Dr. Ha Mai Huong, Director of Hue Academy of Music
The first Piano-Guitar Festival recently organized by Hue Academy of Music at Song Huong Theater has received positive feedback and compliments. From this platform, the Academy wanted to seed the passion and inspire the young, didn’t it?
Right. It was our objective when we decided to host this music platform. In the future, we will have more activities for people across ages and genres such as folk music, chamber music, pop music, as well as a variety of instruments.
The Festival has made a good public impression. I believe that the coming events will be successful. Organizing such activities not only promotes the Academy and creates a platform for music lovers and talents to perform, but also attracts the attention of the public.
Regarding music talent, there has not been any big name from Hue, has it?
This is our concern. Hue School of Music (the former establishment of Hue Academy of Music) only offered the training programs at the intermediate level, but many graduates became famous such as Anh Tuyet, Nhat Sinh, My Le, Van Khanh, Giang Quan, Thien Kim and Ngoc Mai.
However, when the Academy develops at a larger scale to become one of the three national academies to train music professionals, we have not yielded any talents.
What causes the absence of the branded singers? What is the role of the Academy in the training process?
There are many reasons. For one thing, Hue Academy of Music has experienced great changes and challenges, affecting the human resources of the Academy. Therefore, we all have made efforts within our capacity to regain our prestige, beginning with humble activities such as creating music platforms.
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Traditional music makes a strength for the development of Hue Academy of Music
Unfortunately, Hue is the home to many music talents, but they cannot make their living and develop their talent in Hue. It is factual that many singers left Hue for good. Is there any impact that the music market has on the training of music talents?
It certainly does. In our Academy, the best courses are Piano and Vocal music. Becoming well-known singers or musicians is anyone’s dream, but it’s very difficult for singers and musicians to earn their living from performing. It really affects the trainees.
Young people are not interested in pursuing music courses because the music atmosphere in Hue is not exciting. For this, the Academy is trying to create more platforms for music activities to attract young people. Once there are these platforms, I believe, young people will show more interest.
A positive sign is that there have been an increasing number of music centers in Hue and the number of young people enrolling in the courses grows bigger. I hope that people will be more interested in music when the living standards are getting better. Parents will find it necessary to bring up their children comprehensively. Children need not only to be provided with knowledge but also prepared with soft skills and developed thinking skills through music.
Hue Academy of Music has owned modern facilities. Are there any strategies to develop the institution to become one of the three big cradles of music in the country in the near future?
Hue Academy of Music is one of the three national institutions that offer professional training programs. However, the Academy is much younger and located in a socio-economically disadvantaged area, and thus it is less developed than the other two counterparts.
It is true that people only get interested in music and arts when the economy is developed. The living standards in Hue are still very humble, so it affects the local people’s interests in learning music.
In its development plan, Hue Academy of Music will not adopt the development models of the National Academy of Music or Ho Chi Minh City Academy of Music. Its growth will be closely tied with the local cultural context, taking the heritage and traditional music as the motivation for development.
The traditional orchestra of the Academy has won many awards at the music contests as well as performed in many countries. We will further develop the activities of the traditional orchestra, improve the quality of the teaching staff in the traditional instrument section and make favorable conditions for students of traditional music to participate in exchange programs, contests and public performances.
Song Huong Theater, which is a modern, luxurious cultural establishment, has recently been put into operation. What is the Academy’s plan to make effective use of the theater?
Song Huong Theater is one of the most modern, luxurious cultural establishments in Vietnam. The biggest pressure on the management board of the Academy is how to run the theater effectively because the Academy must be self-reliant in terms of operating cost.
There have not been any operating principles and the management board for the theater yet. In the future, it will be an independently-run unit with its own manager although it is still part of the Academy.
The theater serves the national and international events of professional arts. It also provides services to art delegations to perform in Hue.
We would also like Song Huong Theater to be a destination for traditional music programs to serve tourists. It is a good way to promote traditional music of Hue and create a tourist destination.
Thank you very much!
By Minh Hien