Producer System: My Girlfriend is a Cellist-Chapter 153 - 126 Star Cup: Gan Yanyu’s Opponents (6K)_2

Moreover, the heritage has far more negative than positive value.

Everyone else is from some famous music academy.

But when it comes to you, it turns into "My grandpa is Gan Hua?"

It feels a bit odd.

Lin Tian used to think that the Star Cup was just a small local competition in Qingzhou. He wouldn’t even plan to let Gan Yanyu participate if it wasn’t for securing an insurance for the Yingqin Cup.

However, now he increasingly feels that although the competition itself isn’t of great value, it doesn’t mean the value of the contestants is low.

As a province famous for music, Qingjiang has always been producing many talents.

This includes Gan Hua, recognized by the industry as the former leading cellist, who is also a local from Qingzhou City.

Now, with the biennial Dragon Violin Cup approaching, more and more young performers are gathering in Qingzhou City in hopes of securing this hard-won spot.

"I see there are even elementary school students in this competition?"

Lin Tian noticed that the players list mentioned by the media included children just over 8 years old.

"If 18 is a prodigy, doesn’t that make 8 a monster?!"

"Pfft, of course, music competitions are divided into different age groups."

Gan Yanyu almost laughed out loud at Lin Tian’s seriousness.

If the previous problem was one of professionalism, then this is a matter of common sense.

Gan Yanyu raised her index finger and explained:

"Except for invitation-only competitions like the ’Dragon Violin Cup’ which have their own special groupings, most of our domestic music competitions are divided into four age groups."

"The children’s group below 12 years old, the junior group from 12 to 17 years old, the youth group from 18 to 26 years old, and the professionals’ group for those over 26, typically only professional musicians participate."

"So which group are you in?" Lin Tian asked.

"The professionals’ group."

"Ah?"

"Age is just a reference, theoretically, if the performance is good enough, anyone can enter the professionals’ group."

"..."

"I see."

Lin Tian has always heard about the "prodigy cellist", but never had a clear sense of it.

Now, hearing this, his understanding suddenly became clearer.

Talking about "qualification enough"... It sounds like entering the professionals’ group is an easy task.

In fact, Lin Tian looked through the list of participants.

18-year-old Gan Yanyu... there’s no doubt she is the youngest in the professionals’ group.

"It’s not as exaggerated as you think."

Seemingly noticing that Lin Tian’s gaze became more subtle, Gan Yanyu hurriedly continued to explain,

"Actually, though the competition is open to all ages, there are very few predecessors over 40 participating in such competitions nowadays, as most of them have achieved enough recognition and qualifications with age. They do not need to go through the ’Yingqin Cup’ as a channel but can be directly invited to the Dragon Violin Cup invitation-only events, and they participate in the ’special invitation group’, not the ’professionals’ group’, which is more performance-oriented."

"Likewise, if they want to participate in some influential international competitions, they have their own special pathways and do not need to compete with us youngsters."

"..."

Lin Tian understood.

To put it more plainly: musicians over 40 are not likely to participate in such competitions.

Because they have an honor bonus, their own green channel. Even if they do participate, it is usually directly as an invitee to the competition.

However, to say so seems a bit dismissive of those musicians over 40 who haven’t achieved significant honors.

On the other hand,

participating through such green channels and performing at the Dragon Violin Cup is about creating an enjoyable spectacle with little competitiveness. It feels like "let the other competitors fight it out, while we masters come show off."

It’s cool, but if you’re aiming for the trophy, even winning the invitation group doesn’t hold much value.

The real value lies in winning the championship of the professionals’ group.

This is where there’s a lot to say.

To go deeper:

Competitions for musicians over 40, like most music competitions in the past, are

more about performance value > actual significance.

And there’s a sense of "no first place in culture, no second in martial arts."

Perhaps because young people watch fewer competitions with old men, or perhaps because the International Music Association prefers to see these seasoned artists dignified. The battle for the future of music is left to the young.

It’s like the old men can only partake in competitions without value.

But there’s no hard rule that old men can’t compete in the professionals’ group.

It’s just that they can’t rely on "earning seniority" to compete; they have to fight their way up.

Yet, the participation of old artists in the professionals’ group remains rare.

In fact, it’s more like:

At that age, having endured so much for so long, whether human or ghost, you’d still be respectfully called an "old artist" and enjoy the treatment accorded to a senior artist.

Isn’t it nice to live a decent and dignified life?

In this music world that puts so much emphasis on competition honors, occasionally participate in performance competitions, occasionally flex your muscles, and nobody can really tell your level, you can lead a fine life mixing in like that.

There’s a saying that goes something like this.

Those writers who were contemporaries with Ba Jin, regardless of their skill level, as long as they’re alive today, all have a glorious and respectable status.

If they seriously went to compete for the professionals’ group’s trophy with young people.

If they win, fine, but what if they are disastrously defeated?

Moreover, now the trend is that classical music is on the decline and modern music is becoming more popular...

Old men have even less room to maneuver.