National Music College
In the end, school singing is just a popularization movement. It can be regarded as the beginning of modern music in China. It really starts from professional music schools. In the traditional Chinese concept, national music is a name that does not exist. Ancient music is divided into two types. One is for literati to entertain themselves as a means of self-cultivation. If music is used to make profits, then one is an actor, which is a despicable profession in the traditional sense. Although Shanghai was the first to become popular, in 1927, due to traditional concepts, it was extremely difficult to recruit students to the National Conservatory of Music. It took Mr. Cai Yuanpei as a tiger skin to recruit more than 20 students.
Even in such a predicament, the Shanghai National Conservatory of Music still teaches rigorously and has trained many elites. In the past ten years, there were 54 graduates, including Li Xianmin and Qiu Fusheng. , Yu Yixuan, Ding Shande, Dai Cuilun, Lao Jingxian, Hu Jingxiang, Chen Youxin, Liu Xue'an, Hu Ran, Hong Daqi, Huang Tinggui, Zhang Junwei, Li Huifang, Zhang Hao, Tan Xiaolin, etc. are all great people who can be included in the history of Chinese music. Among the 150 undergraduates, there are also pillars such as He Luting, Jiang Dingxian, Chen Tianhe, Xian Xinghai, Zhang Shu, Lu Ji, Jiang Fengzhi, and Hong Pan. The biggest contributor to such a result is undoubtedly Mr. Xiao Youmei.
The first director of the Shanghai National Conservatory of Music was Mr. Cai Yuanpei, and it was Mr. Xiao Youmei who first proposed the establishment of a conservatory of music. Mr. Xiao is the actual person in charge of the work of the college. When the college was established, Mr. Xiao Youmei served as professor and academic director. Mr. Xiao is China's most important music educator and the founder of modern music education in China. Born in Xiangshan, Guangdong, he is now a native of Zhongshan, Guangdong. In 1901, he went to Japan to study at the Tokyo Music School and the Tokyo Imperial University. In 1912, he went to Germany again and entered the Leipzig Conservatoire to study composition theory. In 1916, he received a doctorate with his thesis "Historical Research on Chinese Orchestras Before the Seventeenth Century".
In 1928, Mr. Cai Yuanpei resigned as dean, and Mr. Xiao Youmei was immediately promoted. However, the following year, the government amended the University Organization Law and the college was downgraded to a national music college. Although it was downgraded, the standard of the National Music College has not been lowered. Xiao Youmei has made great efforts to recruit talents. Not only are many domestic musicians recruited, but first-class scholars are also invited to teach in the secondary courses. The teachers of the Chinese language class at that time included Yi Weizhai, Long Yusheng and others. The author has read Mr. Long Yusheng's poetry rhythms of the Tang and Song Dynasties, and he is a master of first-class knowledge. In 1929, the world-famous pianist and Russian pianist Zakharov lived in Shanghai. After hearing the news, Mr. Xiao Youmei visited many times, raised his monthly salary to 400 yuan, and invited Zakharov to teach. Zakharov remained there until his death in 1942. Staying in Shanghai has greatly improved the level of piano teaching in China, and its influence continues to this day. The piano department is still the teaching strength of Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
In 1930, Huang Zi, a famous musician who had studied in the United States, returned to China and was immediately hired as the dean of academic affairs. Xiao and Huang joined forces, and the National Music College entered its prosperous era. After a few years of poor management, the domestic music education environment has finally changed, and music departments have begun to be established in various universities. At that time, Peking University established music departments at Yenching University, the Central University of Education, and the National Peking University Women's College of Arts and Sciences. There is a national art college in Hangzhou, and private schools follow the trend and also offer music colleges, such as Jinghua Art College and the private Guangzhou Conservatory of Music. Among the many music majors, Shanghai National Conservatory of Music is undoubtedly one of the best.
Xiao Youmei’s school adopts internationally accepted professional music education standards and gradually implements the credit system. The school’s teachers are also a combination of Chinese and foreign. In addition to the aforementioned Chakharov, foreign musicians who teach at the National Music College include Fu Hua, Shefu Shufu, Su Shilin, Asakov, Lacharev, etc. people. He put even more emphasis on musicians who had returned from studying abroad. Mr. Huang Zi served as the academic director and taught almost all composition theory courses, making great contributions to the development of the school.
Huang Zi is from Chuansha, Shanghai. He went to the United States to study in 1924 and studied psychology at Oberlin University. He later transferred to the Yale School of Music and received a bachelor's degree in music. He composed the orchestral piece "Nostalgia" while in the United States. , is the first symphonic work created by a Chinese, and it is also the first Chinese symphonic work performed by a foreign symphony orchestra.
After returning to China, he taught at Shanghai Hujiang University. In 1930, he was appointed as the National Music Director and professor of composition. Huang Zicun's works are not many, but they cover a wide range of genres, many of which are the first of its kind in China. The official string piece "Nostalgia" mentioned above is the earliest symphony composed by the Chinese, and "Song of Everlasting Sorrow" is the earliest Qing Dynasty opera in China. The Anti-Japanese War After he started, he composed the earliest anti-Japanese songs "Anti-Enemy Song" and "Flag is Flying", and composed the opening song for the movie "City Scenery". It was also the first close contact between instrumental music and Chinese movies. At that time, the Shanghai National Conservatory of Music still had a large number of musical elites who had returned from studying abroad, including Zhou Shuan, Wu Bochao, Ying Shanneng, Li Weining, Xiao Shuxian, Chen Hong, Zhao Meibo and others.
Among the teachers of the Music Division, there is also a legendary figure, whose pen name is Qingzhu, whose original name is Liao Shangguo. He was a participant in the Revolution of 1911 in his early years. He later went to Germany to study law, and studied piano and composition theory. The Great Revolution During this period, he was wanted by the Nationalist Government and hid in Shanghai under the cover of Xiao Youmei. During his stay in Shanghai, Qingzhu served as the editor of the National Music School Journal, and later became the chief editor of the quarterly magazine "Music Art". He wrote a large number of music reviews and compiled the vocal works he created during this period into two books: "Music" and "Collection of Qingge". , which is a translation of Su Dongpo's "The River Moves Away" and Li Zhiyi's "You Live at the Head of the Yangtze River", which is still often sung today. Qingzhu's aesthetic theory involves the philosophy of art and music art. He is an early researcher on the systematic study of music aesthetics. He is influenced by subjective idealism such as Kant, Schopenhauer, Liszt, and the "Expressionist" theorist Hermann Bayle. Philosophical influence. In 1935, the Nationalist Government canceled the wanted order against Qingzhu, so he stayed away and never got involved in music again. However, the music views he left behind were later used by Chinese musicians as the basis for "art first" and "art for art's sake".
During the period of the National Conservatory of Music, the situation in school music and singing changed from being dominated by overseas students from Japan to European and American returnees. This shows that music enlightenment has been completed and it has begun to develop into a professional field. Xiao Youmei selected outstanding Chinese and foreign classic music works as teaching materials in her teaching, and gradually established a music education teaching material system in my country. Some music activities at that time, such as compiling and publishing the "National Music School Series", holding concerts from time to time, establishing the "Educational Music Broadcasting Committee", regularly broadcasting music on Shanghai Zhongxi Radio, and opening a "Music News" in the "New Night News" "Special Issue", which is my country's earliest special music broadcast and newspaper music column. They all laid the foundation for modern music in Shanghai and even across the country.
Shanghai is also the birthplace of Chinese opera and dance drama. Li Jinhui's "The Sparrow and the Child" is the earliest musical and dance drama. Later, Qiu Wangxiang's "The Swan", Chen Tianhe's "The Emperor's New Clothes", Zhang Shu's "The Emperor's New Clothes" "Wang Zhaojun", Nie Er's "Yangtze River Storm", Chen Gexin's "Xishi", Zhang Hao's "Song of Shanghai", Qian Renkang's "Song of the Earth", Afshalomoov's "Meng Jiangnu", etc., as well as Afsharomov's dance dramas "The Heart of the Piano" and "Dreams in the Ancient Temple" appeared one after another, which contributed to the emergence of opera and dance dramas in our country.