Recently, Gao Hong, a pipa performer, educator, composer, and artistic director of the Carleton College Chinese Orchestra, is leading the students to intensively rehearse for a very important concert. These students who have no previous foundation in Chinese folk music have not only gained valuable opportunities to learn and perform Chinese music at Carleton College, but also can obtain a bachelor's degree in music major or music auxiliary major with Chinese musical instruments as their major instruments. Carleton College can be said to be the first in the United States to issue an undergraduate diploma majoring in Chinese musical instruments, which is inseparable from Gao Hong's more than 20 years of hard work.

In 2001, Gao Hong taught at Carleton College in the United States. At that time, there were very few Chinese people in the school, and Gao Hong and the jazz group held a large-scale cross-border cooperation performance at the school. After the concert, many students expressed their desire to learn Chinese music. "The two directors of the Department of Music and the Department of Asia decided to set up a one-on-one small class as an elective course from 2002. The Department of Asia provided funds to buy the first batch of Chinese musical instruments for the Department of Music, which was added to the curriculum of the Department of Music. The formal courses of Chinese folk music; the credits of folk music courses can also be counted as the credits of arts, Asian studies, world studies, etc. In the first semester, 8 people signed up, and the number of applicants has doubled since then, because there are not enough musical instruments, so they have to be limited The number of applicants. The Chinese folk music class has become the most sought-after elective course, and there are more candidates waiting in line every semester than the class.” Gao Hong recalled that with the increasing number of students studying folk music in the school, the Music Department established the Folk Music Department. Orchestra. At that time, Chinese folk music was rare in American universities. When many Asian students applied for Carlton, the folk orchestra became an important factor for candidates to choose the school. Currently, Carlton owns almost all Chinese string, plucked, wind and percussion instruments.

In 2008, Gus Holley, a Vietnamese-American student, became Carleton College, and was also the first American university to major in music with a Chinese musical instrument (pipa) as a major musical instrument. "Comparison of China's Pudong School and Wang School's "House of Flying Daggers". At that time, in other colleges and universities in the United States, the majors of music majors must be vocal music, piano, and violin, but at Carleton College, music majors can use Chinese musical instruments as their majors. In 2017, Carleton College relaxed the restrictions again, and students majoring in any Chinese musical instrument are eligible for a diploma in music auxiliary. At present, in addition to two music graduates who majored in pipa with a bachelor of arts degree, there are two students who majored in guzheng performance and one who majored in flute performance as a music assistant major and received a diploma.

Carleton College has created a historic achievement for the development of Chinese folk music in American universities. In addition to teaching Chinese music majors and auxiliary majors, Gao Hong also teaches many elective students who take Chinese musical instruments as their music hobbies, and serves as the artistic director of Carleton College Chinese Orchestra, World Music Band, and Tang and Song Music Bands.

Most of the students at Carleton College are top students in science and arts and liberal arts. The school does not have special music enrollment, and most of the students have no music, especially Chinese folk music foundation. Gao Hong adopts the universal teaching method in teaching, that is, starting with the simplest Chinese folk songs, so that students can play one or two simple Chinese folk songs when they are first learning, so as to accumulate a sense of achievement and improve their enthusiasm for learning; then through teaching simple famous songs Training for students to learn and strengthen skills. After learning a piece of music, the basic skills in the piece will be mastered. In 2016, Gao Hong compiled the English version of Pipa teaching materials, summarizing the Pipa training method starting from Chinese folk songs. Gao Hong also encouraged the students to perform on stage, so that they could not only test the effectiveness of their practice but also gain a sense of accomplishment, so that they could learn more actively.

"The biggest challenge for foreign students is that they are unfamiliar with the Chinese cultural background and do not understand the handling of some music very well. As teachers, we need to find a way to let these foreign students show the charm and feeling of the pipa, and teach them to use specific techniques, More meticulous processing to make up for their lack of understanding of music." She concluded that the biggest advantage of foreign students is their love for Chinese music, and they are more autonomous and motivated from their interests.

Gao Hong successively led 9 students from Carleton College to China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan to investigate the development and inheritance of Chinese Buddhist music and Chinese Nanyin art in China, so that students can truly understand the essence of Chinese cultural traditions and inspire them Deeper interest and love of Chinese music culture.

During Gao Hong's 21 years of teaching, the Carleton College Chinese Orchestra and its members have won many awards in various competitions, including the China "Songting Longyin" Dizi Invitational Competition and the "Dunhuang Cup" Chamber Music Competition. Student Gus has won several gold medals at international awards, and became the only non-Chinese athlete to win a gold medal in a major Chinese pipa competition.

For more than 20 years, Gao Hong has held many lectures and performances in the United States to promote Chinese music culture. The mayor of St. Paul, the capital of Minnesota, where Carleton College is located, named April 3rd every year "Gao Hong's Music Day".

On May 15th, the Carlton Chinese Orchestra will perform the world premiere of three works that won the first prize in the first new composition competition of the academy at the Spring Concert: "Rouge Tears" by Chen Bingjie, a graduate student of the Composition Department of Shanghai Conservatory of Music Erhu, Qudi, Guzheng, Pipa, Zhongruan, Percussion), Singaporean composer and conductor Luo Siwei's Dream Journey of a Poet (for Dizi, Erhu, Guzheng, Pipa, Liuqin, Yangqin, Percussion, Cello Composer), "Red River Capriccio" by An Dongni, a graduate student of the Composition Department of the Central Conservatory of Music (for the flute, pipa, dulcimer, guzheng, erhu, and cello). Gao Hong said that in the future, he will continue to spare no effort to share and promote Chinese music culture with the world.