Heritage education helps foster love for traditional music

Hue traditional music has its own unique value.

+ Hue is the ancient capital, home to many unique and famous traditional musical art forms such as royal court music, royal court opera, Hue singing, Hue folk songs, and folk songs... So, in your opinion, what role and influence does Hue traditional music currently have in the cultural life and integration of Hue?

- The role of Hue traditional music was formed and developed through many stages, from the role of Thuan Hoa town (1306 - 1557), the capital of Dang Trong (1558 - 1787), the capital of Tay Son dynasty (1788 - 1801) and the capital of Nguyen dynasty (1082 - 1945) creating a particularly important attraction and spread throughout history, creating a system of typical royal cultural heritage values, including Hue traditional music.

Meritorious Artist Hoang Trong Cuong - Deputy Director in charge of Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater. Photo: Document

For a long time, Hue traditional music has been considered a precious gem in the system of cultural and artistic heritage values ​​of the nation. Throughout history, especially under the Nguyen Dynasty, along with other types of performance, Hue traditional music was an indispensable spiritual food for the kings and mandarins of the Nguyen Dynasty. However, after the end of the Nguyen Dynasty (1945), Hue traditional music in general, and Royal Court Music in particular, gradually lost their original performance environment and are in danger of being lost.

With Resolution 54-NQ/TW dated December 10, 2019 of the Politburo determining "Building and developing Thua Thien Hue to become a centrally-run city on the basis of preserving and promoting the values ​​of the ancient capital's heritage and Hue's cultural identity...", Hue's traditional music has also been invested in and played a certain influential role in the process of Hue's cultural integration with international friends through art exchange performances with countries around the world.

+ According to you, what is the influence of Hue's traditional musical life on Hue's youth in particular and the youth of the whole country in general today?

- For each country and ethnic group, culture is always an affirmation of the unique characteristics of that country and ethnic group. Culture in general, and Hue traditional music in particular, have long affirmed their own unique values, which has been clearly demonstrated when Nha Nhac - Vietnamese Royal Court Music was recognized by UNESCO as a "Representative Cultural Heritage of Humanity".

For a long time, young people were not interested in traditional cultural values, including Hue traditional music. After Nha Nhac was recognized by the world, young people were more interested in this art form, but in reality, the issue of whether Hue traditional music in general and Nha Nhac in particular can have a profound influence on young people is still an urgent issue for managers, as well as those who are doing research on this genre.

+ Hue people in general and Hue youth in particular have a strong sense of family traditions, etiquette, and tradition. So will that help Hue youth today in preserving their love for traditional music, sir?

- Hue's traditional family education bears the strong imprint of Confucianism, so the family is the fundamental nucleus of society. Adults must constantly strive to become exemplary models for their children to follow, and conversely, children must also make every effort not to let down their parents.

With these values, the protection and preservation of traditional cultural values ​​in general, and Hue traditional music in particular, are still preserved and promoted by families with a tradition in the “music profession”. They have breathed life into, aroused passion, and inspired their children with the desire to train quality generations, ensuring to meet the needs of today’s society.

Innovative, creative, diverse in approach to rekindle love for traditional music

+ Could you tell us about the current work of nurturing and training traditional music for Hue youth? What do you think is the sustainable solution?

- For Hue traditional music in general, Hue Royal Court Music in particular, currently, with its functions and tasks, Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater has maintained and preserved the true value of Royal Court Music.

The theater has many activities to restore and teach, including opening training courses for young students who are talented or come from traditional artisan families, to provide future Nha Nhac musicians with sufficient knowledge of culture and professional skills; periodically organize training courses to improve performance skills for young Nha Nhac musicians.

The theater has organized many training sessions for a total of 180 young musicians of the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater to train and improve the skills and quality of performing Nha Nhac for the musicians. These training sessions were all taught by experienced Nha Nhac artisans, and the musicians were the ones who supplemented the performance methods and skills, were trained, and honed their skills according to the traditional standards that the artisans are holding.

To continue to maintain and promote the achievements in the work of preserving and bringing traditional Hue music to young people in a more sustainable manner, we need the following basic solutions: Building a Hue Center for Intangible Cultural Research to concentrate resources in the province, investment sources from the Government and funding sources from the international community for the work of preserving, maintaining and promoting intangible cultural heritage in the Hue region; Continuing to train traditional musicians as well as Nha Nhac musicians to create a source of human resources for the next generation; Continuing to promote the values ​​of this art form to domestic and foreign tourists, this is also a plan to preserve and promote the values ​​of this art form.

An extracurricular activity to learn about royal culture and traditional music by Hue primary school students. Photo: Thanh Hoa

+ To bring Hue traditional music to young people, what has the Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater done and what are the results so far, sir?

- To bring Hue traditional music to young people, Hue Royal Traditional Arts Theater has organized extracurricular programs for students from preschool to secondary school. This is a heritage education program organized by the Hue Monuments Conservation Center in collaboration with the Hue City Department of Education and Training for students for more than 2 years now.

Heritage education is one of the important programs contributing to preserving and promoting the cultural values ​​of our ancestors, effectively supporting the education of cultural traditions and history in the school environment, with the goal of always being innovative, creative, and diverse in the approach to arouse the love of heritage in general, and Hue traditional music in particular, for the young generation.

+ Thank you very much!

Thanh Hoa (Implementation)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/giao-duc-di-san-gop-phan-khoi-day-tinh-yeu-voi-am-nhac-truyen-thong-post300111.html