On April 4th local time, Chen Yunyun, a Chinese teacher at the Confucius Institute of Artois, was invited to Gambetta-Carnot School to teach Pipa. The course was conducted for the first and second grade classes. Each class lasted for one hour, with a total of 37 students participating.
In the second-grade class, Miss Chen introduced traditional Chinese instruments through videos and led students to appreciate an ensemble of traditional musical instruments. Then Miss Chen focused on Pipa, guiding students to appreciate classic repertoires based on the performance characteristics of Pipa, and finally performed live for the students. The second class was for the first-year students. Miss Chen first introduced the pipa.
Because the spring break was approaching, Miss Chen and local Chinese teacher Hong Liwei taught the students to sing a song called "Shang Chunshan". At the end of the class, the students sang in chorus, and Miss Chen accompanied them. The teacher and students performed a cheerful Chinese style song together. During class, Miss Hong set up exercises on Chinese musical instruments, representative Pipa repertoire and expressions of spring in lyrics to consolidate the knowledge.
These Pipa classes are the first attempts to combine Chinese music, popular in recent years, with traditional Chinese instruments and Chinese language learning. Moreover, the collaboration between the Confucius Institute teacher and the local teacher, who understands the students' learning characteristics, has made the classes more dynamic.
