On September 4th, in the audience seats at the semi-finals of the 8th “New Tang Dynasty International Piano Competition,” the composer of the specified piece “Divine Calling,” Qinyuan from Shen Yun Art Troupe, sat quietly listening to the performers on stage. At times, she would close her eyes, allowing the music to paint different pictures in her mind.
“This song’s lyrics originally describe the beautiful scenery of the heavenly world. The opening lines are ‘drifting and broad sleeves, standing as beautiful as immortals,’ presenting a very beautiful depiction of the heavenly world,” Qinyuan said. “Sometimes when I close my eyes to listen, I truly feel different scenes unfolding in front of me, it’s very magical. There are celestial beauties with flowing sleeves, as well as agile angels with small wings… When I listen to them perform, I get this feeling, they perform very vividly, very lively.”
Qinyuan explained that “Divine Calling” is a piano piece arranged based on the main melody composed by D.F., the artistic director of Shen Yun Art Troupe, used as the designated piece for this competition’s semi-finals, requiring the performers to play it.
When arranging the piece, Qinyuan gave the performers a lot of creative space, allowing them to imagine and imitate the sounds of various Chinese instruments.
“In the middle, there’s a section imitating the technique of the pipa, and I found the presentation by the performers to be excellent. Some players use the 321, 321 technique, but some use 333, 222, 111, which surprised me because it’s very difficult. They have their own ways, but in any case, they conveyed the mood that the piece wants to express. Their music touched our hearts, and in certain parts, two performers handled it so beautifully that tears welled up in my eyes,” Qinyuan said.
From their musical presentation, Qinyuan could tell that the performers put in a lot of effort and heart into their work. She believed they truly worked hard and delved into the depth of the piece in a short amount of time, which was not easy.
As a music creator herself, Qinyuan recalled the challenging process she experienced in composing the piece. She wanted to find a traditional approach to present the melody.
“It’s really quite difficult — trying to match a complete Chinese melody with purely Western composition techniques is not easy to bring together,” Qinyuan said. “So, I employed some traditional methods like polyphony, counterpoint, and traditional tonal layouts including the tonic and dominant to arrange it.”
However, the process was fraught with difficulties. As the deadline for providing the piece to the performers approached, Qinyuan hadn’t found a mature idea yet and felt anxious. She kept trying repeatedly, feeling like she kept falling, getting up, falling, and getting up again.
Qinyuan believed that the arranging process was like a “test from Heaven” for her, observing whether she could handle it, give up or continue.
After a lengthy and painful process, one day, Qinyuan received inspiration from one line in D.F.’s lyrics.
“The line is: ‘Songs dust off soil, sound by sound beckons back to Heaven,’ I understood this to be God’s revelation to us: calling us back to our homeland,” Qinyuan said. “After finding this theme, I spent about three days integrating the entire piece.”
Her understanding was that no matter how difficult or how many failures you face during the process, as long as you have the determination to follow God’s path, persist, in the end, God will give you wisdom, inspiration, and the strength to continue.
During the celebration party after the finals, Qinyuan addressed the performers, stating that both Chinese and Western cultures are gifts from God.
“Music is also a gift from God, and the competition held by New Tang Dynasty seeks the return to this traditional path,” she said. “This specified piece has a theme, then develops and unfolds, ultimately returning to the main theme. So, does each of us have a theme in our lives? Do we as humans have a theme? When we find that theme, no matter what difficulties, setbacks, or tribulations we go through, as long as we remember that theme, we will eventually return to it — I believe life and music are the same.”
Lastly, Qinyuan thanked all the performers and staff of New Tang Dynasty. She said, “With all of you, this specified piece is complete.”