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the arts in education

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modern Western view of arts

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something you do on the side

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an optional extra

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or Confucius, the arts are crucial in shaping people

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and the most important art for Confucius was music

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the term for music: yue [yeah]

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very broad

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music

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playing an instrument

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singing

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dancing

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whereas observing ritual changed you gradually by developing habits to change the way you feel and think

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music could go directly inside your soul and shape how you feel and think

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two way connection

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can also serve as a direct expression of what you are feeling on the inside

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a diagnostic use in the Confucian scheme

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Analects 3.25

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Shao music: "It is perfectly beautiful, and also perfectly good."

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expressed a kind of moral perfection

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Wu music: "It is perfectly beautiful, but not perfectly good."

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of King Wu

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you can discern its beauty and strength, but there is something off about it because it is martial

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has an element of using force

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rejected military force as something positive

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Analects 14.39

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The Master was playing the stone chimes in the state of Wei.

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Man passes by and says, "Whoever is playing the chimes like that certainly has something on his mind."

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listens for while

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says, "How despicable is this petty stubbornness, if no one understands you, just tend to yourself."

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Confucius is frustrated, and people can tell in the music

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you can tell something about the moral state and the moral character of them when they play music

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music is diagnostic

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the story where the Book of Odes comes from

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folk poetry that was sung

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Zhou kings had an official whose job it was to go around and listen to people as a diagnostic

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modern example

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Dr. Brandon Konoval plays Liszt's Funérailles

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frustration

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outraged impudence

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what we have here is an example of a composer who using the inherent bell-like or chime-like characteristics of the piano to create a sport of kaleidoscope of colors

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the sense of physical motion

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but also interested in a feeling or a cluster of feelings centered around frustration, and what could be more frustrating than our own mortality

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music is often engaged with the idea of transcendence of some kind

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in Western tradition, one thing that often happens is composers reflecting on their limits of their powers as musicians

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we can hear this a piece of music such as Funérailles is endeavoring to capture our feelings can be about the mechanics of the music itself, and a range of feelings that one might experience

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certainly sadness is there, lamentation, but also a sense of frustration at having someone precious taken from you, perhaps a feeling that there's an outraged impotence if you will

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Confucius was very careful about the kind of music you listened to

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Yan Hui, Confucius' favorite disciple, asked about running the state

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Confucius: as for music, listen only to the Shao and Wu, prohibit the tunes of Zheng, for it is licentious, and keep glib people at a distance, for they are dangerous

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Zheng music had a catchy beat, it made people want to dance, and it led to licentiousness in young people

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the tunes of Zheng were like Elvis Presley or rap or punk

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any kind of music parents don't approve of

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the art forms that you surround yourself with do have an effect on you

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if you surround yourself with shallowness, violence and superficiality, it's not implausible to think that this will create shallowness, violence and superficiality in you

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the idea that we should care about the kind of music we listen to, the kind of art we look at, seems a bit old-fashion these days, but it is not an unreasonable idea at all

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Confucius and the arts

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help shape you as a person

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both shaping and expressing functions

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certain sports

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archery

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discipline

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ritual deference

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it's not just a bunch of people shooting at a target

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there's a certain order

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there's bowing to people at certain times

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how to play well with others

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interact well with others

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physical disciplines

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metaphor for life

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you want to hit the target

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to hit the bulls-eye serves as a metaphor for hitting the mean in moral life

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you don't want to shoot to short or long but in the center

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you want to hit the center of virtue

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calligraphy

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having proper handwriting

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expressing yourself in writing

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board games

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go

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all have something to teach you

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Confucian education

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rites: behavior, emotions

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classics: thinking, expression

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music & arts: emotions