44 young musicians stepped onto the professional stage to perform Mozart, with the support of their mentor team, forming a 10 day audience | Applause | Stage

On the evening of July 16th, at the Shanghai Symphony Concert Hall, as Mozart's melody played the last note, enthusiastic applause erupted from the audience. Led by conductor Zhang Jiemin, this student band with an average age of less than 13 stood up to pay tribute to the audience.

This is the live concert of the Student Festival Band at the 2023 Shanghai Summer Music Festival. Among the audience present, there are professional musicians, parents, teachers, and friends of the children, and more importantly, the audience who come to admire them.

This band, which has only been in formation for less than 10 days, presented a 40 minute performance to the audience. The repertoire includes Forrest's Sicilian Dance, Mozart's Serenade, and the 40th Symphony. The classic repertoire, familiar melodies, and high requirements for the basic skills of the musicians and the completion of the band are all essential.

It's no wonder the audience's response to this performance was so enthusiastic. Under the "training" of Zhang Jiemin and the musicians of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the student orchestra's performance that night had a tight relationship between the various parts, and the texture of the sound was even warmer with the help of the acoustic effects in the concert hall.

Commander Zhang Jiemin showed a relieved smile as she bid farewell to the audience. She sincerely and warmly shook hands with the heads of various voice departments, and proudly demonstrated her recognition of the performance to everyone with professional gestures.

Just a week ago, during the first rehearsal of the band's formation, Zhang Jiemin was actually scratching her head.

The selection process for student band members can be considered rigorous. Although they are all amateur musicians, from elementary school students to college students, the children who eventually join the band have a considerable degree of technical reserves and the ability to perform music.

Zhang Jiemin led the children to rehearse together in the rehearsal hall of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.

Solo is one thing, ensemble is not simply a combination of independent musicians. In the process of writing large-scale orchestral works, composers have a lot of designs on how different parts complement each other in terms of weight, speed, and tempo to improve their musical expression. For most young people who lack experience in band rehearsals, how to help others create the entire piece of music while doing well for themselves is a fresh and challenging task.

During the rehearsal of Mozart's Symphony No. 40 in G minor, Zhang Jiemin discovered many problems in the expression of the main melody in the wind and violin parts, as well as in the coordination of each part. She had to repeatedly interrupt the ensemble, picking out each voice separately, and repeatedly demonstrating, explaining, and confirming a specific phrase.

After a whole morning of rehearsal, Zhang Jiemin said, "It is very demanding for a group of children without band playing experience to rehearse these pieces in such a short time. I will arrange the time for separate rehearsals for orchestral and string music, which will also save the children a lot of time waiting at the rehearsal site."

Zhang Jiemin keeps his promise. In the following week, she devoted herself wholeheartedly to the rehearsal of the student band's group debut. And the children are also meticulously completing the homework assigned by the teachers for each voice part. For some difficult paragraphs, they will also make special recordings and send them to the teachers for guidance. When the time came to July 16th, when these young musicians truly stepped onto the stage, the band had already taken on a completely new look.

For children, this experience is undoubtedly an excellent opportunity to get in touch with professional music work and performance, and this is also the original intention of the Shanghai Summer Music Festival to establish a festival student band - to allow more talented and promising young people to experience and experience the work scenes where most professional musicians are located early on; At the same time, let them feel the joy of their performance as a trickle flowing into the wave of music.

At the beginning of the establishment of the orchestra, performers from the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra formed a "mentor group". From hands-on training and guidance in the splitter section to the band rehearsal on the afternoon of the performance day, these teachers can be seen accompanying and providing careful guidance.

The student band was rehearsing at the Shanghai Jiao Tong Concert Hall, with teachers from various vocal parts sitting behind Zhang Jiemin. They were professional musicians from Shanghai Jiao Tong.

After the performance that night, amidst continuous applause from the audience, Zhou Ping, the head of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, presented certificates to several outstanding young musicians who had rehearsed and performed exceptionally well. This ceremonial segment will become a shining starting point for young musicians on their future music journey.

Captain Zhou Ping awarded certificates to the young musicians.