lead to the loss of listeners. This applies both to the accordion and to other musical creations."
More and more people in modern society are beginning to pay attention to the dominant role of psychology in people's behavior, and Mr. Yang Fan also pays extra attention to psychological education. "People are people, not God, not an electronic machine, as long as there is emotion people will have complex psychological changes, engaged in music people are very sensitive, so the nervousness of the stage also seems to be unsurprising, but just a 'don't be nervous' by no means reduce the complexity of the inner before we go on stage But a mere 'don't be nervous' in no way diminishes the complexity of our hearts before we go on stage, and every now and then, understanding and encouragement are often the best tonic, and incorporating an understanding into a tense situation will put the performer in a more relaxed frame of mind."
"I attach great importance to the details of the student's life, it is difficult to imagine an adult who can not take care of their own lives will have a rich emotional, internal from the richness of life experience, which is only books can not be learned, I not only require students to professional skills, the same for the students to live in the life of the people when the advice, long-term accumulation of the student's self-cultivation will have a great deal to help! Therefore, I hope that parents can realize the importance of cultivating their children's life skills. We give education and training for children's music, not necessarily to make them become musicians, the most important thing is to let the children in the atmosphere of music and art cast their positive attitude towards life and the pursuit of perfect artistic cultivation, so as to enrich their lives."
It has been said that Yang Fan is a virtuoso with magical powers. That's because his talent in the field of accordion music, so that he got rid of the domestic backward educational concepts of the shackles, in their own like crazy immersed in the accordion performance all day long, to understand the concept of playing with the world's cutting-edge level to keep pace with the performance of the concept. The students he has trained have achieved outstanding results, and in the "Huaxi Cup" accordion competition in Sichuan, his students have won almost all the first, second and third prizes. He used his own unique interpretation of music teaching and comprehension, through a long period of study, has formed a set of self-contained system of teaching methods, come to the students in an endless stream. It is reported that the "Hai Fan Da Yin Education Technology Center" founded by Mr. Yang Fan will be launched in Beijing soon. By then, more accordion and music lovers will feel the happiness of having music with them.
"Hai Fan" - the stage of music
Anyone who knows Yang Fan knows that he has a dual identity: as a musician, and as the general manager of Hai Fan Bar. "There is Sanlitun in the east and Hafan in the west", which shows what position his bar occupies in the capital. So how does Yang Fan view his seemingly unrelated endeavors? In his own words: "the operation of the bar can only be considered a side business, music is my eternal theme.
Some people say that Yang Fan is an emotional madman. That was to be able to share his accordion music with more people. He would roam the streets and perform passionately, making boatmen stop for classical music to be mesmerized, and letting passers-by gather in the square to enjoy it so much that the police would intervene to divert them. In the "Hai Fan Bar", people can often hear Yang Fan's passionate performance, there have been people asked Yang Fan, you are a master-class figure, the bar is a place of mass consumption, you think that this kind of elegant things in the bar to play, people can feel what you want to express? "A real aristocrat even if he is a beggar, there is noble blood in his blood, for music, when I went to college, my teacher talked about all the masters, a really good musician does not matter where the playing venues are, Mozart, they are also step by step by Yang Fan, no matter whether I play in a bar, on the street, or wherever it is all music. My aim is to get my accordion music heard by as many people as possible."
Afterword
Some people say Yang Fan's playing is emotional, but in fact he dances on the keys with his mind to the music melody, and that dance is all-consuming, honest and natural. Thus, Yang Fan has successfully opened people's hearts with his artistic sincerity and made their hearts dance with his accordion melody. ------ In the interview, Mr. Yang Fan said, "What is lacking in this era is such a kind of people who are constantly realizing self-transcendence, who are not only satisfied with the material life, but also thinking about their dreams. They are not only satisfied with the material life, but more importantly, they are also thinking about their own dreams and doing something for the country and the people. Maybe this kind of life is very tiring, and the road will be very hard, but I always believe that there will be such a power, and the power will gradually become stronger. I am thankful for my suffering, which creates strength, and I have vowed and demanded since I was a child that I would become a first-class artist, and I hope to accomplish more for the next generation in my small way, and more than that, I hope that more people will join this team."