{"id":3461,"date":"2013-10-05T13:28:06","date_gmt":"2013-10-05T18:28:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.froginawell.net\/china\/?p=3461"},"modified":"2014-08-30T13:32:11","modified_gmt":"2014-08-30T13:32:11","slug":"ancient-music-in-the-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/froginawell.net\/frog\/2013\/10\/ancient-music-in-the-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ancient Music in the Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Han<\/a>Confucius liked to talk about Rites and Music. Thus I have to spend a lot of time explaining to students why. Most Americans are more like Mozi<\/div>\n
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Mozi asked a Confucian, saying \u2018What is the reason for music (\u6a02)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>?\u2019 The reply was: \u201cMusic is performed for the sake of joy (\u6a02<\/span>)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>\u201d1<\/a><\/sup> Mozi said: \u2018You have not answered me. Suppose I asked: Why build houses? And you answered: It is to keep off cold in winter, and the heat in summer, and to separate men from women. They you would have told me the reason for building houses. Now I am asking: Why perform music? And you answer: Music is performed for music\u2019s sake. This is like saying : Why build houses? And answering Houses are built for houses\u2019 sake.\u201d Mozi 43<\/div>\n
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So Mozi can see no point in music, just like most most American parents can’t see the point in being a music major.<\/div>\n
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I won’t get into the whole modern defence of Music (and Art), but in early China music was magic. All my evidence here comes from the Lushi Chunqiu<\/a>, <\/em><\/em>which is basically a philosophical encyclopedia compiled at the very end of the Warring States period.<\/div>\n
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Music is a way to keep track of the state of the world<\/div>\n
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