The evening sea breeze gently swept over Gulangyu Island. The ferry bridge was crowded with people waiting for the last ferry of the day to Xiamen, the city across the sea in East China's Fujian Province.

Among the crowd were many young people speaking different dialects and humming songs.

A young man burst out in a Uygur folk song and was joined by several dancing girls. They won applause from the crowds.

Then a beautiful and powerful "O Sole Mio" was heard from another group nearby. A young tenor sang to his heart's content in a friendly challenge.

Before long, more and more people joined in the singing and dancing and soon the ferry bridge and even the long seashore became bustling with songs, music, cheers and laughter.

The excited young people had traveled from around the country to Xiamen to share their music with the local people and, above all, with nearly 1,000 participants of the First China College Students Music Festival held between July 13 to 20.

Organized by the Ministry of Education and the China Central Conservatory of Music, the one-week festival involved 17 colleges whose music education included conservatories of music, music departments at universities, music departments at teachers' schools and vocational art or music schools.

Venue for exchanges

According to Yu Feng, artistic director of the festival, it was the first time that so many schools came together to communicate with each other.

What's more, a 200-member Youth United Symphony Orchestra and a 400-member Youth United Chorus consisting of students from all participating schools were specially formed for the festival to promote communication.

The festival featured 13 concerts of various styles including symphony, solo instrument, chamber music, chorus, traditional Chinese music, vocal (both Chinese style and bel canto) and outdoor performances.

Each school brought their specialty and best performances. For example, the Central University of Nationalities based in Beijing gave a concert featuring ethnic folk music with ethnic instruments. Xi'an Conservatory of Music based in the capital of Northwest China's Shaanxi Province gave two concerts of wind instruments which were said to be its best performances.

Students from the Shanghai Conservatory played jiangnan sizhu, traditional Chinese instruments such as the erhu, dizi, yangqin, pipa and guzheng popular in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, while students from Xinghai Conservatory in South China's Guangdong Province performed ancient Cantonese music.

The chamber concerts, which are not so popular in China, also featured wonderful groups such as the Central Conservatory's saxophone quartet, Shenyang Conservatory's wooden tube quintet, Xiamen University's piano trio and Tianjin Conservatory's string quartet.

As for the chorus, the five choirs all impressed the audiences with their distinctive styles. The choir from Xinjiang Normal College in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region took the audience to an unpolluted and beautiful world of grasslands where the cries of stallions, mirages on the Gobi Desert, wind in the grass and the Uygur people's happiness and joy all linger.

The chorus from the Yunnan Arts College impressed the audience with its a cappella (unaccompanied chorus) performance and polyphony.

"A cappella is the ultimate choral art. It moves people through the pure enchantment of the human voice and harmony," says Yalungerile, one of the best chorus conductors in China. The conductor, a member of the Mongolian ethnic group, was invited as a guest conductor for the festival. "In their cappella you can feel the emotions coming directly from their hearts."

According to Yang Hongnian, chorus conductor with the Central Conservatory, the participating choirs are among the best in China. Many of them have won prizes at home and abroad.

During the week, students from around the country made new friends and learned from each other. Students from local conservatories gained experience from the two leading conservatories in the country, the Central Conservatory and the Shanghai Conservatory.

"I had thought my technique was good, but after listening to the performance by Chen Xi, I realized he is not only more skillful but much more passionate in playing," said Xu An, a violin student from Wuhan Conservatory in Central China's Hubei Province. Chen Xi won the second prize in the violin contest at the 12th Tchaikovsky International Music Competition last month in Moscow.

Students from Shenyang Conservatory of Northeast China's Liaoning Province also said they learned detailed skills from students from the Central Conservatory who were seated nearby during rehearsals.

Chi Xia, a viola student from Shenyang Conservatory, said, "It is good to learn to play such a difficult symphony as Rakhmaninov No 2 under the baton of Yu Feng, who is one of the best conductors in China."

Many participating students said they wished more time could have been reserved for communicating with other students. "It is a valuable experience to take part in such a festival in the four or five years of college life," said Li Wenjie, 21, who is learning piano at Xinghai Conservatory of Music in Guangzhou. "But I am too busy with rehearsals to further communicate with my peers from other schools, other than to say hello and have a short talk when we met briefly in the hotel or theatres."

Music promotion

While the students showcased their versatile musical skills, teachers from the schools attended forums to discuss ways to popularize classical music in universities and among the general public, and how to develop talented musicians instead of simple instrument players or singers.

Most conservatories of music have started to develop a comprehensive system to promote classical music. They have begun programmes for continuing education and started courses to train music teachers for universities, middle schools and people who would spread music in a community or a neighbourhood.

Guo Shuzhen, a soprano and one of the leading vocal professors now teaching at the Central Conservatory of Music, said she is proud to train a musician such as Wu Bixia, who is one of her favourite students and just won second prize in the vocal contest at the 12th Chaikovsky International Music Competition.

"My mission is to spread classical music as widely as possible in the country to improve the whole nation's culture and music level," she said.

Guo Shulan, another professor with the Central Conservatory, said: "We are training the 'national team' of music for the country, yet a powerful national team should be well-grounded."

Ye Fangxiu, professor with Wuhan Conservatory, pointed out that local conservatories have the responsibility to promote classical music in universities and colleges in their areas.

She said that every year the conservatory sends student orchestras and choruses to local colleges in Hubei Province and their performances are always well-received.

Once after a concert at Central China College of Science and Engineering, a member of the audience was so moved that he jumped on stage, excitedly shook hands with the first violinist and said he had never known classical music could be so great.

"They just have very few chances to be exposed to classical pieces, so we'd better bring it closer to them," said Ye.

Meanwhile many professors at the festival were concerned about the quality of the conservatory students.

"Some conservatories usually pay great attention to students' performance techniques but neglect their artistic and cultural accomplishments," said Fan Zheming, vice-president of Shenyang Conservatory. "The result is they become performance masters but not accomplished musicians."

Mao Dingwen, vice-president of the Shanghai Conservatory, expressed his worry that in real society, some teachers and students are so eager for quick success that they simply work for some competitions.

"They repeat practising a few pieces of music to win the awards instead of understanding the music and learning techniques step by step," he said.

During the forums, the participating professors put forward quite a number of suggestions to help solve the problems.

More music departments and amateur student orchestras and choruses should be set up at universities to help spread classical music. "Not all the students who love music should go to the conservatory and become a musician after graduation," said Fan. "He or she could be a scientist, a social activist or a CEO. Fostering their interest in music benefits them for their whole lives."

For instance, students from Peking, Tsinghua and Nankai universities, though amateurs, played important roles in the festival. Hou Xijin, director of the Peking University Choir, said: "They join the choir out of their love for music and enjoy every rehearsal and performance."

Yet, the festival only featured a few new works such as the theme song, "Light of the Nation" composed by Hao Weiya with the Central Conservatory, and electronic music created by Zhang Xiaofu and his students, also with the Central Conservatory.

Especially in the category of traditional Chinese music, there was no new impressive work and no new soloist who stood out.

"There's a problem of how to inherit the tradition, pass it on to the young people and compose more works with original folk flavour," said Dong Jinhan, dean of the music department of the Central University of Nationalities as well as chief conductor of its orchestra.

Some universities are trying to reverse the trend. Zhang Huan, dean of the music department at Xinjiang Normal College, said his students go and collect folk music from local villages and communities for two weeks every semester.

Some old folk artists are even invited to class, Zhang said.

( China Daily July 29, 2002)