Lunar New Year is the start of the year in the traditional calendars of China and several other countries in Asia. It falls between late January and the middle of February. Families gather, streets fill with lions and dragons, and music is part of all of it. This page has eight pieces to hear and the instruments to listen for.
Quick facts
- When: on a new moon between January 21 and February 20
- How long: in China, the festival runs for 15 days and ends with the Lantern Festival
- Also called: Spring Festival in China, Seollal in Korea, and Tết in Vietnam
- Each year has an animal: twelve animals take turns, year by year
- Sounds of the season: drums, gongs, cymbals, and firecrackers
Eight pieces to hear
1. Spring Festival Overture, by Li Huanzhi. The best-known orchestra piece for the holiday, written in the 1950s. It opens with a burst of drums and a leaping tune, turns to a gentle song in the middle, and ends with the party in full swing. It lasts about five minutes.
2. “Gong Xi Gong Xi.” A song of New Year greetings that children across the Chinese-speaking world sing. Chen Gexin wrote it in 1945.
3. “Jasmine Flower.” An old Chinese folk song, soft and flowing. The Italian composer Puccini heard it and used it in his opera Turandot. Read Puccini for kids.
4. “Horse Racing.” A short, fast piece for the erhu, a fiddle with two strings. Near the end, the player makes the erhu whinny like a horse.
5. “Dance of the Golden Snake.” A bright, quick piece for Chinese instruments, arranged by Nie Er in the 1930s. The phrases get shorter and shorter as the music speeds up.
6. “Purple Bamboo Melody.” A folk tune from the region around Shanghai, often played on the bamboo flute.
7. The Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto, by He Zhanhao and Chen Gang. Two students in Shanghai wrote it in 1958 and 1959. A solo violin tells an old Chinese love story, and the two lovers turn into butterflies at the end. Play the first five minutes. Read Asian composers for kids.
8. Lion dance drumming. A large drum, a gong, and cymbals drive the lion dance. The drummer watches the lion and changes the beat to match its moves: creeping, sniffing, leaping, and bowing.
The instruments
| Instrument | What it is | Its sound |
|---|---|---|
| Erhu | A fiddle with two strings and a bow | Like a singing voice |
| Pipa | A lute shaped like a pear | Quick, bright, plucked notes |
| Guzheng | A long instrument with many strings, plucked | Flowing, like water |
| Dizi | A bamboo flute held to the side | Bright, with a slight buzz |
| Suona | A loud pipe with a metal bell | Bold and piercing, for parades |
| Drum, gong, and cymbals | The lion dance band | Thunder and crashes |
Read instruments from around the world.
What makes this music sound the way it does
Five-note scales. Many Chinese tunes use five notes, like the black keys of a piano.
Slides. A voice or a string bends from one note to the next.
Speeding up. A piece often starts at a walk and ends at a run.
Loud is lucky. In the old stories, noise from drums and firecrackers drives bad luck away.
Other New Year traditions
Korean families mark Seollal. A well-known Korean children’s song for the day was written by Yun Geuk-young in the 1920s.
Vietnamese families mark Tết with songs of spring and good wishes.
Each country has its own music for the holiday. Ask friends and neighbors what they sing.
Things to do together
Black-key tune. Play any five black keys on a piano, in any order. Make up a New Year tune.
Be the lion. Play lion dance drumming. One child is the lion, and one child drums on a pot. The drummer follows the lion.
Speed up. Clap a slow pattern. Make each round a little faster, as “Dance of the Golden Snake” does.
Hear the horse. Play “Horse Racing.” Raise a hand when the erhu whinnies.
Find the tune. Play “Jasmine Flower.” Then play the children’s chorus from Act 1 of Turandot, and listen for the same tune.
Red and gold. Draw the lion while the Spring Festival Overture plays.
Questions to ask
- Which piece sounded most like a party?
- How does an erhu sound different from a violin?
- Why would loud music be good luck?
Print and play
Use a listening journal page for one piece. Read Asian composers for kids and winter classical music for kids.
More from this guide
This article is part of How to introduce kids to classical music.
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Use it with your kids
Print a listening page, a practice chart, or a composer fact sheet. Or try a tool, such as the composer timeline or the piece picker.