54-year-old Zhang Yongjun is of medium height, with a sturdy physique, and his eyes twinkle with wisdom. At the State University for the Elderly, his erhu teaching class is always full of laughter.

In 2009, Zhang Yongjun applied for a job at the State University for the Elderly as an Erhu teacher. As the saying goes, three years for the flute and five years for the flute will break the waist with an erhu. Erhu is the most difficult instrument to learn, and it is even more difficult for older people to learn erhu. In the long-term erhu teaching practice, Zhang Yongjun has explored a set of erhu teaching methods for the elderly. He summarized erhu practice into "three movements" and "five steps". The "three movements" are: heart movement, eye movement, and ear movement. Heart movement is to think about the content of the practice and the emotions that should be expressed before practice; eye movement means to observe your posture, sitting posture and gestures during practice; ear movement means to listen to the erhu during practice. Whether the sound is pleasing to the ear and how well the pitch is. The "five steps" are: adhere to the correct posture of holding the qin and bow; move the bow and change the bow flat, straight and even, with the wrist first, commonly known as "fishing tail"; insist on pitch training, especially ear training, constantly Strengthen the concept of intonation and form good habits. The method of pressing the strings is mainly based on the root joints of the fingers, and the fingers lift and drop the strings, which is even and elastic; to strengthen the rhythm training of the erhu, he often said: "The rhythm of the notes must be played accurately, and the length and change must be clarified. Sentences and tone, smooth and lively, are good to hear.”

Zhang Yongjun likes to interact with students. From time to time, students are asked to answer questions, and sometimes students are asked to come to the stage to pull and let everyone comment. He asked every student to pay attention to the training of basic skills. Fast bow is a learning difficulty for senior college students, Zhang Yongjun summed up the requirements of three words, namely "light, fast and loose". It is emphasized that the practice of fast bow needs to be done step by step. Don't rush for success. Start with slow draw first. After reaching a certain level of proficiency, play the fast bow according to the playing speed specified in the music. He asked the students to practice the slow bow 50 times every day, and he also put forward a clear standard for the timbre of the erhu, requiring everyone to be clean, realistic and beautiful.

Under the leadership of Zhang Yongjun, the students made rapid progress. According to statistics, over the past 10 years, in the erhu class of the State University for the Elderly, a total of 3 people have passed the level 7 erhu test, 5 people have passed the level 6 erhu test, 4 people have passed the level 5 erhu test, and 9 people have passed the level 4 erhu test. Batch after batch of erhu students graduated. In this world of erhu teaching, Zhang Yongjun worked hard and achieved fruitful results.

Zhang Yongjun is a native of Luxi. He loves his hometown and people deeply. He has composed many songs and instrumental works in addition to teaching. Among them, the more famous ones are "Flying for Autumn", "Happy Xiangxi Dolls" and "Song of Border Town". The pieces he created are very down-to-earth and contain a lot of musical elements from the western Hunan region. He applied the folk tunes of the Tujia and Miao nationalities to his erhu music. The song shows that the sons and daughters of Xiangxi live a happy life under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, sings the positive energy of the new era, and shows the customs of Xiangxi.

During Zhang Yongjun's tenure as a teacher of the Erhu Class at the State University for the Elderly, he has forged deep friendships with many of his classmates. 80-year-old Li Qingying became Teacher Zhang's favorite student. She has been learning the piano for more than ten years. Under the leadership of Zhang Yongjun, she has grown from a musically blind erhu Xiaobai to the fourth level of the erhu.

While concentrating on taking the erhu class at the university for the elderly, Zhang Yongjun also cultivated many erhu talents. Many of his erhu students have been admitted to well-known institutions such as China Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Tianjin Conservatory of Music, Sichuan Conservatory of Music and Wuhan Conservatory of Music.

Under the leadership of Zhang Yongjun, the erhu class of the State University for the Elderly has won many awards, and many students have been rated as outstanding students by the State University for the Elderly many times.