In June, the Guangdong Soong Ching Ling Foundation's "Aesthetic Education Classroom" came to ASJ for the 15th Scholars' Lecture, where we experienced the charm of recitation and the unique Guangzhou flavor brought by Tongchao paintings.
-Director, Guangzhou Dramatic Arts Center
-State Second Class Actor
-Director of Guangdong Dramatists Association
-Guangzhou propaganda and ideological front excellent talent training object
-Visiting Associate Professor of Drama Performance, Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Graduate Department of Popular Singing
Mr. Xu Fan came to the ASJ campus with his lecture on "The Elements of Learning to Recite". Mr. Xu's witty and humorous style, just like the hot summer sun, made the atmosphere particularly lively.
At the beginning of the lecture, Ms. Xu Fan led the students to do a warm-up exercise and conveyed knowledge to them through interesting interactions. Just as an athlete needs to warm up fully before stepping onto the field of play, recitation also needs to make the body and mouth active and inject them with a source of vitality. In this way, the effect of recitation can be better developed and realized.
Mr. Xu Fan then taught the four key points of recitation - clearing the mind, putting oneself in the situation, feeling the feelings, and speaking from the heart. A successful recitation not only requires a clear grasp of the ideas, but also the ability to integrate oneself wholeheartedly into them, to feel the emotions in the words with all one's heart, as if one has become the main character in the story.
Mr. Xu Fan's humorous style made the atmosphere extremely active. Students were fully immersed in the scene, and without realizing it, they learned how to master the accent, reasonable stops, appropriate tone and dynamic rhythm of speech. Under the guidance of Ms. Xu Fan, the students recited "The Flying of the Gazelle" with great emotion, which won the unanimous approval of the teachers on the spot.
Accent makes the key information stand out, stops make the rhythm just right, tone conveys different emotions, and rhythm leads us like the melody of music, all these elements make recitation unique and attractive.
Talking about the classroom experience, G10 Chen highly evaluated the lecture with four words: fresh, interesting, active and relaxing. She said excitedly; "Ms. Xu Fan's lecture was very vivid and immersive. I also realized that recitation is not as simple as everyone thinks. In addition to the necessary skills, it is also necessary to have enough courage and put feelings into it."
-Inheritor of the technique of painting Tongchao paintings
-Master's degree student of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts
-Director of Cultural Inheritance Development Committee of Guangzhou Cultural and Creative Branch of the Agricultural Labor Party (AFP)
-Member of Guangzhou Folk Literary Artists Association
-Member of Guangdong Folk Literary Artists Association
-Researcher of Guangzhou Arts and Crafts Research Institute
-Member of Guangzhou Lingnan Culture Research Association
-Member of Guangdong Young Artists Association
When mentioning traditional paintings, the first word that comes to mind must be Chinese painting. However, compared with the far-reaching historical background of Chinese painting and the wide popularity of oil painting, Tongcao painting has been unknown for a long time, like a bright pearl buried in the dust of time.
Tongcao painting refers to watercolor paintings on Tongcao paper, and its history can be traced back to the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, when the Guangzhou port became the only port for western trade, and Tongcao painting gradually became active as a kind of export painting.
With a wide range of subjects, the paintings are made of papyrus paper, based on Chinese brush painting techniques and absorbing Western painting techniques such as chiaroscuro and perspective, and are carefully painted with the customs of the Guangzhou port and the Lingnan region, such as characters, birds, flowers, insects and fish, as well as social patterns and customs and festivals.
Mr. Yan Kangping showed the students the paper and the paintings he had made, and the students were very interested in passing them around and asking questions in the interactive session, hoping to get answers. At the end of the lecture, everyone could not get enough of it and enjoyed and discussed around the teacher's works.
Mr. Guo, a G10 student, said that art is inseparable from history, just as the creation of Tongchao painting is due to the curiosity of Westerners about the East, it is like a unique bridge connecting East and West cultures, which carries the communication and integration of a specific period of time; it is also like a postcard displaying past years, through which we can get a glimpse of the unique style and cultural heritage of that era.