每當人類社會遭逢巨大的苦難時，音樂總是一個鼓舞人心、團結不同社群的重要媒介。從1980年代援助非洲饑荒的《We Are the World》、2003年台灣的抗煞名曲《手牽手》，到 WSingers 在青青團慶為大家帶來的《To Live》，都是如此。
《To Live》由日本著名作曲家松下耕創作、谷川俊太郎填詞，希望能在新冠肺炎流行期間，為大家帶來鼓勵和希望。三月中灣區開始居家避疫以來，合唱愛好者無法一起歌唱、家人朋友間無法時常相聚，許多人的生活也經歷了天翻地覆的變化。我們或許曾經因此感到焦慮憤怒、害怕無助，但是這首歌提醒了我們，我們活著是一件多麽美好的事。許多生活中習以為常、以前不曾注意的事物：溫暖的陽光、輕拂的微風、振翅的鳥兒、午后的雷鳴，以及我們每天感受的喜怒哀樂，都是一段段悠揚動聽的旋律，值得我們駐足聆聽，也值得我們由衷感激。過去幾個月來，我的媽媽和爺爺在台灣和末期癌症搏鬥著，我無法陪伴他們，心底的痛苦和煎熬不是言語所能形容的。這首歌提醒了我生命中的許多美好，練唱時也帶給我內心難得的平靜。希望不論大家現在在生活中面對什麼樣的困難，這首歌同樣能帶給大家能量和希望。
我們不到三分鐘的影片，背後是大家無數的心血與苦功。三月中團練暫停後，WSingers 在張指揮的帶領下，嘗試了許多不同的方法讓大家在疫情期間仍然可以盡可能地享受合唱帶來的樂趣，並且持續精進歌唱技巧。我們每個週六晚上利用 Zoom 練習，一開始我們沒料到疫情會持續這麼久，所以只是把 Zoom 當成過渡時期的非常手段。當我們意識到會有很長一段時間無法一起面對面練習後，我們便開始思考在這種「新常態」之下，該如何持續不斷地進步，並達成我們成為半專業合唱團的目標。
張指揮為我們選了幾首歌曲並幫我們排了進度表，我們便開始嘗試著錄音練習。一開始錄音的效果是非常驚悚的：我們過去很少單獨錄音，合唱時容易聆聽其它聲部並隨時調整自己的歌聲，個人的小缺點也往往容易被隱藏，但是當單獨錄音、沒有伴奏或背景音樂時，所有的問題都無所遁形。同一首歌錄了一遍又一遍，總是沒有辦法達到自己的標準——音準正確了之後，發現節拍沒有完全跟上；修正節拍後，發現強弱沒有掌握好；專注強弱後，發現換氣換錯地方；換氣調整過來之後，發現又走音了……硬著頭皮上繳自己覺得最好的錄音後，還是感到無比心虛。對我們大部分的人來說，一開始這個過程是十分令人氣沮的。好在張指揮不斷鼓勵我們，大家也在週六練習時分享各自的心路歷程，每個人意識到原來感到挫敗的不是只有自己，頗有一種風雨同舟的革命情感。於是在錄音這條路上，我們繼續一起攜手前行，雖然不是一帆風順，但是從三四月交的第一次錄音到現在，我們每個人都有了長足的進步。
在製作《To Live》的錄音時，張指揮希望我們不要投入太多時間做後製，所以為了確保最終成品的品質，每個人都努力提升自己錄音的水平。從每個人單獨的錄音合成一首合唱的歌曲比想像中困難許多，因為我們錄音時只能聽伴奏，沒辦法看指揮的手勢表情，也沒辦法聆聽並配合團體裡的其他人，所以即使每個人自己跟著伴奏的錄音都還不錯，當我們把所有人的錄音合再一起時，和聲的效果總是不如預期。為了解決這個問題，我們週六晚上練習時，特別撥出一些時間讓大家討論歌曲的細節：哪裡要換氣、哪些樂句要漸強或漸弱、整首歌曲應該要表現出什麼樣的情感和張力……等等，讓我們的錄音在除了音準跟節拍整齊之外，樂曲整體的感覺也能更加和諧。以前我們練習時，大部分的時間都在唱歌，很少有機會這樣仔細討論，所以這對我們來說都是很特別的學習經驗，大家對歌曲也能有更深層的掌握。
《To Live》是一次成功的嘗試，我們在過程中也學習了很多。在張指揮為我們排的進度表上，我們還有七首歌要努力，希望透過《To Live》的經驗，大家對達成我們的目標感到更有信心、更有動力！青青合唱團和每一個小節目都有各自的願景，新冠肺炎對我們造成了前所未有的阻礙，但是在團慶中，我們看見了大家過去幾個月中各自發揮創意，用不同的方式朝著自己的目標前進。接下來的日子裡，希望大家一起「Forza！加油！Animo！」疫情結束團練恢復後，我們都要成為更好的歌手。
When our society suffers from great misery, music seems to always be a way to lift our spirits and unite different communities. From “We Are the World” (1985) for the African famine, “Hand in Hand” (2003) for the SARS outbreak in Taiwan, to “To Live” (2020) for the COVID-19 pandemic performed by WSingers for Ching Ching Chorus’ 39th anniversary, music has always brought us hope.
“To Live” was composed by the Japanese composer Ko Matsushita, and the lyrics were written by Shuntaro Tanikawa. They wanted to bring everyone encouragement and hope during the COVID-19 pandemic with their song. Since the shelter-in-place order took effect in the Bay Area in March, choirs could no longer rehearse together, family and friends could no longer meet up as frequently, and many people’s lives were turned upside down. We might have felt anxious, angry, scared, or helpless, but this song reminds us what a wonderful thing it is to live. Many things we used to take for granted, such as the dazzling sun, the gentle breeze, the afternoon thunders, the birds flapping their wings, and the joy, anger, and sadness that we feel every day, are each a lovely melody of its own. We should take a moment to stop and listen, and appreciate every single one of these moments. In the past few months, my mother and my grandpa have been fighting cancer in Taiwan. There is no word to describe my pain and anxiety, as I could not be there to support them. Thankfully, this song reminded me of all the good things in life, and rehearsing this song (virtually) with my group brought me inner peace. I hope no matter what challenge you are all facing in life, this song can also bring you positive energy and hope.
Although our video is only less than 3 minutes, we put a tremendous amount of time and effort into it. After in-person rehearsals were suspended in March, WSingers tried several different ways to continue singing and improving our skills under Conductor Karl’s leadership. After a short break in March, we started to rehearse on Zoom on Saturday nights. At first none of us knew COVID-19 was here to stay, so we only considered Zoom to be an interim solution during. However, when we realized that it would be a long time until we can rehearse in person again, we started to think how we can continue to make progress under this “new normal” so that we can achieve our goal of becoming a semi-professional choir.
Karl selected a few songs and set a timeline for us, and we started to record our own singing. The initial outcome was quite horrific. In the past, we rarely recorded on our own. When we recorded our singing as a group, everyone could listen to others and adjust our voices accordingly, and small individual flaws could be covered easily. However, when we recorded on our own without the group or accompany music, all issues started to emerge, and small flaws got amplified. Many of us would record the same song over and over again, only to find the end product not up to our standards. For example, when I finally got every pitch right, I realized I was not exactly on beat. When I got myself on beat, I neglected the dynamics. When I focused on the dynamics, I breathed at the wrong places. When I breathed correctly, I got off pitch again…… After I bit the bullet and turned in my best recording, I felt guilty because there were still so many problems. This process was very frustrating and discouraging for many of us. Thankfully, Karl never stopped encouraging us. We would also share our experience with recording during our Saturday night Zoom rehearsals, and we started to recognize that we were not alone – we bonded because everyone was going through similar defeats and self-doubt. Therefore, we continue to make progress together as a team. Although this is by no means a smooth process, we have all made significant progress since we turned in our first recording in April.
When we were recording “To Live,” Karl did not want us to spend too much time on post-production editing. Therefore, everyone worked really hard to improve our individual tracks. Putting together a choral piece from multiple individual tracks is much more difficult than expected. This is because when we recorded, we could not see our conductor’s gestures and facial expressions, and we could not hear others in the group and blend in accordingly. Therefore, although our individual recordings were getting better and better, when we put everything together, it did not sound as harmonious compared to how we sounded when we used to rehearse in person. To solve this problem, we set aside some time during our Saturday Zoom sessions to discuss how to interpret the song and how we should sing it in great detail – when we should breathe, when we should crescendo or decrescendo, what emotion we should be expressing …etc. This helped our recordings become more cohesive as a whole. We never had the opportunity to discuss each song to this level of detail when we used to rehearse in person because we spent most of our time singing. This has been a very unique learning experience for us – in addition to the music fundamentals, we now also have a deeper understanding of the meanings of our song.
“To Live” is a successful experiment, and we have all learned a lot along the way. There are still 7 more songs to go this year. I hope WSingers all feel more confident and motivated to achieve our goals after this first try. In Ching Ching Chorus, each small program has its own goals and vision. COVID-19 has posted unprecedented challenges for us, but during our virtual anniversary, I saw everyone marching towards their goals in their own creative ways. In the coming days, let’s “Forza! Jia You! Animo!” – we will all come out of COVID-19 together as better singers.
我們的影片沒有公開。以下是作曲者自己的版本——很美麗的影片！| Our video is not public. Below is a clip from the composer himself — a very beautiful video!