神奇的筆記本電腦音樂

筆記本電腦早已不是什么新名詞，但筆記本電腦音樂就讓人感到有點陌生，特別是有個樂團叫做筆記本電腦音樂演奏團的，這就叫人感到有些不可思議。美國普林斯頓大學計算機系和音樂系聯手的電腦音樂演奏團，就用筆記本電腦來演奏音樂。

全部用筆記本電腦來演奏音樂，這絕對不同于其他的傳統樂器或者電子樂器演奏。美國的這個筆記本電腦音樂演奏團，是由美國普林斯頓大學計算機系的教授和在校的博士研究生、本科生等15名成員組成。他們的演出，代表電腦業的觸角已經伸向音樂領域，這是電腦業的一種新動向，也代表電腦在音樂領域里的最新研究成果。

那是一個非常寒冷的雪夜，美國普林斯頓大學數學物理系的主樓??泰坡林大樓（Taplin Auditorium）室內演示廳早早地坐滿了聽眾。欣賞是免費的，凡是去參加音樂會的人在門口都可以拿到節目單和簡短的說明書。我和兩個好友抱著獵奇心理，也參加了這場奇特的音樂會。走進演出廳，只見舞臺的地板上十幾臺筆記本電腦分別擺在大大的擴音箱上，旁邊連接著他們自行設計制造的六聲道開放型立體聲喇叭，麥克風和一個酷似電子游戲器的控制器。

靠特殊肢體語言指揮

筆記本電腦音樂演奏團的團員們入場了，他們身著黑色長褲和黑色T恤衫，顯得又輕松又休閑的樣子，與穿戴一襲黑色的西服和黑色領結的傳統管弦樂團團員們截然不同。沒有冗長的開場白，樂團團員們輕手輕腳地走到各自的筆記本電腦前，手指飛快地在鍵盤上敲打著輸入指令，然后就向站在前臺的樂隊指揮豎起大拇指，用手語來報告一切準備就緒，看來特殊的樂隊指揮也特殊，他用自己首創的特殊肢體語言來指揮的，所用的只是十個手指變換著手勢，這些動作有些像練氣功，有些像打啞語，但是動作幅度很大。此時只見指揮俯下身去展開雙臂，手心向上揮揚，慢慢地起身，隨之傳來的便是由遠而近的馬蹄聲，聲浪高時就像萬馬奔騰近在咫尺，但隨著指揮的手勢往下壓，馬蹄聲也就漸漸遠去；當指揮俯身用手在空中劃著小圈時，你會聽到風聲乍起，隨著指揮的手勢在空中的圓圈越劃越大，那聲浪就像狂風卷著沙塵咆哮而至，然而誰能想到這種恢宏的聲勢，竟然是由十幾臺筆記本電腦連接著立體聲音響發出來的模擬聲！隨著指揮的手勢，我們接著又聽到有節奏的鼓點，還聽到深山古剎中悠遠的鐘聲和清脆的腳步聲。

如癡如醉入幻境

筆記本電腦音樂演奏團不僅演奏了這些幾可亂真的模擬聲，他們還分別演奏了自己的創新曲目。有令人耳目一新的“鏡子舞”，其中有長笛獨奏加筆記本電腦音樂伴奏和有真人發音和筆記本電腦混聲的交織音樂。“傾聽地球的聲音”是這個演奏團創作的主題，他們把人們從來沒有聽到過的或者從來沒有注意聽的聲音，通過電腦的編程，將字符變成音符，把曲線變成聲波呈獻給聽眾；這真正是人類在計算機時代產生的新興的音樂。

特別值得一提的是由計算機博士生王戈創作并演出的樂章《水晶城》，這個樂章表現了一股清風吹到一個高高的山峰上，這時聽到的是叢林草木的搖曳聲，風穿越于山間石縫的呼嘯聲和山巒之間互相呼應的回聲，令人心曠神怡，接著這股清風隨之旋入了一個山洞，那是一個長滿了水晶石的山洞。風兒在山洞中穿越，水晶與風兒在對話，五光十色的水晶不斷地發出各種各樣美妙的聲音，變幻著奇妙無比的音符，最終，隨著風兒的離去，山洞中的水晶又回歸到了靜謐的原始狀態之中。這是一段虛擬的，從來沒有聽到過的美輪美奐的聲音，完全將人們帶入一種虛無縹緲的境界，好像是在混沌初開的遠古，又好似在未知狀態的未來世界。我注意到觀眾席上有的人閉上了眼睛，不知是閉目聆聽還是沉入夢鄉？美國音樂評論家寶林·奧立菲斯（Pauline Oliveros）說：“聲音和音樂是無盡的銷魂資源，它將外面的世界融入我的內心。”音樂能夠表達或者調節人的情緒與情感，神奇的電腦音樂剛剛嶄露頭角就能沁人心脾，前程不可估量。

開辟音樂新天地

演出結束后，我有機會找到電腦音樂團發起者和組織者之一的王戈進行采訪。王戈是一個不到30歲的小伙子，半長的頭發微卷，兼具音樂家和新新電腦人的氣質。王戈來自北京，九歲時隨父母來到美國，自幼喜愛音樂的他會拉手風琴，彈得一手好吉他，在中學時，他迷上了電腦，后來以優異的成績考上了美國杜克大學（DUKE UNIVERSITY）攻讀計算機專業，同時也選修專業音樂課程。上大學期間，他曾經在美國微軟總部做過兩年暑期實習生，在那個軟件王國里，他的計算機編寫程序能力得到極大的提高。大學本科畢業后，他被美國普林斯頓大學計算機系錄取為博士研究生，因為這里的計算機系和音樂系正聯手研發電腦音樂，這正好發揮他的兩個強項。

王戈說，其實電腦音樂在20世紀60年代就已經出現在美國等計算機技術比較領先的國家，那時就有人試用電腦在編輯和制作音樂。后來筆記本電腦音樂也出現在歌廳和一些公共場合，但那只是以個體的形式出現的。隨著電腦的飛速發展，特別到了90年代后期，電腦音樂的軟件開發如雨后春筍般破土而出，如今只要上網搜索，不難發現免費的電腦音樂軟件比比皆是。

筆記本電腦不是樂器，筆記本電腦有許多不同的功能：上互聯網，通訊聯絡，編寫程序，運用軟件，儲存數據，處理圖像等等，處理音樂只是電腦眾多功能中的一部分。但電腦音樂可以模擬各種不同的樂器的發音，也可模擬人聲的發音。你可以讓筆記本電腦模擬鋼琴的聲音，也可以讓它發出大小提琴或者管弦樂器的聲音而不必更換樂器。不過電腦音樂暫時不可能取代傳統音樂，因為目前的電腦還不可能取代傳統樂器。世界上現存的樂器是人類經過千百年的淘洗而留存下來的精華，是人類的寶貴財富之一。電腦音樂最大的優勢在于能夠創造出人類從來沒有聽到過的聲音；另一個優勢就是電腦音樂的創作過程比傳統的交響曲創作過程更容易修改，電腦音樂作曲家可以在筆記本電腦上創作音樂，并且邊聽邊改，直至滿意。

Melodious Laptop Computers

By Qin Feng， Our special reporter in USA

A notebook computer is nothing new， but it is extremely incredible that notebook computers work like a band to play music. Fifteen professors， doctoral students， graduates and undergraduates with the computer department and music department of Princeton University have organized themselves into a band to play music with their notebooks.

Just the other day， I attended a concert at Taplin Auditorium on the campus of Princeton University. Admission was free and everyone of the audience received a playbill and a brief introduction. A close look at the stage revealed that more than a dozen laptop computers perched on sound boxes， each connected to a six-channel stereo system， a microphone， and a controller that looked like a game-playing console.

The musicians filed onto the stage， all dressed in black trousers and black T-shirts. They looked pretty relaxed. The introductory talk was brief before the performance. They treaded softly to the computers. Their fingers nimbly input commands quietly. One by one， they gave the conductor a thumbs-up to indicate they were ready.

The music began. The conductor coordinated all the sounds. His body language looked quite mesmerizing. He bent his body forward and opened his arms like wings and then he straightened his torso and lifted his arms. We heard the sounds of horses?hoofs approaching from the distant. As he curved forward gradually and his arms pushed down， horses galloped away. His hands drew small circles in the air and we heard the noise of a wind. The larger the circles， the louder the wind. In the end， the wind crescendoed into a storm， howling with vengeance. In another piece， as the conductor continued to move his fingers magically， we heard the rhythmic noises of drums， footsteps and distant bells from a temple in a deep valley.A piece called “Mirrors Dancing?was actually a symphonic composition. The players created sounds to go with the melody of a flute player to stage a flute concerto and then mixed a melody of computerized sounds and human voices. “Listening to the Sounds of Earth? a theme of the band’s musical creations， unleashed the sounds which people either never heard or never paid attention to.

“Crystal City? composed by Wang Ge， a doctoral student who had come from China to USA at the age of nine， was also an analogous piece of composition. Winds blew， trees swished， crystals in a cave responded to winds and echoes. Such ethereal and futuristic sounds， though man-made， introduced an intriguing and transparent universe to the audience. Some people just closed their eyes to enjoy the mood created by the music.

After the concert， I talked with Wang Ge， one of the founders and leaders of the band. He was in his late 20s. With somewhat long semi-curled hair， he looked like a musician and a computer nerd. He was a good player of accordion and guitar in his teenage years and became a computer geek in the high school. Duke University made it possible for him to major in computer and minor in music at the same time. Now a student for a doctorate degree in computer science at Princeton， he was finally able to put his two passions together.

Wang Ge briefed me on the origin and development of computers as music tools. As soon as computers debuted in the United States in the 1960s， people began to edit and compose music on computers. Computers appeared as music instruments in some concerts and on some public occasions quite early. But these were just some individual cases. It was not until the late 1990s that music software mushroomed and computers were more frequently used for the purpose of making music. Now a computer can imitate all kinds of musical instruments and human voice. Without making any physical changes， a computer can make sounds like a piano， a violin， a flute. But computers are not meant to replace established musical instruments， which are the best that remain after time has eliminated so many other musical instruments. The biggest advantage of a computer is that it can create sounds that human ears have never heard from nature. A composer can easily make a melody on a computer and then keep modifying it by playing it back repeatedly in all ways until he is satisfied.

(Translated by Tian Jinjiang)