先秦音乐与儒家的礼乐理想

中国古代音乐的基本理论在先秦时期已初具系统。从音律上看,先秦音乐与现代音乐或西方古代音乐不存在本质上的不同,但在音阶的选用上,人们把“五声”视为最理想的音阶,所追求的音乐意念是“和”。先秦儒家在继承周代礼乐制度的基础上提出了“礼以别宜、乐以敦和”的礼乐理想作为治国平天下的基本途径,不仅使礼乐之间的互补关系得到进一步发展,还使“乐”的含义发生了深刻的转化。所谓乐,不仅指声音的和谐,更重要的是内心的愉悦,即“无声之乐”。它所强调的是个人对差别性社会规范即礼的发自内心的认同,并从生活践履中获得和乐的内在体验。

The Pre-Qin Dynast Music and the Ideals of the Confucian Rites and Music

The basic theory of ancient Chinese music has already undergone its elementary stage during the pre - Qin Dynasty era. Concerning temperament, the pre - Qin Dynasty music has no essential distinctions from modern or western music. The difference, however, lies only in the selection of musical scales, i. e. the " five scales" is regarded as the ideal scales, with "harmony" as what it is after. The pre - Qin Dynasty Confucianists, based upon the heritages of the Zhou Dynasty' s rites ( li) and music ( yue) system, advocated their rites and music ideal of using rites to define the relations and positions of people, and using music to nurture harmony and peace among them" as the basic means to rule the country, which not only deepened the complementary relations between rites and music, but also profoundly enriched the connotations of music. More than the tonal harmony, what is called music refers, the more importantly, to the individual ' s inner pleasure, namely the "voiceless music". This kind of music lays stress upon the identification with the differentiated social norms and criteria from the bottom of the individual' s heart, and consequently on the inner experience of harmonious music obtained from life and practice.