带孩子一起唱歌的大师飞走了
周日7月26日晚上，老麦的朋友发来了让我们猝不及防的消息：带孩子唱歌的杨鸿年爷爷于当日下午1点55分仙逝了，享年86岁。知道这一天总会来到，但确实没有想到会以这么突然的方式。
杨鸿年老师是北京爱乐合唱团创始人、中国著名指挥家、音乐教育家、中央音乐学院终身学术委员，之所以和他有那么近距离的接触是因为他的后半生基本上和孩子们在一起，老麦的儿子小时候喜欢唱歌，机缘凑巧，在7岁的时候走进了杨鸿年老师创办的中国交响乐团附属少年及女子合唱团（后来改名为北京爱乐合唱团，家长们都昵称它为杨团）培训班，从此开始了每周末在鲍家街43号中央音乐学院小白楼的视唱练耳训练。被孩子称作杨爷爷的杨鸿年教授当时已经七十多岁了，但他总是经常亲临培训班，从音乐启蒙班到视唱初级班、中级班、高级班到预备队最后到演出队，每个班里都会出现他的身影。当年孩子们在中央音乐学院里的小白楼里排练，家长们或进去旁听，或隔着窗户观望，看着杨爷爷张弛有度的指挥，看着他头上卷卷的白发，看着他自带微笑的慈祥面容，你会感觉到他有一颗永远不老的童心。杨爷爷不仅指导孩子们如何发出天籁般的美妙声音，而且不厌其烦地引领孩子们从小练就能够沉下心来坐板凳的本事，尤其是后者，让孩子们直至成年，受益无穷。儿子在杨团从7岁待到12岁，后来因为变声自认为不适合继续合唱就离开了杨团，但杨爷爷所传授的如何去深情地爱音乐和如何有毅力地去做事却从此成为跟随他的宝贵财富。
对于杨老师来说，爱和奉献不是一句空话，他的一生就是让音乐成就孩子，孩子们也因此成为他一生最大的骄傲。这么多年来，杨团巡回演出无数：从中山公园音乐堂到国家大剧院，从纽约卡内基音乐厅到林肯艺术中心；这么多年来，杨团走出国门获奖累累：从维也纳到匈牙利到意大利，从童声合唱节到国际合唱比赛，与世界高水平的合唱团同台角逐，捧回三十多座奖杯。杨团从无到有、从优秀到卓越，最后成为世界七大童声合唱团之一。杨老师用他的大爱坚守着他的初心，并把整个家庭奉献给了童声合唱事业，杨老师的爱人唐重庆老师被孩子们称为唐奶奶，是杨团的艺术指导，还经常给杨团做钢琴伴奏；杨老师的儿子杨力老师被孩子们称为小杨老师，中国第一位卡拉扬奖学金获得者，现在是杨团的常任指挥。小杨老师说爸爸平均每天要工作16个小时，自己都自愧不如，因为爸爸觉得自己年纪大了，时间不多有紧迫感，所以才会延长每天的工作时间来教合唱团的孩子们更多的知识。
杨团从1983年成立至今，已有37年，从杨团走出去的孩子们遍布各地，他们带着杨爷爷播下的音乐种子和纯净的心灵在世界的角角落落生根发芽。今年孩子们在网上成立了《Forever Yang我们的歌》公众号，疫情期间发起了多次云合唱，以纪念年少时一起唱歌的美好时光，一群热爱音乐热爱合唱更重要的是热爱杨团的孩子们通过这种方式再一次聚在了一起。
乘着歌声的翅膀杨爷爷飞去了天堂，那里也会有他深爱的音乐和他所传播的大爱。杨爷爷在天之灵会在孩子们天籁般歌声的环绕下微笑着、欣慰着。
下面是儿子写的纪念文字，在这个混乱的世界，爱是我们所需要的，爱让我们心安。
Locked away, inside every soul, there are boxes of precious memories with snapshots of the people and stories long gone to remind us of a simpler time. Hearing the devastating news of the passing of Professor Yang unlocked such a box that I once thought I had forgotten. Seven years of age, a timid, terrified me with practically no experience in solfeggio and sight-reading somehow earned myself a place in the Yang Choir. And thus began a five year-long journey in the most prestigious children’s choir in all of Beijing, heck, perhaps all of China. Unlike most of my bandmates, the choir didn't take up a huge chunk of my life, and I have never really felt that I belonged in that place (perhaps I realised that other people are so much more talented than me). When I left, I never really looked back. This piece of my history almost felt like it just dissolved into the back of my head. So why then, among an endless sea of beautifully written tributes, am I writing this to remember the extraordinary life of Professor Yang? The world moves fast. We have all these 'tabs' open in our brains, each worrying about different issues. There often comes a moment in everyone's lives when we sit back and wonder... 'What is the point of all this?' We eventually burn out. For me, an often-ignored boy in the choir, Professor Yang introduced me to the captivating world of not just music, but the world of art as a whole. Ten-year-old me never realised that there could be a whole other realm out there, a much better world: where realities and dreamscapes dance and blend together like myriad colours on the canvas of the creative consciousness. In a world where there are more people spreading hate than love, when I pick up the guitar, when I immerse myself in elegantly written words, everything around me seems to slow down just a little bit. All the rage, all the furious shouting seems to get quieter just a little bit. And I get to burst my head through the surface and take a giant breath and say ‘maybe stuff isn't too bad after all!' This man lived and breathed art, and dedicated his whole life to art. No, he did not just bring joy and happiness to other people's lives, he gave people the tools to discover their own intrinsic happiness that has been hidden from them all this time! Our hearts and bodies are rented to us for a limited amount of time, but you can catch Professor Yang among the vibrating piano strings, vocal cords, the twirling conducting baton and the serotonin-filled minds of each and every one of his students and all the people he influenced. Art never dies. In such a messy, chaotic and hatred filled world, Professor Yang gave me the keys that transported me to a place where I can find my own peace of mind.