Study Of Zhuang Music Education In Twentieth Century

This paper takes as the research object the development process of Zhuang music in the twentieth century, and mainly studies the problems such as the produce, development and relation of the theory and practice of the music education in Zhuang families, schools and society, so as to sum up the pros and cons and rules, and to provide basis and reference for the further development of Zhuang music education.The study categorizes the development of Zhuang music into four periods.1. The Embryo Period (1901-1949):Before the founding of new China, the main carrier of Zhuang music education is the spontaneous succession of family and society, which takes the forms of oral teaching by parents or neighborhood elders, and folk song assembly (Gexu and Gehui) to exchange learning. During this period, Zhuang music inheritance is inseparable with Zhuang culture inheritance, so Zhuang music had a rich social function and education function at that time. Zhuang music education was incorporated in ethnic music education in schools, such as the 1935-established national minority special tribal training class and the 1938-established Guangxi arts teacher training class. However, aimed at training teaching stuffs of ethnic minorities, these ethnic and cultural training institutions were no professional music education institutions, and the school music curriculum mainly followed the western system of music education, while ethnic music education was only involved in extracurricular activities.2. The early period (1950-1978):After the founding of new China and before the reform and opening up was a period of twists and turns for ethnic music education. After the founding of newChina, Zhuang music education still relied on the family inheritance. But with liberal forces’entering ethnic minority areas, ethnic music began to be paid attention to, and some music researchers started to record Zhuang music notations and tried to bring some changes to them. The results, however, were scattered, with randomness, and no overall planning. It was during this period that ethnic music education began to get attention. In order to cultivate talents of ethnic music, the country established various ethnic music classes and workshops in music colleges and universities in Beijing, Shanghai and other cities, specializing in training of ethnic minority music talents. Art colleges and art schools were also set up in ethnic minority regions. Hence, Zhuang music education had been developing. Although partially stalled before the reform and opening up, Zhuang music education managed to zigzag forward.3. The developing period (1979-1999)After the reform and opening up, Zhuang music inheritance was divided into two cases. In the first case, Zhuang music gradually declined due to the influx of new information, and fewer people learned it. While in the second case, education and inheritance of Zhuang music experienced a vigorous development due to the pent-up enthusiasm being released from reverse psychology. The Ministry of Culture and the Chinese Musicians Association released "The Plan for Collecting and Collating the Country’s Folk Music heritage", which ignited an unprecedented fire for collecting and collating the traditional music throughout the country, and for the traditional music of ethnic minorities as well. Specialized teams were gradually established for collecting, collating and studying ethnic music, and the Music Society of China’s Minorities was established at the same time. After the reform and opening up, the "Minority Singer Class" was established as the representative of school education of ethnic music in Guangxi area, which marked the formal development of school education of ethnic music in Guangxi, and had cultivated a large number of Zhuang music talents.4. Prospect at the Turn of the Century (2000-2010):After entering the 21 st century, ethnic music education has attracted growing attention from scholars and teachers. The research teams have been growing and fruitful research results have been attained. The study of ethnic music education has formed a certain scale, and the thinking about ethnic music education has deepened. Ethnic music education is now enjoying an unprecedented prosperity.To sum up, in the history of the 20th century, Chinese traditional music did not attain its due place, only serving as the add-on in music education curriculum, while ethnic music occupied a lower proportion in the music education, and in some period completely blank. Until 1980s, this situation has changed gradually.This paper proposes some thinking about the research of Zhuang music education in twentieth century and its future development:firstly, introducing Zhuang curriculum is a necessary condition for smoothly carrying out Zhuang music education; secondly, cultivating heirs to Zhuang music is an urgent task for Zhuang music education; thirdly, training teaching staff is a grave problem for Zhuang music education; fourthly, national policy support is the prerequisite for the development of Zhuang music education; fifthly, strengthening national identity is a major boost for Zhuang music. In conclusion, a complete architecture is urgently needed for the study of Zhuang music education.Last but not least, in the research process, researchers should locate Zhuang music education in the background of social transformation, combine it with the characteristics of the regional culture, strengthen the empirical research, and actively seek policy support for Zhuang music education.