Title: Mudong Folk Songs

    
    Category: Local Music, Art & Culture
    Completion Date: 2006-9-25
    School: Mudong Middle School, Mudong County, Banan District, Chongqing Municipality , P.R.China．
    School Master: Mr. Ding Rong-xin
    Students: Liukang, Hu Shi-rong, Chenlu, Geng Li-jiao; ages 16-18; worked together to complete this CyberFair project.
    Teachers: Mr. Chenbo, Mr. Zhangyan, Miss Li Zhi-hua.
    E-Mail: dongyehanyu@126.com
    Our school website: :www.cqmdzx.com

    1.The purpose of our research
    ①make clear the features and functions of Mudong folk songs
    ②research on the present situation of Mudong folk songs
    ③research on the value of reserving folk songs
    ④offer suggestion on reserving folk songs
    ⑤try to share Mudong folk songs on internet
    ⑥enrich teaching issues
    ⑦train students’ researching and cooperation ability
    2.progress report
    ①before 2006-9-20: Team formation
    ②2006-9-20 to 2006-9-25: Defining team members and formally entering the competition
    ③2006-9-25 to 2006-12-31: Using questionnaire in campus and community to survey people’s opinion to Mudong folk songs; interviewing head of local cultural bureau, folk singers and other relevant people; collecting lyrics, videos and other information; making web pages.
    3.Information tools and technologies
    (1)Hardware facilities: computer, digital camera, recorder, flash disk, scanner.
    (2)Computer software: Adobe Photoshop 6.0 for graphic processing; Macromedia Flash 2004 MX; Word2003 for textual information editing; Dream weaver MX 2004 for webpage editing; Outlook Express for receiving and sending mails; Internet Explorer for browsing website.
    (3).Internet: E-mail, message board, broadband system．
    ★Notes:
    1.According to our plan, we carried on our interview. The first person is Mr. Jiang-the head of the Cultural Bureau of Mudong County. After answering our questions, the head of the Cultural Bureau of Mudong County had a chat with us about Mudong Mountain Songs. His warm-heartedness not only represents in answering all kinds of our questions, but also offering us the information list of Mudong Mountain Songs he has collected for years. We were amazing because those are certificates of performing Mudong Mountain Songs. What was more; he gave us a communication list of mountain singers. My god! That was what we really needed! From the communication list given by the head of Cultural Bureau of Mudong County, we saw a name-Bai Bingcheng, who was the king singer of Mudong Mountain Songs. He was very kind when communicating with us, although he was nearly dumb. His certificates and medals for performing mountain songs were piled like a small mount. The third person is the student of the king singer of Mudong Mountain Songs; his artistry is handed down in a direct line from his teacher, he is an old singer who is worried about the future of mountain songs; he is the last person we interview. In nearly two hours’ conversation, the old man was mostly talking cheerfully and humorously.
    2.At 4 o’clock, we came back to school, and then every one was busy with his own tasks. We forgot tiredness, hot summer and simple lunch. What in our mind was how to share Mudong folk songs to outside world. We were ambassadors of popularizing Mudong folk songs.
    3.The topic of our research project was folk art, which made us realize more things about Mudong folk songs. What’s more, we learned active study through practice and shared our knowledge with other people on the net.
    4.We learned to respect intellectual property. On our web pages, every word was written or edited by our team members. In the whole process, we wanted to show our gratitude to our headmaster, supervising teachers, Mr. Jiang who offered us lots of video and relevant books, and all kind people.
    5.Discoveries, lessons and surprises
    We have got a better knowledge of Mudong folk song’s history. We should do more things in popularizing our traditional folk art.The activity has enhanced our teamwork spirit and improved our communicating and interpersonal abilities.