Confucius loved music, studied music, and paid attention to music education. Among the six arts he taught, music ranked second. The so-called "thriving in poetry, standing in ceremony, and becoming happy" means that a person's cultivation begins with poetry and improves in music, which shows that he attaches importance to music. He integrated music education into aesthetic education, which can be said to be the earliest person who advocated and implemented "aesthetic education" in China.

Confucius once studied piano with Shi Xiang. According to The Biography of Han Poems, when Confucius visited Wei, he met his old friend Shi Xiang, who was a famous pianist. At that time, he was in the middle of the Weiguo Palace, so Confucius learned piano from him.

Confucius played the piano and sang almost every day in his life, unless he was particularly sad. Even though he was trapped in the wild of Chen Cai, he still played the piano and sang. Whenever he heard someone sing a good song, he would ask someone to sing it again and learn from it himself. Until seven days before his death, he sang a song to Zigong with tears: "Is Mount Tai bad? Is the beam and column destroyed? Is the philosopher dying? "

Confucius is a well-deserved music educator. He played the piano and sang all his life. As for his skills, there is no record in historical records. Later generations have different views on whether he can compose music. The existing piano music "Guishan Cao", "Guigui Cao" and "Yaolan Cao" are all said to be his works.