The Use of Chinese and Western Musical Instruments and Cultural Differences

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. Therefore, we should 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 the different social and cultural backgrounds, there are differences in music creation techniques and aesthetics: learning from each other and promoting each other on the basis of maintaining the original style 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 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.

This difference in musical functions between China and the West is rooted in the cultural differences between China and the West. This difference is as follows: Western culture attaches importance to the acquisition of foreign knowledge, while China culture attaches importance to the enjoyment of its own life; Western cultural tradition is based on knowledge, while China cultural tradition is based on life. The so-called knowledge-based ontology means that westerners regard the acquisition of knowledge as the motive force and purpose of their lives and as the fundamental symbol to measure a person's humanity. The definition of man as a rational animal has an unshakable dominant position in the belief of westerners for two thousand years, which just illustrates this point, because knowledge is the flower of reason and the crystallization of wisdom. As early as ancient Greece, westerners were famous for their persistent pursuit of knowledge. In the eyes of westerners, the pursuit of knowledge is not only a means of human survival, but also the direct place of one's own life and the whole meaning of life. In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, there seems to be nothing worth pursuing except the science of knowledge, and nothing can satisfy the needs of their souls and give them the meaning of survival.

Different from the pursuit of knowledge in western culture, China culture has chosen life. Generally speaking, all the philosophies in China are life philosophies, all the religions in China are life religions, and all the arts in China are life arts. The most popular knowledge in China is the study of keeping in good health, and the longest, most popular and most influential ideological trend in China is also the ideological trend of life. It can be said that China culture is a kind of living culture. The so-called living means that all functions of culture point to people's happiness and long-term life. Of course, the happiness and longevity of life are first reflected in the body and the senses, so China culture has never despised the body with the soul and imprisoned the sensibility with reason. On the contrary, China culture takes sensibility as its noumenon, melts reason into sensibility and classifies soul into body. China culture has a strong tendency of objectification. The so-called objectification is to point the intention of the whole life to the needs and satisfaction of the body. Lao Tzu said that to govern by the way of saints, to empty their hearts, to strengthen their bellies, to weaken their aspirations and to strengthen their bones often makes them ignorant and have no desire, so that those who know their husbands dare not do it. It is also said that saints are for the stomach, not for the purpose, which contains this meaning.

Pursuing knowledge and understanding nature, western culture is naturally extroverted and shows a strong desire to conquer and occupy the outside world. Paying attention to life and pursuing happiness will naturally make China culture self-sufficient and self-sufficient, and make it have the characteristics of convergence and closure. Western culture focuses on the acquisition of knowledge, which is objective, external and organized, so its mental structure is open, which needs to be tested and confirmed by external practice, and only in this verification can its wisdom and strength be confirmed. China culture is not. China culture focuses on the enjoyment of life, and life is purely owned by individuals, and enjoyment is only the privilege of personal senses, so its spiritual structure is closed, and it does not need external proof or the approval of a third party, as long as one's own true feelings are enough. Because of this difference, China people don't need an external world to support and prove them, but to support and prove themselves; It is complacent and self-sufficient in its own world. For example, in academic research, the west pays attention to the completeness of the system, the rigor of logic and the sufficiency of proof, because their achievements need to be tested by external practice and persuaded by the other party (readers). Only when their achievements are verified and persuaded by readers can they realize their own value. China, on the other hand, does not pay attention to the completeness of the system, the rigor of logic and the sufficiency of proof, which are dispensable and distinct in China's scholarship. China's academic focus is to intuitively grasp and understand the depth of things, so he often only writes the results of thinking and the conclusions of problems, and does not do logical reasoning or factual argumentation at all. China's philosophy has always been written in the form of quotations, which is the most typical example. This is because, in the eyes of China scholars, it is enough for him to write what he has realized, and there is no need to convince readers. China scholars certainly have their own expectations for readers, but this expectation is not convinced, but can trigger them to make the same experience and sentiment. Moreover, despite expectations, they are not persistent or reluctant, because their academic research and academic writings are self-satisfied and self-sufficient. Western music focuses on entertaining people, while China music focuses on entertaining itself, which is determined by this point. Paying attention to entertainment, that is, paying attention to whether others are entertained, is precisely related to western academics paying attention to whether others are persuaded; Self-entertainment means paying attention to one's true feelings in music activities, which is obviously related to China's academic self-sufficiency.