School music songs refer to some original songs that were widely sung in the music classes of new schools all over China in the early 20th century. Most of these songs are recorded by notation, with tunes from Japan, Europe and America, and China people rewrite their words in Chinese. Simply put, it is to use foreign songs and fill in China's words (choose songs and fill in the lyrics). Representative figures of school music songs include Shen Xingong, Li Shutong and others, and representative works include Farewell and Spring outing.

School song is a kind of singing culture that rises with the establishment of new schools. Generally speaking, it refers to music classes offered by schools (then called singing or music songs) or songs written for school singing. It is a kind of song that chooses songs and writes lyrics. At first, most foreign students wrote lyrics in Japanese and European and American tunes. Later, they used folk tunes or newly created tunes. Advocates and promoters of school music songs are represented by enlightenment music educators such as,, and Zeng.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, the political reformers at that time advocated abolishing the old education system such as the imperial examination, imitating Europe and the United States and establishing new schools, so a number of new schools were gradually established. At that time, this kind of school was called "school", and the music class offered by the school was called "music song" class. Therefore, "school music songs" generally refer to school songs that appeared in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic of China (similar to today's campus songs). Today's young people may not know them, but they occupy a very important position in the history of modern music in China. This can be said to be one of their characteristics.

Specific concepts:

School music songs refer to the singing culture that arose with the establishment of new schools in the early 20th century, generally referring to music classes offered by schools or songs created for school singing. China's modern new music, represented by the school song, has entered a new stage. As a new music form in the history of China music, the appearance of school music songs has both profound social internal causes and distinct external influences. It "promoted the enlightenment of school music education and China's journey to modern society".

Generate background:

At the end of 19, under the influence of the reform trend of thought, the trend of thought of "setting up new schools, introducing advanced western education systems and developing modern science education" began to rise. 1904, the Qing court promulgated the school regulations, 1905, and the imperial examination was abolished. Modern education in China began with the establishment of new schools, and music, as a way of aesthetic education, played an important role in the minds of the advanced figures of that era.

Intellectuals in China are beginning to realize that if they don't want to be bullied again, they can only "learn from foreigners". Only by studying western modern science can we understand our own gap, and only in this way can we catch up and narrow the gap.

At the beginning:

The "Music Songs" course in the new school is modeled after the education system of western schools. At first, we learned the Japanese way of running a school. The reason for learning from Japan is that after the Meiji Restoration in 1868, it began to learn from the western political system, science and technology, and education system in an all-round way, becoming a "mixture of westernization and feudalism" society in Asia, and its comprehensive national strength surpassed that of China. Therefore, most early Japanese students chose Japan as their study destination. These early "returnees" realized the importance of modern music education to the national quality, so some people began to learn this knowledge and became early music teachers after returning home.

Innovative technology:

The creation of school music songs is in the primary stage of modern music culture in China. It is the result of many serious scholars' efforts to explore, and he is deeply influenced by the reform movement and reform thought. Like other aspects of learning from the west, we also boldly learn from music creation, and we can "take it" as long as we think it is useful.

Most of these songs are based on ready-made songs, but the number of self-made songs by screenwriters is very small. This may have something to do with the way of composing poems, words, songs and other works that can be sung in the past, which is to fill in new words according to ready-made tunes and qupai, and it is also related to the fact that people who were engaged in the creation of school music songs at that time knew little about professional composition techniques.

Later, I gradually changed to choose European and American songs to write lyrics, and Shen Xingong made a special explanation on this. For example, Shen Xingong's Sleeping Snow is based on the song of American artist Rosa Lee. And his "La Xian Xing" is based on the tune of Russian folk song "Volga Boatman Song". Shen Xingong's Farewell is based on the tune of the original French folk song An Hour and a Half of Game in An Song, and the influence of this song continues to this day. In addition, Li Shutong's Farewell is based on the tune of Home and Mother's Dream, which was written by American pop songwriter Odway. Li Shutong arranged "Greater China" according to the March of the band in the third scene of the first act of the Italian composer Bei Lini's opera Norma, and wrote lyrics; Leng Ye arranged The Ball according to the tune of the British national anthem at that time. Feng Liang wrote "The Spirit of Martial Arts" based on a dance from the comedy opera "The Country Prophet" written by Rousseau, a famous French enlightenment thinker.

There are not many school songs with China national tone. Representative songs are: Women's Rights in Cotton composed by Qiu Jin (in tune with Gymnastics composed by China); Shen Xingong's bitter foot binding (in tune with Shen Xingong's flies); Shen Xingong's Song of Tea Picking; Women Revolutionary Army in Hua's Works: Women Joining the Army edited by Li Yanxing and Li Chu; The Peach Blossom Garden written by Wen Jun; And that song of the motherland compose by Li Shutong mentioned above.

This situation has both objective and ideological reasons.

The objective reasons are as follows: on the one hand, because of the emergence of school songs in China, it was originally developed with reference to the experience of early Japanese school songs, and at first it was mainly written with foreign ready-made songs; On the other hand, at that time, the authors who were keen on writing school songs in China were mostly new intellectuals who studied abroad or actively supported domestic reforms. Most of them were not familiar with China traditional music, especially folk music. At the same time, from the beginning of this century, the Qing court turned to support the reform idea of "abolishing the imperial examination and rejuvenating the school" In order to meet the urgent needs of the rapidly developing new schools for school teachers, a large number of Japanese teachers were once hired to teach in China, including a certain number of music teachers in primary and secondary schools and "kindergarten nurses", who were even less familiar with the traditional folk music in China.

The subjective reason is that the political, economic and cultural reforms in China at that time mainly introduced the systems and experiences of Europe, America and Japan, while the traditional old culture (including the traditional "old music") closely related to the feudal system was to be changed. So at that time, many intellectuals who demanded reform thought that only western music could inspire people and boost morale. Although this kind of ideological understanding at that time was in line with most progressive ideas that actively supported the reform requirements, it seems to be one-sided today. Because in fact, Song of the Motherland and Encouragement for Women's Rights, two lyrics with China traditional accent, were popular school songs at that time, and did not give people any depressing influence. Of course, this phenomenon gradually changed after the Revolution of 1911.

Representative figure

In the course of the rise and development of school music songs, the earliest group of music educators appeared in the modern music history of China. Most of these early music pioneers had the background of studying abroad, and music was not their major when studying abroad. However, out of their love for music and their responsibility for the education of the motherland, they later devoted themselves to the creation and dissemination of "school music songs" and made important contributions to the establishment of general music education in China.

The main representatives of this period are Shen Xingong, Zeng Zhimao, Li Shutong, Ke Zhenghe and Han Xin.

Historical significance:

1, contributed a number of early outstanding vocal music works to the modern music history of China, and created the creation of "new music";

2. Make the singing form of "collective singing" deeply rooted in people's hearts and lay the foundation for the mass singing movement later;

3. Through the singing of music songs and school music education, western basic music theories and skills began to be systematically and widely spread in China;

4. Educated the earliest talents who spread, created and developed school music education in the history of modern music in China, and made outstanding contributions to the development of modern music in China.