Tracing back to the source, the harmony in the west originated from the coordination of science and mathematics in mathematics and geometry in ancient Greece and Rome; China's charm can be said to come from the philosophy of pre-Qin philosophers, even from the patterns of ancient Zhong Ding and the images of animals soaring in the original murals. Because the beauty of "dance" has always been the main feature of China's various arts, and Zong Baihua, a contemporary aesthetic giant, also thinks that "dance" is the soul of China's artistic conception.
In the final analysis, the difference between Chinese and western world views is the fundamental reason for the different musical styles.
Westerners look at the world with a scientific and rational attitude, which is "the opposition between things and me." China people are totally different, such as Lao Zi and Zhuangzi. They think that the universe is an empty space, in which only the Qi of "everything" is real. Therefore, China people's spatial consciousness is that people are in "nothingness", which is the nature of the universe: people are comfortable in the void, "crouching and enjoying themselves", regardless of each other.
There are two kinds of aesthetic views inherited from China's history, namely, the beauty of "golden carving by mistake" and the beauty of "hibiscus blooming". Before the Han dynasty, the beauty of art was still the beauty of "picking gold by mistake"; Wei and Jin dynasties changed, and "early hibiscus" and "wrong gold mining" were put forward. In the Song Dynasty, the aesthetic point of view became a "fledgling hibiscus", which was more beautiful than "picking the wrong gold by mistake". This is also a development of China's ancient philosophy-since an "empty thing" is full of "life that stirs all things", why "engrave gold by mistake"? Return the "universe" to its true colors. Therefore, art is no longer decorative, but adds progressive ideological color. Therefore, China's monosyllabic music system based on attaching importance to emotion has been further developed (although polyphonic music sprouted in the Tang Dynasty).
The concept of "harmony" is different in China and the west. For example, when it comes to sensory stimulation, China people think that monophony is the most harmonious (referring to musical sound), followed by octave superposition, and the third is fourth and fifth degree superposition. This can also be seen from our traditional national musical instruments: Huqin's tune is generally four or five degrees, especially Sheng, and its traditional fingering determines that a tonic and one or two consonants sound at the same time, thus forming a chord with four or five degrees overlapping. For chord westerners, three-degree superposition is the most harmonious, at least semi-harmonious, and four-degree and five-degree superposition is not harmonious! Actually, harmony should be relative. I think the effect of triple superposition is not to pursue its harmony, but to pursue its fullness.
If "formal beauty" is a very important part of art, it is not the case for China. Of course, harmony and science are also needed, but everything should be subject to "charm" and "emotion". For western music, "formal beauty" is the main link. "Learning from nature" and "formal beauty" are the two centers of western aesthetic thought.
Since the late romanticism, the writing skills of western music have become increasingly rich. His rebellion against tradition began in Richard Strauss, experienced Debussy's "qualitative leap" and Schoenberg's "alienation", and reached Stravinsky, Meixian and Stockhausen. His technique is becoming more and more sophisticated, and there are many decorative factors, which can be said to be the aforementioned "misuse of gold". China people are more accustomed to the lasting appeal of music, and "emotion" and "rhyme" always run through the guiding ideology of China's music. Therefore, all skills (including writing, singing, playing, etc. ) around the word "love and rhyme".
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Music in a broad sense should be the extension of culture and the crystallization form of the essence bred by culture. Therefore, the differences between Chinese and western music are mainly reflected in cultural differences, which lead to aesthetic differences, music creation differences, music concepts differences, musical instrument development differences and so on.
First of all, aesthetic differences:
As mentioned in Introduction to China's Music Aesthetics: "In the aesthetic pursuit, China's music art takes' harmony' as the ideal, but still pursues nothingness, emptiness, verve, profundity, artistic conception, vividness, intuition and understanding, and life noumenon. This is in stark contrast to the aesthetic characteristics of western music that pursue profundity, emphasize rationality and ideology, and take reality, meaning and emotion as spiritual pillars. " In my opinion, the history of today's music aesthetics is actually a history of struggle, blending and complementarity between China's music aesthetics and western music aesthetics.
China's traditional music mainly shows the harmony of Confucianism and the beauty of etiquette; Taoism is natural, and heaven and man are one; Buddhism's ethereal spirit, understanding and Zen are all subjective. This is related to China's pursuit of verve and his emphasis on the aesthetic taste of painting and calligraphy. Therefore, we should emphasize harmony, beauty, profundity and broad mind. It is the natural expression of people's inner world in a certain natural environment, highlighting the blending of "emotion" and "scenery".
Under the background of the development of western drama, western classical music pays attention to aesthetics and functionality, so it is more objective. Western classical music is famous for its profundity and seriousness, highlighting the opposition between subject and object, and most of them are dramatic or tragic, which embodies the "grandeur" of an artistic spirit. Therefore, the range is wide, the melody is rich, the emotion is passionate, and the spirit is grand.
Secondly, the differences between music creation and music concept:
China traditional music, without a complete set of composition theory and rules, is easily lost. On the other hand, western classical music has theories and norms on the technical level, and there are a large number of text and audio documents, which are easy to spread.
China's traditional music is dominated by lines, while western classical music pays more attention to harmony. Just like China's paintings and calligraphy pay attention to the art of lines; Western painting pays attention to the art of surface, three-dimensional and light and shadow.
China traditional music pays attention to breath and charm, while western classical music pays more attention to rhythm and momentum. Just like China's paintings pay attention to freehand brushwork, between similarity and dissimilarity; Western paintings pay attention to realism and show grand scenes.
Third, the differences in the development of musical instruments:
As mentioned earlier, China's music is mostly monophonic and melodic, so China's musical instruments are simple in structure, and most of them can't play harmony. Such as flute and erhu. But the simpler the musical instrument, the longer the artistic conception (China's ink painting is as simple as black ink, but it can change into various forms). For example, simple and primitive ceramic musical instruments can blow out eternal meditation. China's national musical instruments, such as pipa, dulcimer, flute, sheng and suona, are mostly made of silk and bamboo, so they are called the music of silk and bamboo, with soft, delicate and clear musical characteristics.
Western musical instruments, such as horn, trumpet and saxophone, are mostly made of metal. Western classical music has many parts of harmony, so many musical instruments are very complicated, and the mechanism is fine and complicated. Many of them can play harmony, such as piano and guitar. Therefore, it has rich timbre, wide range and strong expressive force.
In short, due to the different social and cultural backgrounds, there are differences in music creation techniques and aesthetics: learning from each other and promoting each other on the basis of maintaining the original style will be the only way for them to develop and prosper in the future!
Due to historical and cultural reasons, there are some differences between Chinese and western music, which are mainly manifested in the following aspects: China music pays attention to emotion and phonology, while two foreign music pays attention to the harmony of music itself; China's music development is a natural transition, which comes down in one continuous line, while the development of western music is characterized by block structure and stages; China's music is embodied in simple linear texture thinking, mainly lines, while western music tends to cross three-dimensional texture thinking and pay more attention to harmony; China's music language is psychological, slightly formal, changeable and open in structure, while western music is rigorous in form and closed in structure. China's music is still beautiful, pursuing ethereal artistic conception and paying attention to feeling, while western music pays attention to the unity of reason and emotion, pursuing strength and intensity, and thinking clearly and realistically.