Avoiding the Piano Grind1 (I)

Aaron A. Vessup

For years American families have gathered around televisions entertained by the glittery dressed, piano wizard, Liberace,who dazzled audiences during holiday festivities with his flamboyant playing style.2. 很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間以來(lái)，美國(guó)人都會(huì)在節(jié)日慶典時(shí)，全家一起圍坐電視前收看鋼琴奇才李伯拉斯的節(jié)目，他身著華服，以其華麗的演奏風(fēng)格令觀眾如癡如醉。glittery： 華麗的，光彩奪目的；wizard： 奇才；Liberace： 李伯拉斯（1919—1987），是美國(guó)著名的藝人和鋼琴家，他因?yàn)榫康难葑嗉记珊腿A麗的表演風(fēng)格為大眾所知；dazzle： 使眼花； flamboyant： 華麗的。Even today in the rapidly developing country of China, parents en masse parade their young to music teachers and instrument showrooms, with hopes of adding additional “touches of class” to their lives, hopefully ensuring the mental development of a child in tow.3. en masse：〈法〉全體地；touch： 才能，特長(zhǎng)；in tow： 一起。Most youngsters willingly follow parental urgings, but not all. And many parents may be motivated by vicarious dreams of ful filling personal fantasies that may have a slim chance becoming reality through their offspring.4. 很多家長(zhǎng)之所以有這個(gè)想法，也許是源于自己未能實(shí)現(xiàn)的夢(mèng)想，因而想讓自己的孩子借此微小的機(jī)會(huì)圓了他們的夢(mèng)。motivate： 使有動(dòng)機(jī)；vicarious：通過(guò)他人的經(jīng)驗(yàn)感受的；fantasy： 夢(mèng)想；offspring： 后代。

Malice and Forethought5. malice： 怨恨；forethought： 預(yù)謀。

Unfortunately, in my youth I did not care much for the piano.Life in California was not always “Sunny”, and although the music from our piano sounded wonderful, the personal punishments that routinely followed my father’s display of musical talent, a whipping for me, relegated the piano a symbol of something distasteful.6. routinely： 通常地；whipping： 鞭打；relegate： 使降低到；distasteful： 令人不快的。The piano was to me a monster. When my father had finished eating his dinner he would stride into my room and bellow,7. stride： 大步走；bellow： 吼叫?！癙repare for me!” This meant whipping time was next after his piano playing. As my father relaxed from his work day work, it seemed as if he then played for hours on the piano, and I would spend eternity trembling,grinding my teeth,8. eternity： （似乎）沒(méi)有終止的一段時(shí)間；tremble： 發(fā)抖，戰(zhàn)栗；grind： 用力擠壓，這里指咬緊牙齒。waiting for him to finish playing various classical pieces. Sometimes I was ordered to demonstrate my low skill level on the keyboard, but this inevitably also led to a whipping.I had never practiced enough. This instrument blocked my outdoor sports playing time. Thus, the piano was my enemy, an object to be avoided at all costs9. at all costs： 不惜任何代價(jià)。. It would take years before my stomach would cease from knotting up, throat drying, and teeth clinching at the mere sounds of piano music.10. 一聽(tīng)到鋼琴曲我就會(huì)胃痛，喉嚨發(fā)干，牙關(guān)緊咬，我可能要花上幾年的時(shí)間才能夠控制住這種情況。cease： 停止；knot up： 縮緊，收縮，這里指因?yàn)椴挥淇於鸬奈竿?；clinch：〈口〉擁抱；mere： 僅僅。

從小到大，你我中的很多人都會(huì)被父母寄予厚望，在他們的關(guān)注下學(xué)習(xí)各種技能。然而，這當(dāng)中又有多少人是發(fā)自內(nèi)心地喜歡呢？本文作者借用自己接觸并學(xué)習(xí)鋼琴的經(jīng)歷告訴我們，興趣才是最好的老師。只有自己真正喜歡，學(xué)習(xí)才會(huì)變成樂(lè)趣，我們才能真正掌握一門(mén)技術(shù)，而非成為學(xué)習(xí)技能的“傀儡”。

Finally, in my early teens I stumbled upon a unique way to settle the score between piano, that symbolic culprit of inconvenience and physical discomforts, and the feelings of helplessness that resulted when my fingers fumbled between narrow cracks of the black and white keys.11. stumble upon： 偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)；settle the score： 報(bào)復(fù)，算舊賬；culprit： 罪魁禍?zhǔn)?；fumble： 笨拙地做；crack： 裂縫。I played piano poorly. Actually, the revenge against the piano started out as an accident, but evolved into something grand.12. 實(shí)際上，我對(duì)鋼琴的“報(bào)復(fù)”源于一個(gè)偶然，但后果卻不小。revenge： 報(bào)復(fù)。It was on a day when alone in the house and cooking food in the kitchen,I hurried out through the dining room, passing the console piano cabinet with a fork in hand, and inadvertently stumbled lightly scratching the smooth, shiny wooden instrument.13. console： 操縱臺(tái)；inadvertently： 非故意地；stumble： 絆倒；scratch： 劃傷。Apparently a noise at the front of the house caught my attention,or maybe the radio sounds of baseball game drama drew me momentarily away from the kitchen.14. 顯然，（當(dāng)時(shí)）房前的一陣響聲，或者是收音機(jī)里棒球比賽的歡呼聲讓我暫時(shí)離開(kāi)了廚房。apparently： 顯然地；drama：激動(dòng)，興奮；momentarily： 片刻地，暫時(shí)地。At any rate, upon seeing that I had slightly damaged the nice cherry wood surface,which over the years had been on the household chore list for dusting and polishing with furniture oils and creams, I was in shock.15. 很多年以來(lái)，家務(wù)的其中一項(xiàng)就是除去鋼琴上的塵土，并用家具油或家具蠟把它擦亮，所以不管因?yàn)槭裁丛?，?dāng)我看到這漂亮的櫻桃木表面被我輕輕地留下劃痕時(shí)，我嚇壞了。at any rate： 不管怎樣；chore： 家庭雜務(wù)；polish： 磨光，擦亮。What had I done to the monster? Was this a mistake or an unconscious16. unconscious： 無(wú)意識(shí)的。desire? Sometime that week there was hell to pay17. hell to pay： 嚴(yán)重的后果，嚴(yán)厲的懲罰。.

My Music Compromise18. compromise： 妥協(xié)。

From that day on I had came to terms with an understanding between the piano instrument and myself,together we existed in a state of mutual compromise: we coexisted in a mild climate of tolerance.19. come to terms with： 與……妥協(xié)；tolerance： 忍受。I had an appreciation for music, and would listen to piano music, as long as I was not forced to play it. I could read music and sing those black flagged musical notes that in the past had terri fied me to a point of temporary blindness, and I could count beats between measures indicated by “time signatures.”20. flagged： 標(biāo)記的；note： 音節(jié)；temporary： 暫時(shí)的；blindness：失明；measure：（樂(lè)譜的）小節(jié)；time signature：（音樂(lè)）拍號(hào)，在樂(lè)譜中以分?jǐn)?shù)的形式標(biāo)畫(huà)在樂(lè)曲開(kāi)始的地方。This knowledge alone was a good foundation for my later involvement in choral groups and grand civic performances with full orchestration music support.21. foundation： 基礎(chǔ)；choral： 合唱的；civic： 市民的；orchestration：管弦樂(lè)編曲。In fact, there were occasions when lure of the majestic grand piano was so magnetic, hoping for forgiveness, I would attempt in vain to pound out a few memorized chords from some melody that lingered in my mind.22. majestic： 莊嚴(yán)的；grand piano： 三角鋼琴；magnetic： 有吸引力的；in vain： 徒勞的；pound out： 用力彈奏；chord： 和弦；melody： 旋律；linger： 徘徊。However, the die had been cast the truce23.然而，我與鋼琴不能共存已成定局。the die is cast： 已成定局；truce： 停戰(zhàn)。of strict coexistence could not be broken. I would never be able to cajole heavenly sounds from anything with so many keys of ivory.24. 我將永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法通過(guò)這眾多的象牙白琴鍵演奏出美妙的聲音。cajole： 哄騙；ivory： 象牙白。An invisible grip, a chain of sorts would remain between the piano and I.

Nothing to Be Feared

In life it is often strange where, when, and how the “help”you may need emotionally can materialize.25.生活有時(shí)也挺奇怪，你情感上所期待的“幫助”不知怎么地就可能在某些地方、某個(gè)時(shí)間出現(xiàn)。emotionally： 情感上；materialize： 物質(zhì)化。For me, it was one evening between making a mad dash to the public library,raiding the music collections to be recorded at home, when I met an American-Philippine pianist playing in a lounge at a Hilton Hotel, in Illinois.26. dash： 猛沖；raid： 突擊；lounge： 休息室。Esther Hanviriyapunt was a tiny woman, much smaller than a regular size piano bench27. bench： 長(zhǎng)凳。,with tiny hands comparable to mobile phones. However, her singing and playing is that of a virtuoso, and I found her music production to be consistently soothing like a balm, restorative in its totality.28. 然而，她的歌聲和演奏可稱得上一流，我發(fā)現(xiàn)她的音樂(lè)作品總是猶如香膏一般，令人全身舒緩，重現(xiàn)活力。virtuoso： 藝術(shù)大師；soothing： 撫慰的；balm： 香脂，香膏；restorative： 滋補(bǔ)的；totality：全體。To this day, many years later, I return to audio recordings of my favorites musicians who have mastered a variety of instruments. And I must admit that while I do have many favorite instrument sources, the piano remains at the very top, it no longer is a thing to be feared.

The complexities of this fine instrument has been enormously simpli fied through research, lectures, and piano demonstrations by Yuan Sheng, a Chinese artist, who traces the mechanical development and technical sound differences of this instrument from the eras of Mozart, Chopin,Beethoven, and Liszt to today’s modern fixtures.29. enormously： 在極大程度上；trace： 追溯；Yuan sheng： 盛原，享譽(yù)國(guó)際的中國(guó)鋼琴家，英國(guó)《國(guó)際鋼琴雜志》曾稱其為“中國(guó)詮釋巴赫的領(lǐng)軍人物”；era： 時(shí)代；Mozart： 莫扎特；Chopin： 肖邦；Beethoven： 貝多芬；Liszt： 李斯特； fixture： 長(zhǎng)期從事某項(xiàng)工作的人。According to his findings, different classical music masters not only composed music based on their knowledge of how the piano would produce certain sounds, whether “fortissimo”, “staccato”, “allegro” or “pianissimo”,30. fortissimo： 極強(qiáng)音；staccato： 斷音；allegro： 快音；pianissimo： 極弱音。but also in their day each had preferences depending on personal mood. It is claimed that Chopin said, “When I feel out of sorts, I play on an Erard piano where I easily find a ready-made tone.31. out of sorts： 心情不佳，身體不適；Erard： 埃拉爾，與下句中的普萊耶爾（pleyel）同為世界著名的名器品牌。But when I feel in good form and strong enough to find my own individual sound, then I need a Pleyel piano.” Similarly, Liszt had the same preference saying “These Pleyel pianos were to be cherished for their silvery and slightly veiled sonority and their lightness of touch.”32. cherish： 珍愛(ài)；veiled： 隱藏的；sonority： 響亮。Accordingly, various piano brands produced different tonal33. tonal： 音調(diào)的。qualities and volumes of sound from different pressure requirements when striking the keys.