A Study of Music Culture in the Yellow
　　River Basin under the Perspectives of
　　Contemporary Musicology
　　The 17th Annual Conference of China Institute for Traditional Music，hosted by Xi'an Conservatory of Music，was held from July 13 to 15，2012 with participation of over 220 scholars，experts and students in the field of traditional music from all over the country. The organizers proposed five major themes for the conference，namely，research of music culture in the Yellow River basin，protection and inheritance of intangible heritages，research of music ecology，new perspectives of traditional music research，and music versus hi-tech. During the process of receiving papers submitted by participants，they added new topics such as cross-border research of ethnic groups' music culture，research of traditional opera music and art，research of contemporary ethnic music composition，Guqin music research，research of musical instrument reforms，as well as sino-foreign music exchanges，so as to create a new image of disciplinary developments，characterized by varied perspectives，multiplied layers，crossing over of disciplines and cross-border research. The three-day conference took place in four different locations，with 39 sessions on different topics，and altogether 145 scholars presented their papers on the above-mentioned topics and delivered speeches at the conference. Among all the speakers，the eldest one is over 80，and the youngest is a junior college student. Nearly half of them are postgraduate students for master's or doctor's degrees in various universities or colleges，a positive token showing the wide age structure and the variety of levels of the researchers.
　　Of all the speeches dealing with various topics，a greater percentage was taken by those about the Yellow River basis music research focusing on issues of music cultures and case study on music genres in the region. Such speeches are in conformity with the conference's proposed themes，and many of them contain new breakthroughs. The research methods applied here in an integrated way cover archeology，history，folklore，comparative study and cultural anthropology. In general，the majority of the researches deal with such areas as the research of ancient Xi'an drum music，research of the living condition and inheritance of traditional music in the Yellow River basis，research of temperament and music genres，and research of the relationship between music's geological distribution and local culture.
　　Each of the three days witnessed highlights of papers delivered by participants，whose discussions on the current situation of traditional music research in the Yellow River basis represent the orientation of academia in recent years and the positive trends of crossing over disciplines and emphasizing in-depth researches while widening the vision of all the participants. What is worth mentioning is the performances specially prepared by the organizers for the conference，including the local Shaanxi Opera show ″Women Generals of the Yang's Family″ and the Drum Music Concert jointly presented by the Hejiaying Drum Music Society in Chang'an District of Xi'an City and the Drum Music Ensemble of Xi'an Conservatory of Music. These shows enabled the participants to experience the local music traditions and share the academics' unique understanding of how to discover and develop traditional music cultures.
　　Just as President of China Institute for Traditional Music Qiao Jianzhong said in his closing remarks at the conference，the first one over the second 30 years since the founding of the institute，the participants maintained the important tradition of field study for traditional music research by providing case studies in their papers with large quantity of in-depth field works. This is not only a principle that we will keep observing，but also an embodiment of the three major spirits in the traditional Chinese music discipline construction，namely，the spirit of constructing，the spirit of opening up，and the spirit of reflection. It took thirty years for several hundred scholars of the institute to develop the three spirits，which have played a positive role in promoting traditional Chinese music and having more objective and rational understanding of it，and thus turned a new page in the history of the institute's annual conferences.
　　A Summary of the 13th Annual Meeting of
　　the Music Society for Chinese Ethnic Minorities
　　The 13th Annual Meeting of the Music Society for Chinese Ethnic Minorities was held in Urumqi，Xinjiang from July 17 to 26，2012. The meeting was co-organized by the Music Society for Chinese Ethnic Minorities and Xinjiang Normal University，and was hosted by the Music College of Xinjiang Normal University. During the meeting，all the participants were invited by the college to attend the unveiling ceremony for the bronze statue of famous Chinese ethnomusicologist Mr. Zhou Ji，showing their respect and honour to this late great scholar. The organizers also presented two wonderful shows for the participants to experience the rich cultural heritage and the local hosts' hospitality. After the end of the three-day meeting，the organizers arranged for all the participants a five-day tour of ″traditional music around East Tianshan Mountain″.
　　The 110 participants at the meeting came from Xinjiang，Yunnan，Hunan，Jiangsu，Guangxi，Inner Mongolia，Ningxia and Jilin in China as well as the countries of Viet Nam and Singapore. Over 80 papers were received，dealing with three topics： ″music research for Chinese ethnic minorities″，″cross-border music research for Chinese ethnic groups？熏″ and ″research on ethnic minority music education reforms in universities and colleges.″
　　In comparison with previous annual meetings，this year saw a greater number of participants and submitted papers. Almost all the fields of traditional music were covered by the researches in these papers. However，there are some weaknesses，too. 1） In spite of the large quantity of papers，their quality needs to be improved largely？鴉 2） Though their researches covered a wide range of fields，they lack systematic and balanced research？鴉 and 3） Individual scholars are plenty but cooperation or teamwork is too little.
　　Another important event at this year's meeting is to convene a general assembly to elect a new leadership of the organization. According to the results of election，Prof. Zhao Talimu，President of China Conservatory of Music was elected the society's new president. Hopefully Presdient Zhao will lead the organization to move toward a greater future. At the mean time，a resolution was adopted at the meeting to hold the 14th Annual Meeting of the Music Society for Chinese Ethnic Minorities in Guizhou in 2014，the second time hosted by the province 30 years after the first annual meeting held there. Because of this great significance，the provincial government's cultural department expressed blessing and support to the society，and their top leaders came to Urumqi for the flag-receiving ceremony. The Music Society for Chinese Ethnic Minorities becomes the most authoritative organization in the field of ethnic minority music research. It is believed that the society will become more mature，and will make more contributions to the prosperity and development of Chinese ethnic minority musi