Preliminary Study On Liu Tianhua's Music Educational Practice And Thoughts

At the beginning of the 20^th century, China was undergoing a great social change. To some degree, western society had exerted an influence on Chinese politics, economy, culture and education. At the same time, a batch of pioneers who dedicated themselves to music education came to the fore. Shen Xingong, Li Shutong, Zeng Zhimin, etc, they started modern Chinese enlightening music education. Cai Yuanpei, Xiao Youmei, Liu Tianhua, Huang Zi, Wu Mengfei, Feng Zikai,etc,they devoted themselves to professional music education. As well as other music educationists who contributed a lot to modern Chinese music education, they achieved in the field of music education in the 20th century. Among these music educationists, we choose Liu Tianhua as the target of study in this paper.Liu Tianhua (1895.2.4 - 1932.6.8), born in Jiangyin, Jiangsu province. He is the modern composer, two-stringed Chinese fiddle performer, Chinese lute performer, educationist, and the founder of the school of two-stringed Chinese fiddle. Against the social background of the modern history in the early 20th century, this paper studies Liu Tianhua's music educational ideas and practice in order to show his great contribution to China's music education. By studying his teaching in two-stringed Chinese fiddle, we can learn of his acknowledged contribution to music education and the art of two-stringed Chinese fiddle. In addition, we can find out the factors which can direct modern music education practice. The study on this subject can supplement the achievements in research into music education theory, and push forward a thorough and systematic study on music education theory. It is also an inspiration to the development of music education subjects and the art of two-stringed Chinese fiddle.The instruction of the paper deals with the main study methods. In the first chapter, the first part gives a brief account of Liu Tianhua's contribution to China's music education, and describes his significant position in China's history of music. Moreover, the first part discusses China's national musical instruments' position and influence on current music education system. Through describing the times background, Liu Tianhua's life and teaching experiences, the second part mainly lay bare the influence on Liu Tianhua' music educational ideas by Chinese cultural education in the early of 20th century. In the second chapter, we mainly study Liu Tianhua's music education practice, and emphasize his achievements in teaching, the inheritance of music school system, and establishing Chinese national music improvement society. In the third chapter, we sum up the formation and the main contents of Liu Tianhua' music educational ideas. In this chapter, we also discuss his teaching method and teaching material compilation and summarize characteristics of his music educational ideas. In the fourth chapter, we sum up his enlightenment and influence on music education.