Because the non-semantic organizational structure of sound wave vibration in music directly corresponds to human emotions and volitional activities, the expression of will in music plays a role in organizing and coordinating the volitional behavior of social members. Music The emotional expressions in music bear the function of conveying and exchanging the emotional experiences of social members, so that music can often play a practical role in some specific practical activities or specific social interaction situations. The underlying material basis for the reason why music can affect human beings' physiological and psychological states is that the stimulation of sound waves to the auditory organs will cause physiological reactions in the human body (such as changes in breathing, pulse, blood components, endocrine, and brain waves) and Actions, emotional reactions; on this basis, the music organized according to a certain structure corresponds to the scenes of social life, the characteristics of national psychology, the emergence of class consciousness, etc., with its overall form and style, so such reactions can be Introduce the track of volitional behavior and social emotions, and finally introduce the categories of personality and sentiment. Therefore, the human rationality evoked by music does not stay at the symbolic, abstract, and spiritual level (such as the conceptual system in the field of knowledge, the laws and regulations in the field of morality), but has been implemented to mobilize a whole set of physiological activities. At the practical, material level, it is a kind of practical rationality full of passionate passion. The music and dance used by primitive clans for totem sacrifices and celebrations to avert disasters have this kind of organizational communication function; in the early stages of social development, various songs that penetrated every corner of social life have this kind of practical function. In the long handicraft era, various labor chants coordinated collective labor movements with their own unique rhythm, tone, and syntax, and played a role in eliminating fatigue and inspiring will. Marches and military songs have well-known functions of unifying the pace and boosting morale; in ancient China, there is a story about "Liang Hongyu playing drums to aid the battle". Various types of lyrical songs express and communicate emotions through music, so that the thoughts and feelings of social members resonate with each other and reach consensus. Various solemn carols, hymns and ceremonial music express the common celebrations, praises, wishes and longings of members of society; the mourning music and mourning songs at funerals express the common grief and sorrow.
The aesthetic education function of music has the most profound impact on society. Because music can condense the hardened and highly developed social rationality into an obviously intuitive, flexible and colorful perceptual form, it not only improves the ability of aesthetic perception but also educates people, not only giving a strong promotion to intellectual development (improving association) , fantasy and creative imagination ability, improve the intelligence of abstract thinking, smart reasoning, improve the memory and feedback ability of external information), and cultivate various non-intellectual factors (such as self-control, perseverance, carefulness, concentration, moderation), As well as the shaping of various good qualities in character and sentiment, they all have far-reaching and lasting effects. "Music", which was formed during the primitive commune period and was later preserved in the education programs of slave owners' children, is an ancient and simple form in which music exerts its aesthetic education function; it is the soil for the emergence of ancient music education ideas, and it was found in ancient Greece, Plato and ancient times. This element is included in the political ideals of Chinese Confucianism. In Europe, since the Enlightenment thinker Rousseau proposed aesthetic education, aesthetic education factors in education have developed more extensively. Modern Chinese educator Cai Yuanpei and musicologist Wang Guangqi also proposed aesthetic education and music education. In contemporary life, the performance and dissemination of noble music are aesthetic education activities in the form of social education, which can have a moral and ethical edification and enlightenment effect on social members; if these performances and dissemination are not regulated in accordance with healthy aesthetic ideals , music will have a negative effect on shaping the behavior of social members. Depressed, crude, and ugly music can only lead to poverty, inferiority, and even chaos in social spiritual life.
Music can also provide educated entertainment, cultured rest, and accumulate spiritual literacy and vitality through relaxing aesthetic enjoyment. From the collective singing and dancing of primitive clans, to the later children's singing and dancing, to the existing collective singing and dancing of various ethnic groups, the singing and dancing programs performed at mass gatherings all play this function. Popular and relaxing entertainment music often appeared as banquet music in ancient society. Under the conditions of post-industrial civilization, it is often played as background music in restaurants, cafes, shopping malls, waiting rooms and other rest places to enhance daily life. some kind of interest in it. From the perspective of the negative manifestation of this social function, the low-style and vulgar parts of entertainment music may have a negative impact and corrosive effect on human spiritual life, which must be resisted and overcome.
Another practical function of music is as a means of health care and healing. Whether in ancient China or ancient Greece, or in medieval Arabia, there were famous scholars and doctors who used music to treat diseases and advocated music therapy. Some ethnic groups have long maintained the custom of using dancing, singing and playing percussion to treat mental depression. Under industrial production conditions and in some working environments that are noisy or too quiet, workers especially need to wear earmuffs with headphones and listen to music while working. This kind of civilized health care facility is very beneficial to the physical and mental health of workers. benefit. As industrial civilization matures, music therapy has shown broad development prospects in recent decades, and music therapy clinics, books, associations, and vocational schools have been established one after another.
There are different opinions in current music theory research on whether music can express spiritual concepts and whether it can convey some beautiful lessons to people during the appreciation process. Individual music theorists have questioned the function of music in expressing images, conveying ideas, and educating the soul. They followed the 19th century Austrian music esthetician Hanslick's view that "music cannot express emotions" and "the content of music is the movement form of music", emphasizing that music "conveys a kind of emotion that transcends society and class". "Material Sound" believes that music has no social content, no good intentions, no elegance and vulgarity. It can neither convey the thoughts and feelings of the composer nor affect the thoughts and sentiments of the audience. It is just a series of flowing sounds. This view that denies the social function of music and deviates from the positive results of music research and practice throughout the ages is very wrong.
Music is an art with distinctive characteristics. It appeals to the auditory organs, and its main means of expression is sound. When we study literature and art, we must not only grasp the common laws of various arts, but also explore the special laws of different art varieties. Without studying the individual, it is impossible to grasp the general. Studying the particularity of specific things is the basis and starting point of scientific research. Historical materialism tells us that all literature and art are the product of the reflection of human social life in the minds of writers and artists, and this reflection is dynamic, figurative, and aesthetic. Literature, drama, music, art, movies, TV series, dance... No matter which art category, whether narrative or lyrical, whether it is about the relationship between people or the relationship between people and nature, they are all inseparable from socialized people. Literature is a "human science", and other sister arts are also "human studies". Human social life is the common reflection object of all kinds of literature and art, but the means, approaches, methods and methods of reflection are vastly different. It is this contradictory unity of particularity and homogeneity that constitutes the splendid literary and artistic landscape.
Let us trace back to the source of history and see its deep relationship with the core of society from the historical evolution of music concepts. More than two thousand years ago, philosophers proposed that music originated from imitation. Democritus of ancient Greece said: "In many important things, we imitate animals and become their primary school students. From spiders we learn to weave and mend; from swallows we learn to build houses; from swans and orioles, etc. The singing bird learns to sing." The famous Aristotle advocated the theory of imitation. He believed that the difference between various arts lies in the "medium", "object" and "method" of imitation. The ancient theory of imitation has the color of simple materialism, but it has not yet been able to scientifically reveal the essence of music. Music includes imitation, but it does not mainly express social life by imitating the sounds in life. There are countless pieces of music about moonlight in ancient and modern times, both at home and abroad. There is "Moonlight Song" in the West, and "Moonlight Night on the Spring River" in my country, and the moon is silent. If life can only be expressed by reproducing the sounds in life, then Mingyue cannot enter the scope of music expression. Music expresses not only the world of sound, but also the vast world touched by the human soul. Painting achieves the expression of spirit by describing form, while music does not need to express itself through representation. It can "express one's heart directly". As an auditory art, through what means does music express social life? This is indeed an interesting and complex question.
Many scholars at home and abroad call music an art of expression. "Book of Rites and Music" says: "The sound of music is caused by the human heart, and the movement of the human heart is caused by things." Socrates of ancient Greece said: "For the body, use sports, and for the soul, use music." These statements touch upon the essence of music. If objects and narratives are not music’s strengths, then revealing emotions and souls is its specialty. Excellent musical works always have a strong emotional impact, making people mesmerized and excited.
It can be said that music reflects life, not mainly showing the external style of life, but focusing on reflecting people's feelings about life. Ma Sicong's "Homesickness" is about a mountainous countryside or a waterside countryside? This piece of music mainly reflects people's homesickness. It is impossible and does not need to tell people what their hometown is like. What means does music rely on to express emotion? The eighteenth-century French thinker Rousseau pointed out that melody in music is closely related to language, and human intonation is also closely related to people's thoughts and feelings. The late Soviet music theorist Asafev systematically discussed the issue of "tone" and conducted an in-depth examination of the evolution of intonation-tonal-melody, which was refreshing for colleagues in the music industry. The theory of "pitch" is very enlightening to people, but melody is not simply there to reproduce the tone of people's speech. Why can music express people's soul and emotions so subtly? It should be said that there are still many "unknown kingdoms" before us. If the development of high technology has enabled humans to observe celestial objects hundreds of millions of light-years away, then for the music that is close to us, the existing theories cannot fully explain its mysteries. This requires us to conduct arduous and in-depth research from a Marxist perspective. That is to say, we must emancipate our minds, seek truth from facts, truly start from the reality of music art, find out its inherent laws, and uncover its mysteries.
Since the founding of New China, music aesthetics has gradually formed a specialized discipline in our country. Scholars have done a lot of work in sorting out ancient and foreign ideological materials and exploring the special laws of music. Since the new era, music experts have continued to explore this field and have achieved gratifying results. While correcting the "left" errors in our guiding ideology, we also initially sorted out the impact of mechanical materialism on music research. It should be admitted that mechanistic theory has indeed had a non-negligible influence on past research on musical aesthetics. Its main manifestations are: ignoring the particularity of musical art, ignoring the principle difference between plastic art and expressive art, simplifying the theory of reflection, and treating "title" as the universal principle of instrumental music creation. It inappropriately emphasizes the descriptive and reproducing functions of music and ignores its expressive and lyrical functions. There is no doubt that we should continue to prevent simplification and vulgarity in music research. It is impossible to truly reveal the essence of music by simply applying the terminology of reflection theory to music research and using the same method of explaining plastic art to explain musical art.
Of course music does not use concepts, and it is impossible to make inferences and judgments through concepts. But this cannot be a reason to deny that musical works have ideological connotations. Concept is the patent of language and writing, and it can only be expressed through language and literature. In addition to literature and comprehensive arts covering literature, painting, sculpture, dance, photography, etc., also do not use concepts. Don’t they all have specific ideological connotations? Thoughts and feelings are not only expressed through language and words. "Words are the voice of the heart", and music is also the "voice of the heart". This truth has been proven by countless practices.
Looking back at history and facing reality, we frankly admit that people will have different feelings about the same work, or even completely different feelings. This cannot be used as a reason to deny that music has specific connotations. The contradiction between creation and appreciation exists not only in the field of music, but also in all fields of literature and art. When Lu Xun talked about appreciating "A Dream of Red Mansions", he listed the various perspectives of readers: "Confucian scholars see "Yi", Taoists see lewdness, talented people see lingering, revolutionaries see rows, and gossips see palace secrets." Is it possible to deny the specific ideological connotation of "A Dream of Red Mansions" just because readers have different feelings? Is it because "Taoists see pornography" that "A Dream of Red Mansions" can be classified as a pornographic work? Since ancient times, people have used music as a means of communicating thoughts and feelings. If music cannot express anything, then wouldn’t all the progressive musicians in history who created with a sacred mission have become vain efforts and self-deceptions? This is exactly how commentators view this type of author. Because Beethoven advocated using music to ignite the spark of the human spirit, he was ridiculed as "backfiring", and others were even quoted as saying that he was "duplicitous".
As for the nature of music and the special laws of music, people should be encouraged to open their minds, express their opinions, explore boldly, and argue boldly. As for whether musicians should have a sense of social responsibility and whether they should "inspire people with their excellent works", they must have a minimum political awareness. Because the latter not only involves ideological and cognitive issues, but also involves professional ethics issues.
If composers do not have a basic sense of social responsibility, and if society does not ask whether music is sublime or vulgar, beneficial or harmful, then what will our musical life look like? "Book of Rites and Music" says: "Music is the flower of virtue." Beethoven said: "Music should spark the human spirit." These are wise sayings, and we should carry them forward.