The Aesthetics of Music Education

With the deepening of music education reform and the implementation of new music curriculum standards, the concepts of "music aesthetics" and "related culture" have become more and more important in my country's music education. attracted the attention of music teachers. [1] Ancient Greek philosophers have long proposed: "The four aspects of physical strength, intelligence, aesthetics, and morality are woven together to form a complete person." This idea has long been adopted in primary and secondary education in Europe and the United States. After decades of educational practice, our country has developed from the incomplete "three educations" of "morality, intelligence, and physical education" to the comprehensive "five educations" of "morality, intelligence, physical education, aesthetics, and labor." Aesthetic education has been placed in an appropriate position. position, or reappear in the overall education reform in our country, this is the severe challenge currently faced by music teachers in the new century.

[2] "Music aesthetic education, also called "aesthetic education" and "aesthetic education", is to cultivate people's feelings, appreciation, evaluation, creation and appreciation of the beauty of nature, social life and artistic works. Education of hobbies and emotions”. Its educational function, value function, and political function are all implemented in every moment of sound flow. It subtly affects people's emotions, emotions, sentiments, and changes in character. Thereby inspiring people to create a colorful life and a sound personality. The main focus of implementing aesthetic education in primary schools should be art subjects (i.e. literature, art, music). Although literature, art, music and other art forms have their own unique artistic development rules, they have different internal structures and forms of expression. , however, they all revolve around the same goal - human thoughts and feelings, to reveal, describe, express and show their respective artistic charms. Each aesthetic education in primary schools has its own characteristics. Together, we create a colorful and harmonious world for school aesthetic education.

Music aesthetic education is one of the important means for schools to implement aesthetic education and has its unique functions. For example, the beauty of the melody of the music, the beauty of the language of the lyrics, the beauty of the artistic conception of the sound, the beauty of the physical form of the performance, and the emotional beauty of singing and performance are incomparable to other disciplines. It can not only cultivate children's sentiments, enrich their associations, open their intelligence, and activate their thoughts, but also inspire their momentum, work hard, stimulate creativity, and influence the formation of the world view. Therefore, through many years of music teaching practice and combined with the study and practice of the new curriculum standards, the author makes the following overview of the relationship between music teaching and beauty.

1. Feel the beauty while learning to sing, and shape your body with beauty

Singing is an indispensable teaching content in the lower grades of primary schools. It contains a strong sense of rhythm and rhythmic beauty. , it is the reflection of musical image and the expression of physical art. Rabindranath Tagore said: Rhythm plays the role of a river bank, giving formal beauty and character to poetry. In fact, not just literature, which of the other sister arts’ beauty can escape the constraints of rhythm and rhyme? Whenever students feel the changes in pitch, timbre, intensity and rhythm of rhythmic music, they can't help but dance. Their own movements and the rhythm of the music create a harmonious aesthetic, bringing harmony to the music and sonorous rhythm. , allowing you to enjoy the beauty.

For example: the lower grades of primary school sang and performed "Wild Geese Flying in the Sky" and the group dance "Northeast Yangge". The former's music has a graceful melody and a relatively stable rhythm, and its movements appear smooth, smooth, gentle, and generous, showing that students should learn from geese to observe discipline and love the collective essence from an early age. The latter's music has an unrestrained melody, a lively, exciting, and exciting rhythm. Prosperous. Its movements are jumping, frustrated, brisk, and cheerful, showing the cheerful and enthusiastic scene of collective square folk art. Through the above-mentioned different content, different forms, different styles, the teaching of musical rhythm works and corresponding physical movement combinations has undoubtedly created a broad space for children to feel, understand, imagine, create and perform. It can be said that seeing has form, hearing has sound, sound has object, object has scene, and scene has emotion. In the process of participating in learning and performance, students master knowledge, develop their potential, enrich their interests, and cultivate their innovative abilities, which will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the formation of students' worldview and shaping of their personality. It truly embodies the communication and collision between the leader and the subject, the thinking and creation between the subject and the subject, and the communication and collision between emotion and emotion. It embodies the new curriculum standard's principle of "student-centered" teacher-student interaction and student-student interaction. Then, in the process of singing and traveling learning, they can cultivate their noble character, inspire innovative thinking, close the distance between teachers and students, books and practice, and discover beauty, understand beauty, feel beauty, express beauty and use beauty through singing and traveling learning activities. Shape.

2. Recognize beauty and delight people with beauty in song learning

Russian great writer Chekhov said: [3] “Singing is the sun, and life without singing is like without the sun. Life is just as pale and diluted." Learning to sing and appreciate songs is one of the important links in school music education. It is the expression of learners' emotions and the embodiment of their soul. When students have strong emotions about their musical works, their moral cultivation and ideological realm will be subtly improved. It sneaks into the night with the wind and moistens things silently, permeating their hearts and spleens.

For example, in the song appreciation textbook "I Love You, China", the lyrics use refrains, parallelism and other techniques to vividly describe and describe the forests, mountains and rivers of the motherland, spring seedlings and autumn fruits, and pastoral crops. Delicate depictions, fresh and beautiful words, and strong artistic appeal.

The words show a magnificent picture of the great rivers and mountains of the motherland, deepening the theme of "I love you, China". The melody of the song is ups and downs, and the lyrics and music complement each other. It seems to lead people into the artistic realm of a lark overlooking the land of China and singing loudly. Through appreciation and the teacher's vivid explanation, the students were deeply attracted by the beautiful melody of the song and the musical image depicted by the vivid pictures of the multimedia courseware. No wonder the students wrote in their impressions after listening that the song is like a picture of the great rivers and mountains of the motherland. The magnificent picture of the National People's Congress poured out the passionate and sincere patriotism of our children overseas.

Secondly, when learning to sing and appreciate the "National Anthem", students know that it is a symbol of the image of the Chinese nation. Thinking of the five thousand years of civilization history of the Chinese nation, they can say a lot: China today, Tomorrow, China's reform and opening up... Today, it is Macao that speaks to the motherland. It has been calling for three hundred years, "Motherland, I want to come back." Contains sour, sweet, bitter and spicy. Tears of joy hang on the smiling face, struggle and desire flow from the bottom of the heart with the beating of the notes. The call of Hong Kong allows the motherland to see that "Pearl of the Orient" is even more beautiful today. However, there is another child who cares about her mother day and night. "Sea Dragon King", can you build a colorful bridge to connect Gulangyu Island and Keelung Port? Facing Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong's descendants recall the "magnificence" of the past. The eager mood of "see you soon" infects the students. This feeling is the love between mother and child, longing for love, and longing for home. Through the teaching, singing and appreciation of songs, who is not infected? They listen, sing, and feel their patriotism. However, in the process of teaching and learning, their emotions, attitudes and values ??are improved, and their moral sentiments are sublimated. It has shortened the distance between teaching materials and students; it has shortened the distance between teachers and students; it has shortened the distance between students and society and life. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the integration of music and literature and art has been achieved here. There’s beauty in abundance in the rich lyrics and beautifully aggressive song melodies. However, beauty and kindness are twin sisters. In teaching, teachers should be good at guiding students to identify beauty, perceive beauty, understand beauty, and discover beauty. They should try their best to create an atmosphere of beauty and kindness for children, and enlighten them to learn the true meaning of life.

3. Beauty is nurtured in music appreciation and goodness is promoted through beauty

Music appreciation is one of the indispensable and important means in music education. Its purpose is to cultivate students to listen to music through hearing. Works, from which you can enjoy the beauty of music, satisfy your spiritual pleasure and improve your rationality. However, music, with its acoustic charm, gives people various beautiful feelings. Its melody is ups and downs, ups and downs, twists and turns, and in the contrasting combination of movement and stillness, high and low, fast and slow, tight and loose, all contain elements of beauty, showing its unique charm, thus evoking People's pursuit and yearning for beauty arouse people's emotional waves. It uses the beauty of its sound to nourish the hearts of children and cultivate their sentiments.

For example, the major solo "Swan" in the instrumental music appreciation textbook vividly depicts the beautiful scene of white and elegant swans roaming leisurely on the sparkling blue lake. The cantabile lyrical melody is just like The singing of swans, and the exquisite arpeggio accompaniment of the piano are like the clear and bright lake surface with swaying waves, creating an elegant image of swans roaming on the lake surface, which is full of poetic conception. When the children listen to the soft and beautiful music, they feel as if they are immersed in the scene, which is so beautiful. Secondly, the author's delicate brushstrokes in another song selected from the Chinese National Orchestral Ensemble "Spring River with Flowers and Moonlight Night" depict a mythical and wonderful realm for people, making the music particularly beautiful and tranquil. The sweet, quiet and intoxicating mood on the river before the moon sets is described in detail. From the performance of the bells and drums of the Jiang Tower, Dongshan on the Moon, Wind Swirling in the Water, Cascading Flower Shadows, Deep in the Water and Clouds, and Evening Singing of Fishermen's Songs, different musical instruments, different timbres, different orchestration, and different expression techniques, The beautiful mountains and rivers, the blue waves and moon shadows, and the rippling lakes and mountains are vividly interpreted, making you breathless and imaginative. It is like the beautiful and elegant ink paintings slowly unfolding in front of your eyes. It is intoxicating and seems to take you away. Enter this beautiful spring river to imagine and travel. At this moment, the charm of the music collides and blends with the students' hearts, achieving the best effect of complementing each other. At the same time, teachers should take advantage of the situation and act according to the opportunity, and guide students to listen more and think more when appreciating music works in the future. , feel with your heart, understand, and appreciate the beauty of sound, timbre, orchestration, straightness, harmony, and artistic conception expressed in the music, which is both beautiful and pleasing to the heart.

4. Experience beauty in music activities and enjoy beauty

Music has a strong pleasure function, [4] “Anyone who is willing to appreciate music can appreciate beauty with all his heart. Being willing to receive education shows that when a person's spirit is happy, he will have positive emotions and shine with brilliance." In the instrumental music teaching activities, the author adheres to the "student-centered" teaching model, cultivates students' hands-on, brain-using, and innovative abilities, and allows students to understand, feel, and experience beauty on their own. For example, I organized a rehearsal ensemble for "Colorful Clouds Chasing the Moon" in my harmonium teaching class. First, I used the vocal momentum training method to have students clap their hands, legs, and stamp their feet to imitate the accompaniment instruments. Then, they practiced in groups according to the voice part, so that everyone could participate in the activity. In order to experience the beauty of rhythm, body, melody and artistic conception of the work, some groups used the mouth organ to play the melody, some used rhythm instruments to accompany the melody, and some performed impromptu dance performances. Through practice, students' desire to create is stimulated.

This participation-interaction-experience-sublimation education model is the test and deepening of the new curriculum standard "centered on student development". It not only optimizes the classroom, but also enlightens students' wisdom, expands their thinking space, moves people with emotion, educates people with emotion, and unknowingly penetrates into students' hearts, producing corresponding effects with beauty and joy.

5. Express beauty in music practice and use beauty to guide behavior

Music is a self-discipline tool for young people’s ideological education and an important way to realize the function of moral education. The artistry and ideological nature of musical works are integrated, and the implicit moral education factors penetrate each other subtly. For example, in extracurricular chorus and instrumental ensemble rehearsals, the choir and band are composed of multiple people. Cooperation and cooperation are very important. Not only does everyone have to sing and play neatly, but they also need to work together to perform the work well. On the basis of neatness, special emphasis is placed on multi-part singing and playing, not only the parts are harmonious, but also more harmonious. Only by paying attention to the coordination of all aspects can the highly artistic vocal and instrumental music be perfectly expressed. On this basis, teachers take advantage of the situation and provide collectivistic education to students. The effect of "guided travel with beauty" here is the most direct and convincing fact. It is not difficult to see from this how important the sense of collectivism is in chorus and ensemble music activities. Cooperating and coordinating this explicit consciousness is an important part of moral education in our schools. Using beauty to cultivate beauty, using beauty to enlighten wisdom, using beauty to delight emotions, and using beauty to educate morality can be vividly displayed in this specific environment.

To sum up, the school’s aesthetic education should not be a fig leaf for exam-oriented education, nor a billboard decorating a famous school! It should not be a beautiful phrase hanging on the lips of the principal, nor should it be on the campus wall. Gorgeous slogans are not synonymous with the school's enrollment rate... So, what exactly is it? The author believes that: it should be the driving force for students' innovative thinking, the catalyst for personality development, the tool for cultivating personality, the color that outlines the grand blueprint, the concentrated expression of the overall quality of the nation, and the key to teaching students in the classroom. The careful blending of spring rain and moistening things is a mirror that broadens your horizons. It can reflect the colorful picture of aesthetic education; it can weave colorful rings of aesthetic education; it can build a building where aesthetic education can cultivate people for hundreds of years; it can compose the immortal movement of a magnificent life... As a school Music teachers, who are the disseminators and founders of aesthetic education, should understand the rationale for role transformation in the new century, and take the initiative to feel, experience, observe, compare, analyze, and clarify their position in the curriculum reform. Not only should we explore various factors of beauty in music teaching materials, but we should also be good at inspiring and inducing students to guide their behavior with beauty, so that they can understand beauty, experience beauty, master beauty, express beauty, and create beauty by themselves in the practice of school aesthetic education activities. .

Perhaps, my "pieces of paper" are just a blind man touching an elephant, unable to get a full picture of the music curriculum standard reform, but we strive to enter the new curriculum, feel the raging atmosphere of the new curriculum reform, and accept The new curriculum reform is a baptism like spring breeze, to join the vigorous ranks of the new curriculum reform, to absorb the essence of the new curriculum reform.