美語咖啡屋第18課聲音
美語咖啡屋第18課聲音
Y: 各位聽眾好，我是楊晨，歡迎您到美語咖啡屋。
J: And I'm Jody. Welcome to American cafe, where you can meet everyday Americans at work and at play. So, come on in and grab a good seat by the window and join us for American Cafe.
Y: 說到這兒啊，我們今天要帶您認識兩位美國人。他們有一個共同的愛好。
J: That's right. One's a musician and one's a dancer. And they have something in common - they both love bluegrass music!
(Enter "Orange Blossom Special")
J: Yang Chen, did you hear how fast they are playing? It is simply incredible!
Y: Wow, 你說的沒錯。雖然我看不見他們的手，可是我已經覺得眼花繚亂了。
J: Yang Chen, let's first introduce Bob Carlin, a musician we met at a cultural festival and let him describe this very American type of music; bluegrass.
Y: 好吧。我們首先來認識一下Bob Carlin。他是一位音樂學者，讓他給您介紹一下什麼是Bluegrass Music， 蘭草音樂。
實錄1 Bob Carlin: Bluegrass is a form of music in its strictest definition. It's a band of fiddle, or violin, mandolin, five-string banjo, which is an American invention from an African instrument, and, uh, the guitar and string base. And that's the classic bluegrass band.
Y: Jody，Bob Carlin剛才提到了演奏bluegrass的幾種基本樂器。我們解釋一下這幾種樂器好嗎？
J: That's a great idea. First he mentions the fiddle, or violin.
Y: 其實 fiddle就是小提琴，在演奏鄉村音樂或蘭草音樂的時候就稱為fiddle。我給它起了個名字，叫“鄉村小提琴”，好不好聽啊？
J: Very clever. Then there's the mandolin.
Y: 曼陀林琴。
J: Next is the five-string banjo. It is the most important instrument in bluegrass music. What you hear in the background, in fact, is an example of banjo music.
(Enter banjo music)
Y: Banjo就五弦琴或者叫班究琴。您現在聽到的就是班究琴。Banjo在蘭草音樂裏是最重要的一種樂器。
J: Then there's the guitar.
Y: 我想大家都很熟悉吉他。
J: Finally, Yang Chen, there's the string bass.
Y: 最後還有低音琴。解了演奏 Bluegrass 的基本樂器，下面我們聽聽 Bob Carlin為我們介紹 Bluegrass 的起源和風格。
實錄2 Bob Carlin: What separates this from other music groups is that they play in a style that was pioneered by Bill Monroe back in the 1940s. And, um, it's a music that takes its cue or its roots from earlier forms of American string band music, country music and incorporates, uh, some ideas out of jazz, like soloing.
Y: Bob Carlin 剛才談到的 Bill Monroe 就是蘭草音樂之父。還有啊，他提到幾個詞，我們來解釋一下，"jazz" 就是爵士樂。"Soloing" 我想就是某種樂器穿插在樂曲中間的獨奏，對吧？
J: That's a perfect definition of soloing.
Y: 謝謝你的誇獎，Jody。你來自西維吉尼亞，可以說你是聽著bluegrass 長大的，那麼對你來說，bluegrass有什麼特別意義呢？
J: You're right. I grew up in West Virginia listening to bluegrass music so it really is in my blood. When bluegrass music is playing, it's very hard to keep my feet still.
Y: 好，那麼我們下面就為大家介紹我們今天要認識的第二個美國人。她叫Lynn Masterson。我們聽聽她為什麼喜歡bluegrass。
實錄3 Lynn Masterson: Well, it always has a strong beat. For a dancer, a strong beat is very important. Um, it's cheery. It's happy music. It's very, uh, familiar and comfortable music. It's sort of part of who we are.
Y: 我覺得她剛才Masterson女士的這番話很有代表性。 Bluegrass的確很有感染力。她所說的strong beat，也就是節奏感很強，適合跳舞。Jody，bluegrass這個題目要講的內容實在是太多了。
J: That's true.
Y: 可惜我們沒有足夠的時間。 不過有一點我覺得非提一下不可，那就是bluegrass對大家熟悉的搖滾樂歌王，也就是貓王Elvis Presley的影響。
J: I knew you were going to bring up Elvis Presley.
Y: 好，下面我們還是聽聽音樂學者 Bob Carlin 是怎麼說的吧。
實錄4 Bob Carlin: Of course, Elvis is influenced by bluegrass. You know, Elvis did Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," and Bill Monroe just did it one speed through.
(Enter Bill Monroe singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")
實錄5 Bob Carlin: Elvis, he did it as a waltz like Monroe and then he sped it up.
(Enter Elvis Presley singing "Blue Moon of Kentucky")
J: Now that we heard both versions, Yang Chen, which one do you like better?
Y: 當然是Elvis Presley了。
J: I knew you were going to say that.
Y: 因為他的演唱速度比較快，而且有搖滾樂的味道。
J: Okay, okay we know how much you like rock-n-roll and Elvis Presley. But you know, I think Bill Monroe's version better. But, I guess we're going to have to talk about that over coffee because that's all the time we have for today on American Cafe.
Y: 好，我們今天就聊到這兒。聽眾朋友們，我們下次見。
