【朗读者海外精英】019期《疫情中的云合唱》
在枫叶之国的安大略湖畔，一句中文的乡音足以引发悠悠的思念；一首古诗词，也能引起一场精彩的讨论；而他们这场夕阳下的歌声，像朵朵成熟的向日葵朝着光明。长者们依次出场，他们相互衬托、相互支持的那种苍劲与典雅、脱俗与热烈，像令人无法不喜欢的月光与星影般引人入胜。
有十几年辉煌历史、隶属加拿大红枫晚霞多元文化协会的红枫合唱团，是由来自中国大陆的退休老人组成的，在国际合唱节上数次获奖。
他们是一群拥有睿智与才华的老年人组成的合唱团。他们与时俱进，在疫情施虐的日子里利用网络举行云会议、云课堂、云合唱。他们合唱的《母亲的微笑》、《牵手》、《欢乐颂》、《枫韵之歌》和《雪绒花》等多首歌曲，多次应邀参加大多伦多地区公益机构组织的云端演出活动，尤其那首《天使的身影》大获成功。
“我看不见你温柔的面孔，却看得见你勇敢的行动；我虽叫不出你的名和姓，却知道你神圣的使命……”。合唱团员们以发自内心的深情演绎，向全世界坚守在一线的白衣天使献上了老人们的由衷赞美。这场网络文艺演出在Youtube和Bilibili两大网络平台同时播出的声音，让中外观众纷纷留言点赞。愿天使般歌者们的天竺声音在世界歌坛上增添光芒。
Singing in the sunset
By Mandula
Tr. by Shadow Snake
Singing in the Sunset.mp300:0003:38
On the shores of Lake Ontario in the country famous for its maple leaves, a native Chinese accent is enough to trigger a longing for the motherland; An ancient Chinese poem can also trigger a wonderful discussion; When it comes to singing songs in the sunset, like mature sunflowers, facing the sunlight. One by one, the elders choir members came out in turn. They highlighted the scene and supported each other, they were vigorous and elegant, refined and warm, and they were as fascinating as the moonlight and stars that people couldn’t help liking.
The Redmaple Choir, which has a glorious history of more than ten years, is affiliated to the Redmaple Sunset Glow Cultural Association, which is composed of retired elderly people from Chinese mainland and the choir has won several awards at the International Chorus Festival.
The chorus team members are a group of elderly with wisdom and talent. They keep pace with the times and use the internet to hold web based meetings, cloud based classes and choirs in these days under the COVID epidemic. Their choirs sang many songs such as “Mother’s Smile”, “Hand in Hand”, “Ode to Joy”, “Song of Maple Rhyme” and “Edelweiss”, and were invited to participate in the cloud performances organized by charity organizations in the greater Toronto area numerous times. The performance of their song “Angel’s Shadow” was especially a great success.
“I can’t see your gentle face, but I can see your brave actions; Although I can’t call upon your name, I know your sacred mission”. The elderly chorus members sang praise to the doctors and nurses who they call “Angels in white”, who selflessly fought on the front line all over the world, with their heartfelt interpretation. Their outstanding performance was broadcasted on YouTube and Bilibili. Both Chinese and foreign audiences left many encouraging messages and praise. May the heavenly voices of these angelic singers brighten up the world music scene.
疫情中的云合唱
作者：孙瑞祥
作者：崔 欣
没有风雨躲得过
没有坎坷不必走
疫情中的云合唱
云会议、云课堂、云合唱……一个个闻所未闻的崭新名词摆在一群七八十岁的老年人面前，突如其来的疫情给红枫合唱团出了一道大难题。
红枫合唱团是在多伦多注册的加拿大红枫晚霞多元文化协会所属团体，成员多是中国大陆退休后随子女移民的老人。红枫合唱团的名气可是不小，自2008年成立以来，合唱团多次参加国际性和地区性重要演出活动。2019年参加第三届加拿大国际合唱节暨首届中国·加拿大国际合唱节并获得了铜奖。近年还连续三次登上世界一流的多伦多罗伊汤姆森音乐厅舞台，与中国国家广播电影交响乐团成功合作演出，赢得交口称赞。
出人意料的疫情打乱了合唱团平日里的活动规律，学会云合唱成为当务之急。首先要解决的难题就是沟通的障碍。77岁高龄的刘珠副会长是一位网络达人，她主动提出开办电脑学习班，普及Zoom软件知识。有了新的沟通平台，大家决定通过云端为坚守在抗疫一线的白衣天使奉献一首赞美之歌，为他们鼓劲加油。这是合唱团从来没有过的一次大胆尝试。老人们被奋战在抗疫一线的白衣天使的英勇行为所感动，决心克服一切困难完成首个云合唱。
红枫合唱团
云合唱创作的复杂程度远远超出一般人的想象。第一步就是每个人在家里分别录制好自己的干声和演唱视频，钢琴伴奏、合唱指挥动作也都要分别录制，然后运用电脑合成技术把所有人的音视频元素整合到一起，最终完成云合唱的制作和播出。所谓 “干声”，就是录制不带任何音响伴奏又必须符合韵律节奏的干唱。云合唱要求每个人的音画对位严丝合缝，声情并茂风格协调，这对于一支老年业余合唱团而言难度可想而知。
在接下来的日子里，合唱团45位老人满怀对舍生忘死的白衣天使的崇敬之情，几十遍上百遍反复演练录制歌曲，练哑了嗓音唱没了睡眠，他们无怨无悔乐此不疲。这里特别要提到两位令人敬重的长者。
一位是67岁高龄的指挥家、红枫晚霞协会艺术总监、红枫合唱团指挥张庆昌先生。张先生早年担任广州空军战鹰文工团作曲和指挥，五年前加盟红枫合唱团，是团里唯一的音乐专业人士。疫情发生以来，每周三上午张先生都通过云端带领大家练歌，讲授乐理知识，不厌其烦逐字逐句进行范唱，其专业精神和无私奉献令大家感动。
Red Maple Choir
另一位是76岁高龄的“理工男”罗立基先生。罗先生早年从事的是工业自动化方面的工作，可以说与音乐制作毫不相干。疫情发生后罗先生主动承担了云合唱的后期制作和播出任务。他在短期内掌握了复杂的音乐软件使用方法和音视频编辑技术，为云合唱作品的完美呈现殚精竭虑。罗先生有一句名言说得好：不为失败找借口，只为成功找方法。
经过一个月的共同努力，大家携手云端出色完成了《天使的身影》云合唱，并于2020年5月上线发布，大获成功。在红枫晚霞协会举办的2020年重阳节“九九颂晚霞 重阳云聚会”网络文艺汇演中，《天使的身影》作为开场节目一炮打红。“我看不见你温柔的面孔，却看得见你勇敢的行动；我虽叫不出你的名和姓，却知道你神圣的使命……”。合唱团员们以发自内心的深情演绎，向全世界坚守在一线的白衣天使献上了老人们的由衷赞美。这场网络文艺演出在YouTube和Bilibili两大网络平台同时播出，中外观众纷纷留言点赞。
紧接着，红枫合唱团又马不停蹄相继排练了《母亲的微笑》、《牵手》、《欢乐颂》、《枫韵之歌》、《雪绒花》等多首云合唱歌曲，多次应邀参加大多伦多地区公益机构组织的云端演出活动。从二声部、四声部到八声部，再加上英文演唱，难度一个比一个大。队员们就是以这种勇于挑战自我的积极态度，展现华裔老人众志成城抗击疫情的精神风貌。
红枫合唱团
“没有风雨躲得过，没有坎坷不必走。” 这是云合唱《牵手》中的一句富有哲理的歌词，也是当下生活的真实写照。与其说红枫合唱团的老人们在疫情中学会了云合唱，不如说疫情磨砺了人们战胜艰难的勇气和毅力。
朗读者海外精英
Online Chorus During Pandemic
by: Jack Sun & Xin Cui
Online conference, online class, online chorus… New words as such that had never been heard were in front of a group of elderly, becoming a challenge for them, the Red Maple Choir.
Set up in Toronto, the Redmaple Choir is affiliated to the Redmaple Sunset Glow Cultural Association (RMSGCA). Its members are mostly retired elderlies who migrated to Canada with their children. Since its establishment in 2008, it has become famous, and has participated in a number of significant international and regional performances. In 2019, it won the bronz prize at the 3rd Canada International Choral Festival and the 1st Canada-China Choral Festival. In recent years, it performed together with the China National Symphony Orchestra in the world-class Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto three times successively, winning shower of praises each time.
Red Maple Choir
The unexpected pandemic destroyed the routine of the choir. Learning how to chorus online became an urgency and a must. The first problem of all was communication barrier. Liu Zhu, the 77-year-old deputy chairman of the RMSGCA, is an internet surfer. She called for a computer class teaching how to use Zoom. With this communication tool, they decided to compose a song of praise and perform it online for the frontline workers to encourage and cheer for them. It was a bold, new thing that the choir had never tried before. However, deeply touched by the bravery of the frontline workers, the elderlies made up their mind to overcome every single difficulty to accomplish it, which would be their first online chorus.
The online chorus was far more complicated than what they had expected. The first thing was for each member to make his or her own voice-only audio and video singing clips. Piano accompaniment and conducting were also recorded and shot respectively. Then, all the audio and video records were integrated with computer technology. Finally, the online chorus was made ready and broadcasted. ”Voice-only” here refers to recording singing in required rhythm without any instrument or sound accompaniment. In online chorus, everyone’s voice and the screen had to exactaly match each other in good coordination. It could be imagined how difficult it had been for an amateur choir of elderlies.
In the following days, the 45 elderlies, full of respect for all dedicated medical workers, rehearsed hundreds of times for their audio and vidwo clips. Even with husky voice and less sleep, they never regreted and got bored. In this regard, two of them had been very outstanding.
Red Maple Choir
One was the 67-year-old conductor, Mr. Zhang Qingchang, who has been the Art Director of the RMSGCA and conductor of the Red Maple Choir. Mr. Zhang was a composer and conductor of the Zhanying Art Ensemble of the air force in Guangzhou in his early years. He joined the Red Maple Choir five years ago, and has been the only music professional in the group. Since the pandemic, Mr. Zhang instructed the online singing practice, taught music theories and even showed how to sing word by word every Wednesday afternoon. Everyone was moved by his professionalism and dedication.
The other was Mr. Luo Liji, who is a 76-year-old science and engineer geek. In his early years, Mr. Luo worked in industrial automation which has nothing to do with music production at all. When the pandemic broke out, Mr. Luo voluntarily worked on the post production and broardcasting. He exerted all his efforts for the perfect presentation of the online chorus. Mr. Luo has a very good motto – never look for excuse for failure but only find method for success.
After one month of joint efforts, they successfully completed their online chorus, Image of Angel, and had it broadcasted in May, 2020. At the Sunset Glow Cloud Gathering for the Chong Yang Festival, Image of Angel, as the opening performance, attracted shower of praise. “I cannot see your tender face, but I can see your brave action. Although I don’t know your name, I know your holy mission…” The encomium were from bottom of the hearts of the choristers to the frontline medical workers throughout the world. The online performance was broadcasted via both YouTube and Bilibili. Audiences all over the world left messages and liked it.
Red Maple Choir
Right after that, the Red Maple Choir successively rehearsed a number of other choruses including Mom’s Smile, Holding Hands, Ode to Joy, Song of Maple and Edelweiss. They have been invited to different online performances sponsored by non-profit organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. From the second part, forth part to the eighth part, plus English songs, their choruses have been getting more and more difficult in level. But the choristers faced the challenges with positive attitude, showing the Chinese elderlies’ spirit and unity in fighting against the pandemic.
“You can never escape from wind and rain. You have to walk through all the zigzags on your way.”These are part of the lyrics of their online chorus, Holding Hands. It is actually true so in reality now. Instead of praising the elderlies of the Red Maple Choir for their learning how to chorus online, we would rather say that pandemic tempered people’s courage and perseverance in fighting against hardships.
Written in Toronto in May, 2021
作者简介
孙瑞祥，男，1958年出生，1978年就读于复旦大学新闻系。教授，文学博士。天津师范大学新闻传播学院前院长、舆情与社会治理研究中心原主任，硕士研究生导师。天津市教学名师，中国新闻史学会新闻传播教育史研究委员会副会长。曾任经济消息报天津记者站站长，天津日报特约记者，获得省级优秀新闻作品一等奖。现旅居加拿大多伦多，担任华人头条多伦多通讯社特约编辑，多伦多华裔媒体工作者协会（TCMPA）荣誉顾问。
