Huang Nannan gives a karaoke lesson to students at the Songshan campus of the Harbin University for the Aged in Heilongjiang province. [Photo by Zhou Huiying/China Daily]
 
Harbin university equips older students with musical, technological skills
 
A new course teaching senior citizens how to sing karaoke is proving to be a hit at the Songshan campus of the Harbin University for the Aged in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province.
 
The university's vocal courses, including bel canto, folk songs and chorus, remain popular, but the new class is kindling renewed passion among elderly students.
 
"In recent years, we have often seen many elderly people going to KTVs to sing with their family members and friends, so we came up with the idea of starting the course," said Qi Xin, the director of the campus. "Before it started, we carried out a survey of our students and received a warm response."
 
He said demand was high, with the first two classes of students taking the course fully booked. The first class opened on Oct 30 and the second one on Nov 4, and they each have 42 students aged 48 to 73 who pay 90 yuan ($12.50) for 16 classes.
 
Teacher Huang Nannan, 39, has taught vocal courses covering different singing styles at the university since 2019.
 
"For instance, in the course on basic vocal singing, I teach my students basic theory, bel canto, folk and popular songs," she said.
 
Huang said most of the students in her karaoke course come from her other vocal courses, and they especially want to improve their pop singing skills.
 
"I give the students 90-minute lessons twice every week and usually choose current popular songs that do not require complex skills to sing, such as the theme songs from the latest movies," she said.
 
"With great enthusiasm and hard work, my students can become skilled in singing one song after two lessons."
 
Retired railway worker Liu Jiying, 56, said she had been interested in music since she was a child, but work had not left her much time to pursue hobbies, something she remedied after retiring last year.
 
She enrolled at the university for the autumn semester last year, attending courses including vocal music, piano and bodybuilding.
   
Students attend a smartphone skills class at the Harbin University for the Aged. [Photo provided to China Daily]
 
"The new course is more vivid and interesting, providing us with a whole new way of enjoying daily life," she said. "I have also made lots of like-minded friends in the class. We can get together to have a karaoke party in our spare time."
 
The university received around 39,000 registrations for the autumn semester at its eight campuses, with students' ages ranging from 45 to 90. It offers 118 courses covering fields including life arts, calligraphy, dance, information technology and literature.
 
To keep up with the latest trends, it has developed courses such as video editing, fitness, geriatric psychology, street dance and drone operation in recent years that have been welcomed by the elderly.
 
Over the past decade, 69-year-old Wang Jinfeng has attended over 30 different courses at the university, including dance, photography, calligraphy, writing and smartphone skills.
 
"Although I am at an old age, I have never given up following trends, such as learning how to use smart devices," she said. "I have learned smartphone skills and video editing at the university for five years and will continue, as advanced technology is always improving."
 
Wang can now use a range of basic video editing software on her smartphone, and her short video posts on social media platforms always receive many likes.
 
"The short videos can help me record my daily life with my family and friends," she said. "I also like captioning my videos with beautiful words. The writing courses gave me lots of help."
Sun Dengcheng, the director of the university's academic affairs office, said it had remained focused on the real needs of the elderly and had designed courses accordingly.
 
"With the rapid development of an aging society, especially the rapid growth of the elderly's demand for spiritual culture and learning, we will introduce innovative courses suitable for our students in a timely manner," Sun said.
 
Songshan campus director Qi said it was planning a new course on choosing packaged food at the supermarket.
 
"Our professional teacher, who is majoring in food science, and a senior public nutritionist will give the students detailed explanations of the technological process of food production, the standards and the labels to help them choose healthier food," he said.