2 . 3D-Printed Violins

While professional violinists often have instruments that cost between $2000 and $10, 000, it is possible to have one that costs millions depending on how they were and who made them.     1     This can make it hard for many to access the instrument, especially for beginners and music classrooms.

However, the good news for them is that they will meet with low-cost and durable (耐用的) 3D-printed violins thanks to The Acoustical Society of America’s AVIVA Young Artists Program. The team’s inspiration roots in multiple places. Their goals were to explore the new world of sounds created by using new materials, to use the new technology of other fields, and to make music education accessible through the printing of more durable instruments.     2     The method of distribution has yet to be decided — it could involve shipping fully printed violins, sharing the 3D-printing files with makers, or a combination of both.

    3     The neck and fingerboard are printed in smooth ABS plastic to provide a comfortable grasp for the musicians, while the violin’s body is made of a plastic polymer substance, much like a typical acoustic (原声的) violin. The outcome is a violin that sounds darker and softer than traditionally built violins.     4    

“The next step is to lower the costs of production for making such instruments more widely available, especially in the field of education,” said Mary-Elizabeth Brown, director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program. Violins are not the only instruments that are produced through 3D-printing technology.     5     Effective results have been obtained from many of them.

3 . Sirine Jahangir has a rare condition that left her completely blind by the time she was 10 years old. While her parents and doctors have tried to find _________ for her, there isn’t much they can do.

So her parents focused on helping her _________ her new life. Her father said, “One day, we were driving in the car, but she couldn’t look out of the window anymore to _________ things. I didn’t know what to do, so I just put the music on really loud. She _________ singing in the car, and she was so happy. And then she just found _________ every time I put music on.” It didn’t take long for them to realize Sirine has great _________! Her interest in music not only got her through some _________ and lonely times, but when she was 14 it also brought her to the “Britain’s Got Talent” stage.

When she _________ on the stage, she told everyone how much her _________ for music means to her. Then she __________ over to the piano, where she played a melody (旋律) and __________ beautifully enough to bring the audience to tears!

__________ to everyone but Sirine, all four judges voted (票) her into the next round of the __________!

Afterward, she said, “I can’t even say it’s a dream come true, __________ I didn’t even dream of it at any point. I never thought that would be __________ in my life.”

Liu Qingyao is a famous pipa player in China. She began her pipa learning     1     a very early age. When she grew older, she continued her pipa     2     (educate) at the Central Conservatory of Music and Tianjin Conservatory of Music.

As     3     teenager, she joined the visiting missions of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and     4     (play) pipa in many countries. Those overseas experiences have greatly deepened her understanding of     5     (origin) Chinese style music: Only ethnic things exist in the world.

Since 2019, Liu Qingyao     6     (produce) many great music works. Her compositions like Song of King Lanling Entering the Battlefield, Prince Qin Breaking through the Enemy Array and The Ballad of Mulan have drawn millions of views on the streamers     7     have displayed the beauty of Chinese culture.

When ancient Chinese music meets pop culture, Liu has become a representative of the new generation of Chinese style music players. To her, devoting     8     (she) to making music of Chinese ethnic style is much more important than     9     (attract) online views. She said promoting Chinese style music to reach a wider audience in the world is one of her     10     (great) missions.

5 . Having spent more than a decade on the dance floor, ROME — Niccolo Filippi, a 23-year-old Italian dance performer, recently decided to explore Chinese culture and its traditional dance forms and believes that this experience will not only boost his career, but also broaden his horizons beyond the world of dance.

His interest in diversifying his skills grew after he stumbled upon a short video of traditional Chinese-styled dance on YouTube. “I saw it as an art that combines tradition and modernity, which was mostly the reason why I liked it,” says Filippi.

Ever since, he has been closely following Chinese dance performers and watching numerous videos to learn more about the traditional style that he admires. “I prefer the traditional style because of its light movements. It also reflects my personality with elegance,” he adds.

Filippi’s chance came when he was invited to perform for a Chinese New Year celebration in the central Italian city of Florence. He has since fully committed himself to the art form, learning several pieces and putting his newfound passion into practice.

“The biggest difference that I found (compared to other disciplines) is the change of mood and emotional expressions among dances,” says Filippi, adding that he needed to shift from the dynamic moves of hip-hop to the graceful and fluid movements of Chinese dance. Despite various obstacles, Filippi’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. Two of his friends shared videos of his performances on social media, and the response was overwhelming. One video garnered 500,000 views, while the other received 200,000 views.

Filippi believes that learning about different cultures is priceless, and he sees it as a means of personal growth. “I like to think of a person as a book,” he says. “Embracing different traditions and cultures, such as Chinese culture and many others, is like adding new chapters to my book, making it more diverse and wonderful.”

7 . For over a decade, Zubin Kanga, a pianist, composer and technologist, has changed the limits of the forms of musical performances. He has both organized and performed shows that have pushed barriers, with motion sensors, artificial intelligence (AI), live-generated 3D visuals and virtual reality among the technological advancements used to unlock new possibilities of music and performances.

Kanga’s approach to employing cutting-edge technology was first informed by the relative limitations of his chosen instrument. “The piano is a very accurate technology,” he says. “From the early 20th century till now it hasn’t really changed at all. It’s an amazing instrument, but it does have certain limitations in terms of the types of sound you can create.”

One of the early works is Steel on Bone, composed by Kanga himself. He performs the piece using MiMU multi-sensor gloves. “I can put up one finger, and that’ll produce a particular sound,” Kanga explains. “And then I can control that sound just by moving my wrist through the air — I can do that with lots of different gestures.”

“For Steel on Bone, I’m actually playing inside the piano with these steel knitting (编织) needles, and getting all these interesting effects on the strings. Then I’m using samples of them. Sometimes I’m using live delays and operating them. The sound can change depending on how my hands are moving. It allows me to make a very theatrical piece, and people can see this immediate connection between how I’m moving — these very big, almost conductor-like gestures through the air — and the way the sound is changing,” said Kanga.

This is just the start, and Kanga goes on to be enthused with the use of motion sensors to make music, the possibilities that AI offers composers as a tool, and how virtual reality could transform performances and more.

10 . Elvis Presley enjoyed great success and popularity in the mid-1950s when he introduced his new style of R&.B- rock ‘n’ roll. Teenagers in America and Britain loved his rock ‘n’ roll music. The USA was the main place for popular music until 1962 when four musicians from Liverpool, England, started to perform. They were the Beatles, and they created a new form of rock ‘n’ roll music called the “Mersey Sound”. The name comes from the river Mersey in Liverpool. Soon the Beatles became very successful.

During the 1960s some young people became unsatisfied with the traditions and lifestyles of society and tried to develop those of their own. They were called “hippies”. “Hippies” wanted a world based on love of peace. So they wore flowers to show that they were peaceful. Their philosophy is in Bob Dylan’s song, Blowing in the Wind, which says that wars are bad for the world and will do harm to peace.

“Glam Rock“，a new form of rock music, arrived in the early 1970s. The musicians, such as David Bowie wore colorful clothes and make up, wanted to shock people. In the mid-1970s another style of music, “Punk Rock”, appeared. Punk music is a way to express the singers’ thought and anger with society. It had lots of fans and they wore strange hairstyles and ripped jeans.

The 1990s was a time for superstars like Madonna and Michael Jackson. At that time lots of different styles of music were popular, such as “rap” or “hip-bop music”，in which the lyrics are spoken, rather than sung. And hip-bop youths wore baggy pants and oversized shirts.