How to understand the differences between Chinese and western music aesthetics

Music in a broad sense should be the extension of culture and the crystallization form of the essence bred by culture. Therefore, the differences between Chinese and western music are mainly reflected in cultural differences, which lead to aesthetic differences, music creation differences, music concepts differences, musical instrument development differences and so on. The first is the aesthetic difference: as stated in "An Introduction to China's Music Aesthetics": "In the aesthetic pursuit, China's music art takes' harmony' as its ideal, but it is still nothingness, seeking emptiness, stressing charm, seeking profundity, seeking artistic conception, seeking vividness, emphasizing intuition and understanding, and paying attention to life noumenon. This is in stark contrast to the aesthetic characteristics of western music that pursue profundity, emphasize rationality and ideology, and take reality, meaning and emotion as spiritual pillars. " In my opinion, the history of today's music aesthetics is actually a history of struggle, blending and complementarity between China's music aesthetics and western music aesthetics. China's traditional music mainly shows the harmony of Confucianism and the beauty of etiquette; Taoism is natural, and heaven and man are one; Buddhism's ethereal spirit, understanding and Zen are all subjective. This is related to China's pursuit of verve and his emphasis on the aesthetic taste of painting and calligraphy. place

Second, pay more attention to harmony, beauty, profundity and broadness. It is the natural expression of people's inner world in a certain natural environment, highlighting the blending of "emotion" and "scenery". Under the background of the development of western drama, western classical music pays attention to aesthetics and functionality, so it is more objective. Western classical music is famous for its profundity and seriousness, highlighting the opposition between subject and object, and most of them are dramatic or tragic, which embodies the "grandeur" of an artistic spirit. Therefore, the range is wide, the melody is rich, the emotion is passionate, and the spirit is grand. Secondly, the difference between music creation and music concept: China traditional music, without a complete set of composition theory and rules, is easily lost. On the other hand, western classical music has theories and norms on the technical level, and there are a large number of text and audio documents, which are easy to spread. China's traditional music is dominated by lines, while western classical music pays more attention to harmony. Just like China's paintings and calligraphy pay attention to the art of lines; Western painting pays attention to the art of surface, three-dimensional and light and shadow. China traditional music pays attention to breath and charm, while western classical music pays more attention to rhythm and momentum. Just like China's paintings pay attention to freehand brushwork, between similarity and dissimilarity; Western paintings pay attention to realism and show grand scenes. Third, the differences in the development of musical instruments: As mentioned above, China's music is mostly monophonic and melodic, so China's musical instruments are simple in structure, and most of them can't play harmony. Such as flute and erhu. But the simpler the musical instrument, the longer the artistic conception (China's ink painting is as simple as black ink, but it can change into various forms). For example, simple and primitive ceramic musical instruments can blow out eternal meditation. China's national musical instruments, such as pipa, dulcimer, flute, sheng and suona, are mostly made of silk and bamboo, so they are called the music of silk and bamboo, with soft, delicate and clear musical characteristics. Western musical instruments, such as horn, trumpet and saxophone, are mostly made of metal. Western classical music has many parts of harmony, so many musical instruments are very complicated, and the mechanism is fine and complicated. Many of them can play harmony, such as piano and guitar. Therefore, it has rich timbre, wide range and strong expressive force.

In short, due to different social and cultural backgrounds, there are also differences in music creation techniques and aesthetics: learning from each other and promoting each other on the basis of maintaining their original styles will be the only way for them to develop and prosper in the future! Due to historical and cultural reasons, there are some differences between Chinese and western music, which are mainly manifested in the following aspects: China music pays attention to emotion and phonology, while two foreign music pays attention to the harmony of music itself; China's music development is a natural transition, which comes down in one continuous line, while the development of western music is characterized by block structure and stages; China's music is embodied in simple linear texture thinking, mainly lines, while western music tends to cross three-dimensional texture thinking and pay more attention to harmony; China's music language is psychological, slightly formal, changeable and open in structure, while western music is rigorous in form and closed in structure. China's music is beautiful, pursuing ethereal artistic conception and paying attention to feeling, while western music pays attention to the unity of reason and emotion, pursuing strength and intensity, and thinking clearly and realistically. Due to historical and cultural reasons, there are some differences between Chinese and western music, mainly in that China music pays attention to emotion and rhyme, while western music pays attention to the harmony of music itself; China's music development is a natural transition, which comes down in one continuous line, while the development of western music is characterized by block structure and stages; China's music is embodied in simple linear texture thinking, mainly lines, while western music tends to cross three-dimensional texture thinking and pay more attention to harmony; China's music language is psychological, slightly formal, changeable and open in structure, while western music is rigorous in form and closed in structure. China's music is still beautiful, pursuing ethereal artistic conception and paying attention to feeling, while western music pays attention to the unity of reason and emotion, pursuing strength and intensity, and thinking clearly and realistically.