Comment on "Moral thought: evaluation on the moral education and virtue cultivation of traditional Chinese music"

Jian Cui[1]

Commented article: WHANG, H. Moral thought: evaluation on the moral education and virtue cultivation of traditional Chinese music. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp journal of philosophy, v. 47, n. 5, e02400167, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/14871.

This article combines the study of the origin of traditional Chinese music with the moral concepts of traditional music in today's society, and discusses the importance of traditional Chinese music education in moral education and virtue cultivation (Wang, 2024). The author believes that in the era of modern music popularity, the impact of traditional culture and modern culture, and the collision of ideas and morality, traditional music moral concepts have been reexamined by people. Through the combination of modern media and traditional music cultural moral concepts, a more inclusive new ecological culture has been formed. Therefore, reshaping the moral concepts in traditional music culture provides a path for people to cultivate themselves in today's society.

Firstly, the relationship and connotation between music and morality in traditional music culture. From the perspective of the development of Chinese cultural history, this article clearly states that traditional Chinese music is a moral assistant that plays an important role in education (cf. Xie, 2017; Falconer, 2019). From our perspective, the dissemination of traditional Chinese music is also about leveraging this function and role, combining people's previous feelings and connections to achieve the goal of social harmony, which is also one of the important functions of music education. The article points out that music culture and moral connotations are inseparable. In the long era of the Hundred Schools of Thought, every important idea has had a profound impact on traditional Chinese music. Although the ideological systems are different, the core point is that music has a deeper understanding of establishing correct moral concepts. Therefore, the author points out that this has an immeasurable impact on moder

In society, creating a harmonious atmosphere throughout society and shaping comprehensive and healthy students' physical and mental health, as well as stabilizing national cultural confidence (Zhou, 2022). Secondly, the author puts forward the argument that moral education is also complementary to music education, and it is ubiquitous in music education. Through the rhythm, melody, lyrics, etc. of music, the correct moral values can be accurately transmitted to the public, especially in classical music. It immerses the audience in the artistic conception of music through the rhythm and tempo, gradually appreciating the moral concepts and emotional experiences contained in music. This is precisely because the pitch of classical music increases and highlights the prominence of moral ideas (Huang; Aparna, 2020).

The difference between traditional Chinese music and Western classical music lies in our belief that the form of cultural dissemination is not only through conventional musical elements such as melody and rhythm, but also mainly through plot and content, as well as the portrayal of musical images of related characters. For example, in Peking Opera, different facial expressions showcase different character personalities and characteristics, fully displaying the importance and urgency of beauty, goodness, ugliness, and the misuse of music, singing, recitation, acting, and beating. The audience deeply understands the moral values of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness through their understanding of the story. And this also coincides with the author's argument. Once again, the moral values demonstrated by traditional Chinese music in practice have a certain depth and breadth, showcasing the principles of truth, goodness, and beauty to the world, expressing the noble spirit of patriotism and responsibility towards family life and society, and conveying positive energy and social values to people (cf. Wang, 2009; Nowell, 2015).

However, due to the impact of the massive production of modern popular music on traditional music, we have found that many young people have a very narrow understanding of traditional music. They believe that traditional music is like a dusty time machine that cannot keep up with the times and completely restrict their behavior and thoughts. On the contrary, the ideas conveyed and expressed by traditional music are exactly the basic moral principles we need. Therefore, the author proposes that many changes should be incorporated into the dissemination of modern traditional music in practice, such as the addition of new media and the experimentation of various instrument combinations. Music practice courses should be conducted in schools to enable students to achieve innovative integration from textbooks to practice, creating a traditional music appreciation model for ordinary people (Juan; Phakamas; Zhang, 2023).

Thus, more and more people are willing to engage with and learn traditional music, achieving the effect of popularization. The author believes that traditional Chinese music and modern music can be better integrated, especially in the creative methods of modern music such as musicals. Through this performance style, the actors' realistic performances allow the audience to immerse themselves in the playwright's true intentions. Generally speaking, we understand the plot as actors using dialogue, music, and beautiful melodies to make the audience feel the morality, positive values, and positive ideological consciousness of the times even for plays that are far from contemporary. For primary and secondary school students, it is the best period to establish moral values. Therefore, the study of poetry and the cultural exhibitions of traditional art have become promoters of traditional culture, virtues, and morality, indirectly affecting the moral judgments of the recipients (cf. Steffens, 2020; Stuempfle, 1997).

In summary, drawing on existing evaluation methods and music criticism methods is also the foundation of what we believe to be the most effective music education practice (Hadley, 2018). We believe that traditional Chinese music culture is very important in today's society, especially with moral concepts as our core and foundation. All our cognition comes from this, and practicing such concepts in music practice is very necessary and effective. The author elaborates in detail through this paper on the effective dissemination of traditional Chinese music, which combines the correct moral values and evaluation of music education, and better enables more and more young people to participate in the dissemination of traditional music culture.

References

FALCONER, K. Getting It on Its Feet Exploring the Politics and Process of Shakespeare outside the Traditional Classroom. Critical Survey, v. 31, n. 4, p. 42-53, 2019.

HADLEY, S.; NATASHA, T. Critical humanism in music therapy: Imagining the possibilities. Music Therapy Perspectives, v. 36, n. 2, p. 168-174, 2018.

HUANG, X.; APARNA, A. L. Cueing morality: The effect of high-pitched music on healthy choice. Journal of Marketing, v. 84, n. 6, p. 130-143, 2020.

JUAN, L.; PHAKAMAS, J.; ZHANG, Y. H. The Transmission of Guqin Musical Instrument Knowledge Literacy and its Reflection Study in Guizhou Province, China. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, v. 11, n. 2, p. 22-29, 2023.

NOWELL, I. Wake up, Harp and String Music (Ps 108, 3): The Old Testament in Compositions of the 20th Century. Catholic Biblical Quarterly, v. 77, n. 1, p. 158-159, 2015.

WHANG, H. Moral thought: evaluation on the moral education and virtue cultivation of traditional Chinese music. Trans/Form/Ação: Unesp journal of philosophy, v. 47, n. 5, e02400167, 2024. Available at: https://revistas.marilia.unesp.br/index.php/transformacao/article/view/14871.

Submission: 26/09/2024 – Decision: 30/09/2024

Revision: 05/10/2024 – Publication: 20/10/2024

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Researcher Assistant, College of Music, Mahasarakham University, 44000 - Tahiland. ORCID: 0009-0008-1096-7473. Email: cuijian0813@yeah.net.

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