200 Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues and Transmission Modes in World Music Teaching Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan University of Malaya, Malaysia Submitted: 2021-11-08. Revised: 2022-05-21. Accepted: 2022-11-03 Abstract Based on his academic background in multicultural music education and ethnomusicology, Huib Schippers developed the Seven-Continuum Transmission Model (SCTM) in 2004 to describe the teaching situations of world music. The current study adopted the SCTM as a framework to investigate Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of context issues (tradition, authenticity, and context) and transmission modes (analytic/holistic, notation based/aural, and tangible/ intangible) in world music teaching. Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted using a qualitative methodology with nine primary and secondary school music teachers from different provinces in China. This study found that Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of context issues and transmission modes in world music teaching were more inclined to the formal, institutional settings rather than the informal, often community-based process. In addition, the music teachers were also influenced more by the “Eurocentrism” values; however, their perceptions were less affected by ethnomusicology that interprets human music from a cultural perspective and by multicultural music education. Keywords: Chinese music teachers, perceptions, world music teaching, cultural context, transmission modes How to Cite: Zhuang, C. M., & Pan, K. C. (2022). Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues and Transmission Modes in World Music Teaching. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education, 22(2), 200-212 Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022), 200-212 Available online at http://journal.unnes.ac.id/nju/index.php/harmonia DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15294/harmonia.v22i2.33225 requirements of “plurality coexistence and mutual understanding” under the glo- bal integration trend but also corrects the deviation of the long-standing Western- centered education in China. After combing the development his- tory of Chinese music education in the 20th century, the school music curriculum was deeply influenced by the “Western-cent- ralism” value. In general, Chinese music education experienced four stages in the 20th century. In the beginning, it studied the Western by following Japan. From the 1920s to the 1930s, it learned from Europe and the United States. In the 1950s, it imi- INTRODUCTION Multicultural music education has become the mainstream of international music education, and strengthening mul- ticultural music education is arduous in China’s current music education. Signifi- cantly, since 2001, the Ministry of Educati- on of China has reformed the music curri- culum for primary and secondary schools, and “Understanding Multi-Culture” has accordingly been incorporated into the curriculum basic concepts of the new cur- riculum standards. This reform not only complies with the cultural development Corresponding author: E-mail: zhuangchunmei@siswa.um.edu.my p-ISSN 2541-1683|e-ISSN 2541-2426 Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan, Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues 201 tated the Soviet Union (which was a repro- duction of the tradition of Germany and Austria), and in the 1980s, it learned from Europe and the United States again (Guan, 2013; Ho, 2010). Until ethnomusicology was intro- duced to China in 1980, Chinese scholars started to realize the uniqueness of Chi- nese native music value as well as the ne- cessity and urgency of its inheritance. In 1995, the thought of “our music education should take Chinese culture as the mother tongue” was put forward in the “Sixth Na- tional Music Education Seminar.” In 1999, “the National Academic Seminar on Eth- nic Music Education” was held. The scho- lars discussed how to bring rich cultural resources of ethnic music into the school music curriculum (Zhu, 2015). In 2001, the Ministry of Education of China reformed the music curriculum in primary and se- condary schools and put “understanding multi-culture” into the basic concept of curriculum in the new curriculum stan- dards. World music was then added to the textbooks. However, since numerous Chinese music educators have grown up with a Western-centered view, they are accusto- med to using Western music theory and its values to judge and interpret non-Western music culture (Zhu, 2009). This may lead to cultural misinterpretation and deviation from the teaching goal of “understanding multi-culture.” Hence, the values and at- titudes teachers uphold and the teaching methods they adopt determine the success of world music teaching. Music from different cultures has its transmission systems. Music teachers in primary and secondary schools may have to choose between traditional transmissi- on systems and western formal music edu- cation or a combination of the two when developing teaching strategies. In teaching methods, for example, teachers face choi- ces between atomistic (or analytical) and holistic approaches, notation-based and oral learning, and between the emphasis on tangible and intangible aspects of mu- sic. In the realm of values and attitudes where concepts such as “tradition,” “aut- henticity,” and “context” appear in the teaching of world music, their meanings may not be as precise and stable as they are in western classical music but may be interpreted more dynamically. Tradition “Tradition” is defined fairly stati- cally in much writing about music (Schip- pers, 2010, p. 42). Campbell (1995) believes that traditional music “may refer to music that is less influenced by recent cross-cul- tural components or retains the bulk of its aesthetic essence despite modernization” (p. 6). The sociologist Hobsbawm argues tradition’s “object and characteristic ... is invariance” (Hobsbawm & Ranger, 1983, p. 3). In contrast, Willemsen (1992) inter- prets tradition as “ an essential dynamic reality.” (Schippers, 2010, p. 43). Nonet- heless, Nettl (2005) asserts that “if there is anything really stable in the musics of the world, it is the constant existence of chan- ge.” Schippers (2010) argues that alt- hough Western culture has commonly vie- wed tradition as a static phenomenon in the way of Hobsbawm, most non-Western cultures have traditions that constantly change with the requirements of the times, organically, or consciously maintain their relevance to their audiences. In addition, changes within a certain range are not only permissible but also part of these tradi- tions’ essence. In this regard, any examina- tion of different music traditions illustrates that almost no music tradition would qua- lify as all static or all flexible. Authenticity According to Volk (1998), a few Ame- rican music educators were concerned with authenticity in the past such that if the music was printed in school music textbooks, then it must be accurate. With their acceptance of ethnomusicology con- cepts, people’s awareness and sensitivity to world music education increased, and authenticity suddenly became an issue. “Authentic” has been strongly asso- Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022): 200-212202 ciated with “historically correct” from the early-music revival movement that emer- ged in the 1950s and 1960s and with “in original context” by ethnomusicologists, especially from the mid-1960s to the mid- 1980s (Schippers, 2010). Grove Music Online provides such a description: “Authentic” performance may refer to one or any combination of the following appro- aches: use of instruments from the composer’s own era; use of performing techniques docu- mented in the composer’s era; performance based on the implications of the original sources for a particular work; fidelity to the composer’s intentions for performance or to the type of performance a composer desired or achieved; an attempt to re-create the context of the ori- ginal performance; and an attempt to re-create the musical experience of the original audience (Butt, 2008). According to Palmer (1992), comp- romise with absolute authenticity begins when music is removed from its original setting and original intentions. However, when the compromise will occur is not the question; the question is how much compromise can be allowed before the original is lost. Fung (1995) considers the absolute authenticity of world musics not achievable due to factors such as the socio-cultural context of the classrooms and the equipment used (e.g., videos and recordings). Using world musics supports music education and education in general rather than focusing on its original culture. Green (2006) also doubts that authenticity in the classroom is an adult construction caused by too much focus on the product and not enough on the process of music- making. She suggests that teachers aim for not “musical authenticity” but “music- learning authenticity.” Wu (2012) believes that “music ‘authenticity’ is not always re- quired” (p. 310). According to Schippers (2010), the challenge for music educators was “to de- velop an understanding that is sensitive to culturally diverse realities but workable within specific educational environments” (p. 41), and that the task of an educator was one of making choices of “strategic inauthenticity.” Context According to ethnomusicologists Herndon and McLeod (1990), a context is “an interweaving of factors” (p. 49) that provides “a framework of explanation” (p. 26). In his 1964 The Anthropology of Music, Merriam inspired ethnomusicologists to regard music as a product of its culture. Thus, in 1980, Nettl agreed that “music can be understood only in its cultural context.” Ethnomusicological approaches to world music have a substantial impact on music education (Schippers, 2010). There- fore, as stated in the critical 1996 ISME Po- licy on Musics of the World’s Cultures (which Nettl co-formulated), “music can best be comprehended in the social and cultural context and as a part of its culture. Probab- ly understanding culture requires some understanding of its music, and apprecia- ting music requires some knowledge of its associated culture and society.” Dunbar-Hall (2009) proposes a con- cept of ethnopedagogy in which music learning and teaching are deemed cultu- rally contextualized. However, in world music education, music contextualization has always been the focus of debate among teachers (Campbell, 1996, p. 69). Anderson (1980) suggests that teachers should provi- de students with a cultural context when presenting world musics. As an ethnomu- sicologist, Miller recommended setting the music in its geographic and historical contexts and providing students with kno- wledge of the music makers themselves (Campbell, 1996, p. 15). However, Yung strongly opposed the contextualization of music. He maintained that verbal kno- wledge about music and its context were less important than the sound itself and he further claimed that “an emphasis on the cultural and social background of unfa- miliar music tends to alienate the children from the music rather than draw them clo- ser to it” (Campbell, 1996, p. 40). Facing these arguments, Campbell (1996) proposes the solution that “is neit- Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan, Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues 203 her ‘all context’ nor ‘none at all’, but rat- her, some midpoint in between” (p.70). Eloquently, “…music should be the main feature of a music lesson …however, a few minutes spent on ‘setting the scene’ of the culture from which the music derives may be useful, so that students understand it more fully” (Campbell, 1996, p. 70). Nonet- heless, on the question of what and how much context should be included in te- aching world music, Schippers stated that there was no stock answer and he believed that the decisions could only be based on intelligent considerations of various argu- ments for each specific situation and edu- cational goal (Schippers, 2010, p. 58). Dimensions of Transmission Atomistic/analytic and holistic Most Western music learning met- hods are based on analytical and even “atomistic” teaching approaches (Schip- pers, 2010), which date back to some in- fluential Western musical education prin- ciples proposed by Swiss educator Johann Pestalozzi (1746-1827) in the first decade of the 19th century. He advised “to teach but one thing at a time -- rhythm, melody, and expression, which are to be taught and practiced separately, before the child is cal- led to the difficult task of attending to all at once.” (Cited in Schippers, 2010, p. 81). However, scholars across disciplines have begun to doubt the validity of only using atomistic approaches in recent years. They argued that perhaps learners should first be provided with materials and set- tings that are meaningful to them and af- terward with abstractions. Besides, rese- arch on the learning systems of traditional music such as in Africa, Vietnam, China, and North India has found that using the holistic approach has several advantages as it may address the learners’ analytical skills more than the intuitively conside- red atomistic approach. Since the learners have holistic processing of the music in their minds, it may be easier to master. This idea also has significant implications for teaching music in a context (Schippers, 2010). In nearly a century of the education debate, the pedagogical approaches asso- ciated with atomistic and holistic learning have always been prominent. While an atomistic/ analytical approach is closer to “monodirectional didactic teaching,” emphasizing a “single truth,” a holistic ap- proach, on the other hand, leaves learners more room to construct their musical kno- wledge, thereby leading to a more indivi- dual approach (Schippers, 2010). Notation-based and aural As proposed by Curt Sachs (1948) regarding the essentials of transmission, there are four types of musical cultures do- minated by aural, written, printed, and re- corded forms. Blaukopf (1979) argues that these could even represent a chronological order that is consistent with Western ci- vilization. However, this may form a mi- sunderstanding that oral transmission and written notation are opposites. Oral trans- mission is incorrectly considered the wea- ker, outdated version of advanced written music notation (Patterson, 2015). Patterson (2015) points out that the belief that there is a strict dichotomy bet- ween oral and written transmissions as well as the assumption that music through oral transmission is imperfect and written transmission is perfect could be a crucial misunderstanding. She further claims that oral and notated musical transmissions are two traditions that were developed to work together. The singing games and mu- sic children use during play are predomi- nantly transmitted through oral methods, and adult musicians also use oral traditi- on abundantly. MP3 players, recording equipment, the Internet, and social media are essential elements of contemporary oral tradition. Schippers (2010) argues that staff notation is developed for Western classi- cal music and is usually combined with its practice. Besides, he contended that staff notation cannot be superimposed on the musics of many world music cultures. Cook (1998) also mentions the “endless controversies” between ethnomusicolo- Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022): 200-212204 gists. Some believe that the staff notation is a “blunt but necessary instrument” when conveying unfamiliar music to readers. In contrast, others tend to argue that this ap- proach is a kind of neo-colonialism if the Western notation is set up as a universal standard. Tangible and intangible Schippers (2010) divides five do- mains to describe the subject matter; the “what” in learning music across cultu- res: (1) technical (instrumental and vocal) skills, (2) repertoire and performance prac- tice, (3) theory (explicit or implicit) (4) cre- ativity and expression, and (5) culture and values. He stresses that “not all domains are equally important in all music tradi- tions.” (p. 65). Schippers (2010) also argues that these domains are roughly from tan- gible to intangible in order, but each do- main contains tangible and intangible as- pects. The powerful Western classical mu- sic training system developed at many public and private music schools tends to focus on reading music, (instrumental) skills, repertoire, theory, performance, and interpretation. However, studies on the transmission of popular music and music from the rest of the world have shown that different music traditions have a wide va- riety of priorities and approaches, someti- mes similarly, while others are contradic- tory. “The perspectives on foci in music learning and teaching may vary conside- rably from culture to culture, genre to gen- re, institution to institution, and individual to individual” (Schippers, 2010, pp. 64-65). Based on his academic background in multicultural music education and ethnomusicology, Huib Schippers deve- loped the Seven-Continuum Transmission Model (SCTM) in 2004 to describe the te- aching situations of world music. The pre- sent study adopts the SCTM as a theore- tical framework to explore Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of context issues and transmission modes in world music teach- ing. In this model, Schippers categorized issues such as tradition, authenticity, and context into “Issues of Context,” and furt- her categorized issues such as analytic/ho- listic, notation based/ aural, and tangible/ intangible into “Dimensions of Transmis- sion.” Therefore, to explore Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of the above issues in world music teaching, the research ques- tions are 1) What are the perceptions of Chinese music teachers about context is- sues (tradition, authenticity, and context) in world music teaching? And 2) What are the perceptions of Chinese music teachers about transmission modes (analytic/ho- listic, notation based/aural, and tangible/ intangible) in world music teaching? METHOD According to Smith (2005), a semi- structured conversation is the most effec- tive way to gain the understanding and perceptions of study participants. Thus, in the present study, the researchers used semi-structured interviews that allow for in-depth conversations about the partici- pants’ perspectives. The instrumentation for the qualita- tive method includes interviews designed by the researchers. The interviews con- sisted of six questions, which were develo- ped from the six issues provided by Schip- pers’ SCTM (2004). The respondents for this study in- clude primary and secondary school music teachers in China. Nine participants were recommended by music teaching and re- search staff from different provinces and regions. The participants in this study con- sist of four females and five males. Except for one teacher who had a master’s degree, the other eight teachers had bachelor’s de- grees. Their teaching experience ranged from 3 to 30 years, with an average of 14 years. Six of them taught in secondary schools and three teachers taught in pri- mary schools. All the participants intervie- wed are Chinese nationals. Each participant completed a face- to-face semi-structured interview that comprises six questions. The interview du- Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan, Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues 205 ration ranged from 15 to 20 minutes, and the study was conducted from October to December 2019. The names of the teachers interviewed were replaced by codes in this study. For example, NN1 refers to the first teacher interviewed by the researchers in Nanning city. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Issues of Context Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of “Tradition” In the interviews with nine teach- ers, when they were asked the following question: “Do you think ‘tradition’ is static or flux?” Three teachers’ attitudes were “neutral.” Four of them thought the “tra- dition” was a flux; however, the remaining two teachers preferred that “tradition” was fixed. With regard to viewing “tradition” as a flux, teacher JS1 explained: “Music takes on different forms in diffe- rent times and cultural backgrounds…” The two teachers who preferred that “tradition” was fixed did not give more explanation. However, among the three teachers with “neutral” attitudes toward the “tradition” issue, teacher GZ1 thought that “tradition” should be “a combination of change and unchanging. The external form can be changed, but the core musical characteristics should not.” In addition, te- acher SD1 believed that most “traditions” should be constant, and a small part could be changed. Meanwhile, teacher NN2 said: “In my opinion, on the one hand, we should remain unchanged; on the other hand, we should follow the changing times, blend with fashion, and form a new tradition.” On the issue of “Tradition,” so- ciologist Hobsbawm (1983) argues that tradition’s object and characteristic were invariances. Accordingly, Schippers (2010) concurs that this view represented “an unequivocally static interpretation of the concept” (p. 43) and was, hence, widely accepted in western culture. However, this view “may lead to musical misunderstan- ding as well as dubious educational prin- ciples” (p. 45). Thus, ethnomusicologists agree that change is a constant existence (Nettl, 2005, p. 275). In the present study, although some teachers viewed “tradition” as a static phenomenon in Hobsbawm (1983), most teachers perceived it as “neutral” and “flux.” The ancient Greek philosopher He- raclitus once said that “no man ever steps in the same river twice.” According to his theory, nothing is permanent except chan- ge; everything is in flux. Many ancient Chinese philosophers believe that everyt- hing in the universe was set in perpetu- al motion and change — always in flux. “The Analects” records Confucius said on the bank of a river: “Time is going on like this river flowing away endlessly day and night.” Chinese people widely accept these philosophical ideas of “change.” In fact, China’s traditional music culture is also undergoing constant adjustments and changes in its long history of development. Change is inevitable, but it is relative. The relationship between change and unchan- ged is dialectical unity. Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of “tradition” are, therefore, consistent with those of ethno- musicologists like Nettl. Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of “Authenticity” In the interviews with nine teachers, when they were asked the following ques- tion: “Is authenticity often a concern in your world music teaching practice? Why?” Three teachers (SD1, NC1, & NN1) made it clear that they did not focus on the issue and just followed the textbook to complete the teaching plan. However, teacher JS2 offe- red an alternative explanation: “I have not paid particular attention to this issue. For elementary school students, they will laugh when they listen to the original mu- sic. I think they should be given more ‘staged’ music in elementary and middle school, and more ‘original’ music in high school.” Teacher GZ1 only stated that he res- pected authentic music. Four other teach- ers, on the other hand, stated that they were concerned about the “authenticity” issue. Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022): 200-212206 The teacher, code-named NN2, believed that authentic music could only be used for general appreciation for the current junior high school students. However, its implementation of actual singing and per- formance was difficult because students preferred popular music. As a teacher, she presented authentic works to the students, but she also encouraged students to recre- ate them in the way they liked. Additional- ly, teacher JS1 was aware of distinguishing the authenticity of the audio material pro- vided in the textbook. When she encounte- red music that was performed on stage rat- her than in its original context, she would explain it to her students. The teacher, code-named YL2, expressed a similar view that he would clearly distinguish between “authentic” works and works created with ethnic elements and explained them to his students in class. Teacher YL1 said: “I am concerned about this issue, but I am constrained by my ability and the limited relevant materials collection.” On the issue of “Authenticity,” whet- her to pursue a reconstructed authenticity or create a new identity in the world music classroom has become the focus of debates. Some people insist that any art form exists merely to be reproduced in a historically correct manner or in the original context (Nethsinghe, 2013; Palmer, 1992). Howe- ver, others argue that this bounded under- standing of authenticity makes it challen- ging to implement in the music classroom; they believe that the key to authenticity lies in creativity, aesthetics, spirituality, or emotional effects (Blair & Kondo, 2008; Fung, 1995; Green, 2006; Johnson, 2000; Santos, 1994; Swanwick, 1994; Wu, 2012). Interviews found that most Chinese music teachers respected authentic music. When playing audio and video to students for appreciation, they would pay attention to whether it was authentic and explain it to the students. Besides, it is also worth noting that most of them only used it for listening rather than teaching the students to play or sing, and very few teachers would ask the students to recreate it. In es- sence, when doing that, it was more about creating a “new identity” rather than pur- suing the “reconstructed authenticity.” The reasons are that the students preferred pop music and the teachers could not te- ach playing and singing, in addition to the lack of relevant materials. According to the interview results, three teachers also made it clear that they did not focus on the issue and just followed the textbook to complete the teaching plan. Their statements echoed Volk’s (1998) claim that only a few were concerned about authenticity as they assu- med that if the music was printed in the school music book, then it must be accu- rate. Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions to- wards “Context” Of the nine teachers interviewed, when they were asked the following ques- tion: “Do you agree that music can only be un- derstood in its cultural context?” Five teach- ers (GZ1, SD1, NN1, JS2, &JS1) explicitly disagreed with this view because they all believed that music is the common langu- age of human beings and could be under- stood by people from different cultures. In this regard, students with a cultural con- text would certainly have a deeper under- standing of music; however, they could also feel the beauty of music and its happi- ness or sadness without a cultural context. Teacher GZ1 said: “Music itself can convey the most natu- ral emotions and should not be given too many symbols.” Teacher NN1 said: “I don’t think a foreigner must come to China and become familiar with Chinese cultu- re before they can understand Chinese music.” Teacher JS2 said: “People are always moved by music first. They will not dig into the cultural context un- til they become interested in the music.” Teacher NC1 agreed with this view, but he still believed that “students with a cultural background will certainly have a deeper understanding of music, but without a cultural background can also feel the beauty of music and its happiness or sadness.” Three teachers (NN2, YL1, & YL2) also agreed with this view. Teacher Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan, Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues 207 YL2 said: “Only when people learn music on the basis of understanding the cultural backg- round can they resonate. After I read the his- tory of western music, I listened to Beethoven and Mozart again, and my understanding was different from before.” In the present study, most intervie- wees’ explicit rejections of the claim that “music can only be understood within its cultural context” echoed Yung’s response in the interview conducted by Campbell in 1996. They believed that music is the com- mon language of human beings and could be understood by people from different cultures. They also echoed the arguments of Bennett Reimer (1995), who believes that musical experiences do not depend on the cultural context since it is possible to enjoy a profound musical experience without having been enculturated into the context of the music (pp. 6-7). Overall, it is evident that Chinese music teachers were more influenced by the statement “music is the language of the world” from the ae- sthetic education tradition. However, they were less influenced by the idea of “music must be placed in its cultural context to be understood” from ethnomusicology. Dimensions of Transmission Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of the Teaching Approach The question on the “Teaching Ap- proach” issue was as follows: There are two teaching approaches to world music education. One is the analytic/ atomistic approach, which means teaching one thing at a time, rhythm, melody, or expression, teaching and practicing separately, and finally composing coherent music. Another one is the holistic approach, which is to provide the stu- dents with real pieces (not etudes or simplifica- tions of real pieces); the teacher does not slow down the speed of playing, nor do they divide the piece into parts, and the students gain their understanding directly from their experience of the music by observing the imitation experien- ce. Which teaching approach is usually used in your world music teaching practice? Of the nine teachers interviewed, five (NN1, NN2, SD1, JS2, & YL2) declared they used the “Analytical/atomic” appro- ach. Teacher YL2 acquired his musical abi- lity through this approach, and he thought that this method would allow students to learn more. Teacher NN1 also noted that adopting the “analytical/atomic” approa- ch would fulfill the teaching requirement of western music theory, although she in- tended to take a holistic approach. Two teachers (YL1 & NC1) believed that the two approaches should be com- bined. Teacher YL1 stated that the approa- ch used generally depends on the content. He used the analytical/atomic approach when teaching the music of Beethoven and the holistic approach when teaching Fen- gyang Huagu (a genre of Chinese folk mu- sic). However, in their practice, the two teachers mostly used the analytical/ato- mic approach. Teacher YL1 explained that he acquired music skills and knowledge through this approach. Besides, another reason is that the course evaluation system did not allow him to adopt a holistic ap- proach throughout the lesson. Moreover, teacher NC1 stated that he took a more analytical/atomic approach to complete the teaching task in the limited class time. A piece of music is usually seven or eight minutes long; thus, he would choose the representative parts to focus on teaching. Two teachers (GZ1 & JS1) reported that they used the “Holistic” approach. Te- acher JS1 stated that she adopted the ana- lytical/atomic approach in her early career because she was taught that the approach was the most scientific and rational. Ho- wever, she would now prefer using the holistic approach because she found that using the former method would destroy the beauty of music and the students’ ove- rall understanding of music. Most Western music learning met- hods are based on analytical, and even “ato- mistic” teaching approaches, but in many non-western societies, music is taught in a “holistic” way (Schippers, 2010). Ethno- musicologists believe that “a comprehen- sive understanding of the music of a cul- ture includes the way it is learned and the Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022): 200-212208 materials that are used to teach it” (Nettl, 2005, p. 389). In the present study, most teachers were found to use the “analytical/atomis- tic” approach in their world music teach- ing practice. Although some of them have recognized the value of the holistic appro- ach, due to their abilities and the requi- rements of the teaching evaluation, more analytical/atomistic approaches have been adopted in practical teaching. It is worth noting that Chinese music teachers seldom considered adopting the teaching approach used by the music in its origin, and no one mentioned the teaching appro- ach used when music was transmitted in its original context. Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Transmission Modes Of the nine teachers interviewed, when they were asked the following ques- tion: “Do you think that written notation is advanced while oral/auditory transmission is weak and outdated?” One teacher disagreed with the viewpoint. Teachers JS2 and YL2 believed that the two transmission modes are equally important. Meanwhile, Teachers NN2, JS1, and YL1 opined that oral/auditory trans- mission is more critical, and teacher JS1 said: “The characteristic of folk songs is oral transmission, and the effect will be reduced if you learn through the music score.” Nine teachers used musical notation; however, teachers NC1, NN2, and JS1 did not rely on musical notation alone. Teach- er NC1 explained the reason whereby the students’ actual ability to read musical sco- res was not good. Teacher JS1 gave an example: “A song with ‘fewer words and more no- tes’ can be visually represented by music nota- tion, which is convenient for students to analy- ze and memorize. But it must be combined with listening. I have hardly ever used a method of teaching music that relies entirely on musical notation.” Teacher GZ1 said: “If I need to compare and analyze two pieces of music, I use the notation. If it is for students to feel a certain piece of music, I may only use exemplary singing instead of notati- on.” Two of the teachers (GZ1 & YL1) sta- ted that both staff and numbered musical notations were used. Meanwhile, the other seven teachers stated that they only used numbered musical notation. In the present study, one possible reason for using the aural mode in teach- ing was “the students’ actual ability to read musical score was not good,” as stated by teacher NC1. Although almost all teachers used music notation in their world music teaching practice, no one considered whet- her or what kind of music notation was used when the music was taught in its pla- ce of origin. Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of the Aspect Focused on The question on the “Aspect Focused On” issue was as follows: In learning music across cultures, five key domains were summarized to describe the subject matter: technique, repertoire, theory, creativity, and values. They are arranged from roughly tangible to intangible. Moreover, each domain contains tangible and intangible as- pects. For example, in addition to the explicit explanation, implicit metaphors such as “as if there is a small bird sitting on your finger” were often used in the technique aspect. What aspect do you think should be focused on? Of the nine teachers interviewed, two (GZ1 & JS2) stated that they empha- sized more tangible aspects, aiming to ask students to do the right thing and sing cor- rectly. Three teachers (NC1, NN1, & YL1) expressed that although they emphasized the tangible aspects in their teaching prac- tices, their goals were to achieve the intan- gible aspects. Two teachers (SD1 & NN2) highlighted both aspects; the intangible aspects need to be based on the students’ mastery of the tangible aspects. Two te- achers (JS1 & YL2), however, were more concerned with the intangible aspects. Te- acher JS1 said: “Whether music is pleasing to the ear is Chun Mei Zhuang, Kok Chang Pan, Chinese Music Teachers’ Perceptions of Context Issues 209 secondary. (What is) More important is to un- derstand the culture behind the music.” Another teacher, YL2, expressed an extent of helplessness: “If it is the singing work, the students can imitate it, but if it is the instrumental mu- sic, the students can’t play it, so I can only emphasize some intangible aspects.” In the present study, it is evident that most of the teachers realized the im- portance of emphasizing the tangible and the intangible aspects in their world music teaching practice. However, none of them considered the aspects emphasized when music was taught in its place of origin. Regarding the context issues in world music teaching, particularly on the issue of “Tradition,” the study found that most Chinese music teachers perceived it as neutral and flux. On the issue of “Aut- henticity,” most music teachers respected authentic music; however, they would just play the audio and video of authentic mu- sic for appreciation than let the students learn to play or sing. Only one teacher al- lowed the students to recreate music in the classroom, giving the music a “new identi- ty.” While three teachers were never con- cerned about the “Authenticity” issue, on the issue of “Context,” most of the music teachers did not believe that “music can only be understood within its cultural con- text.” They believed that music is the com- mon language of human beings and could be understood by people from different cultures. Regarding the modes of transmissi- on in world music teaching, Chinese music teachers were more likely to adopt the ana- lytical/atomistic approach in practical te- aching and were less concerned about the teaching approach used when the music was transmitted in its place of origin. Besi- des, most of them did not think that “writ- ten notation is advanced while oral/audi- tory transmission is weak and outdated.” However, their use of the oral/auditory mode may be due to students’ musical li- teracy limitations rather than the transmis- sion mode in which the music was taught in its place of origin. Most teachers also recognized the importance of emphasizing the tangible and the intangible aspects of world music teaching, but none of them considered the aspect emphasized when the music was taught in its place of origin. Based on the findings, the Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of world mu- sic teaching can be represented by nodes and can be placed on Schippers’ Seven- Continuum Transmission Model (SCTM), as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1. Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of world music teaching on the SCTM According to Schippers (2004), a tendency towards the left of the continua, which is characterized by monocultural, analytic, written, and tangible, with static approaches to tradition, authenticity, and context suggests a more institutionalized/ formal organization of musical transmis- sion of learning. Meanwhile, a tendency towards the right, which is characterized by inter/transcultural, holistic, oral, intan- gible, and more fluid approaches to tradi- tion, authenticity, and context, points to more informal, community music settings (p. 151). As can be seen in Figure 1, the per- ceptions of Chinese music teachers tend to incline to the right of the continua on both “tradition” and “context” issues, and to the left or middle on other issues. However, in this study, there seems to be a paradox in the context issue. The researchers judged Chinese music teach- ers’ perceptions of the “context” issue to be biased towards the “recontextualized context” end, as most of the music teachers did not believe that “music should be un- derstood in its context.” Hence, the resear- chers hope that they would make choices Harmonia: Journal of Arts Research and Education 22 (2) (2022): 200-212210 according to their own teaching situations based on the agreement of this viewpoint. This also shows that most Chinese music teachers have little understanding of the important and complex concepts in world music teaching. Alternatively, they inclu- ded these concepts from the music view of “Eurocentrism” rather than the music view of ethnomusicology. Music is closely rela- ted to the “soil” in which it is rooted; the- refore, in world music teaching, although we cannot appreciate the music of culture as an insider, we cannot use the aesthetic way of one culture to judge the “beauty” of other cultures. CONCLUSIONS In general, Chinese music teachers’ perceptions of context issues and transmis- sion modes in world music teaching were more inclined to the formal, institutional settings rather than the informal, often community-based process. Besides, they were also influenced more by the “Euro- centrism” values and less affected by the ethnomusicology that interprets human music from a cultural perspective and by multicultural music education. Music edu- cation in normal universities in China is still dominated by the monocultural music of the German-Austrian system. Thus, the music education curriculum focuses on im- parting Western music knowledge. Wes- tern music has become the basis of music learning and is regarded as the universal truth and “world language “(Zhu, 2009, p. 138). “All our music scores are numbe- red scores and stave scores. The Gongche scores and Guqin scores in traditional Chi- nese music are missing; our music theory system is Western; our appreciation and evaluation system for Chinese traditional music and music of Asia, Africa, and Latin America is Western. Our solfeggio practice is also based on the western twelve-equal temperament and western classical har- mony system (Chen, 2017, p. 33).” Overall, ethnomusicology has not been deeply in- tegrated into the curriculum and teachers’ teaching awareness (Guan, 2012, p. 125). Any consideration of musical diver- sity is ultimately linked to ethnomusicolo- gy. Ethnomusicology affords a clear mes- sage to music educators that music is more than the sound itself; music is what peop- le do with it and what it does for people. In fact, ethnomusicology also provides a more comprehensive understanding of music as sounds, behaviors, and values (Campbell, 2018). Thus, world music must not only be used as a material and needs to consider the transmission processes, lear- ning behaviors, as well as musical contex- ts, functions, and meanings. In most cases, these processes are fundamentally diffe- rent from those used to transfer and acqui- re skills and knowledge in a formal music education environment (Green, 2008). As a result, this is indeed a challenge for Chi- nese music teachers who have grown up with formal music education. In order to meet this challenge and improve world music teaching, the music education curriculum of normal universi- ties in China should change the phenome- non of only paying attention to the cultiva- tion and study of professional skills while ignoring the humanities education, as well as provide anthropology, folklore, socio- logy, ethnomusicology and other courses to cultivate students’ multicultural values. 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