Why are there fewer and fewer art students studying abroad?

More and more people are studying abroad. Why are there fewer and fewer international students studying art? What is the reason for this? Come and take a look! Welcome to read.

Why are there fewer and fewer art students studying abroad?

In recent years, people’s enthusiasm for studying art majors has become increasingly high, and art candidates have become an increasingly large group among college entrance examination candidates. However, the number of domestic art schools is limited and it is difficult to accommodate the increasing number of art candidates. It is becoming increasingly difficult to pass the art examination to enter domestic art schools. In view of this, many art lovers have turned their attention abroad. Although foreign art examinations have layers of interviews and selections, most of them are based on interest and pay more attention to students' artistic creativity and enthusiasm for learning. There are many famous art schools and the competition is relatively small.

Art is the dominant field in studying abroad, but music studying abroad has no sense of existence

Judging from the current situation of domestic talents, my country’s art professionals are still in relatively short supply, and their salary levels are relatively low compared to other majors. The talent should be high and sought after by students and parents. It is worth mentioning that the economic cost of studying and furthering art majors has always been high. It can be said to be one of the most expensive categories among all majors. Despite the high cost, there are still many families in China who have enough financial strength to afford the high cost of studying abroad for art.

There are various art study abroad institutions. Although the names of various study abroad institutions and education and training institutions contain the word "art", their main business is fine arts. Even if they occasionally include music, their business focus is It also shows one-sided characteristics, with all of them leaning towards the art category. In the art study abroad market, the two major majors of Meng Bulijiao and Jiao Bulimeng have now made art a one-man show, and the presence of music study abroad is incredibly low.

An organization that offers both art study abroad and music study abroad businesses revealed: “There are only a handful of institutions that actually have a music study abroad business section in the art study abroad market, and some of them claim to include music services in the form of portfolios. The business is outsourced to overseas teachers. The other part only helps students with simple music application services, that is, intermediary services in the traditional sense. Due to the particularity of the music major, study abroad institutions cannot accurately grasp the specific details during the application process, so the application is successful. The rate is relatively low. ”

According to statistics from a well-known art institution, the proportion of music majors in the art study abroad market, especially the art study abroad education and training market, is relatively small, and at most it can only reach the market share of art study abroad. 20%. The most fundamental reason for this phenomenon is the difference in student base. "First of all, in terms of number, music students are fewer than art students. The student base cannot be changed through overseas education institutions, so it is not surprising that the market share of music study abroad is relatively small." The president of an art institution said that although music The status of the study abroad market is not optimistic, but most art study abroad institutions still attach great importance to the development potential of the music study abroad market. They focus on developing the music market by raising resources, connecting overseas resources, designing work models, and integrating teaching staff.

Music learning requires childlike skills. It is not easy for external teachers to intervene.

Due to the differences in professional learning, there are always more art students than music students. There is no age limit for entry into art learning. As long as you are interested, you can start at any time. Some domestic art examination training classes even have slogans to train students with zero foundation to enter professional art colleges in one year. There are countless training courses of the same type on the market, and there are countless students who have been admitted to the Academy of Fine Arts by participating in pre-examination training courses. Music learning emphasizes "one minute on stage, ten years off stage". Music learning all starts from an early age, and people have to work hard for years or decades to reach a certain level.

Musical instrument learning generally starts at an early age, because in musical instrument learning, the exercise of finger muscle function has age requirements. Once you get older and exceed the best time period for learning an instrument, you will get half the result with twice the effort and cannot achieve good results. Although some musical instruments can be learned to become a monk halfway, and some training institutions even have eye-catching slogans such as "Learn a certain instrument in three months and play famous repertoire fluently", it is difficult to achieve high-level performance in this way, and it is more far-reaching. Not to the point of superb skills. The learning of vocal music needs to be carried out after the voice change period. Since vocal music has high requirements on innate voice conditions, the voice conditions after voice change are unpredictable, and a good voice can be encountered but not sought.

Vocal skills cannot be acquired through intensive training. If you practice too much and damage your vocal cords, it will cause irreparable consequences.

Learning an instrument requires time. If you don’t play for three days, you will get thorns in your hands. A perfect performance of music cannot be completed overnight. This process requires students to put in countless sweat and efforts. It is the normal practice for music students to practice Sanjiu in winter and Sanfu in summer. Regardless of students' creativity and originality, in terms of the cultivation of skills alone, learning from an early age, persevering for a long time, and being consistent from beginning to end are essential elements for music students.

For most art institutions whose main business is art study abroad education, the teacher-apprentice model of music learning is one of the main reasons why music has not developed as vigorously as art study abroad. A well-known art study abroad education institution said: "In the early stage of art learning, large-class teaching is adopted, using a one-to-many format. After students reach a certain level and stage, one-on-one teaching will be carried out. The teaching method of music is more traditional, whether it is vocal music When it comes to instrumental music, I have followed famous teachers since I was a child, learning one-on-one, and implementing a master-apprentice VIP teaching method. Music, a learning method based on a teacher-student relationship, is difficult to develop on a large scale. For art study abroad education institutions, starting from training. The service link cannot open up new market space. ”

In the process of music learning, the number of replacement teachers is limited, and the direct teacher-student relationship between students and each teacher often lasts for several years. This situation creates problems. The preparation of the portfolio brings up a problem. Students have studied with professional teachers since childhood. After a long period of running-in, students have become familiar with the teacher's teaching methods and models. However, the application for music study abroad is different from the domestic art examination. If the professional teacher has no experience in studying abroad, he often does not understand the details of the preparation of the portfolio and cannot grasp the preparation process of the portfolio, which is not conducive to the application for studying abroad.

If the teacher is replaced, the teaching methods and training methods are different, which will cause students to be uncomfortable in learning, and forced replacement will be detrimental to the students' future development. An art study abroad education institution revealed: "It is obviously inappropriate to intervene midway to interrupt the usual teaching situation. Even if the overseas teachers are replaced, teaching integration cannot be achieved in a short period of time. If the guidance time is less than one year, students will not be able to improve their music skills." There will be no significant improvement.”

Some professionals said that temporarily changing teachers to prepare portfolios did help some students successfully go abroad, but this is a desperate choice and behavior in the study abroad industry. Even if the method is successful in sending students abroad, students will definitely encounter obstacles in their subsequent studies. This approach that only looks at short-term benefits without considering long-term development is not advisable.

Preparing a music portfolio. Ethnic and Western musical instruments each have their own pains.

The application preparations for studying abroad in music and art are almost the same. Both require language scores, GPA and portfolios. In foreign countries, the institutions that offer music subjects are basically the same as in China, which are school-type music conservatories and department-type music conservatories. The first type of conservatory is an independent unit. It is a school in itself and is not affiliated with any university. Professional colleges. The departmental music conservatory is actually a music department in a comprehensive university. The setting of foreign music disciplines is roughly divided into the following categories: musicology, music theory (Musicology, Music Theory); music performance (Performance), including various types of vocal music, instrumental music, and percussion; music education (Music Education); composition and composition Technical Theory (Compostion); Music Technology (Music Technology).

In China, music students are mainly concentrated in music performance, music education and musicology majors. Students are also the first to consider these three majors when applying to study abroad. Applicants to the music performance major are required to provide a portfolio, which is audio and video recordings of student performances. After students understand the requirements of the institutions they are applying for in detail, they agree with the teacher on the performance repertoire, and then record it through video technology. The Conservatory of Music has many detailed requirements for the duration, sound quality, picture clarity, camera location, file format, size, etc. of student portfolios. Music portfolios also have different requirements for specific details such as video environment, lighting, costumes, piano, sound effects, camera models, and post-production editing, which require post-production editing. Portfolio is a direct way for students applying for music performance to show their professional skills and artistic talents. It is the top priority of music application. The performance process cannot be interrupted and cannot be replaced. Everything speaks for itself based on strength.

Music education majors also need to prepare a portfolio, but in the recording of the portfolio, students are taught as teachers, mainly to demonstrate their teaching experience and teaching strength. During the teaching process, in addition to the control of course links, the design of teaching language, and positive interaction with students, music demonstrations are also conducted. The purpose of preparing portfolios for music education majors is for students to demonstrate their superb skills while completing all teaching links with high quality and displaying teaching content.

Musicology or music theory majors mainly study music history, ethnomusicology and other related knowledge. The study of music rises to the theoretical aspect, which requires students to understand a wide range of music knowledge and have unique insights and insights into music. idea. Therefore, you do not need to prepare a portfolio when submitting your application, but you need to provide relevant music theory papers as application materials. Thesis requires in-depth research and reaches a higher level of academic standards.

After deciding to study abroad, you only need to prepare materials step by step. However, music students have to face dilemmas. China has a long history. During the five thousand years of civilization, China has produced many unique national musical instruments, and there are many students studying Chinese national musical instruments. However, students in this category face an embarrassing situation when applying. Since it is a national musical instrument, there are no related performance majors in foreign music colleges. Although in recent years, some folk music masters have been hired as music teachers by foreign universities and opened corresponding majors, but Compared with Western musical instruments, the subject settings are still few. Therefore, once students studying folk musical instrument performance and folk musical instrument education decide to go abroad, they need to face the problem of major change. Since both foreign music performance and music education require mastering a major, students majoring in folk music have to settle for the musicology major. But even at this point, the application path for folk music students is still difficult because music theory majors A large amount of Western music literature must be read, which is nothing more than a complex and arduous task for students who have learned Chinese music knowledge since childhood.

An art study abroad institution revealed: “In the current limited music study abroad market, students studying piano and vocal music account for 80%, and the remaining musical instruments and sub-disciplines account for the remaining 20%. Among the limited musical instrument students , the vast majority of students are students of Western instruments. "As the origin and birthplace of Western instruments, Western countries have always had better performance and teaching standards of Western instruments. Music originates from life and thoughts. Only by being familiar with the Western way of thinking can we naturally understand the charm of Western music. Techniques can be improved through diligent study and practice, but the understanding of music can only be better demonstrated by being immersed in the local customs and customs since childhood. The level of domestic music performance students often cannot meet the performance requirements of foreign music schools. Therefore, even if they prepare to study abroad, most students will settle for music education majors that have slightly lower requirements for performance techniques and music theory that only require a thesis. Class major.

Cultural courses are neglected and language proficiency becomes the biggest test

There is a current situation in China's music education. Students with strong professionalism and superb skills mostly come from music conservatories, known as "Academic students", most of these students attend the high school attached to the Conservatory of Music from an early age, receive systematic and advanced music education, and learn correct performance techniques. Students have invested too much energy in learning music skills and professional knowledge since childhood, and have limited time to learn cultural knowledge. The schools affiliated with the Conservatory of Music do not offer the three subjects of physics, chemistry, and biology from the beginning of junior high school. Students can only take the liberal arts exam for the college entrance examination, and the opening time for other subjects in the school is also very short. Due to the young age of students and the "disdain" for cultural knowledge in the general environment, students generally believe that the study of cultural knowledge is not important, and some even give up the study of cultural knowledge completely. Such students are highly proficient in their professional skills, and during the process of applying to study abroad, there is relatively little pressure to prepare their portfolios. However, due to putting too much energy into practice, once you decide to study abroad, your language ability will become a "stumbling block" on the way to study abroad.

The language proficiency requirements of foreign institutions are relatively high for students majoring in performance at music schools. Although there is a practice of lowering the language requirements for art study abroad, the language test scores must reach a certain level. However, even so, it is quite difficult for students from professional music conservatories.

Many study abroad institutions realize that music study abroad is currently a very typical subject in art study abroad and even the entire study abroad market. Some people from art study abroad institutions frankly said: "This may be caused by China's music education system. The college entrance examination cultural courses of domestic art examinations The score line is significantly lower than that of other subjects, and students do not pay enough attention to learning, so language has always been a weakness in entering higher education, let alone passing high-level language examinations such as IELTS, TOEFL and GRE, which have outstanding professional standards and cultural qualities. The number of students is very limited. Once we encounter such a rare seedling, we will attach great importance to it.”

Chinese students have been learning English since childhood, and their first choice for studying abroad is naturally an English-speaking country. However, as the birthplace of classical music. European countries, especially Germany, France, Italy and other countries, are the birthplaces of countless famous musicians. For students who love classical music learning and performance, European countries are ideal holy places, but European countries Use the native language more often. Although some countries and institutions use English as the language of learning, studying in these countries still requires learning a small language, which is even worse for students who are struggling to prepare application materials.

Regarding the learning methods of music study abroad, some art training institutions are considering launching a model: "We plan to launch a music study abroad section for younger students. For students who intend to study music abroad, we will select them from the early stage of study, and then have full control Responsible for students' music learning, conducting a long-term training cycle, formulating teaching plans that combine macro and micro, and arranging various learning projects according to time planning, such as competitions, performances, study tours, etc., to cultivate students' culture in a targeted manner The quality and cultivation of music students can be compensated and improved in the cultural part, and the shortcomings of domestic music teaching will be changed to a certain extent. "However, this learning method is very expensive, and its operational feasibility needs to be explored.

There is a shortage of music study abroad consultants, which makes career planning difficult.

The general purpose of recruiting study abroad consultants by study abroad institutions is returnees who have graduated from prestigious schools or professionals who have been in the industry for more than five to ten years. The music study abroad industry also has No exception. After all, people who have studied abroad will be more aware of the various requirements in the application process, and can avoid detours as much as possible to increase the chance of application. A study abroad institution said: "There are currently a small number of senior professional consultants in the music study abroad market. The career plans of most international music students after returning to China are either to teach music courses in colleges and universities, or to join a music group to engage in group performance, or to pursue a career as a group performer. As the ranks of musicians advance, there are very few musicians who have entered the study abroad industry and have been in the industry for more than five years, and the number of senior consultants who are familiar with the music study abroad market is even more limited. ”

For Chinese parents, Successful study abroad is only one step in realizing your life plan, and will eventually return to the issue of employment. As we all know, art study has always been the most expensive subject among majors studying abroad. Spending a lot of money to study art is a big investment. However, the salary of music returnees after returning to China is not much advantageous compared with other industries. Many parents will consider studying abroad. The issue of cost-effectiveness. Some people have made statistics. In 2015, music performance was already on the list of the top ten most difficult to find jobs in the country. Faced with this reality, many parents and students are in a dilemma, not knowing where to go.

Compared with art, career planning for music study is more difficult. The combination of art and real life is relatively close, it is highly practical and has a large number of people in social demand. Music is auditory enjoyment and is time-sensitive. Although music occupies an important position in social life and people's lives are inseparable from music, the direct use of music in daily life is mostly for performance and teaching, and its integration with other industries needs to be Discuss. Moreover, music talents are often concentrated in these two sub-majors, and the pressure for employment competition is even greater. "Considering students' future career planning, students need to adjust and integrate their majors. We try to use various methods to expand the range of career options for music students to a certain extent, not just limited to performance and teaching." Art Study Abroad The organization told the "Study Abroad" reporter.

The music discipline has always advocated inter-professional learning, but few have succeeded. For music majors, studying abroad may become an unattainable dream if they do not overcome many difficulties such as cultural courses and language skills.