Chinese through Song, Second Edition

Book excerpt: An innovative approach to teaching Chinese language and culture, using folk and popular songs. Offering an innovative approach to language learning, Chinese through Song helps students develop their language proficiency and music appreciation through the use of folk, popular, and art songs. Because songs emphasize the color, pronunciation, and intonation of every syllable, they can be a valuable tool for improving a student’s spoken language skills. By learning and performing the songs in this book, students will expand their vocabularies and improve their pronunciation, voice projection, and language expression—all while learning about Chinese culture in a fun and stimulating way. This revised and expanded edition includes thirty songs, many of them new to this edition. They feature lucid and vivid language, as well as beautiful and relatively simple melodies. They are good for voice development and can be practiced in different modes of performance, including solos, duets, rounds, and musical dramas. Each chapter comprises up to seven sections: (1) a song, including sheet music and lyrics in Chinese characters and pinyin Romanization; (2) a line-by-line English translation; (3) a vocabulary list designed for students who have completed at least one year of Chinese; (4) cultural notes that help students understand the historical and social context of the song; (5) language notes on the use of key words and important sentence patterns; (6) singing instructions, including remarks on interpretation and performance; and (7) language exercises for both classroom practice and homework assignments. Chinese through Song may be used in several ways: as the main textbook for an interdisciplinary, intermediate-level course, emphasizing both language acquisition and musical performance; as a supplement to regular Chinese language classes, from elementary through advanced levels; as a resource for extracurricular activities (for example, a Chinese chorus or a performance at a Chinese New Year party); and as a general songbook.