The two students who entered were a boy and a girl. Both were sixth-year students at Qi'an Academy of Music. The boy was called Thomas. He had asked Fang Zhao for help after class. The girl was called Cheng Lan. She had thick, short hair and bangs. She had a lively personality.
According to the two of them, Cheng Lan's birthday was next Tuesday, but she had a whole day of classes and various tasks on Tuesday, so she didn't have time to celebrate it. So, she moved her birthday to today. Coincidentally, their friends also had free time, so they came over after school to celebrate her birthday.
The private room they had booked was not far. The others had not arrived yet. Thomas and Cheng Lan had just arrived and were about to head to their reserved room. They had seen Fang Zhao as they passed by and had come over to greet him.
Seeing Fang Zhao taking notes so seriously, the two people who were about to graduate felt a little guilty. Compared to Fang Zhao, they were simply wasting their time!
"Sigh, so much pressure!" Thomas sighed. "It's rare to find time to come out and play."
The better the university, the stricter the graduation requirements. Qi'an Academy of Music was the best music academy in Yanzhou, so its graduation requirements were naturally even stricter.
Those who usually had excellent grades and a solid foundation did not have to worry about the various examinations for graduation. Instead, they had already started to look for internships with companies. However, people like Thomas, who usually did not put in much effort, had to spend more time and energy to save themselves. At the very least, they had to make their grades look better in this crucial year. After all, they had to show their transcripts when looking for a job.
Thomas's gaze paused on the electric guitar hanging on the wall in the background. He asked Fang Zhao, "Senior, how much do you know about ancient instruments? Aren't you good at composing symphonic pieces? Although the instruments used by the orchestra are not ancient instruments, they are all developed from them. I heard that you have a good understanding of them. Have you come into contact with ancient instruments? "
"Ancient instruments?" Fang Zhao nodded. "I know a little."
The so-called "ancient instruments" were actually the collective term people used in the New Era for all musical instruments before the Period of Destruction. According to convention, they should be called "old-fashioned instruments" or "old-fashioned instruments," but people from the academic world did not want to see or hear the words "old" and "old". They felt that they lowered the artistic quality and were not a way to decorate their facade, so they used "ancient instruments."
"What do you want to know?" Fang Zhao asked.
Thomas chuckled and sat on the sofa nearby. He rubbed his hands together and pointed at the electric guitar hanging on the wall. "This one. According to reliable sources, in our final exam this semester, the electric guitar is the test for ancient musical instruments. However, in our six years of university life, we haven't had a single lesson on ancient electric guitar."
"Right, right, right!" "Senior, actually, the reason we chose this place was to get a closer look at electric guitars. As you know, vintage instruments, even if they are replicas, are more expensive, especially electric guitars. They cost at least 10,000, and vintage electric guitars made of superior materials and replicas are even more expensive. They are not something poor students like us can afford. The electric guitars here at Space are all made of ancient electric guitars, not the evolved versions from the beginning of the New Era. They are pure ancient instruments, and the production is of medium to high quality. So, we thought of coming here to … do some research. "
Fang Zhao could understand what Thomas and Cheng Lan were thinking. The 100 years of the Period of Destruction had almost become a fault line. Even though many videos and electronic information could be preserved through various means, and after the establishment of the New Era, archaeological teams had continuously made new discoveries, the amount that could be preserved was extremely limited. During that special period, musical instruments were relatively unimportant. That was why there were fewer videos on musical instruments in the New Era, and Old Era musical instruments were also being sold at high prices by antique dealers. In times of peace, these things were much more practical.
The quality of Old Era videos was definitely not as good as that of the New Era. There weren't many videos, and they weren't complete enough. Musicians who had survived the Period of Destruction were even rarer. Even if they had survived, after a hundred years of struggle, they might not have been able to remember all the knowledge and techniques they had learned. Not everyone could be like Fang Zhao and simulate every musical instrument performance scene in their heads.
Fang Zhao didn't dare say much about other things, but when it came to ancient musical instruments, these two had asked the right person.
"What do you want to know about electric guitars?" Fang Zhao asked.
"Not much, not much. I just want to know how to use them." Thomas was afraid that Fang Zhao would find them troublesome, so he hurriedly said, "There shouldn't be too many details on ancient musical instruments. In any case, there definitely won't be any practical use, so Senior Brother, you just have to explain the correct way to use it."
Although the instruments used by the New Era's symphony orchestras had the same timbre as ancient musical instruments, their appearance was very different. After hundreds of years of development and the advancement of technology, materials had changed, and so had the appearance of musical instruments. The ultimate goal was to make it easier to operate and more convenient to carry around. Otherwise, these musical instruments would be phased out of the historical stage under the onslaught of electronic instruments and truly become "antiques."
Nowadays, many music academy students only needed a musical keyboard to compose. After downloading some source material, they could practically simulate the sounds of almost any musical instrument they needed. It was affordable and practical, and they didn't need to learn the techniques of various musical instruments. Just learning keyboard techniques was enough.
In comparison, the Old Era's electric guitar was super difficult to learn! Luckily, their ultimate goal was just to understand some basic operating and theoretical knowledge. That was enough for them to pass the exam. If they really had to learn the techniques of the ancient electric guitar, they wouldn't be willing.
Cheng Lan chimed in from the side. "It's true. We bought a few instructional videos and watched the people in them. It's too difficult. Many of the points are hard to remember. Senior Brother, can you explain them to us?"
"I remember that there are many instructional videos online," Fang Zhao replied.
From his memory, he knew that the original owner of this body had dealt with his exams by downloading free videos and materials from the school library. He had relied on his slightly better memory than others, rote memorization, and a bit of luck to score high.
"Actually, those might not be reliable. We can only watch more, compare, and come up with our own conclusions," Thomas said with a bitter expression. This was the source of their pressure. The workload was huge!
The explanations of the freely downloaded videos were cryptic and hard to understand. The people explaining them probably didn't understand them well, and the truly authoritative instructional videos also cost a lot of money. Other than that, even if they spent so much money, they might not be able to obtain the information they wanted to know. The things in the videos might not be correct. A few years ago, someone had verified that a very popular musician and ancient instrument researcher had made two serious mistakes in an instructional video.
Although the musician had returned the money to the purchasers, many students had already written down the wrong points during the exam. Points that should have been deducted had already been deducted, so there was no way they could regret it. Therefore, in general, it was easy to lose points on exams that involved ancient instruments.
In the past few hundred years, it wasn't that no one had figured out the ancient electric guitar, but those people wouldn't share the knowledge that they had painstakingly researched. The only people who could understand the knowledge from their mouths were their direct disciples and their successors. Other students wouldn't be able to understand it. This was the norm in the industry. It was also why Xue Jing had been so surprised and gratified when he had found out that Fang Zhao was willing to publicize his own insights and various technical knowledge when he was writing "New Voices in Symphonic Composition."
Fang Zhao nodded. He understood how the two were feeling, but he said, "If it's just a verbal explanation, you might not be able to remember it. How about this, take down the electric guitar from the wall. I'll give you a demonstration."
"Demo...?" Thomas stared blankly for a moment before excitedly getting up to retrieve it.
When he took the electric guitar from the wall, Thomas was very careful, afraid that it would knock or bump. Even if it was placed here as a decoration, any damage would be recorded and he would have to pay for it when he left the venue.
The price of the ancient electric guitar in his hands was estimated to be in the six figures. The owner of the shop was rich and liked this kind of instrument. Even if it was for decoration, it wouldn't be inferior.
When he handed the electric guitar to Fang Zhao, Thomas's hands were trembling. After confirming that Fang Zhao had caught it, he slowly let go.
"Senior, be careful. This thing is very expensive." After saying this, Thomas remembered that Fang Zhao didn't lack money! Even if it wasn't publicized, they could roughly guess how much Fang Zhao had earned from copyrighted music.
Since Fang Zhao didn't lack money, Thomas and Cheng Lan were more confident. They weren't as hesitant as before and even reached out to touch the electric guitar out of curiosity. In the past, they hadn't dared to touch the electric guitar on the wall, afraid that they would damage it. With the little money they had, they could play around occasionally. If they really had to compensate, they would have to bleed a lot.
"Today, Senior Brother, we will pay for your expenses here today!" Cheng Lan was also very happy today. Regardless of whether Fang Zhao could teach them what they wanted to know, since Fang Zhao was willing to help them, they had to treat him.
"There's no need to pay for me." Fang Zhao took the guitar and looked at Thomas. "Take out everything else."
"Everything else? What else is there? Isn't it just a guitar? "Thomas was puzzled.
Cheng Lan elbowed him. "Idiot, did you watch the tutorial videos for nothing? There's also the speakers, wires, effects, and so on! "
"Oh! Yes, yes! There are other things. I misremembered them as ancient classical guitars. Sigh, this brain of mine! Senior, wait a moment. Let's take a look. "
Thomas and Cheng Lan found a few cabinets on the wall that looked like decorations. With a push, the cabinets automatically opened.
Thomas looked at Cheng Lan. "This big one is the speakers … right?"
"I remember." Cheng Lan looked at Fang Zhao. Seeing Fang Zhao nod his head, she smiled happily. She hadn't remembered wrongly.
"I know the wires, but what about this? What are these? " Thomas looked at the blocky objects and froze. "These don't have manuals on them."
Cheng Lan couldn't be sure this time. She really didn't know that the materials she had memorized in the past mentioned this. The videos she had watched two days ago didn't mention it either!
"Those are effects devices," Fang Zhao said.
"Effects devices? These … are all? These are different from the videos we watched. In the videos we watched, there was only one effect device. It didn't look like this. They said it was called a combined effects device. "
"Mmhm, there's that. It's suitable for beginners. Inside is a single effector, "Fang Zhao explained.
"Oh, got it." Thomas took the things over and prepared to install them.
"Wait!" Cheng Lan stopped Thomas and asked Fang Zhao, "Senior, can I record this process? I can't remember it after one listen. "
"Sure." Fang Zhao didn't mind.
"Many thanks, Senior!" Cheng Lan gave Thomas a look. "Be serious. I'm going to start recording now."
"Remember to take a picture of my face." Thomas took the wires, paused, and turned to Fang Zhao. "Senior, how do we connect this? Don't get up. Just sit there. You give the orders, and I'll do it. "
Fang Zhao didn't refuse. Thomas could memorize it himself, so he sat on the sofa and said, "Place the effects device between the speakers and the guitar wires. The guitar wires connect to the effects device's input, and the effects device's output connect to the speakers' input..."
Thomas followed Fang Zhao's instructions and connected them step by step. In the past, he had felt that ancient instruments were too troublesome. The equipment was too complicated, and it was difficult to operate. But now, he felt a sense of accomplishment when he actually did it. Actually, it wasn't that difficult! Look, it's all done. How simple!
It was such a simple thing, yet there were people online who made it complicated. Who knew what they were up to!
Cheng Lan recorded the entire scene, including Fang Zhao's explanation of each effect device, such as "distortion," "compression," "noise," "delay," and "reverberation"...
When connecting the effects devices, Thomas picked one up and read the words printed on it. "Wah-Wah? What is this? "
"Wah pedal," Fang Zhao replied.
"Wah? Don't tell me it's that 'wah wah wah wah' sound? "Thomas's face was full of surprise." That's the tone of an electric guitar!? I actually didn't know! "
They usually used the "wah" sound directly from the music keyboard. They simply didn't know that it was the tone of an ancient electric guitar! If this was a multiple-choice question, he could only guess.
After connecting the effects devices, Fang Zhao demonstrated and explained. Thomas obediently stood to the side and listened attentively. When it was time to change the effects device, he would do it.
In between, Fang Zhao would let Thomas and Cheng Lan express their views and raise questions.
"Senior, the part you just explained is different from the reference video we saw last time," Cheng Lan said.
"Listen to me."
"... Yes," Cheng Lan replied.
Thomas was more willing to believe Fang Zhao. "I already said that the reference video we bought last time was definitely wrong. If we really recorded it according to that, we might lose points when the time comes! Not only is it bad, how did that teacher who misled students obtain a professional teaching certificate? There must be some insider information! "
"Don't bother about insider information. Hurry up and do as Senior says. I'm still recording." Cheng Lan interrupted Thomas's complaints. She was still waiting for Fang Zhao's explanation and demonstration. Previously, she had only wanted to give it a try, thinking that as long as she could get a little knowledge from Fang Zhao, it would be fine. Who knew that Fang Zhao would give them such a big surprise! It was a comprehensive explanation! It included all the basic knowledge about the electric guitar. In any case, it was definitely enough for students like them to deal with exams!
This was a human-shaped reference book!
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