The Formation of the Methodical System of Teaching Classical Harmony in the People’s Republic of China

Abstract

The article discusses the stages of the formation of the methodic system of teaching classical harmony in the People’s Republic of China. Analysis of the historical reveals the peculiarities and problems of teaching this section of the corresponding academic discipline, established in the national system of musical and musical-pedagogical education. The internal logic of this process is determined by the following parameters: the nature of the correlation of foreign experience with national characteristics and the presence (or opportunity) of other modules in the structure of the training course. On this basis, seven periods of the history of the teaching of classical harmony in China’s music education were identified and analyzed: 1842–1911 (formation of prerequisites); 1912–1926 (accumulation of primary empirical experience); 1927–1951 (methodic model of the Shanghai Conservatory); 1952–1965 (introduction of the Soviet pedagogical paradigm); 1966–1976 (crowding out foreign artistic influences and values from the cultural space); 1977–1997 (restoration of the Soviet methodic model against the backdrop of the adoption in art practice of modern forms of “Western” music and the national style based on pentatonic; 1998 – up to now (reforming the system of teaching harmony).

Keywords

• music education
• music-theoretical education
• harmony
• methodic
• cross-cultural interaction