With the ongoing national emphasis on enhancing aesthetic education in China, the role of school music instruction in the new era has become increasingly pivotal. It is recognized as a fundamental avenue for cultivating students' musical literacy, fostering innovation and creativity, and shaping well-rounded personality qualities. Despite these ambitious goals, the current pedagogical landscape in many high schools reveals persistent challenges. Predominantly, music lessons often suffer from monotonous teaching methodologies and a consequent lack of student engagement, which ultimately undermines learning efficiency and developmental outcomes. This disconnect between policy objectives and classroom practice necessitates urgent exploration into effective instructional innovations. Thus, this study poses a central research question: Is it feasible to improve and innovate upon existing teaching methods to enhance the efficacy of high school music education and elevate the musical capabilities of students in China? To investigate this question empirically, we designed and implemented a teaching experiment centered on vocal instruction. A key innovative aspect of this experiment was the integration of localized content, specifically incorporating folk music materials from Fujian Province to create a more culturally relevant learning context. The core of our methodological framework relied on Gordon's Advanced Measures of Music Audiation (AMMA) as the primary instrument for assessing musical aptitude. We employed a controlled experimental design, with one group receiving the intervention and a parallel control group for comparison. To complement the quantitative AMMA data and gather richer insights into student perceptions, we also administered structured questionnaires and conducted follow-up interviews, thereby enabling a multi-faceted assessment of teaching effectiveness. A rigorous comparative analysis of the pre-test and post-test AMMA data from both groups was conducted. The results clearly indicated that the experimental group, which underwent the sound gesture teaching method, demonstrated a more pronounced improvement in musical audiation skills. These findings robustly prove that the sound gesture teaching method is a potent tool for cultivating the musical ability of Chinese high school students. In conclusion, the study not only validates the efficacy of this method but also highlights its inherent advantages. We assert that introducing sound gesture teaching into the national high school music curriculum holds significant potential and is a promising strategy for advancing the quality of music education in alignment with contemporary aesthetic goals.