Notes from the Folk Song Singing Contest in Schools in Nghe An Province 2023

Many elaborate performances

“Lullaby of the mountains and rivers”, a solo performance by Khanh Vy - a student of class 8C, Hung Dung Secondary School, and a dance team from Trung Do Secondary School (Vinh City) was one of two works awarded First Prize at theFolk Song Contest in Schoolsorganized by Vinh city.

This is also the second time Khanh Vy has come to this contest and the image of a female student on stage, both graceful and gentle, with a special voice on the Xam singing tune has really made an impression on the audience and has been recognized and highly appreciated by the judges.

Performances at the Folk Song Competition in Vinh City Schools. Photo: My Ha

Khanh Vy has loved singing folk songs and has had a talent since she was a child. Therefore, when organizing a competition in the cluster round with schools from Trung Do, Hung Dung, Hung Loc, Le Mao, Ben Thuy, Nghi Duc wards... teacher Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam - a music teacher at Trung Do Secondary School, the head of the cluster's folk song competition team, had no difficulty discovering this special factor. The difficulty at that time was that after many years of being affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, folk song competitions were interrupted, so Vy and many other members of the team did not have the opportunity to practice and practice regularly. When choosing the works to participate in the competition on the Xam singing style, teacher Thanh Tam and her students also chose a difficult path for themselves. However, she believed in her students and knew that, with her own talent, Khanh Vy would bring many surprises to the judges.

To prepare for this performance, Khanh Vy and the art troupe had nearly a month of serious practice. The song was choreographed quite elaborately, with dance, a “live” orchestra with many traditional instruments accompanied by male students.

Talking about the production process, teacher Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam said: The lyrics of the song “Lullaby of the Mountains and Rivers” written by Meritorious Artist An Ninh are very meaningful and easy to touch people’s hearts. However, at school age, it is very difficult to fully appreciate the song and children often sing instinctively. Therefore, before helping them understand the song, sing well and convey emotions, I have to breathe life into them and help them have many emotions about the song. Through “Lullaby of the Mountains and Rivers”, children also feel the love of family, mother and child, love of homeland, country and even the deep longing when thinking about their mother.

The performance "Sunshine of Vinh City" was performed by teachers and students of Vinh City. Photo: My Ha

In addition to “Lullaby of the mountains and rivers”, the 8-minute suite of folk melodies “Sac nang thanh Vinh” was also highly appreciated by students and teachers from Trung Do, Hung Dung, Le Mao, and Ben Thuy secondary schools and contributed to the team winning the second prize.

As the host and leader of the team, teacher Nguyen Thi Thanh Tam is truly happy, because more than anyone else, she is the one who is attached to folk songs, loves folk songs and desires to teach folk songs to her students.

After more than 20 years of teaching, participating in many folk song competitions in schools, she also believes that this is a meaningful competition, especially in the current situation: Nghe Tinh folk songs are very difficult and today's students understand and sing very few folk songs. For that reason, during my teaching at school, I often sing folk songs to "inspire" my students. Along with that, I organize folk song clubs in schools, regularly staging folk song performances in festivals so that students have the opportunity to perform. However, after many years of being affected by the Covid-19 epidemic, the folk song movement in schools has stagnated and I hope that folk song competitions in schools will be held regularly - as a form to preserve and conserve Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs. That is also a way to prevent Vi and Giam folk songs from being lost and will continue to spread.

The folk song singing contest in schools of Nam Dan district - the unit holding the "Champion" position in the previous competition season also left beautiful echoes for teachers and students in the whole industry.

A performance participating in the Folk Song Singing Contest in Nam Dan District Schools. Photo: My Ha

The competition took place in hot weather but the district hall was packed with people watching and cheering. With 20 excellent performances selected from school and cluster level competitions, the teams brought many attractive programs. The new feature of the competition is that the performances were elaborately staged, many performances had new lyrics with pure, healthy content, suitable for school age.

Through the contest, the aim is to preserve, promote, spread and raise awareness of Nghe Tinh Vi and Giam folk songs and continue to maintain the folk singing movement in schools, discover and nurture folk singing talents for the homeland and the country. The best performances have also been selected by the organizing committee to participate in the provincial contest.

Mr. Le Trung Son - Head of Education and Training Department of Nam Dan district

Sharing about this participation, teacher Nguyen Thi Lan - 1 of 2 main teachers organizing the program for schools in cluster 3 (Kim Lien - Nam Giang - Nam Cat) said: Our team's performance included 4 songs, which are "Nam Dan Education Song", "Children follow Uncle Ho's words", "Mother's words" and "My hometown Nghe An". All performances are linked to the main theme of teaching folk songs in schools, helping students feel and love more Nghe An folk songs.

Among these performances, the performance “Children follow Uncle Ho’s words” was written by teacher Le Thi Bich Thuy based on the meaningful activities of the children at school... This was also the performance that won the first prize of Nam Dan district at this year’s competition and the special thing is that all the performances were mainly performed by primary school students. This also shows that the teaching and singing of folk songs in Nam Dan district has been given great attention and nurtured by schools since the children were very young.

Contribute to spreading and preserving Nghe An folk songs

Up to now, the Folk Song Singing Contest in Schools has been organized by most localities across the province. The contest has not only made its mark at the district level, but has also been organized enthusiastically at the school and cluster level with many creative ways.

At Nghi Huong Primary School (Cua Lo town), right after the town's plan was announced, the Board of Directors directed all levels to implement and plan for practice. From about 3 weeks ago, every Monday, the school's flag-raising hour will become a Folk Song Singing Contest between grades. The best performance will be filmed and sent to the town's Department of Education and Training for selection to participate in the town-level contest.

Music lesson of teachers and students of Nghi Huong Primary School. Photo: My Ha

Teacher Truong Ha Thuong Hoai - Music teacher said: Teaching and singing folk songs has become a regular activity of the school and we organize it as an extracurricular activity. I think that to spread the movement, not only the role of music teachers but also of all other teachers and if it is promoted and organized regularly, teaching and singing folk songs will be effective. Moreover, folk songs in schools are also very suitable, because folk songs are not only music but also have educational meaning, teaching people how to be human, the character and morality of Nghe people.

Folk songs with new lyrics contribute to promoting the image of the homeland and country. Photo: NTCC

From the success of the grassroots competitions, the Organizing Committee also expects that the provincial competition scheduled to be held at the end of May will bring many good and meaningful performances. From there, it will contribute to preserving and promoting the heritage of Nghe An folk songs and through the songs, it will instill in the souls of generations of students love for family, teachers, friends and love for the homeland and country./.