Classical Harmony in the Music-Theoretical Education in the People’s Republic of China

Thearticle is devoted to the problem of mastering by students from the People’s Republic of China the classical harmony as the basic section of the most important musical­theoretical discipline. It identifies the causes of difficulties appearing in this process. They are related to the peculiarities of the interpretation of the category “harmony” in Chinese musicology. Due to the civilizational features reflected in the language and cultural traditions of China, the aesthetic meaning of this concept is considered in isolation from the technological and educational­academic, which are of priority importance. In the civilizational aspect, classical harmony is a product of the European worldview and is inseparable from the professional composer creativity of the European tradition (“opus music”). The cultural and typological features of the latter are far from the traditional musical culture of China, and in many ways even opposed to it. The priority of the individual principle, the high level of creative freedom combined with personal responsibility for the result, and the connection with the institution of the Christian church are little understood by Chinese students. Difficulties in the development by students of the PRC of classical harmony are caused not only by the specifics of the tonal type mode, European forms of multi voiced texture and chord thinking, but also by the inextricably linked three­dimensionality of the artistic space and the special function of the melody in the artistic whole. In the intonational aspect, classical harmony for students of the PRC is an element of the content of music education, not directly related to the past, present, or future of the native national culture. The study of classical harmony is necessary for Chinese students to understand the Western musical tradition as a manifestation of a different ethnotype of intonation in the context of self­realization of the peoples inhabiting a great country in the modern world cultural space of the era of globalization.