In the golden concert hall, under the spotlight, the "female general" held her weapon and "went to war". Accompanied by the tune of "Golden Arms and Iron Horse, Iron Bones", her body swayed with the rhythm, and the relaxation of the muscles in her right arm was clearly visible.
Zhang Hongyan performs in the concert hall. Photo provided by the interviewee
As an international first-line pipa player, Zhang Hongyan is eager to drink water after every performance. After playing the song, a kind of inner thirst turned into a puff of smoke and came out of her throat. She had to drink water to quench it. “I completed an inner singing session,” she said.
Music is the other side and the bridge. In addition to being a pipa player, Zhang Hongyan is also a music educator and social music communicator. Her charity lectures and pipa summer camps have been in operation for more than ten years. There are no thresholds and no fees. All pipa enthusiasts can participate. Students of different backgrounds, men, women, old and young, formed a circle. Zhang Hongyan sat in the center, holding the pipa, and led everyone to play one note after another. The students had different foundations and struggled to play, but Zhang Hongyan felt that the beauty of spreading music was as intoxicating to her as the music itself.
A letter from eleven years ago
In 2012, Zhang Hongyan’s charity music class was just over at the Zhongshan Park Concert Hall. A girl rushed to the podium, thrust a letter into Zhang Hongyan’s hand, and murmured, “Teacher Zhang, this is what I wrote. A letter to you" and ran away without even looking up. Holding the light envelope, Zhang Hongyan did not expect what kind of emotional weight was carried between the lines.
The girl who wrote the letter is named Chen Jiayi. She is 14 years old. She is a patient with a rare blood disease and a "believer" in Pipa. In the letter, the girl told the goddess Pipa in her heart, how she relied on the faith given by Pipa to survive when she was critically ill several times. "I want to be your student and learn pipa from you." At the end of the letter, the girl requested sincerely and humbly.
Chen Jiayi remembered that the night she handed over her apprenticeship letter, she had a nightmare, "In the dream, Teacher Zhang didn't accept me, and I woke up with a fright."
Dreams are reversed. The next morning, the girl received a call from Zhang Hongyan: "You come to be my student for free."
"Pipa is the only support for Chen Jiayi's life and her belief in life." Eleven years later, recalling that letter After reading the letter, Zhang Hongyan was still excited, "What I have learned from Jiayi over the years is far more than what I have taught her."
For more than ten years, Chen Jiayi has come to Zhang Hongyan's home for small classes and followed her once or twice a month. The teacher goes to a charity music class, and during the winter and summer vacations, she joins the Pipa summer (winter) camp run by the teacher.
"Do you think my voice is very rough? It's caused by taking medicine." Chen Jiayi pulled down her mask and said, "After taking medicine, a beard grew." The rare disease took away Chen Jiayi's original voice and appearance, as well as her original voice and appearance. She realized her dream of studying music professionally. After becoming Zhang Hongyan’s student, Chen Jiayi told her teacher that she wanted to be admitted to the Central Conservatory of Music.
Zhang Hongyan entered the Primary School Affiliated to the Central Conservatory of Music at the age of 10 and studied all the way to graduate school. Now she is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the most prestigious music school in the country. Although it was difficult for her to speak, she still told this girl with a dream of music in her eyes that she could not go down this road, and the hard indicator of health stopped her outside the gate of the Central Conservatory of Music. During the college entrance examination, Chen Jiayi chose a major that had nothing to do with music.
Zhang Hongyan introduced Chen Jiayi to the audience. Photo provided by interviewee
The student’s regret was seen by her, and Zhang Hongyan found a way to fulfill Chen Jiayi’s “Yangyuan Dream” in a small way. On July 13 last year, at a special concert for teachers and students of the Folk Music Department of the Central Conservatory of Music, Chen Jiayi was introduced as a guest by Zhang Hongyan and played the difficult "Jiangnan March". The sound was melodious and graceful, and the performance was very successful. "I didn't enter Chengyang Academy, but I performed with the students of Central Academy in another form." Chen Jiayi said.
In Zhang Hongyan’s charity class and Pipa summer camp, Chen Jiayi is not the most special one. Among the students are autistic teenagers, blind children, naughty elementary school students, and adults in their 50s and 60s. Everyone has one thing in common. ——Love pipa and music.
Zhao Jiaheng is the child of Zhang Hongyan's friend. He has been suffering from autism since he was a child and would cry when he gets sick. In order to calm him down, the child's mother tried many ways. Zhang Hongyan suggested that it be better to let him come to the summer camp to try playing the pipa.
Music is a healing medicine. It was the first time that Zhao Jiaheng, a sixth grader in primary school, participated in the pipa class. At first he could only follow everyone's beats, but after participating in the class, the boy held the pipa and followed the teacher and Zhang Hongyan, imitating one note after another, starting from the most basic of playing. From the simple children's song "Painter" to the ability to perform the solo level 4 piece "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon" at the opening ceremony of the camp, this autistic boy gained tranquility and joy from the dancing fingertips and beating notes.
"I will do whatever it takes"
Going in and out of the Central Conservatory of Music where famous teachers gather, Zhang Hongyan can always see students and parents waiting for their apprenticeships at the school gate. “There are people asking for help, and it’s difficult to meet the teacher.” But every month, no matter how busy she is with performances and school work, Zhang Hongyan will wait for everyone in the charity music class. There is no winter or summer. “It doesn’t matter if it rains. It doesn’t matter if it’s snowing, I’ll do it no matter what.”
’s charity class was launched in 2011 and has been going on for 12 years. This is not an easy task for a front-line performer who often performs, not to mention that Zhang Hongyan is also the director of the folk music department of the Central Conservatory of Music. She is usually busy with administrative work and has to take care of students.
"This is a matter of sorting. I have many things to do, so I sort them by priority and do them all, with charity at the top." In addition to teaching in person, she also takes students to charity classes. In monthly charity classes, she Many graduate students and doctoral students work as primary school teachers. Every winter and summer vacation, Zhang Hongyan’s former students spontaneously come to Beijing from all over the world to participate in summer (winter) camp teaching.
Zhang Hongyan guides students in Pipa summer (winter) camp. Photo provided by the interviewee
The top performers give lessons to "music idiots". Some people say that this is "overqualified and a waste of time." However, Zhang Hongyan never selects students. She can teach only one in ten thousand talents from the music school. See She can also teach audiences who come here for publicity and don't even know music. "Don't think that their foundation is not good. Not everyone has the financial resources and opportunities to meet high-level music teachers like you. Therefore, it is even more important to seize the opportunity and pass on your understanding and emotion of music to everyone without reservation. "Zhang Hongyan said to the students.
"The pipa seems to have grown out of Zhang Hongyan's body." This comment impressed her heart. Anyone who has watched Zhang Hongyan's performance will be moved by the surging emotions in her pipa sounds and performance form. Every time after playing, she always felt thirsty in her heart, and she had to take a sip of water immediately to relieve it.
"The main tool for singers to perform is their voice, which is part of their body," the music professor told the students in class, "We instrumentalists must turn the instrument into an organ of our body, so that we can be the best when playing. 'Sing' naturally and most directly."
The instrument is honest, use it or lose it. At the end of the year and the beginning of the new year, Zhang Hongyan’s latest performance was the annual New Year Concert. She learned pipa from her father when she was 7 years old, and practiced it for two hours every day. Now, as a first-line performer, she cannot spare a fixed amount of time to practice.
"I'm so ashamed." While driving, she practiced "wheel fingering" with her right hand on the steering wheel. Each finger took turns to exert force in joint units. What she was practicing was the flexibility and control of the finger joints. The knuckles were in the air. It bounces and makes a "ta-da-da" sound. "The steering wheel is also where I practice the piano."
Sometimes it's late at night after finishing everything. The pipa player was finally able to take some time to spend time with the lute. She took out the lute from the cabinet dedicated to collecting pipa, wiped it carefully, and held it in her arms. She has also played other folk music, but her favorite is the pipa. This instrument is "hard and soft, capable of both literary and martial arts, with strong tension, large musical space, big strings noisy, and small strings slicing." The most special thing is, Pipa is the only folk music that can be played in the arms. When playing, the person and the piano become one, and their emotions are fully integrated.
The night sky outside the window was dark, with a quarter moon in the sky.In order not to disturb the neighbors' rest, Zhang Hongyan covered the piano's panel with a piece of cloth, plucked the strings three or two times on the rotating shaft, slowly twisted them lightly, and then picked them again. At this time, the performer finally returned to his position and returned to his own world.
Beijing News reporter Liu Siwei
editor Yang Hai proofreader Liu Yue
