Anthony, a 11-year-old boy, became famous after a video of him dance in the rain outside his home in Nigeria was put on the Internet. He impressed people from his enthusiasm. An Oscar-winning actor saw the video of Anthony and put them on his social media. He wrote, “We can be greatly passionate despite of the great difficulties that have put in front of us.” Anthony is a student at a dance academy in a poor district in Africa. The academy gives freely lessons to poor children that have somewhere to practice. The academy’s founder said, “We are changing people’s attitude towards male dancers.” Anthony said, “There are not male ballet dancers like me here. While people see ballet, they think it is only for girls, but I want to tell them there are also male ballet dancers.”

3 . Pedal Street by Breeze

Reviewer Anna Martino, age 13

Breeze has released Pedal Street after a two-year wait, in. spite of pressure from fans and the record company. Fans had been told to expect something special and this is a masterpiece. This band’s music is exceptional. The song lyrics (歌词) express emotions that are felt by everybody, focusing on topics other artists seem to prefer not to sing about. Breeze uses an interesting mix of styles including classical strings (弦乐器) and modern guitar riffs (重复段).

Thrill by Skydiggers

Reviewer Alexis Walker, age 14

Skydiggers, a Canadian rock group, have released the album Thrill, which was recorded over two years. Although some tunes are difficult to tell apart from each other in the sense that Suzi Tarrant’s voice doesn’t vary from song to song, the album will soon be permanently fixed on your playlist.

Silver Honeybees by Lena and the Lantanas

Reviewer Sam Roberts, age 16

Lena has been allowed to sing all types of songs here in order to really show what she can do. And in case you think that her new far-ranging style may not be attractive to a youthful teenage fan base, remember that her teen audience is sure to grow along with her as she makes more music. While some bands include good beats but have meaningless lyrics that make you feel slightly sick, or sing songs with meaningful words yet make a terrible sound, the Lantanas are different and a rare find.

Hungry Rock by April Sapa

Reviewer Julie Zhang, age 14

The album covers everything a teenager can feel: love, hate, acceptance and even boredom. It is an excellent combination of easy listening, even though there are several songs that could easily have been left out, resulting in a better album overall.

Yangge is a type of folk dance that originated in the northern regions of China. It is among the representative folk arts in China, and is very popular especially among the older generation, as they will     1     (ready) join in a yangge dance even when the performance is happening.

The dance is different from other Chinese dances in many ways. For instance, it promotes a sense of happiness, because it is supposed    2     (celebrate) happy occasions, as opposed to classical Chinese dancing,     3     requires an air of serious, gradual movements.

It is said that the origins of this    4     (wonder) dance are from the Han Dynasty in northern China, and it reached its peak during the Qing Dynasty. During this time, it was no longer a dance     5     (perform) during harvests, but it extended to all festival celebrations. The dance has four regional       6     (variety). Each variety     7     (have) its unique characters and they are quite easy to tell apart. But they share the common three parts: the dancers, the music band, and the leader.

Yangge was always    8     essential part of daily Chinese life that adapted    9     the times it was in. Yangge has made it into a well-preserved aspect of the culture that still holds strong to this day, even    10     (become) a part of required courses for Chinese dance students to learn.

5 . I remember that it was a fall morning when the orchestra (管弦乐队) teachers came into Miss Newell’s third-grade classroom. “You have hands for the viola (中提琴),” Miss Ciano told me. I was excited because my hands were finally good for something. I told my parents I wanted to play, and naturally, they agreed.

Since I first touched the viola, I haven’t been able to put it down. Ignoring the difficulty, I am pulled closer to it each day. If you get introduced to it in the right way, it will become your friend for life.

Classical music is truly my best friend. It is the trusted friend of every man, woman and child. Various feelings are expressed in classical music. I discovered that when I was eleven and played a cello concerto (大提琴协奏曲) of Bach in a competition, the first movement was joyful, but the second movement was mysterious and full of pain. From the piece, I learned that music expresses not only feelings, but also sudden mood changes. By listening to classical music, I know that someone else shares these feelings. Since I am lucky enough to be able to play classical music, I am comforted by it when I am upset. It gives me away to escape from my problems for a short period. Classical music can express my joy, sadness and anger.

Now look back at that fall day in the third grade and think how gullible I was for believing that anyone, even music teachers, could tell whether hands were perfect for a certain instrument. I’m certain they told me I had “viola hands” not because they were fortune-tellers (算命师), but because there was a lack of violists in our neighborhood. Classical music is one of the best things that ever happened to mankind.

6 . Do you like Chinese traditional painting and dance? They are two important parts of the traditional Chinese art. But what about when they meet each other?

This year, a dance drama titled Poetic Dance: The Journey of a Legendary Landscape Painting (《只此青绿》) was staged on CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala and became popular.

According to CCTV, this poetic dance program was inspired by the 900-year-old Chinese painting A Panorama of Rivers and Mountains (《千里江山图》), created by Song Dynasty painter Wang Ximeng at about 18. The painting is amazing in its sweeping size, rich coloration and the expressive details, reported by CCTV. It shows a Chinese blue-green landscape: mountains and groupings of infinite (无限的) rise and fall between cloudless sky and rippling (涟漪的) water.

When the dancers moved elegantly, audiences seemed to be looking at the moving mountains and rivers. “It brings me a pure experience of beauty. It is not only a drama but also an exhibition. Vast mountains and rivers are coming to life!” Internet user Mo Weisha wrote in a review. “More than a thousand years later, green mountains and rivers still impress people as they did long ago.” Some people even decided to watch the dance again when it was staged in the theaters later. In fact, in recent years, more and more modern shows have featured Chinese traditional culture and received warm welcome. As for the reason, it is due to people’s great love for traditional culture.

“The younger generations have grown up with a more open mind. They accept Chinese culture and are proud of it,” Yao Wei, director of Henan TV Station’s Innovation Center, told China Daily.

8 . You have probably heard of the Mozart effect. It’s the idea that if children or even babies listen to music composed of Mozart, they will become more intelligent. A quick Internet search shows plenty of products to assist you in the task. Whatever your age, there are CDs and books to help you taste the power of Mozart’s music, but when it comes to scientific evidence that it can make you more clever, the picture is more mixed.

The phrase “the Mozart effect” was made up in 1991, but it was a study described two years later in the journal Nature that aroused real media and public interest about the idea that listening to classical music somehow improves the brain. It is one of those ideas that sound reasonable. Mozart was no doubt a genius himself; his music is complex and there is a hope that if we listen to enough of it, we’ll become more intelligent.

The idea took off, with thousands of parents playing Mozart to their children, and in 1998 Zell Miller, the Governor of the state of Georgia in the USA, even asked for money to be set aside in the state budget so that every newborn baby could be sent a CD of classical music. It was not just babies and children who were exposed to (接触) Mozart’s music on purpose, even an Italian farmer proudly explained that the cows were played Mozart three times a day to help them to produce better milk.

I’ll leave the debate on the effect on milk production to farmers, but what about the evidence that listening to Mozart makes people more intelligent? More research was carried out but an analysis of 16 different studies confirmed that listening to music does lead to a temporary (临时的) improvement in the ability to handle shapes mentally, but the benefits are short-lived and it doesn’t make us more intelligent.

9 . A music festival, which is often presented with a main idea, is a community event mainly about live performances of singing and instrument playing. On the list are the music festivals for fans around the world. Find your favourite now!

Field Day

January 1, 2022, Sydney

Field Day means New Year’s Day for young people in Sydney. Seen as the city’s original outdoor party, it’s a gathering of friends coming together for a great fun-filled first day of the year. There’s an air of hope and active energy on a perfect summer’s day.

Envision Festival

February 21-26, 2022, Uvita

The Envision Festival is an annual event in Costa Rica that wants to provide a chance for different cultures to work with one another to create a better community. The festival encourages people to practise art, music and dance performances. At the same time, our connection with nature is expected to be strengthened.

McDowell Mountain Music Festival

March 2-4, 2022, Phoenix

The McDowell Mountain Music Festival is Phoenix’s musical celebration of community culture. Since its founding in 2004, it is the only 100% nonprofit(非营利的) music festival designed to support, entertain and educate the community. The festival attracts thousands of visitors each year from around the country, and it is an opportunity to experience true culture.

Old Settler’s Music Festival

April 19-22, 2022, Tilmon

The Old Settler’s Music Festival is a nationally known music festival for American music. The festival is held in Tilmon, Texas at the height of the wild flower season. The Old Settler’s Music Festival offers great music and activities for the whole family.