FACING THE PREDICAMENT OF WORDLESSNESS: WHEN WE SPEAK OF CERTAIN MUSICAL SOUNDS

This paper mainly discusses the terminology of music morphology, and especially the effects of the adoption of terminology from classical western musical theory in this academic field in China. The paper tries to reveal a long-standing phenomenon: that the earlier Chinese terms and idioms referring to musical morphology have fallen into disuse and that therefore the essence of Chinese music is misunderstood. Finally, the paper puts forward the proposal and hope that it can initiate measures to help solve these kinds of problems in Chinese music and in many other non-western musical cultures as well.