Towards an ancient Chinese-inspired theory of music education^†

† An early version of this paper was presented at the Research in Music Education (RIME) Conference, the 7th International Conference for Research in Music Education, University of Exeter, April 12-16, 2011. This paper is drawn in part from Tan, L. 2012. ‘Towards a Transcultural Philosophy of Instrumental Music Education.’ PhD diss., Indiana University.

ABSTRACT

In this philosophical paper, I propose a theory of music education inspired by ancient Chinese philosophy. In particular, I draw on five classical Chinese philosophical texts: the Analects (lunyu 論語), the Mencius (Mengzi 孟子), the Zhuangzi (庄子), the Xunzi (荀子) and the Yue Ji (樂記). Given that music education was an integral part of the social fabric in ancient China, it is potentially illuminating to uncover the theoretical underpinning of this enterprise, and to examine the implications of such a theory for contemporary music education. Based on the texts, I posit an ancient Chinese-inspired theory of music education that comprises four facets: society, teacher-model, effortful training and effortless action. I conclude this paper with implications for contemporary music education.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese philosophy
• confucianism
• transcultural
• grit
• flow
• philosophy of music education

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Leonard Tan is Assistant Professor of Music at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and Music Director of the Philharmonic Winds Singapore. He earned his PhD in music education from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, USA, where he was awarded the Dean's Dissertation Prize.

Notes on contributor

Leonard Tan is Assistant Professor of Music at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Principal Conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, and Music Director of the Philharmonic Winds Singapore. He earned his PhD in music education from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, USA, where he was awarded the Dean's Dissertation Prize.

ORCID

Leonard Tan http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3514-8315

Notes

† An early version of this paper was presented at the Research in Music Education (RIME) Conference, the 7th International Conference for Research in Music Education, University of Exeter, April 12-16, 2011. This paper is drawn in part from Tan, L. 2012. ‘Towards a Transcultural Philosophy of Instrumental Music Education.’ PhD diss., Indiana University.

1 In this citation, I have modified Watson's translation of ren 人from ‘man' to ‘humans' as ren does not connote only the male gender.