In this edition of Teacher Talks, Yew Chung International School of Beijing IGCSE Coordinator and Head of Music Lianne Yu goes into detail about how YCIS Beijing creates all-rounded musicians while at the same time teaching each student to embrace cross-cultural learning.

The exploration and study of music is an essential asset to a well-rounded education. It allows students to discover their creative side, using musical expression as a means to convey their emotions. Through the YCIS Beijing music programme, students are able to produce and perform music of different genres. We have students perform on Eastern and Western instruments.

YCIS Beijing offers musical studies at multiple levels, with instrumental and vocal studies in Primary School, and then moving to specialisations and choice to in-depth study in Upper-secondary School.  Students choose individual instruments to specialise in as they move up. Especially interested and talented students have the resources to pursue their studies at IGCSE and IB levels in their final years in Secondary School.

Studying music goes beyond just training students to be a good pianist, violist, or guitarist; to be a musician, it’s vital that a student appreciate the contextual component of music and the development of music throughout history. For example, students would contextualise a piece of Chinese, Indian, African, or Indonesian music by the characteristics and elements of the music perceived. Students would also learn about how Western Art music has developed through time, starting from the Baroque Era through to modern day music. Musical study also helps students to understand how music has been shaped as any art form. As students progress through musical study in higher grade levels, they should try to identify the elements of music perceived in any piece they hear and listen with the context in mind.

From a scientific standpoint, early exposure to music is always beneficial, especially in the developing of aural awareness and ear training. To further improve a student’s musical learning, it is helpful for parents to encourage practice at home.

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