It’s a hit: China university karaoke course strikes a chord with senior citizens looking for fun way to learn music
- Campus for oldies rolls out new music curriculum with wider range of genres
- Almost 38,600 aged students enrol for music courses, snap up karaoke classes
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News of a university for senior citizens that has created a music course specifically for the elderly, which includes karaoke classes, is trending on mainland social media.
The Songshan campus of the Harbin University for the Aged, in Heilongjiang province in northeastern China, has rolled out a new curriculum that incorporates a range of genres and styles, such as the classic Italian vocal technique bel canto, folk songs, and choral singing. The karaoke class was rapidly fully booked.
Since the university opened enrolment for this semester in August, a staggering 38,580 mature students aged from 45 to 90 years old registered for the 118 courses. In addition to existing classes such as dance and calligraphy, a range of new classes was launched such as video shooting and yoga as well as karaoke.
The karaoke course comprises three parts, beginning with reading music scores, followed by vocal practice, and then learning different approaches to singing.
Qi Xin, the director of the campus, said each karaoke course comprised 16 lessons priced at 90 yuan (US$13) per course and could accommodate up to 42 students.
Xin explains to Life Daily how the university came up with the idea: “We often saw lots of elderly people joining together to enjoy singing at KTV when we were dining out so we had the idea of launching the karaoke course.”
Huang Nannan, who has taught vocal courses at the university for four years, teaches a 90-minute karaoke lesson twice a week.
She teaches popular songs that do not require too much technique because many students have little knowledge of singing but want to enrich their lives and have fun.
“Mainly because it’s easy to learn, so the students can sing after having a few lessons,” Xin said.
Huang agreed with Xin, adding that many students in her karaoke class came from her other courses where they have learned basic singing skills.
Many mainland social media observers were captivated by the story.
“It looks very cool,” one said.
“I’m going to suggest that my parents sign up for the class,” another commented.
“I hope I have such a cheerful thing in my life when I retire,” another said.
Stories involving offbeat courses launched by colleges are popular in China.
Back in September 2017, a university from southwest China that launched an “internet celebrity” programme for students who want to become live-streaming stars went viral.
In the same year, a university in eastern China won acclaim for offering an accredited weight-loss course, through a combination of regular exercise and diet control, in an attempt to tackle obesity on campus.
