PBS高端访谈:古典音乐带给我们的好处

JUDY WOODRUFF: Over the years, researchers have explored classical music's impact on memory, creativity, productivity and even blood pressure. It's almost as if the music genre¹ is suspected of having superpowers. And that's got industry producers trying to figure out how to market classical music to the American public. Tonight, musician and critic Jennifer Gersten shares her Humble² Opinion on why this new sell is selling the music short.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：过去这些年里，科学家研究了古典音乐对记忆力、创造力、生产力乃至血压的影响。就好像古典音乐本身就有超能力一样。正因如此，很多制作人都在努力探索将古典音乐推广给美国大众的方法。今晚，音乐家兼音乐评论家詹尼弗·格斯滕就将与我们分享她的《我之拙见》，讨论一下古典音乐这个新秀为何能备受欢迎。

JENNIFER GERSTEN, Writer and Musician: Take some time to relax. Rise above it all. Calm and refreshing³. These taglines could be advertisements for a Caribbean cruise, or at the very least an ambitious boxed wine. They're actually examples of how radio stations and streaming services across the country sell classical music. Classical, this advertising⁴ suggests, isn't really for listening. It's for chilling out, tuning⁵ out, zoning out. Thus, an over-500-year-old art form is being reduced to a spa day soundtrack. This marketing⁶ sort of makes sense. Classical music is perceived as inaccessible⁷, elitist, incomprehensible to anyone who isn't wearing a monocle. Perhaps the logic⁸ goes that framing the genre as lyrical Ambien might usher⁹ people into expensive auditoriums¹⁰, even if just for a nap. But this rhetoric¹¹ is failing the music it's supposed to support. Like any other musical genre, classical offers innumerable sounds and triggers as many emotions. Some of it indeed might calm you. Other types seem primed to get you skipping down the block. If we think of classical music solely¹² as relaxing, we deny its ability to move us, shake us, twist us in knots. We feed the idea that this music is somehow more elevated than pop or rap, and that its practitioners¹³ are more enlightened. This reinforces the implication that classical music is for the rich white people filling opulent concert halls, which is increasingly not the case. I'm a music student with many years of classical training, and I also write about music. I love some things I play and hear. Some things, I'm just OK with. A few things, I despise. For best results, we should learn to think about this music for ourselves, instead of outsourcing our opinions to strangers. We can do this by listening deeply and intentionally¹⁴.

詹尼弗·格斯滕，作家、音乐家：现在，请大家先稍事放松，心无杂念并保持平静清醒的头脑。这些话似乎已经成了加勒比巡航舰的标志性宣传语，或者至少也可以称为有野心的箱装酒。实际上，这些话已经成了全国各地广播电台和流媒体对古典音乐的推荐语。正如广告语所表达的意思——古典不只是用来听的。古典还可以让人心平气和，让人脱离世俗，让人暂时摆脱纷扰。因此，这种传承了500多年的音乐形式已经沦落到做spa时播放的音乐。那么，这种推广方式也就说得通了。很多人认为古典音乐高不可攀，是精英人士才听的音乐，认为它是不带单片眼镜，就无法听懂的音乐。或许，这种想法是认为古典音乐是安眠药，让人愿意花高价买票去演播厅，就算去了也是睡觉也没关系。但这种说辞不符合古典音乐的实情，看似支持，实则是在泼古典音乐的冷水。与其他音乐题材类似，古典音乐也有数不胜数的额音调，也可以激发人的多种情思。某些古典音乐确实可以让人沉下心来；还有一些古典音乐可以助人奋发。如果仅把古典音乐视为放松的工具，那么我们就无视了古典音乐改变我们、撼动我们、帮我们解开心结的能力。是我们自己助长了这样一种观念：古典音乐比流行音乐和饶舌音乐更可称得上为阳春白雪，而以古典音乐为了的人更容易获得启发。这样的观点暗合一种意味：古典音乐是为有钱的白人准备的，为音乐厅准备的，但这并不是实情。我是音乐专业的学生，我受过多年的古典音乐培训，我也作过这方面的曲。我有喜欢听和演奏的音乐，一些让我感到惬意的音乐。但我也有自己所不喜欢的音乐。最好的情况是：我们应该从自己的角度出发去感受古典音乐，而不是让陌生人为我们做主。而这样做的方法很简单：仔细听，专注地听。

JUDY WOODRUFF: And it was worth it just hearing her play.

朱迪·伍德拉夫：听您演奏就已经值了。

1 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

2 humble   

adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低

参考例句：

• In my humble opinion,he will win the election.依我拙见，他将在选举中获胜。
• Defeat and failure make people humble.挫折与失败会使人谦卑。

3 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

4 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

5 tuning   

n.调谐，调整，调音v.调音( tune的现在分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调

参考例句：

• They are tuning up a plane on the flight line. 他们正在机场的飞机跑道上调试一架飞机。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The orchestra are tuning up. 管弦乐队在定弦。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 inaccessible   

adj.达不到的，难接近的

参考例句：

• This novel seems to me among the most inaccessible.这本书对我来说是最难懂的小说之一。
• The top of Mount Everest is the most inaccessible place in the world.珠穆朗玛峰是世界上最难到达的地方。

8 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

9 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

10 auditoriums   

n.观众席( auditorium的名词复数 )；听众席；礼堂；会堂

参考例句：

• The walls and ceilings of contemporary auditoriums usually conceal light, sound, and air-conditioning equipment. 当代观众厅的墙壁和天花板常设灯光、音响以及空调设备。 来自互联网
• The interior follows an exceedingly compact plan of different types and sizes of rooms and auditoriums. 在室内装饰方面，不同类型不同尺寸的空间以及观众席都追寻一种极端简洁的装饰风格。 来自互联网

11 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

12 solely   

adv.仅仅，唯一地

参考例句：

• Success should not be measured solely by educational achievement.成功与否不应只用学业成绩来衡量。
• The town depends almost solely on the tourist trade.这座城市几乎完全靠旅游业维持。

13 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

14 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。