Entertainment: Is this how you play music?!

Chapter 361 Is it shameful to be inferior to Li Can?!

Ravel's shock was beyond the comprehension of those around him.

He even seemed somewhat lonely.

Tom was very close.

Although Tom had heard many masters' works, he only vaguely felt that Li Can seemed somewhat different from other performers he had met.

"."

I did a quick test of the piano.

Li Can then began to play the music.

They stopped playing before finishing the entire performance, feeling that it was about time.

He looked up at Tom, nodded, and indicated that there was no problem.

Tom felt a little sorry.

I was just listening to it when it suddenly stopped.

He didn't say anything, exchanged a few more polite words with Li Can, and then saw Li Can off from the white house.

When Tom returned, he was astonished to find Ravel still in a daze.

"What's wrong? Is there any problem?"

"Sigh, he's too strong."

"Indeed, it sounds really good, it's a pity that only half of it was played."

Tom nodded in deep agreement.

"."

Ravel looked up at Tom, his eyes filled with complex emotions, yet he hesitated to speak.

It's impossible to explain; this person simply cannot understand it.

Tom simply thought it sounded good, but he couldn't see the real issue that was causing industry insiders to lose their minds.

Ravel rarely saw such a technique, where every detail of every note was controlled to the extreme. Even among the top masters in the classical piano industry, few could achieve such an outrageous level of control.

"For a pianist, if there is still a technical bottleneck after the age of 12, then that's it for life."

"Breaking through the bottlenecks in technique, and reaching the bottlenecks in expression, will be the first step in becoming a performer."

Ravel sighed.

With a distant look in his eyes, he began to speak to himself.

"But even if you overcome these bottlenecks, it's just the beginning. To reach the level of a performer and truly become a master, you need to integrate all of these skills. But even as a master, there will still be bottlenecks."

Tom paused, then looked at Ravel.

Nodding thoughtfully.

I always feel that Ravel seems to have seen another world, a world that only professional pianists can see.

"Pianists will return to simplicity, combining their honed skills with profound emotional expression, refining every detail."

"The piano's color variations in dynamics, duration, legato, articulation, and viscosity, the layering of harmonic details, symphonic expression, artistic conception, and culture—countless bottlenecks hinder master pianists. Breaking through a bottleneck in just one aspect will further enhance the expression of a work. These constitute a performer's unique style and can even lead to new and specific performance theories."

That's all for now.

There was even a hint of self-deprecation in Ravel's tone.

Tom was taken aback by the tone of his voice.

Upon reaching the master level, the bottlenecks actually become more numerous, which Tom finds somewhat unbelievable.

But I can understand some of it.

In the end, all industries seem to be pretty much the same; even the slightest difference can feel like an insurmountable chasm.

"But what's ridiculous is that it takes twenty or thirty years of hard work to reach this level and encounter these bottlenecks. And after all that hard work, once you hit a bottleneck, you'll find that you've lost the physical functions you had in your twenties or thirties."

"Pianists can only make up for the loss of their skills by constantly improving their emotional expression and interpretation of the works."

Speaking of it.

Tom suddenly realized.

This has always been the case with musical instrument playing.

As we age, our experience, communication skills, analytical abilities, and emotional depth will all continuously improve.

But can a work really get better and better?

Obviously not, because as we age, our physical functions decline, and the wild skills that we could easily master during our prime may become less effective as we get older.

"I see. So even the masters had such troubles."

Tom nodded knowingly.

"In other words, if one wants to make overall progress while physical functions are slowly declining, one must make even faster progress in expression, emotion, experience, and interpretation in order to compensate for the weakening of physical functions?"

"Yes."

Ravel sighed and nodded.

These layers of bottlenecks are what distinguish pianists from advanced performers, while overcoming physical decline is what distinguishes virtuosos from masters.

There are many masters, but very few can be called giants.

Ravel was a master of jazz piano, and he did manage to find a loophole. Compared to classical piano, jazz piano focuses more on the spirituality of rhythm and cadence. This spirituality can effectively mask the decline of physical function, and the melodic counterpoint and so-called "feeling" come more from a deep understanding of the swing feeling of jazz.

"To be able to break through the bottleneck of details and surpass the level of masters during the peak of physical function, in modern times, I have only seen one person."

Hearing Ravel say that.

Tom asked curiously.

"Who? Li Can?"

"No, it's Xie Lang!"

"Xie Lang?"

Tom was stunned.

This answer was somewhat unexpected, but not entirely unexpected.

If it weren't for Li Can's uniqueness, the musician originally intended to be invited from Xia State would have been Xie Lang. However, after consideration, it seemed that there was some overlap between the two, so the more influential Li Can was invited instead.

But to everyone's surprise, Ravel gave such an evaluation.

Li Can doesn't play the piano often, which led to Tom's misunderstanding.

"Xie Lang is an extremely rare individual who can reach this level during his peak performance period; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him the number one pianist in the world, but Li Can..."

Ravel was silent for a moment, then couldn't help but speak.

"Li Can is simply a superman."

".Why?"

"Because he's not a normal human being, not a normal human being, you understand?"

For no apparent reason, Ravel had a mental breakdown.

I started to become more emotional.

"I won't even talk about his physical abilities. In terms of skill, if he says he's second, no one would dare to say they're first. He's a complete monster. There's no bottleneck in his control over the details."

"Interpretation of works? He doesn't play with interpretation. Besides, even with his own works, his interpretation and arrangement are completely different every time, and his aesthetic expression is even more varied. I can't see the limits of his imagination."

"The expression of emotion and color? This brings us back to the ultimate control. You may not know, but after he played just a few notes, I realized that his level of skill was beyond my imagination."

Ravel blushed.

Constantly trying to explain.

I've never seen such a high-end item that highlights color so clearly.

The softest notes are still clear, even when played rapidly, with full articulation, yet they can be played as softly as possible.

This places extremely demanding requirements on the control of the pedals and the pressure applied to the buttons.

Only after playing the piano do you realize how difficult it is to play softly, and even more so, how deep the abyss lies hidden within softness.

Pianissimo.

It was like a bottomless abyss.

You must be incredibly close to this bottom, but you must not touch it, much less exceed it; otherwise, it won't be called a soft sound, it will be no sound at all.

Every pianist tries to approach the limits of that abyss, but because the control of force is so demanding, they can only keep breaking down the barriers and going as far as they can. After all, one wrong move and they will exceed the limits of this abyss, making the soft notes unclear or even silent. "Xie Lang's color expression is also very exaggerated, but Xie Lang's technique is to enhance the volume output of the loud notes to highlight the existence of the soft notes. But what's scary about Li Can is that while his expression of the soft notes is more delicate, his loud notes are probably even stronger than Xie Lang's."

"If you use volume buttons to represent the contrast between loud and soft sounds for an ordinary person, it might be two bars. A professional musician can reach 5, I'm at most 7, Xie Lang is 8, and Li Can is 9 or higher, infinitely close to 10. You can feel the shock that such colors can bring yourself. The dynamic range of sound intensity is terrifyingly high. How many subtle emotional expressions can be made with such a dynamic range?"

Tom's pupils dilated.

Tom simply felt that Li Can's few moves were fantastic, seemingly different from other performers.

But little did they expect that such a slight improvement would be separated by a huge abyss.

And what revealed this enormous abyss was merely a few understated sounds.

Ravel was deeply shocked.

Clearly, seeing is believing.

The ancient god in the picture doesn't look like much, but seeing him in real life would drive you crazy.

"Thank goodness, thank goodness it's just a performance like this."

Ravel actually felt fortunate.

This is not a performance to show off skills or a pure contest of technique.

Cultural performances that primarily involve bilateral exchanges are all about saving face. Suppression is inevitable, but they won't be completely ruined.

As for being suppressed.
Is it shameful to be inferior to Li Can?!

LOL, just being able to perform together is enough to brag about back home.

Ravel smiled.

The mindset I've cultivated over the years, along with the optimism I've developed through jazz, has played a crucial role.

Is he the greatest pianist?

"That must be it."

Upon hearing Tom's belated remark, Ravel shrugged.

"His decision not to play the piano is likely to leave some room for the piano world to survive; you can see the past in him."

"The awe that those great pianists of modern times brought to their contemporaries is exactly the same as the awe they bring to our generation."

Tom pursed his lips and couldn't help glancing at Ravel.

Ravel these days, all he says is "Strong! Li Can! Strong!"

I originally thought that bringing in this master would give us a fighting chance, but after he tried a few notes, Ravel turned into a blowpipe.

She sensed Tom's somewhat strange gaze.

Ravel, who had just regained his composure, was stressed again.

"Tom, what kind of look is that?!"

"Ah, I should get back to work."

Li Can was unaware that an old man was secretly watching during the audition.

After returning to my accommodation, I made a final mental adjustment. I didn't go out and play around beforehand, nor did I try to figure out any connections or relationships.

The essence of an artist is purity; the first thing to do is to be single-minded before a performance.

The music isn't difficult; you can do it even without hands.

However, the depiction of color and emotion requires repeated refinement.

Time passed little by little.

Soon the day of the exchange banquet arrived.

Li Can, who arrived early, simply smiled and nodded to the attendees around him, exchanged a few words, and did not engage in any additional social interaction.

After several big bosses stepped out of the cars on the red carpet, everyone stopped talking.

Surrounded by an honor guard, he shook hands with the big boss of the White House.

The group entered the banquet hall.

Li Can was very low-key; he simply smiled in the crowd.

But his 1.9-meter height, combined with his male model physique and appearance, still makes him quite eye-catching.

The banquet had many procedures, but they proceeded in an orderly manner.

Most of the people were already seated.

The representative also went through the motions, receiving inspection from the two big bosses.

The process was uneventful, and there was no special treatment.

She only attracted more attention when passing by because of her outstanding appearance.

On her way to her seat, she spotted Xu Yang in the distance. They exchanged a glance, smiled and nodded at each other, and then took their seats without further conversation.

"Li Can?"

"Oh my god, I saw it with my own eyes, he's even more handsome than in the photos."

"So young."

Everyone was very polite and restrained, but you could still hear faint whispers of conversation.

Once the banquet began, the volume of conversation among the participants increased.

They chatted in twos and threes.

Li Can's table was full of artists; besides musicians, there were also several designers.

It's quite different from a typical dinner table.

There was no introduction between the group; they just started chatting right away.

Even the content of their conversation was rather casual, sounding like they weren't really communicating.

"Hmm~ This lobster is very fresh."

"The lamb was cooked to perfection, tender and delicious."

"Come on, friends, let's have a drink to celebrate this meeting."

On this topic, in a typical upscale restaurant, one might be mocked by a nouveau riche for being unsophisticated.

But this situation is perfect; it allows you to quickly close the distance, start a conversation, and subtly express your satisfaction with the banquet.

as predicted.

next second.

A woman from the lighthouse smiled and looked at Li Can, who was the most eye-catching person at the table.

It was none other than Shila Amzah, the country singer from Lighthouse, who would be performing on the same stage later.

"Mr. Li, how is it? Does it suit your taste?"

"Very good, I've been wanting this mushroom extract for a long time."

Li Can smiled and gave a thumbs up, and with a soft laugh, the atmosphere became even more natural.

"Li, what's your favorite food in Xia Country? I was really impressed by the roast duck when I visited Xia Country last time."

"My favorite...maybe is cola chicken?"

"Can you use cola in cooking? It has a Mexican flavor?"

"Haha, it's a Shandong-style cooking method, it's very good, I suggest you try it."

As Li Can chatted with Shila, he gradually got the others talking too.

They were all shrewd people, and each of them found a polite opening to bring up the topic.

The conversation gradually shifted from food to other topics.

Tourism, culture, art, daily life, and so on.

However, most of the time, Li Can listened, and his main focus was on eating more roasted lamb.

Time passed slowly as they chatted about everything under the sun.

With fifteen minutes to go before the boss's speech, Li Can left the stage and went backstage to prepare.

Looking at the four lighthouse performers in the room, Li Can's gaze turned serious.

The fight against four opponents was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)