What is the crisis facing traditional Chinese music in modern times? How can it be solved?

What are the crises of traditional music

The localized development of ethnomusicology in China cannot be realized only by the "localization" of the research object. In this article, while sorting out the development of Chinese "ethnomusicology", we point out that the strong background of modern Western music culture and the weakness of traditional Chinese cultural concepts have caused the lack of self-academic driving force of Chinese "ethnomusicology", and advocate for the development of Chinese ancient music history and cultural historiography, as well as the development of a new "ethnomusicology". It also advocates the intervention of Chinese ancient music history and cultural history to realize the three-dimensional and deep development of Chinese "ethnomusicology".

Obviously, the question of whether "ethnomusicology" is a discipline or not has gradually ceased to be an object of debate, and the idea of taking "ethnomusicology" as a concept, perspective, and attitude of understanding and applying it to the study of music and culture has been recognized by more and more scholars. has been recognized by more and more scholars. The study of Chinese traditional music theory, which is also inclined to *** time research, has made some degree of work and contribution to the development of ethnomusicology in China, and quite a number of scholars in this field have used their own rich experience in traditional music as the basis for their research, and have learned from the cultural relativism of Western ethnomusicology and its emphasis on the "inside-out" perspective of ethnomusicology in a certain cultural system, After learning from Western ethnomusicology's cultural relativism and emphasizing the "inside and outside" perspective on music and culture within a certain cultural system, scholars in this field have made a large number of impressive academic achievements, which have played a positive role in the development of ethnomusicology in China.

Throughout the influence of Western ethnomusicology on Chinese music academics after its introduction to China, especially after the convening of the First National Ethnomusicology Symposium in Nanjing in 1980, domestic scholars have been discussing for a long time on the disciplinary and ethnic nature of ethnomusicology, especially on the establishment of a "Chinese School of Ethnomusicology". After the first national symposium on ethnomusicology, scholars in China have been discussing for a long time about the discipline and ethnicity of ethnomusicology, especially about the establishment of "Chinese school of ethnomusicology". Out of great interest in ethnomusicology, the author has also thought about the development of ethnomusicology in China, and hopes to make an attempt to judge and summarize the establishment of Western ethnomusicology and its dissemination and development in China from a Chinese perspective, especially from a developing country's perspective, based on the influence of the modern disciplinary system in China as far as possible, so please criticize and correct me for the mistakes. Please criticize and correct me if I am wrong.

I. Ethnomusicology in China

During the development of China's modern music history, due to the special historical background, the issues of "nationalization" and "sinicization" were once of great concern and became one of the main ways of thinking in dealing with foreign cultures. It became one of the main ways of thinking to deal with foreign cultures. When Western ethnomusicology entered China, it also went through such a process. Due to the similarity of research methods and some misunderstandings about the name of ethnomusicology at the time of its entry into China, there was a time when scholars advocated replacing Western ethnomusicology with the study of traditional Chinese music, making it a "Chinese school" of ethnomusicology. In recent years, domestic scholars have gradually realized that ethnomusicology is more of a universal academic concept and does not need to be limited in terms of nationality and research objects. Therefore, the issue of "Chineseization" of Western ethnomusicology has gradually faded out of the field of vision, and attention has been paid to the updating of the research methodology and concepts, which has led to the production of a large number of relevant case studies. Therefore, the issue of the "Chineseization" of Western ethnomusicology gradually faded out of view. As a result, the development of ethnomusicology in China has entered into a state of dialog in which the theoretical concepts seem to be equal to those of the West.

Regarding the establishment of a Chinese school of ethnomusicology, Gao Houyong said around 1980 that "we should insist on Chinese characteristics, take our own way, and gradually establish our own systematic and complete Chinese ethnomusicology. In fact, there are many schools of ethnomusicology in the world, and their concepts are different, and Chinese ethnomusicology should also be one of the important schools in the world." He also hoped that through the introduction of Western ethnomusicology, "the research in these fields (ethnofolk music research and Asian, African and Latin American music research), which were still in a closed state, would be led to a more macroscopic, open and scientific realm, and thus the 'ethnofolk music research', which had been devastated during the ten years of turmoil, and which was still in a state of depression, would be brought to the realm of 'ethnofolk music research'. The 'study of ethnic and folk music' and the 'study of Asian, African and Latin American music' were revived" [1]; Wei Tingge suggested to replace "ethnomusicology" with "Chinese musicology" [2]; and "ethnomusicology" with "Chinese musicology" [3]. Weitinger suggests to replace "ethnomusicology" with "Chinese musicology", so as to clarify the local nature of ethnomusicology research in China [2]; Shen Qia combs through the "four phases" of the development of ethnomusicology in China (from Wang Guangqi to the present day) to construct the structure of the lineage of Chinese ethnomusicology in a certain historical sense, and to build the structure of Chinese ethnomusicology in a certain historical sense. Shen Qia's compilation of the "four stages" of ethnomusicology development in China (from Wang Guangqi to the present) constructs the structure of Chinese ethnomusicology in a certain historical sense, and takes this as the interpretative perspective for the process of the "Sinicization" of Western ethnomusicology. ...... Obviously, in the face of the entry of Western ethnomusicology, first of all, the relevant fields of Chinese traditional music research have actively participated in the interaction and discussion.

In the face of the entry of Western ethnomusicology, first of all, the field of traditional Chinese music studies has actively participated in the interaction and discussion, and in a fairly long period of time has taken up the ethnomusicology part of the relevant research and work, and a number of scholars engaged in the study of traditional Chinese music have made a lot of basic work for the development of ethnomusicology in China through academic transformation.

After a lot of discussions on ethnomusicology, scholars gradually shifted their focus from the object of research to the level of research methods and concepts. For example, Guan Jianhua discusses the nature of music anthropology (ethnomusicology) from the perspective of cultural studies [4]; Luo Yifeng explores the development process and future outlook of music anthropology from the methodological perspective of universalism, relativism, and cultural holism [5]; and Yang Minkang discusses the method of subject-objective dual-view examination and analysis in the study of music ethnography [6]. In addition, a large number of field case studies have appeared in a pattern, and new fields such as immigrant music, ritual music and popular music have become necessary additions to the study of Chinese ethnomusicology; moreover, many related academic conferences have been held frequently, such as the discussion of the construction of the discipline of ethnomusicology from the perspective of academic methodology has been formed into a separate conference and has attracted a large number of scholars to echo [7]; the related works and articles of domestic scholars have been constantly updated. The related writings and articles of domestic scholars are constantly new. China's ethnomusicology research has gradually developed and warmed up, and has entered the ranks of international dialog, becoming the focus of contemporary Chinese music academia.

But has ethnomusicology, which seems to be developing smoothly, reached maturity? In the author's opinion, there is still a hidden crisis, which requires further reflection.

The crisis of Chinese "ethnomusicology"

Although the development of contemporary Chinese ethnomusicology has been sufficient for a dialogue with the world, many scholars are apparently not satisfied with the general discussion of Chinese and foreign **** knowledge. The methodological discussion on the development of ethnomusicology with emphasis on "localization" and "locality" has already shown its reflection: Du Yaxiong has proposed that oriental ethnomusicologists should give full play to their "outside perspective" in the study of western music culture. Du Yaxiong proposed that Eastern ethnomusicologists should take advantage of their "outside perspective" in the study of Western music and culture [8]; Yu Xin believed that in the process of "localization" of Western ethnomusicology, there are still problems such as the lack of local scholars, indifference to the awareness of the local music and culture, impurity of the study of the local music and culture, and the dilemma of localization research under the background of cultural change. Zheng Yuanjie, on the other hand, through his reflection on the thesis of "local knowledge", proposes that the Chinese experience of music is not only a local experience, but also a situational experience, which has its unique value in the construction of a panoramic map of the human artistic landscape and the understanding of the truths of art and life, which are pursued by the anthropology of art. It has its unique value in the construction of the panoramic human artistic landscape and the understanding of artistic truth and life truth pursued by art anthropology [10]; ...... We can see that the perspective of this kind of ethnomusicology's "localization" issue is very different from that of the "Sinicization" issue raised in the early 1980s. We can see that the perspective of this kind of ethnomusicology "localization" issue is very different from that of the "Chineseization" issue in the early 1980s. The focus of attention has shifted from the promotion of "localization of objects" to the reflection of "localization of concepts", which is a deep reflection of positive significance to the development of Chinese "ethnomusicology".

The author believes that, in addition to the above problems, there is still a potential crisis in the development of Chinese "ethnomusicology". The direction of academic development depends on the driving force that supports academic research. One of the directions of development of Chinese "ethnomusicology" is "localization", so where is the driving force that supports this direction?

The idea of "Eurocentrism", that the Western cultural system is superior to that of other backward countries, was once prevalent in the Chinese music industry, mainly in the field of compositional techniques and other music ontology-related areas. Objectively speaking, this practice of evaluating or interpreting the cultural forms and values of traditional Chinese music in terms of the "advanced" Western music system can still be seen today. The phenomenon of domestic music colleges taking the Western music system as their main teaching object and seriously neglecting the education of traditional Chinese music culture is a concrete contemporary manifestation of the idea of "Eurocentrism", and with the widespread spread of this idea and phenomenon in the domestic social and cultural consciousness, Chinese people's appreciative habits, value judgments, etc. still tend to be Westernized, even directly affecting the examination results. With the widespread spread of such ideas and phenomena in domestic social and cultural consciousness, Chinese people's appreciation habits and value judgments still tend to be westernized, and even directly affect a series of practical problems such as difficulties in school examinations and employment, and the reform of school teaching system. When these realities are recognized as "normal and natural", the critical nature of "Eurocentrism" that should have been highlighted is weakened, and the voice of opposition to it becomes more and more powerless. This is the Chinese background of the crisis of Chinese "ethnomusicology".

Reflection is the cultural "inertia" of Westerners, which is inextricably linked to their religious culture. Westerners are good at reflective behavior, so they constructed the "ethnomusicology". Through the collection and comparison of colonial cultures, and later on cultural pluralism and cultural relativism, Westerners have successfully transformed themselves from a global colonizer to an active interpreter of global culture, and have used their own "Eurocentric" mistakes to warn the colonized world, and to make "culture-centeredness" a key factor in the development of their own culture. The "cultural center" has been transformed into a "conceptual center". Will the Chinese people, who have not yet gotten rid of their "Eurocentric" thinking, "logically" accept it again?

Western cultural relativism is, to some extent, an incomplete reflection. The incomplete reflection here does not mean the incompleteness of cultural relativism, but that the Western world, in proposing the reflection of "cultural relativism", is based on its own mistakes, and the background is a process of self-examination by the colonizer, which, to put it more bluntly, should be "he controls himself", rather than "he controls himself" as in the case of the colonizer. To put it more bluntly, it should be "he should just mind his own business", not like A, after hitting B, reflecting on the fact that he should not have hit others, and then justifiably admonishing B, "don't hit others in the future, hitting others is not right", which is not very comical. I'm afraid that this B also think that A said is very good, grateful to this kind of admonition in mind, somehow abide by this kind of truth. This is not without its counterpart in reality: many foreign scholars come to China to give lectures, they bring a lot of "knowledge resources", which we lack and need, but there is no lack of "preachers", deliberately showing "I have brought you something that you have not yet realized. However, there is also a lack of "preachers" who deliberately display the attitude that "I have brought you problems that you have not yet realized", and therefore "you must reflect with us". This "reflection of cultural power" is the Western background of the crisis of Chinese "ethnomusicology". (Of course, we cannot deny the piety of some Western scholars' reflections, just as we cannot deny that others are still culturally powerful.)

But it is embarrassing that contemporary Chinese music culture is still so Eurocentric, and we do have a problem that has led the West to successfully lead us to break with the Eurocentrism they have brought with them. The establishment of a world of cultural relativism. Music is culture, the world's cultural pluralism and equality, a holistic view of the humanities, and so on, has become the most important words of today's Chinese musicological community to abide by.

Perhaps this is a complaint, but such a complaint is not a denial of these academic concepts, which are extremely normal, so normal that the ancients of China thousands of years ago used them as a guideline for their conduct in the world. Confucius era of the "six arts", music as part of the cultural literacy, to assume the title of "gentleman" must have the ability to one; Wei and Jin period Jikang "sound without mourning music theory" in the "different sides of the different customs, singing and crying differently In Jikang's "The Theory of Sound and Music" of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the words "Different places and customs, different songs and cries" and "Eight different places and customs, different songs and cries" are already a direct expression of the idea of cultural pluralism from the perspective of music. The Buddhist Zen saying "the world of flowers, the world of leaves, the world of Rudra" not only expresses the perspective of holistic connection, but also embodies the spiritual connotation that goes beyond the theoretical level. ......

This is the current crisis of Chinese ethnomusicology - not in the problem of academic theory and methodology, but in the lack of "driving force" for self-development. Further, if we can't get rid of this "Western-led" state, Chinese ethnomusicology, or even Chinese musicology, will always follow the footsteps of others to walk their own path.