Chapter 395: Patchwork and Mismatched?

The Bian Dao Shi was very quiet; the pipa had not sounded again, and there was only the "rustle" of pencils landing on sheet music paper.

From time to time, the sound of one or two keyboard clicks would ring out.

Li Zhen and Fang Jin each had a laptop, looking up information according to the items Lin Sicheng had given them, and printing them out as soon as they were found.

Xiao Yuzhu guarded the printer, and every time she printed a copy, she delivered it into Lin Sicheng's hands. In no time at all, the copy paper in front of Lin Sicheng had piled up into a small hill. He was multitasking; his left hand flipped pages incessantly, his right hand's pen almost never stopped, at times writing a segment of musical notation, at times annotating a segment of the Records of the Grand Historian, and at times copying a segment of music.

The draft paper at his side was also growing more and more numerous, containing all sorts of information; it felt chaotic, disorganized, and completely without a thread of logic?

I don't know how much time passed, but Lin Sicheng closed the music stand and suddenly stood up: "Let's eat first!"

Several Assistants nodded; those who needed to close their computers did so, and those who needed to tidy up the materials did so.

The group of people seemed to wake from a dream: without realizing it, it was already twelve-thirty?

Looking at the piles of materials on the table, Liu Hao leaned in: "Little Lin, can you handle this? If not, should I transfer two clerks over from the office?"

Lin Sicheng shook his head: "Thank you, Editor-in-Chief Liu, it's enough for now!"

Liu Hao wanted to say something but hesitated: what she actually wanted to ask was not this.

At first glance, not to mention how busy Lin Sicheng had been all morning, he had also been extremely serious. But she felt that Lin Sicheng seemed to be busy for no reason, and there was simply no logic to it? If you say he is translating music scores, he has copied many segments of ancient music that have already been translated, and even changed the rhythm, as if he wants to adapt them.

If you say he is adapting, he keeps looking up musical notation and looking up information and literature related to ancient scores.

Actually, doing either is fine, but the key is to have a focus, just like before: if you say you are translating dance scores, then translate dance scores, straight to the point, hitting the nail on the head. Instead of being like now, aimless and without any method.

It couldn't be that now that he knows Jing Zeyang can be regularized, Lin Sicheng has started to slack off on his duties?

But after this period of contact, it feels like Lin Sicheng is not that kind of person?

It wasn't just Liu Hao who thought this, including Li Jingting, Wan Fengyun, and Ren Zhuo: they just felt that Lin Sicheng was hitting here and there, without a purpose, and even less able to distinguish the priorities.

It wasn't easy to ask directly, so Liu Hao hesitated for a long while. Lin Sicheng's mind was full of ancient music and he didn't notice her abnormality, only thinking that Liu Hao was waiting for him to eat together.

"Editor-in-Chief Liu, you and the professors go up first, I'll wait for them to finish organizing!"

That's true, let's see again in the afternoon...

Liu Hao nodded, invited Li Jingting and Wan Fengyun, and said that a working lunch had been prepared in the dining hall.

Several people left the Bian Dao Shi and followed Liu Hao toward the elevator lobby. They had all walked past when, feeling something was not quite right, Wan Fengyun stopped again. It was the neighboring Bian Dao Shi; two girls were rehearsing, their figures Floating, their dance movements graceful.

But the point was not that, but rather that this set of dance movements felt somewhat familiar.

Taking a closer look, Wan Fengyun narrowed his eyes: "Professor Li, isn't this the set of dance movements we just saw on the manuscript?" No need to look at the manuscript, just look at the people: aren't the ones practicing dance inside the same two actresses who spent all day yesterday doing storyboards for Lin Sicheng? Including what they were wearing, it was still that same set of green water sleeves from yesterday.

"Yes!" Li Jingting nodded, "Little Lin arranged it yesterday, saying he wanted them to start practicing the choreography first!"

Wan Fengyun was stunned: Yes to what?

No... Old Li, you are not a layman?

I have never heard of letting dance actors start practicing choreography before the music has even been composed?

Ren Zhuo also discovered something was wrong: not to mention anything else, where did the beat come from?

Seeing at a glance what they were surprised about, Li Jingting explained: "Professor Wan, there are breakdown diagrams on the manuscript, the actors' manuscript is more detailed, Little Lin should have made annotations for dance appearance and body rhythm..."

Wan Fengyun choked, his face looking strange: what is dance appearance?

This is an ancient term, to put it broadly, it is the dance posture diagram, which is those drawings Lin Sicheng made.

In modern terms, it is body rhythm, and to explain it more clearly: it is form, spirit, and intent. Lin Sicheng did indeed make annotations for this part. Form is posture: for example, when doing a Side Hip Top Angle, how many degrees is the Hip Abduction, which segment is the Lumbar Spine Lateral Flexion, specifically how much it deviates, which way the body's center of gravity shifts, and how many centimeters it shifts. Or for example, when doing Cheek Support, how many degrees is the Elbow Flexion, how much is the Wrist Dorsiflexion, and how much the radius deviates.

Spirit is expression: what expression to have when topping the hip, what expression to have when doing Cheek Support, and how the gaze should coordinate.

Intent is the transmission of emotion, which is the emotion felt by the audience. Just like the first picture Lin Sicheng drew: creating a sense of longing that is shy yet timid, wanting to refuse but still welcoming...

Including when transitioning between dance postures, how much the heel pushes off the ground, how many degrees the knee is slightly bent, how much the pelvis is pushed to the right, how much the waist is laterally flexed to the left, and even the contraction of the intercostal muscles, the sinking of the scapula, the arc of the elbow, and the angle of the finger touching the cheekbone, all were clearly marked on it.

But Wan Fengyun had always thought before that this was Lin Sicheng being overly critical, or even worse, his own little schemes at work, wanting to show off to Li Jingting.

Because he had been choreographing dance for half his life, and had never seen it choreographed like this.

He never even thought that these data, which were detailed to the point of being baffling, were actually for the actors to use for practice before the music was composed? Can they practice?

Of course they can practice.

But this is putting the cart before the horse, seeking far and wide for what is close at hand.

Ren Zhuo was no better than him, stunned for a long while: "Then how are the beat and duration controlled?"

Li Jingting replied without hesitation: "Rest assured, there must be detailed data on the actors' manuscript!"

What are beats and duration?

Yesterday morning, for the first movement of the storyboard, Lin Sicheng even calculated the breathing frequency and breath-holding duration of each of the dance actors' movements down to 0.5 seconds. It was also because of this that he argued with Lin Sicheng.

This was not on the manuscript, at least not on the manuscript given to Director Yan. But Li Jingting believed that on the manuscript given to the actors, Lin Sicheng would definitely have marked it clearly, otherwise the actors would have no way to practice the choreography.

"No... where did he get such detailed data?"

Li Jingting said as a matter of course: "Translated from the original score!"

Upon hearing these five words, Wan Fengyun didn't know how to ask anymore.

As for that score, if it were given to him, he could recognize at most one-third of it.

If you say it was translated incorrectly, Lin Sicheng gave a table of musical notation comparisons that looked correct no matter how you looked at it?

But this was still not right.

Because it completely violated common sense, and invisibly, it increased the difficulty several times over.

Just as he was suspicious, Ren Zhuo said "Eh": "Does that mean he has already determined the rhythm of the dance music in advance?"

"Isn't that obvious?"

If you don't even know the beat, how can you let the actors practice the choreography?

Just after replying, Wan Fengyun was suddenly startled: if he sets the beat before composing the music, then what is he doing with all this work this morning? Subconsciously, Wan Fengyun and Ren Zhuo looked at each other, and a flash of inspiration seemed to cross their minds: no wonder Lin Sicheng kept modifying the rhythm and duration of those famous songs; he was preparing to fit them in.

To put it bluntly: he was preparing to piece together a piece of dance music for this set of dance movements.

Let alone whether these are famous scores, whether they are worthy, or whether they will ruin good things. The problem is, even if you want to piece it together, you have to be able to piece it together? No matter how slow Liu Hao's reaction was, she understood by now, her eyes subconsciously bulging, her mouth wide open: "Is this... going to work?" Wan Fengyun and Ren Zhuo did not hesitate, shaking their heads in unison: don't even think about it.

This is not a pop song, where you copy a segment here, copy a segment there, or even swap the notes around, and it becomes a new song.

This is dance, and it is an ancient dance that integrates form, spirit, intent, and rhythm.

That is to say, the dance posture, expression, emotion, and melody must all conform to the same theme. Come, how will you piece it together, how will you copy it?

And where do you intend to copy it from?

Just as this thought was turning in his mind, Ren Zhuo was stunned again: It seems... that is still not right?

Like a Zoumaling, Lin Sicheng's manuscript flashed through his mind: twenty-four sets of dance postures, each with at least two or three hundred words of annotations. In addition to what Li Jingting just mentioned regarding the specific angles of each body part in every breakdown movement, it also included the performer's expressions:

This posture, "Cheek Support" with a fixed gaze, must express a charming and alluring demeanor, and even more so, create a sense of longing that is shy yet timid, resisting yet welcoming...

This posture is "Side Tilt and Whirl," with eyes lowered and gaze cast down... it must express the contradiction of wanting to leave yet hesitating, and even more so, the melancholy of seeing things remain the same while people have changed, as well as the sorrow of missing an old friend who cannot be reached...

Is this not the concept and the theme?

Not only are they there, but every set of movements has them, truly achieving what is required in ancient dance aesthetics: form, spirit, and intent.

According to this, it seems that now, only "rhythm" is missing?

He could figure it out, and Wan Fengyun could also figure it out; the two looked at each other, both shocked and suspicious.

After a long while, Wan Fengyun muttered as if to himself: "Isn't this just... shooting the arrow first, then drawing the target?"

"Right, hypothesize first, then verify... those dance posture diagrams, that manuscript of Lin Sicheng's, that is how it was translated..."

Li Jingting replied, and seeing the shocked expressions on Wan Fengyun and Ren Zhuo's faces, he was particularly uncomprehending, "No... Old Wan, didn't I say this on the phone last night? Director Ren, didn't Editor-in-Chief Liu tell you?"

To be able to invite the two of them to help, they must have been told the reason; how could they not have been told?

Unfortunately, the two of them hadn't listened carefully at all.

But it wasn't their fault: anyone who researches ancient music or ancient dance would be absolutely more shocked than them to hear that someone had translated... oh no, someone had restored the Six Yao Score, and even created a "Score Character Comparison Table."

They might even be worse off than them; at least they didn't suffer from insomnia last night...

Only now did Wan Fengyun understand: when seeing Lin Sicheng let the actors choreograph and practice first, then compose the music later, why wasn't Li Jingting very surprised? Because he had already witnessed it yesterday...

After being stunned for a long while, Wan Fengyun bared his teeth as if he had a toothache: "No... is this going to work?"

If it were before, Li Jingting would have shaken his head without hesitation, but after a whole day yesterday, witnessing Lin Sicheng's various miracles, he felt that Lin Sicheng piecing together a tune that could accompany the "Six Yao" didn't seem too strange?

But whether it is strange or not is one thing, and whether it can be done is another...

Li Jingting thought for a moment: "Hard to say!"

Ha, even Old Li doesn't have much confidence?

Does that mean Director Yan isn't very optimistic either?

Wan Fengyun let out a sharp sigh of relief: I knew it...

Just as he was pondering this, a "creak" sound came from behind, the movement of a door being pushed open.

Lin Sicheng came out of the Bian Dao Shi and subconsciously paused.

At first, he thought these people were deliberately waiting for him.

But when he walked closer and saw the surprised and strange expressions on their faces, Lin Sicheng looked thoughtful and glanced at the neighboring Bian Dao Shi. The two actors had sweat on their foreheads, their hair slightly disheveled, and were correcting their dance postures in front of the mirror wall.

It was understandable that they couldn't figure it out: without even a piece of music, how could he let the actors choreograph and practice, and even clearly annotate the beats and duration? In the present day, it is indeed a bit hard to explain. In a few years, when the Dunhuang Academy translates the twelve sutra transformation paintings from the Mogao Caves and restores one of the famous Tang Dynasty Yan Yue Da Qu, "Yizhou," and when the Shanghai Conservatory of Music restores the complete "Qingbei Yue" from the "Dunhuang Ancient Scores," it will completely overturn the existing translation and restoration processes.

Which is the method he is using now: shoot the arrow first, then draw the target...

It is hard to explain, and there is no need to explain, so Lin Sicheng gave a brief greeting.

Disbelief aside, surprise aside, but with so many people around, it wasn't the right place to ask, so Wan Fengyun and Ren Zhuo said nothing.

Only Liu Hao looked hesitant, wanting to speak but stopping: it couldn't be that Lin Sicheng really wanted to just get by and do a perfunctory job, right?

But General Manager Lan had said: those twenty-four dance posture diagrams alone were worth more than ten Jing Zeyangs.

Even if Lin Sicheng left right now, he wouldn't owe them anything...

Roughly guessing what she was worried about, Lin Sicheng smiled: "As it happens, I need to trouble Editor-in-Chief Liu!"

Liu Hao came back to his senses: "Little Lin, you don't need to be so polite!"

"Good!" Lin Sicheng nodded, "I want to try to transcribe the score. If possible, could I ask a few folk music teachers to help this afternoon..." As he spoke, Lin Sicheng counted on his fingers: "I will probably need three pipa players: two for Quxiang Pipa Pipa, one for Wuxian Pipa Pipa... three zheng players: one for Ershiyi Xian Zheng, one for Shisan Xian Zheng, one for Zhazheng..."

"And one each for the chiba, flute, sheng, waist drum, loude, fangxiang (a metal percussion instrument, similar to small chime bells), and clappers (similar to woodblocks, a set of six pieces)..."

The group was stunned again.

The so-called "transcribing the score" refers specifically to the process of creative translation and restoration of ancient music scores such as Jianzi Notation, half-character notation, and Yan character notation, which are ancient, obscure, brief, and extremely crude.

The reason why "creative" is added before translation and restoration is because the special notation methods of ancient scores leave too much room for the rhythm and pitch of the music to be stretched, requiring the translator to restore and ponder them. The energy required is no less than creating a new work from scratch.

The key is that there is no standard version.

It can be said that if ten people translate the same ancient qin score, there will definitely be ten different versions. Just like the "Dunhuang Ancient Scores" that Lin Sicheng used as a reference, the differences between the three versions translated by scholars Lin Qian San, Ye Dong, and Chen Yingshi are as vast as a chasm.

But no matter how big the differences are, if you want to transcribe a score, don't you have to have a score first? Even if it's just pieced together randomly, don't you have to piece one together first? Thinking back to that table full of miscellaneous materials, the experts wanted to scratch their heads: it was so messy, without even a clue, how could this be pieced together?