Chinese Traditional Instruments Department combines teaching and performance functions. The department provides four-year undergraduate program and three-year graduate program. The faculty team of the department has enormous potentiality. The academic leaders include Li Guanghua, Li Xiangting, Hu Zhihou, Li Zhengui, Gui Xili, Li Heng, Liu Changfu, Zhao Hanyang, Huanghe, Li Meng, Wang Jianhua, Yang Shoucheng, Zhou Wang, and other renowned scholars and musicians. The young teachers, such as Dai Ya, Zhang Qiang, Liu Yuening, Yan Jiemin, Zhang Hongyan and Yu Hongmei, have gained outstanding achievements and excellent reputation as well. The department has cultivated many renowned musicians since it was established in 1950. Some of the alumni of the department have become leading figures in the international music circles. The professors, students, and alumni of Chinese traditional instruments department have gained over five hundreds awards of different kinds, which include the first place of "Taibei Chinese Traditional Instruments Concerto Competition" for ten times in a row; the first prize of "Tianhua Cup" National Erhu Competition for three times continually; the first prize of Silk & Bamboo Music Ensemble Competition in home and abroad, and National Cantonese Music Competition; the gold prize of National Culture and Arts Government Awards, Wen Hua Arts Conservatory Award, "Golden Bell" Award, etc. The Chinese traditional instruments department of CCOM has become world-wide acknowledged academic base which represents the highest level of Chinese traditional instrumental performance and professional teaching. In addition, professors of the department are constantly invited to serve on the judging panel of many musical competitions, to visit and give lectures and performances all over the world. Their activities are enjoyed great appreciations. Currently, the faculty of the department includes 18 professors, 9 associate professors, and 6 lecturers. There are 262 undergraduate students and 58 graduate students studying in the department. The department consists of five teaching groups, which are bowed string, plucked string group I, plucked string group II, winds, and percussion; and the Chinese Youth Traditional Musical Instruments Ensemble mainly consists of over eighty students. In these years, the Ensemble positively actives on the music stages in home and abroad in various forms and is praised as the most powerful Youth Traditional Musical Instruments Ensemble in performance.
The department includes following 16 majors: guqin, zheng, pipa, sanxian, liuqin, yangqin, ruan, konghou, erhu, banhu, bass bowed string, di, guanzi, sheng, suona, and percussion. The required courses include solo, ensemble, chamber music, Chinese Music History, Western Music History, An Survey of Chinese Traditional Music, Sight-Singing and Ear Training, Harmony, Music Form Analyses, etc.
The Chinese Traditional Instruments Department attaches great importance to textbooks compiling and theoretical researches on Chinese traditional instruments. In recent years, the faculty members have published over one hundred and sixty monographs and textbooks; over three hundreds music audiovisuals; and over two hundreds academic papers. The department also edited and published the series of A General Survey of Chinese Traditional Instruments which has become the most authoritative work in traditional instruments field in China currently and has made great contribution to carry forward Chinese national cultural heritage.
As a performance major program, the purposes of it are: first, cultivating students to master professional skills on instrumental playing and adapt to the ensemble performance; second, teaching students many different theoretical knowledge related to their majors; third, inspiring students to play with imagination through studying repertories in different schools, styles and techniques in order to improve students' ability to appreciate the form and connotation of music compositions. The graduates from Chinese traditional instruments department will work in principal music conservatories as teachers or in major music troupes as players.
