Path Choice of College Music Education Reform in New
Circumstances
Yajing Zou
Hunan University of Humanities, Science and Technology, Loudi, Hunan, 417000, China
Keywords: College music, education reform, path choice.
Abstract: Music, as a popular way of entertainment, has many positive influences on people’s spiritual condition.
College is the major base of high-end talent cultivation. Its reform and healthy development in an all-around
way have attracted vast attention from various social arenas. Reform of college music education plays an
important role in enhancing the level of music appreciation and accomplishment of the whole society. This
study is trying to analyze the background, reason and concrete path of college music education reform in
new social circumstances.
1 BACKGROUNDS OF COLLEGE
MUSIC EDUCATION REFORM
Spiritual enjoyment has been attached increasing
importance along with social development. Music
education in college is crucial to enhance the level of
music appreciation of the whole society. A major
part of college education is the training of learning
methods. Different from other education phases,
college education focuses more on guiding students
to better use their knowledge and skills. Music
education enhances the appreciation level and
aesthetic values of students and also helps students
to relax and liberate themselves from pressure.
Students can thus find their way to express feelings
and enrich their leisure time, improving the quality
of their lives (Ma Wen, 2014). The impacts of music
education on students’ lives cannot be measured by
scores and credits. In short, music education has
significant meanings for student development. The
reform of college music education in new social
circumstances is a difficult but important task for
both education industry and the whole society.
1.1 Analysis of college music education
reform from the perspective of
education backgrounds
Our education system is typically exam-oriented,
considerably emphasizing academic courses over
others. Students have been instilled by their parents
and teacher that studying is the most important since
their early ages. Study is regarded as the priority
task of students, while education of knowledge in
other aspects is less important. The courses are also
arranged by the schools. During the phases of
primary school and junior middle school, study is
relatively easy for students (Wang Yang, Chen Jie,
2013). In most of those schools, music course is
arranged once a week. But in high school—the most
important phase of education, music course is
cancelled to spare more time for students to study. It
is easy to understand why many students do not
know much about music in this situation and simply
equal music to pop songs. According to an
investigation, 80% students of regular colleges and
universities receive no professional music education
and vocal training. They have only vague cognition
of music and little interest in music education and
appreciation. All these factors have negative impacts
on the enhancement of the society-wide level of
appreciation ability.
1.2 Reform of college music education
from the perspective of family and
society
The large population of China arouses fierce
competitions in every aspect of life. It is also the
case in school study. Students whose scores are not
good enough will be phased out in exam
competitions, which mean they have to find another
way, such as music. Music, as a college major,
requires lower academic course scores and higher
225
Zou Y.
Path Choice of College Music Education Reform in New Circumstances.
DOI: 10.5220/0006447702250228
In ISME 2016 - Information Science and Management Engineering IV (ISME 2016), pages 225-228
ISBN: 978-989-758-208-0
Copyright
c
2016 by SCITEPRESS Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
225
education expenses (Zhou Zhengjun, 2005). In a
family, parents usually take music as a hobby of
their children. Music learning is not encouraged by
parents as a major due to two concerns: education
expenses and limited job opportunities. Thus, many
students learn little and have very weak foundation
of music because of this situation in their family.
From the perspective of society, there is certain
prejudice against music major. When it comes to
learning music, the first thing occurred to people is
the small probability of being a singing star and
limited job opportunities. The cognition of music is
utilitarian and superficial. Reform of music
education is a reform of not only music courses but
also traditional perceptions of music too. Therefore,
the music education reform in college is quite urgent
and necessary.
2 REASONS OF COLLEGE
MUSIC EDUCATION REFORM
IN NEW CIRCUMSTANCES
2.1 Music as a reasonable and effective
way to express emotions
Music needs to be promoted and inherited in daily
life as a common way to cultivate sentiments.
People’s mood and heart can be eased and
comforted by music. Meanwhile, music styles such
as traditional music, national music and folk music
are mediums to inherit the spirit, culture and history
of the Chinese nation. Music is expected to meet
people’s spiritual needs as well. College students,
the future pillar of our nation, should know well
about our national music to better disseminate
national spirit. They can relieve stress from work
and life with the help of music to cope with
difficulties and frustrations at the same time. Thus,
college music education should advance with time to
make music more important in people’s lives.
2.2 Lack of interest in music education
due to the outdated contents of
music courses
There are many optional courses of music
appreciation in college, mainly about the
appreciation and analysis of national music and
traditional folk music. They are designed to help
students understand our traditional music. However,
a majority of students know little about music as
they usually think their favorite pop music or songs
of their idols as real music. They are unable or
unwilling to understand and accept traditional and
soothing folk music. These types of meaningful
music are not easily understood and sensed by
students. Many students take these courses casually
only for credits. Thus, the aim of music education
cannot be achieved at all. The outdated contents of
music education are one important reason for the
lack of interest and a crucial aspect of future music
education reform.
2.3 Incompetent college music teachers
Most of college music courses are optional.
Teachers of these courses are usually incompetent or
not earnest to those courses. On one hand, optional
music appreciation courses are of less importance to
students. Students usually leave class early or even
do not attend class at all. On the other hand,
experienced teachers know well students’ attitudes.
Unconsciously, they take the courses carelessly with
little attention to teaching contents and styles. Many
teachers are actually very professional, but they do
not take course seriously. They only play music or
songs to students in class without an explanation of
appreciation methods. This kind of teaching is
unlikely to function properly. Teachers with little
experience, on the contrary, are relatively earnest.
However, the lack of teaching experience is an
obstruction for them to fully utilize their knowledge
in class. College music courses are unsatisfying due
to those reasons. Thus, the reform of college music
courses needs efforts of both students and teachers.
Teachers should improve their competency and
attitudes towards music teaching, as the teaching
competency of college music courses is another
important aspect of music education reform.
3 CONCRETE PATHS OF
COLLEGE MUSIC EDUCATION
REFORM
3.1 Analysis from the perspective of
education departments
Music plays an important role in people’s daily life.
The ability to appreciate and use music properly
needs to be cultivated in music education. Education
departments, as a guide of education, should
redefine the position of music education. They
should also select contents and materials of music
education more carefully. Meaningful and
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interesting contents and materials make it more fun
and efficient for students to learn about music.
Education departments then need to make
propaganda for the importance of music to reshape
the attitudes of students and teachers towards music
courses. In order to make music courses more
valuable, colleges should reasonably rearrange
music courses with the cooperation of teachers and
students. Therefore, education departments should
launch the reform of music education from a macro
aspect to improve the outcomes of college music
courses. Thus the ability of music appreciation can
be enhanced from all over the society.
3.2 Analysis from the perspective of
colleges and universities
The evaluation system of student performance in
college is another factor influencing the attitudes of
students and teachers towards music courses.
Students’ performance of optional music courses is
generally evaluated through course papers. Many
students do not take the papers seriously. Most of
them simply copy online resources to their papers.
Innovation-oriented talents are not likely to be
cultivated in this situation. Therefore, the evaluation
system of college students is also an important
aspect of college education reform. It is supposed to
push students to change their attitudes and improve
study efficiency and performance.
Teacher management is also a difficult task for
colleges and universities. There are a great number
of teachers and not all of them are competent. A
strict evaluation system is crucial to guarantee their
attitudes towards and quality of teaching. The
evaluation systems of teacher adopted by colleges
and universities are not consummate. Students are
afraid of the possible impacts on their scores when
they evaluate their teachers. Thus, evaluation
systems of teacher need to be stricter through further
study. Teachers then change their attitudes towards
course teaching under external pressures. Good
performance of teachers in class guarantees the
quality of courses to a certain degree.
In short, colleges and universities should
improve management mechanisms of students and
teachers. College institutions function well only with
strict administration. On that basis, students are able
to achieve education tasks while music education
reform can be implemented.
3.3 Analysis from the perspective of
reasonable expenditure of
education funds
China, as a developing country, has spent increasing
money on education, especially higher education.
However, corruption has happened in many colleges
and universities. Meanwhile, education resources
such as education equipment and software cannot
meet the needs of students. Education equipment in
colleges and universities needs to be investigated
through field trip when education funds are
assigned. Thus the authenticity of fund declaration
can be ensured. Musical instruments are effective in
attracting students’ attention and interest in music
education. Many students, especially boys, admit
they are willing to learn a musical instrument to
make them improved and more charming. But their
desires are confined by limited education resources,
as there are not enough musical instruments for
students. Insufficiency exists in the provision of not
only musical instruments but also multi-media
facilities. Thus, the expenditure of education funds
in colleges and universities needs to be strictly
supervised. Reasonable expenditure of education
funds provides students with more facilities and
resources to meet their needs. Thereby more
students can advance further in music education.
Then the expenditure of education funds actually
helps the reform of music education.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Music, as an elegant hobby, is not limited by age,
language or national boundaries. A life without
music is not complete, so music education is a long-
lasting and necessary work. It should be promoted
and reformed as a major aspect of quality-oriented
education. Thus, our education institutions can be
improved to cultivate more top-quality and all-round
talents. More people can feel the charm of music by
doing so. The reform of music education requires
cooperation among relevant parties, including
education departments, education institutes, students
and teachers. The implementation of music
education reform demands efforts in various aspects.
It is a difficult task but with a very desirable fruit.
With the efforts of all participants, music education
reform is going to be a breakthrough for our
education system. Appreciation tastes of people will
be upgraded while more people can perceive real
meanings of national music. Thus, the spirits of the
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Chinese nation carried by national music can be
fully inherited.
REFERENCES
Ma Wen. Analysis of College Music Education Reform
and the Development of Traditional Music Culture.
Dushi Jiajiao 2014(1): 235-236 (Second Issue).
Wang Yang and Chen Jie. Analysis of Reform Approach
of Music Major Course Teaching in Local Colleges.
Heilongjiang Researches on Higher Education
2013(9):174-176.
Zhou Zhengjun. Exploration of Teaching and Disciplinary
Theories of Music Major in Regular Higher Education
Institutes. Journal of Bijie Teachers College
(Comprehensive Edition), 2005(01):59-62.
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