If we want to truly grasp the value of music education scientifically and comprehensively, we must start with the connotation of music education, that is to say, we must take the connotation of music education as the logical starting point for us to explore the value of music education.
what is the connotation of music education? Expressed in popular language, it is mainly reflected in two aspects: the first aspect is "music through pedagogy", which is the direct goal of music education; The second aspect is "educating people through music", which is the ultimate goal of music education. The two are complementary and inseparable.
Specifically, the direct goal of music education is to let students feel, express and create music, experience the beauty of music, and at the same time have the sense of responsibility and basic ability to inherit music culture; The ultimate goal of music education is to educate people, that is, to cultivate people who adapt to the all-round and harmonious development of social development, and the ultimate goal of music education must be through music, that is to say, it must be based on the direct goal of music education. According to the above connotation of music education, it is not difficult for us to understand that, in fact, the value of music education is mainly reflected in two aspects corresponding to the connotation of music education, namely, the value of music itself and the value of music education. The so-called music noumenon value refers to the cultural inheritance value of music education, which inherits music culture through music education; The so-called value of music education refers to the educational value of music education, which promotes individual development.
The cultural heritage value of music education is generally easy to be understood and accepted by people. Because music, as a spiritual culture with the most cultural taste, can continue to inherit, develop and innovate because since the birth of music, human society has automatically formed or actively created various inheritance mechanisms of music culture. Before the emergence of formal school education, the spontaneous and entertaining music creation and performance activities of human beings, the emergence of music professionals caused by some people possessing and enjoying the music creation and performance achievements of others, and the succession between music professionals and apprentices should be said to be the main ways and means of inheriting music culture. After the emergence of formal school education, although there are many ways to inherit music culture, such as social music environment and family music education, it is undeniable that school music education has become the absolute main way to inherit music culture. Because school music education is an organized and purposeful activity, its educational content is the essence of music culture, its educational form is also the most efficient, and its educational direction also represents the development direction of music culture.
People are often confused about the educational value of music education, that is, its value in promoting individual development. What are the benefits of learning music for individuals, or what is the greatest benefit of learning music? At present, the popular view is that music education can effectively develop individual intelligence (also known as "intelligence") This is indeed a very attractive point of view, but it is precisely because it is so attractive that people are skeptical about this point of view, which makes music education more important in people's minds and less important in school education. Why are people skeptical? The reason is simple, that is, we have not provided convincing theoretical basis to fully prove this argument.
the starting point of education is not how smart a person is, but how to become smart and in what ways. For a long time, it is one-sided to distinguish children's intelligence, examine the effect of school education and even predict their future achievements and contributions by relying solely on standardized tests with paper and pencil. In fact, it overemphasizes linguistic intelligence and mathematical intelligence, and denies other intelligence that is also needed by society, which makes many important potentials of students not recognized and developed, resulting in a very embarrassing situation in school education that a considerable number of them can't solve practical problems independently after they enter the society, although they have achieved good results in school exams.