That was a Saturday in December, 1990. Jiang Tao, a girl, and I went to
the auditorium to prepare
for the big show of Tsinghua Art Group. It was just some routines on the
stage, and we finished
them ahead of time. There were only three of us in that big theater.
"Will you be nervous when you play around with that toy?" Jiang Tao pointed
to the xylophone I
was going to play that Saturday night.
"Well, this is my first time playing xylophone here." I had only played dulcimer before on that stage.
"Let's practice how to keep our cool when we are nervous.", Jiang Tao pushed
the piano to the
middle of the stage.
The girl, only a sophomore(class 89) from my department, was usually very
quiet. All of a sudden,
she sat down and started rendering her hands on the keyboard swiftly. A
string of beautiful notes
ran through her fingers. That was "Unchained Melody", an old American folk
song, so tenderly and
melancholy played by her, that Jiang Tao and I were deeply struck. We didn't
say a word when
the melody was rolling through every corner of the theater.
And we had never known she could play piano.
"Music is about feelings, not notes. If you play for the audience, you
will never keep your
composure. Play for yourself, express your feelings through your instruments,
then your
nervousness, hesitation, uncertainty, and any other bad moods will go away
eventually". She
followed her performance with those philosophical words firmly.
At that particular moment, I loved her. I almost jumped forward to hug
her. Had I done that,
perhaps it wouldn't have been an exceptional behavior, considering how
romantic and impressive
her performance was.
It was the most beautiful moment in my life.
I played extremely well that Saturday night. When my solo came on, my whole
heart was soaked
with that piece of music. I almost forgot where I was, whom I played for,
just pure music. After
that, Jiang Tao gave me a big hi-fi, while that girl was standing steps
away with a nice smile.
Jiang Tao, one of the best guitarists in Tsinghua, won the top prize in
guitar competition the week
after the show.
A year and a half later, when I got the news that the girl jumped off from
a building near Beijing
University, the first thing that hit upon me was "Unchained Melody". I
hardly knew the girl, yet this
piece accompanied me for a long time. Nobody knew why the only child of
her parents left them
only with her diary, which kept all her secrets.
Then came the movie "Ghost", from which the old song "Unchained Melody"
became popular
again in the States. I watched the movie several times, each time just
to savor the melody, pray for
the ghost of the girl to live peacefully in the heaven.
Jiang Tao never gave up hopes when cancer tortured him. He showed incredible
courage when
such a devastating misfortune fell upon him. He listened to a lot of music,
even got a computer
before his death.
I wonder if "Unchained Melody" was among the music.
Jiang Tao also left the world, with so many unfinished wishes. The girl
and Jiang Tao would never
know that "Unchained Melody" served as a bridge through which the ghost
of the boy could still
love the girl in that movie.
Someday, in my dream, like the movie, I would watch them play "Unchained
Melody" , with their
piano and guitar, to tell me again why nervousness, hesitation, uncertainty,
and other bad moods
can be conquered. Just love the music and play it.
Suddenly, I realized it is not only music.
Just love the life and play it.
-----To
the memories of the girl and Jiang Tao