Sunlight Shines on the Red Scarf: Selected Children's Songs by He Yajie

Author: He Ping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: He Yajie (1926-1998), native of Jining, Shandong. Child music composer, music educator, and child music theorist. In 1944, he enrolled in Beijing Fu Ren University (the predecessor of Beijing Normal University). After graduating from university in 1948, he began his career in music, serving as the head of the publicity section of the third People's Cultural Center in Tianjin. In 1949, he started teaching music education, successively working as a music teacher at Tianjin Experimental Primary School, Tianjin Heping District Normal School, Tianjin Xinhua Part-time University, and Tianjin Kindergarten Normal School. During this period, from 1957 to 1959, he studied for two years in the composition advanced training class at the Central Conservatory of Music, entering Professor Konstantin Kondinsky's class. In 1980, he furthered his studies in the composition graduate program at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music.
Before his passing, he was a senior lecturer at Tianjin Kindergarten Normal School, a member of the China Music, and had served as the vice chairman of the Tianjin branch of the China Music, as well as a member of the theoretical composition committee and the education committee. He was also the director of the Tianjin branch of the China Democratic League and the head of the Tianjin Primary School Outstanding Music Teaching Observation Course Selection Group. Additionally, he served as the vice chairman of the Tianjin Secondary Vocational School Senior Professional Title Evaluation Committee. He was involved in the establishment of the Tianjin Teachers' Choir and held leadership positions.
Since the 1950s, He Yajie has composed and published over 300 musical works, including the renowned "Never Waste a Minute," which has won numerous awards and had a significant impact both nationally and in Tianjin. He has also published many articles on music education theory and music criticism. Among his students, many have become leading figures and backbone members of China's music industry, while others have become internationally renowned musicians.