Academic literature on the topic 'Music teachers – China'

The content of music teacher education study programmes is conditioned by the needs of the market economy and information society, higher education as a mass phenomenon, penetration of humanist ideas into the curricula and many other factors. The aim of these study programmes is to respond to the needs of society, develop the competencies of teacher education and establish the right conditions for successful implementation and to achieve the intended learning outcomes. The training of music teachers in China requires overall improvement in the level of music teacher training. The Ministry of National Education provides the curriculum for music teacher education as well as the guidelines for teaching compulsory courses for music teachers at general institutions and prestigious universities in China. This profession is important in professional courses and in the field of pedagogy; therefore, integrating the content of elective courses into professional courses could be more prolific and comprehensive. Keywords: Music teacher education, study programme, music education.

Study programmes that aim to educate music teachers have been undergoing a constant process of renewal, which is predetermined by various factors. The study programmes of music teacher education implemented in Lithuania have never been broadly analysed and compared to similar study programmes of music teacher education in China. Therefore, this study aimed to carry out an analysis of bachelor and master study programmes of music teacher education in Lithuania and China revealing their similarities and differences. The research study disclosed that the goals, intended learning outcomes, structure and curriculum of the two countries have similarities and differences, which are predetermined by philosophical aspects, humanistic ideas and national context of educational policies in both the countries. The study programmes aim to respond to needs of contemporary society, to develop competencies of music teachers, to establish conditions for successful implementation of the goals of study programmes and attainment of learning outcomes. Keywords: Music teacher education, teacher education curriculum, study programme.

The Ministry of Education of China issued a new document of Music Curriculum Standards in 2011 substituting the old version of 2001. This study aims to investigate how music teachers in China implement and respond to the Curriculum Standards through a questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews with voluntary teachers. A total of 2206 music teachers from 15 regions/provinces responded to the survey in 2015. Findings reveal that, after a few years of implementation, most teachers found different constraints in implementing the new curriculum. Trained teachers, younger teachers and experienced teachers are more receptive and capable in implementing the curriculum, while rural schools are still in a disadvantaged situation. Most teachers do not understand the concept of music education as aesthetic education. In-service training is found to be insufficient, especially in rural schools. In sum, the current ‘knowledge-centered curriculum’ might need to be redirected to the directions of society-centered and student-centered in order to make a balance.

This study examined popular music and school music education as cultural constructs of teenage students amid the shifting cultural and social dynamics of contemporary China. Data were drawn from questionnaires completed by 6,780 secondary students (mainly ages 12 through 17) from three cities—Beijing, Changsha, and Shanghai. The survey results revealed the extent of Chinese youths’ preferences for a variety of popular music styles in their daily lives, the relationship between their preference for popular idols and their music learning, and their views on learning popular music in school music education. The discussion in this article focuses on the dynamics of teaching popular music and learning other music styles (not limited to either popular or classical music) within the school environment in relation to teenage students’ daily music experiences and school music learning, school music teachers, and teacher education in contemporary China.

This article focuses on music education in Chinese and Lithuanian schools, especially on the latest reforms of the national music curriculum for basic and general education. Due to the original reasons and historical development in the east and west, the philosophies of educations are different, resulting in differences in concepts of education, goals of education, methods of education, roles of teachers and students. The process of collecting information for music education in Lithuania and China will be explained in order to gain insight into specific issues related to each country. The resulting similarities and differences between Chinese and Lithuanian school music education are reported, and suggestions for basic and teacher education improvement are discussed. Most importantly, the findings of this study have highlighted that the notions of school music education in Lithuania and China are insignificantly different. Keywords: Chinese general music education, music curriculum, music activities, Lithuanian general music education.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the phenomenon of music teachers’ artistic and educational activity in the artistic and value context as well as projections for professional training. The integral content of such activity in the teaching profession is revealed in general, and its connection with the values of culture is considered. It is emphasized that art education covers all disciplines of professional music and pedagogical training. At the same time, the tasks of the particular discipline always are in the centre of the solution of problems of other disciplines. Moreover, the place of education in life and work of prominent artists and teachers of Ukraine, China, and other countries is indicated. The role of poly-artistic training of music teachers as a basis for the formation of artistic values is emphasized. The requirements of artistic and educational activity for professional training of music teachers are outlined as the following: attitude towards educational activity, self-development of cultural skills, mastery of information space, development of performing skills, mastering the techniques of verbal and nonverbal communication with the audience. The article specifies the essence of music teacher’s artistic and educational activity as a purposeful permanent process that integrates various components of artistic cognition. The interdependent vectors of professional training of music students are formulated. They are the following: a directed influence on artistic values of others and conscious enrichment of one’s own artistic value sphere. The potential of music teacher’s artistic and educational activity as a foundation and reference point for acquiring personal artistic values is revealed, which includes motivation to expand general artistic erudition, the possibility of holistic practice-oriented immersion in art, presentation of the results of artistic search, and self-presentation.

The article deals with the comparative analysis of the system of music training of pedagogues-musicians abroad (in the countries of the European Union, Scandinavian countries, United States of America, People’s Republic of China and Japan) in particular, comparing these systems and selecting the most valuable experience for implementation in Ukraine. Particular attention is paid to the structure of music teacher education in Poland, Latvia, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Iceland, Norway, Great Britain, America, People’s Republic of China, Japan. The author of the article analyses the term of education in different countries; duration of stage education (Bachelor (Bc), Master (Mg), Doctor (Dr)); duration of study of the course; types of music activity; basic subjects; direction of educational subjects; music-pedagogical systems of outstanding musicians-pedagogues involved in the professional education process. It is analyzed that the common features for music education are: the orientation of education to the inner values associated with the development of musical skills, knowledge and abilities necessary for creativity and reaction to music; understanding and knowledge of the cultural environment and heritage; personal and community development through creativity, identity formation, personal development and social interaction. Music education systems abroad are characterized by the focus on the harmonious development of the personality, provide various forms of creative music playing on the material of folk, classical, contemporary music in their parallel comparison, develop perception and musical hearing through effective techniques.

The relevance of the study is predetermined by insufficient development of the problem of schoolchildren’s music education in general secondary education institutions in the People’s Republic of China and the significance of the use of educationally valuable Chinese experience in music education in Ukrainian educational practice. The aim of the study is to reveal the tendencies and prospects for schoolchildren’s music education in general secondary education institutions in the People’s Republic of China. Various methods have been used to carry out this research, namely: general scientific (analysis, synthesis, systematization, generalization, comparison, classification), historical, empirical and prognostic methods. The general tendencies of development of music education in general secondary education institutions in the People’s Republic of China in historical, content and organizational-methodical aspects have been revealed. The general trends of development of music education in general secondary education institutions in Ukraine and the People’s Republic of China have been determined. They are the progressiveness of the general strategy of music education, its focus on the development of spirituality of the nation, democratization of educational process, openness to the world and European experience, constant modernization of the content of education, forms and methods of mastering it, improvement of the conditions of educational process, increased attention to Music teachers’ professional training. The prospects for development of schoolchildren’s music education in general secondary education institutions in the People’s Republic of China have been specified. They are the intensification of scientific research and intensifying the implementation of innovations into the practice of music education, the creation of a national concept of general music education taking into consideration the progressive world experience and national cultural traditions, development of curricula of general secondary music education taking into account the specificity and opportunities in the region, the combination of tradition and innovation in music pedagogy. The directions of the use of Chinese experience in modern schools in Ukraine have been determined. They are the development of a concept of schoolchildren’s music education taking into account the realities and prospects for the development of national education, universal and national cultural traditions, children’s assimilation of the most important values by means of musical art, providing pedagogically appropriate organization and improving the conditions of children’s music education, increasing the requirements for Music teachers’ professionalism

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine music teachers' perceptions of teaching cultural and national values (also defined as national cultural values) to explore the tensions facing school music education in the choice of music types to be delivered in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachWith specific regard to music teachers' perceptions of “values,” “music cultures” and “nationalism,” data were drawn from a survey questionnaire given to 343 music teachers (155 preservice and 188 in-service music teachers) and semistructured interviews with 36 of these respondents.FindingsThe findings of the study showed that though many respondents in Hong Kong and Taiwan felt comfortable teaching traditional Chinese music, they did not want to teach contemporary Mainland Chinese music and other political or patriotic forms in the school music curriculum. The data also demonstrated some shortcomings in introducing a balance of music types into the curriculum, as well as limitations in promoting national education in response to the respective sociopolitical situations in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was subject to limitations regarding the potential generalizability of the findings on school music teachers' perceptions in Hong Kong and Taiwan.Practical implicationsThe implications for teachers and student teachers regarding the development of cultural and national values related to the political processes in Hong Kong and Taiwan are complicated, because of not only their relationship with Mainland China and its education based on nationalism but also the extent of teachers' professional training to help create an enabling environment for national and cultural development.Originality/valueThe findings of this study revealed that there are fundamental gaps in the overt and operational curricula in Hong Kong and Taiwan concerning the sociopolitical function of values in school music education in response to their respective sociopolitical situations.

The article presents some features of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the field of teacher training for China. Moscow Pedagogical State University together with Weinan Pedagogical University not only implements joint educational programs of pedagogical profile, but also forms a new system of educational process management in the joint structural educational division of the Chinese University. The implementation of joint educational programs in the field of preschool education, training of teachers of fine arts and music was the first project based on intergovernmental agreements between Russia and China on the creation of a joint structural educational unit in a Chinese University. The project is related to the development of modern approaches to teacher training for the People’s Republic of China based on the achievements of the Russian model of teacher training.

Present research provides strong support for the use of creative activities in school music programmes based on evidence that learning music is more effective when students are exposed to authentic, experiential learning activities, rather than verbal descriptions and explanations by the teacher. Based on this background the purpose of this study was to address the need to train music teachers with the confidence and skills necessary to incorporate creative music making in their classroom teaching. The study was divided into two phases. Phase I included a questionnaire survey that investigated the current situation of music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools. To extend this survey three composers and three curriculum planners were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews in order to survey their opinions and suggestions on creative music making. Based on the literature review and findings from Phase I, Phase II focused on the design of a teacher education programme that would prepare teachers to undertake creative activities in their classroom music teaching. The programme was trialled twice with two groups of in-service music teachers studying at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. The trainees were asked to design their own creative projects that were taught during a four-week Teaching Practice session. Findings reveal that the most effective creative projects possessed a logical teaching sequence, addressed students???? musical preferences, and integrated listening and performing activities with the creative task. Findings suggest that Hong Kong music teachers should adopt the techniques proposed in this study when designing and implementing their teaching programmes in order to nurture the musical creativity of their students. Music teacher education programmes in Hong Kong should also consider revising their modules so that they provide more balance between theory and practice, and integrate subject-based knowledge with pedagogical skills. A major conclusion of the study is that music teaching in Hong Kong secondary schools would benefited from a balance between creating, performing and listening activities where teachers apply a student-centred approach to expose their students to active, experiential and reflective learning environments in which creative musical expression is fostered at all levels of student development.

Recent music educational reforms in Hong Kong stress the need to cultivate students??? understanding toward Chinese music. However, research indicates that Hong Kong music teachers lack sufficient confidence and valuing to teach Chinese music. Based on this background, the purpose of this study was to address the need to train teachers with the confidence and skills to teach Chinese music. An indigenous genre, Chaozhou xianshi music was introduced as a focus of study because the genre is considered to be a useful mediator for teachers and their students to understand and appreciate Chinese music. The study comprised two inter-related parts. Part I included fieldwork in xianshi music, semi-structured interviews with xianshi musicians and literature review that investigated the theory, teaching and learning of xianshi and Chinese music. Based on the findings of Part I, Part II involved a Pilot and Main Study that were designed to trial a pre-service teacher education programme at the Hong Kong Institute of Education that would prepare trainees to undertake the teaching of xianshi and Chinese music. A xianshi music ensemble was formed to expose the trainees to practical experiences of the genre. During their final teaching practice session, the trainees were asked to design and teach xianshi and Chinese music in schools. Qualitative data were collected from interviews and an analysis of video-recordings of their teaching. Findings revealed that a sequenced exposure in xianshi music was advantageous for the trainees to develop their potential and competence to teach Chinese music, as was evident in these trainees??? teaching approaches and implementation. Findings suggest that Hong Kong music teachers should adopt the techniques proposed in this study. Importantly, music teachers should demonstrate their role as transmitters of musical heritage and be capable to design and implement effective lessons, to involve their students to practical experiences in traditional Chinese music, and to develop their students intellectually and artistically so that they become informed consumers of their own and other musical traditions. In the long run, these approaches may help to increase the valuing of Chinese music and culture among students and citizens in the society more generally.

Under the principle of "one curriculum framework for all", all students in Hong Kong are eligible to have access to the same curriculum framework regardless of their level of intellectual functioning. Teachers in Hong Kong special schools have to adapt the central curriculum to cater for the learning needs of their students with intellectual disabilities. Since the guidance of music curriculum adaptations for students with Severe Intellectual Disabilities (SID) is scarce in Hong Kong, teachers with limited subject knowledge and inadequate understanding of their students' music development face considerable challenges when adapting the curriculum. Teachers' perceptions of music education for students with SID and their roles as music teachers influence the way the music curriculum is adapted and enacted. This study aims at exploring the perceptions and practices of music teachers concerning the adaptations of the music curriculum at the Basic Education level in a Hong Kong special school for students with SID. The method of qualitative multiple case studies was employed to investigate the perceptions and practices of two music teachers with similar backgrounds. Findings from interviews, class observations, and review of documents suggest that music teachers' perceptions, practices, and reflections are closely related to one another. The two cases showed similar perceptions toward the values of music education, but diverse perceptions of the learning priorities of students with SID and their roles as music teachers, which contributed to variations in their practices and reflections. The cases showed differences in the design of music activities, adaptations of music instruments, the focus of assessments, and collaboration with paraprofessionals. Findings indicate that although both teachers commonly employed two instructional strategies, the aims and emphases of using the strategies were diverse. It suggests that with different perceptions of the learning priorities of students, the same strategies are used differently. Reflections of practices among the two teachers differed due to the variations of their styles of attribution and perceived roles of music teachers. They defined and framed problems in the process of teaching and learning differently, therefore leading to contrasting ways in handling the problems. The two teachers' reflections in return affected their perceptions and the subsequent cycle of practices. Keywords: Teachers' perceptions and practices, curriculum adaptation, music curriculum, severe intellectual disabilities, multiple case studies.

Notre recherche concerne la tentative de construction ce que l’on appelle le « Nouveau Système ». Cette méthode est en cours d’élaboration, avec une certaine discrétion, principalement au Conservatoire Central de Pékin. Ce Nouveau Système semble s’inspirer de trois méthodes actives européennes (Jaques-Dalcroze, Orff et Kodaly). L’objectif de la recherche, après avoir restitué le contexte historique, est d’abord d’identifier les méthodes dont s'inspire le "Nouveau Système", l'apport d'éléments propres à la Chine ; ensuite, de tenter de comprendre la relation entre l'émergence de ce Nouveau Système et la société chinoise. Nous avons choisi l’observation directe, l’entretien semi-directif avec les formateurs et les stagiaires, l’analyse des vidéos et des entretiens. L’analyse de l’ensemble des données montre que les répertoires du Nouveau Système incluent des chants populaires chinois qui sont souvent réécrits et adaptés selon les besoins de l’enseignement, beaucoup de chants occidentaux, de la musique tonale occidentale, de la musique improvisée tonale. Il y a peu de place pour l’enseignement des musiques traditionnelles chinoises. Cette recherche nous permet de comprendre, d’une part, qu’il y a une demande dans le domaine éducatif (y compris la musique) de former de futurs citoyens plus créatifs afin de répondre aux besoins de la transformation économique, et d’autre part, qu’il y a une volonté de maintenir l’unité de la Chine. Dans le cas du Nouveau Système, il y a une tendance vers une certaine autonomie de l’individu. En revanche, cette volonté peut entrer en conflit avec le maintien de la cohésion sociale dans un pays où vivent plusieurs peuples et où a régné une longue tradition autoritaire
Our research concerns the attempt to build what is called New System. This method is being developed, with some discretion, mainly in Central Conservatoire Beijing. This “New System” seems to be inspired by three European active methods (Jaques-Dalcroze, Orff and Kodaly). The aim of the research, after having described the historical context, is first to identify methods which inspired the "New System", the contribution of factors particular to China. Then, trying to understand the relationship between the emergence of this New System and Chinese society. We chose direct observation, semi-structured interviews with trainers and trainees, analysis of video and analysis of the interviews. The overall analysis of the data shows that New System directories include Chinese folk songs that are often rewritten and adapted to the needs of the teaching of the New System, many Western songs, Western tonal music, improvised tonal music. There is little room for the teaching of Chinese traditional music. This research allows us to understand on one hand, that there is a demand for the field of education (including music) to train future creative citizens to meet the needs of economic transformation. On the other hand, that there is a desire to maintain the unity of China. In this New System, there is a tendency towards a certain autonomy of the individual. However, this desire may conflict with the maintenance of social cohesion in a country where many people live and where reigned a long authoritarian tradition

Globalization, Nationalism, and Music Education in the Twenty-First Century in Greater China examines the recent developments in school education and music education in Greater China – Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan – and the relationship between, and integration of, national cultural identity and globalization in their respective school curriculums. Regardless of their common history and cultural backgrounds, in recent decades, these localities have experienced divergent political, cultural, and educational structures. Through an analysis of the literature, official curriculum documents, approved music textbooks, and a survey questionnaire and in-depth interviews with music teachers, this book also examines the ways in which policies for national identity formation and globalization interact to complement and contradict each other in the context of music education in respect to national and cultural values in the three territories. Wai-Chung Ho’s substantive research interests include the sociology of music, China’s education system, and the comparative study of East Asian music education. Her research focuses on education and development, with an emphasis on the impact of the interplay between globalization, nationalization, and localization on cultural development and school music education.

Nationalism: Past as Prologue began as a single volume being compiled by Ad Akande, a scholar from South Africa, who proposed it to me as co-author about two years ago. The original idea was to examine how the damaging roots of nationalism have been corroding political systems around the world, and creating dangerous obstacles for necessary international cooperation. Since I (Bruce E. Johansen) has written profusely about climate change (global warming, a.k.a. infrared forcing), I suggested a concerted effort in that direction. This is a worldwide existential threat that affects every living thing on Earth. It often compounds upon itself, so delays in reducing emissions of fossil fuels are shortening the amount of time remaining to eliminate the use of fossil fuels to preserve a livable planet. Nationalism often impedes solutions to this problem (among many others), as nations place their singular needs above the common good. Our initial proposal got around, and abstracts on many subjects arrived. Within a few weeks, we had enough good material for a 100,000-word book. The book then fattened to two moderate volumes and then to four two very hefty tomes. We tried several different titles as good submissions swelled. We also discovered that our best contributors were experts in their fields, which ranged the world. We settled on three stand-alone books:” 1/ nationalism and racial justice. Our first volume grew as the growth of Black Lives Matter following the brutal killing of George Floyd ignited protests over police brutality and other issues during 2020, following the police assassination of Floyd in Minneapolis. It is estimated that more people took part in protests of police brutality during the summer of 2020 than any other series of marches in United States history. This includes upheavals during the 1960s over racial issues and against the war in Southeast Asia (notably Vietnam). We choose a volume on racism because it is one of nationalism’s main motive forces. This volume provides a worldwide array of work on nationalism’s growth in various countries, usually by authors residing in them, or in the United States with ethnic ties to the nation being examined, often recent immigrants to the United States from them. Our roster of contributors comprises a small United Nations of insightful, well-written research and commentary from Indonesia, New Zealand, Australia, China, India, South Africa, France, Portugal, Estonia, Hungary, Russia, Poland, Kazakhstan, Georgia, and the United States. Volume 2 (this one) describes and analyzes nationalism, by country, around the world, except for the United States; and 3/material directly related to President Donald Trump, and the United States. The first volume is under consideration at the Texas A & M University Press. The other two are under contract to Nova Science Publishers (which includes social sciences). These three volumes may be used individually or as a set. Environmental material is taken up in appropriate places in each of the three books. * * * * * What became the United States of America has been strongly nationalist since the English of present-day Massachusetts and Jamestown first hit North America’s eastern shores. The country propelled itself across North America with the self-serving ideology of “manifest destiny” for four centuries before Donald Trump came along. Anyone who believes that a Trumpian affection for deportation of “illegals” is a new thing ought to take a look at immigration and deportation statistics in Adam Goodman’s The Deportation Machine: America’s Long History of Deporting Immigrants (Princeton University Press, 2020). Between 1920 and 2018, the United States deported 56.3 million people, compared with 51.7 million who were granted legal immigration status during the same dates. Nearly nine of ten deportees were Mexican (Nolan, 2020, 83). This kind of nationalism, has become an assassin of democracy as well as an impediment to solving global problems. Paul Krugman wrote in the New York Times (2019:A-25): that “In their 2018 book, How Democracies Die, the political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt documented how this process has played out in many countries, from Vladimir Putin’s Russia, to Recep Erdogan’s Turkey, to Viktor Orban’s Hungary. Add to these India’s Narendra Modi, China’s Xi Jinping, and the United States’ Donald Trump, among others. Bit by bit, the guardrails of democracy have been torn down, as institutions meant to serve the public became tools of ruling parties and self-serving ideologies, weaponized to punish and intimidate opposition parties’ opponents. On paper, these countries are still democracies; in practice, they have become one-party regimes….And it’s happening here [the United States] as we speak. If you are not worried about the future of American democracy, you aren’t paying attention” (Krugmam, 2019, A-25). We are reminded continuously that the late Carl Sagan, one of our most insightful scientific public intellectuals, had an interesting theory about highly developed civilizations. Given the number of stars and planets that must exist in the vast reaches of the universe, he said, there must be other highly developed and organized forms of life. Distance may keep us from making physical contact, but Sagan said that another reason we may never be on speaking terms with another intelligent race is (judging from our own example) could be their penchant for destroying themselves in relatively short order after reaching technological complexity. This book’s chapters, introduction, and conclusion examine the worldwide rise of partisan nationalism and the damage it has wrought on the worldwide pursuit of solutions for issues requiring worldwide scope, such scientific co-operation public health and others, mixing analysis of both. We use both historical description and analysis. This analysis concludes with a description of why we must avoid the isolating nature of nationalism that isolates people and encourages separation if we are to deal with issues of world-wide concern, and to maintain a sustainable, survivable Earth, placing the dominant political movement of our time against the Earth’s existential crises. Our contributors, all experts in their fields, each have assumed responsibility for a country, or two if they are related. This work entwines themes of worldwide concern with the political growth of nationalism because leaders with such a worldview are disinclined to co-operate internationally at a time when nations must find ways to solve common problems, such as the climate crisis. Inability to cooperate at this stage may doom everyone, eventually, to an overheated, stormy future plagued by droughts and deluges portending shortages of food and other essential commodities, meanwhile destroying large coastal urban areas because of rising sea levels. Future historians may look back at our time and wonder why as well as how our world succumbed to isolating nationalism at a time when time was so short for cooperative intervention which is crucial for survival of a sustainable earth. Pride in language and culture is salubrious to individuals’ sense of history and identity. Excess nationalism that prevents international co-operation on harmful worldwide maladies is quite another. As Pope Francis has pointed out: For all of our connectivity due to expansion of social media, ability to communicate can breed contempt as well as mutual trust. “For all our hyper-connectivity,” said Francis, “We witnessed a fragmentation that made it more difficult to resolve problems that affect us all” (Horowitz, 2020, A-12). The pope’s encyclical, titled “Brothers All,” also said: “The forces of myopic, extremist, resentful, and aggressive nationalism are on the rise.” The pope’s document also advocates support for migrants, as well as resistance to nationalist and tribal populism. Francis broadened his critique to the role of market capitalism, as well as nationalism has failed the peoples of the world when they need co-operation and solidarity in the face of the world-wide corona virus pandemic. Humankind needs to unite into “a new sense of the human family [Fratelli Tutti, “Brothers All”], that rejects war at all costs” (Pope, 2020, 6-A). Our journey takes us first to Russia, with the able eye and honed expertise of Richard D. Anderson, Jr. who teaches as UCLA and publishes on the subject of his chapter: “Putin, Russian identity, and Russia’s conduct at home and abroad.” Readers should find Dr. Anderson’s analysis fascinating because Vladimir Putin, the singular leader of Russian foreign and domestic policy these days (and perhaps for the rest of his life, given how malleable Russia’s Constitution has become) may be a short man physically, but has high ambitions. One of these involves restoring the old Russian (and Soviet) empire, which would involve re-subjugating a number of nations that broke off as the old order dissolved about 30 years ago. President (shall we say czar?) Putin also has international ambitions, notably by destabilizing the United States, where election meddling has become a specialty. The sight of Putin and U.S. president Donald Trump, two very rich men (Putin $70-$200 billion; Trump $2.5 billion), nuzzling in friendship would probably set Thomas Jefferson and Vladimir Lenin spinning in their graves. The road of history can take some unanticipated twists and turns. Consider Poland, from which we have an expert native analysis in chapter 2, Bartosz Hlebowicz, who is a Polish anthropologist and journalist. His piece is titled “Lawless and Unjust: How to Quickly Make Your Own Country a Puppet State Run by a Group of Hoodlums – the Hopeless Case of Poland (2015–2020).” When I visited Poland to teach and lecture twice between 2006 and 2008, most people seemed to be walking on air induced by freedom to conduct their own affairs to an unusual degree for a state usually squeezed between nationalists in Germany and Russia. What did the Poles then do in a couple of decades? Read Hlebowicz’ chapter and decide. It certainly isn’t soft-bellied liberalism. In Chapter 3, with Bruce E. Johansen, we visit China’s western provinces, the lands of Tibet as well as the Uighurs and other Muslims in the Xinjiang region, who would most assuredly resent being characterized as being possessed by the Chinese of the Han to the east. As a student of Native American history, I had never before thought of the Tibetans and Uighurs as Native peoples struggling against the Independence-minded peoples of a land that is called an adjunct of China on most of our maps. The random act of sitting next to a young woman on an Air India flight out of Hyderabad, bound for New Delhi taught me that the Tibetans had something to share with the Lakota, the Iroquois, and hundreds of other Native American states and nations in North America. Active resistance to Chinese rule lasted into the mid-nineteenth century, and continues today in a subversive manner, even in song, as I learned in 2018 when I acted as a foreign adjudicator on a Ph.D. dissertation by a Tibetan student at the University of Madras (in what is now in a city called Chennai), in southwestern India on resistance in song during Tibet’s recent history. Tibet is one of very few places on Earth where a young dissident can get shot to death for singing a song that troubles China’s Quest for Lebensraum. The situation in Xinjiang region, where close to a million Muslims have been interned in “reeducation” camps surrounded with brick walls and barbed wire. They sing, too. Come with us and hear the music. Back to Europe now, in Chapter 4, to Portugal and Spain, we find a break in the general pattern of nationalism. Portugal has been more progressive governmentally than most. Spain varies from a liberal majority to military coups, a pattern which has been exported to Latin America. A situation such as this can make use of the term “populism” problematic, because general usage in our time usually ties the word into a right-wing connotative straightjacket. “Populism” can be used to describe progressive (left-wing) insurgencies as well. José Pinto, who is native to Portugal and also researches and writes in Spanish as well as English, in “Populism in Portugal and Spain: a Real Neighbourhood?” provides insight into these historical paradoxes. Hungary shares some historical inclinations with Poland (above). Both emerged from Soviet dominance in an air of developing freedom and multicultural diversity after the Berlin Wall fell and the Soviet Union collapsed. Then, gradually at first, right wing-forces began to tighten up, stripping structures supporting popular freedom, from the courts, mass media, and other institutions. In Chapter 5, Bernard Tamas, in “From Youth Movement to Right-Liberal Wing Authoritarianism: The Rise of Fidesz and the Decline of Hungarian Democracy” puts the renewed growth of political and social repression into a context of worldwide nationalism. Tamas, an associate professor of political science at Valdosta State University, has been a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University and a Fulbright scholar at the Central European University in Budapest, Hungary. His books include From Dissident to Party Politics: The Struggle for Democracy in Post-Communist Hungary (2007). Bear in mind that not everyone shares Orbán’s vision of what will make this nation great, again. On graffiti-covered walls in Budapest, Runes (traditional Hungarian script) has been found that read “Orbán is a motherfucker” (Mikanowski, 2019, 58). Also in Europe, in Chapter 6, Professor Ronan Le Coadic, of the University of Rennes, Rennes, France, in “Is There a Revival of French Nationalism?” Stating this title in the form of a question is quite appropriate because France’s nationalistic shift has built and ebbed several times during the last few decades. For a time after 2000, it came close to assuming the role of a substantial minority, only to ebb after that. In 2017, the candidate of the National Front reached the second round of the French presidential election. This was the second time this nationalist party reached the second round of the presidential election in the history of the Fifth Republic. In 2002, however, Jean-Marie Le Pen had only obtained 17.79% of the votes, while fifteen years later his daughter, Marine Le Pen, almost doubled her father's record, reaching 33.90% of the votes cast. Moreover, in the 2019 European elections, re-named Rassemblement National obtained the largest number of votes of all French political formations and can therefore boast of being "the leading party in France.” The brutality of oppressive nationalism may be expressed in personal relationships, such as child abuse. While Indonesia and Aotearoa [the Maoris’ name for New Zealand] hold very different ranks in the United Nations Human Development Programme assessments, where Indonesia is classified as a medium development country and Aotearoa New Zealand as a very high development country. In Chapter 7, “Domestic Violence Against Women in Indonesia and Aotearoa New Zealand: Making Sense of Differences and Similarities” co-authors, in Chapter 8, Mandy Morgan and Dr. Elli N. Hayati, from New Zealand and Indonesia respectively, found that despite their socio-economic differences, one in three women in each country experience physical or sexual intimate partner violence over their lifetime. In this chapter ther authors aim to deepen understandings of domestic violence through discussion of the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of theit countries to address domestic violence alongside studies of women’s attitudes to gender norms and experiences of intimate partner violence. One of the most surprising and upsetting scholarly journeys that a North American student may take involves Adolf Hitler’s comments on oppression of American Indians and Blacks as he imagined the construction of the Nazi state, a genesis of nationalism that is all but unknown in the United States of America, traced in this volume (Chapter 8) by co-editor Johansen. Beginning in Mein Kampf, during the 1920s, Hitler explicitly used the westward expansion of the United States across North America as a model and justification for Nazi conquest and anticipated colonization by Germans of what the Nazis called the “wild East” – the Slavic nations of Poland, the Baltic states, Ukraine, and Russia, most of which were under control of the Soviet Union. The Volga River (in Russia) was styled by Hitler as the Germans’ Mississippi, and covered wagons were readied for the German “manifest destiny” of imprisoning, eradicating, and replacing peoples the Nazis deemed inferior, all with direct references to events in North America during the previous century. At the same time, with no sense of contradiction, the Nazis partook of a long-standing German romanticism of Native Americans. One of Goebbels’ less propitious schemes was to confer honorary Aryan status on Native American tribes, in the hope that they would rise up against their oppressors. U.S. racial attitudes were “evidence [to the Nazis] that America was evolving in the right direction, despite its specious rhetoric about equality.” Ming Xie, originally from Beijing, in the People’s Republic of China, in Chapter 9, “News Coverage and Public Perceptions of the Social Credit System in China,” writes that The State Council of China in 2014 announced “that a nationwide social credit system would be established” in China. “Under this system, individuals, private companies, social organizations, and governmental agencies are assigned a score which will be calculated based on their trustworthiness and daily actions such as transaction history, professional conduct, obedience to law, corruption, tax evasion, and academic plagiarism.” The “nationalism” in this case is that of the state over the individual. China has 1.4 billion people; this system takes their measure for the purpose of state control. Once fully operational, control will be more subtle. People who are subject to it, through modern technology (most often smart phones) will prompt many people to self-censor. Orwell, modernized, might write: “Your smart phone is watching you.” Ming Xie holds two Ph.Ds, one in Public Administration from University of Nebraska at Omaha and another in Cultural Anthropology from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, where she also worked for more than 10 years at a national think tank in the same institution. While there she summarized news from non-Chinese sources for senior members of the Chinese Communist Party. Ming is presently an assistant professor at the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice, West Texas A&M University. In Chapter 10, analyzing native peoples and nationhood, Barbara Alice Mann, Professor of Honours at the University of Toledo, in “Divide, et Impera: The Self-Genocide Game” details ways in which European-American invaders deprive the conquered of their sense of nationhood as part of a subjugation system that amounts to genocide, rubbing out their languages and cultures -- and ultimately forcing the native peoples to assimilate on their own, for survival in a culture that is foreign to them. Mann is one of Native American Studies’ most acute critics of conquests’ contradictions, and an author who retrieves Native history with a powerful sense of voice and purpose, having authored roughly a dozen books and numerous book chapters, among many other works, who has traveled around the world lecturing and publishing on many subjects. Nalanda Roy and S. Mae Pedron in Chapter 11, “Understanding the Face of Humanity: The Rohingya Genocide.” describe one of the largest forced migrations in the history of the human race, the removal of 700,000 to 800,000 Muslims from Buddhist Myanmar to Bangladesh, which itself is already one of the most crowded and impoverished nations on Earth. With about 150 million people packed into an area the size of Nebraska and Iowa (population less than a tenth that of Bangladesh, a country that is losing land steadily to rising sea levels and erosion of the Ganges river delta. The Rohingyas’ refugee camp has been squeezed onto a gigantic, eroding, muddy slope that contains nearly no vegetation. However, Bangladesh is majority Muslim, so while the Rohingya may starve, they won’t be shot to death by marauding armies. Both authors of this exquisite (and excruciating) account teach at Georgia Southern University in Savannah, Georgia, Roy as an associate professor of International Studies and Asian politics, and Pedron as a graduate student; Roy originally hails from very eastern India, close to both Myanmar and Bangladesh, so he has special insight into the context of one of the most brutal genocides of our time, or any other. This is our case describing the problems that nationalism has and will pose for the sustainability of the Earth as our little blue-and-green orb becomes more crowded over time. The old ways, in which national arguments often end in devastating wars, are obsolete, given that the Earth and all the people, plants, and other animals that it sustains are faced with the existential threat of a climate crisis that within two centuries, more or less, will flood large parts of coastal cities, and endanger many species of plants and animals. To survive, we must listen to the Earth, and observe her travails, because they are increasingly our own.

AbstractThe People’s Republic of China (PRC) was founded as a communist state in 1949 within the framework of the collective leadership model under the Communist Party of China (the single-party system in China). After experiencing sociopolitical and economic changes, the PRC has moved to the free market economy of globalisation in the global age. The evolution of Chinese politics and the economic system has resulted in more diversity and changes in school education, along with struggles to adjust to these changes. Along this line, this chapter will examine the complex relationship between the politics of diversity, Confucianism, and creativity education, particularly in response to the views of Chinese teachers from Beijing via in-depth, semi-structured individual interviews on the implementation of a creativity policy in school music education. Based on current education policies and the interview data collected for this study on the examination of the nature of creativity, this chapter will conclude with a discussion of how school music education may help initiate a dialogue on the politics and nature of creativity and cultural identity in response to the challenges of contemporary political and cultural values between creativity and Confucianism that prevail in the global age of China.

The current general music class in China, especially in low income communities, does not provide students many opportunities to gain ensemble playing experiences, due to the cost of getting and maintaining various instruments and to the lack of music teachers who know and have experiences of teaching ensembles and the various instruments. According to current teaching pedagogy and learning theories, ensemble playing and collaborative and creative learning experiences are important to students. This chapter presents the value and benefits of group playing, collaborative and creative learning models, and the reasons for choosing ocarina as a media for gaining group playing experiences in Chinese public schools. In the last part of the chapter, some ocarina teaching activities are explored and discussed as examples of how students can learn creatively and collaboratively and gain ensemble playing experiences.

The relevance of the topic of the article is due to the importance of patriotic education of students in modern Chinese schools. The purpose of this article is to identify and characterize the leading principles of the organization of the educational process by means of vocal art, as well as the methods used by Chinese music teachers in the process of music classes.

The purpose of the article is to show how modern technologies expand the educational possibilities of children's patriotic songs by enriching this genre with new means of expression, as well as the emergence of new forms of song representation (songs for movies, TV shows for children, laser shows, open-air performances, etc.). The direct participation of children in the preparation for participation in the events, performances in front of the audience, as well as the presence as spectators and the use of music teachers of these genres in the classroom have an effective educational impact on children of different ages for the purpose of patriotic education of young people in China.