Abstract:

Marxist philosophical thought is an important ideological weapon for people to understand and transform the world. This paper studies the application and influence of Marxist philosophy in the field of music education, as well as the current development status of music education, and provides theoretical support for music education by discussing how to combine Marxist philosophy with the field of music education. Music education is a means of cultivating and shaping a person’s musical heritage, thereby achieving quality education. In music education, Marxist philosophy is an important theoretical support for the development of music learning. The dialectical materialism epistemology in Marxist philosophy is closely related to music education. This article explored the influence and role of Marxist philosophical thought on the development of music education by combing Marxist philosophical thought and music education theory, combined with the current situation of contemporary music education development, and analyzed the problems that exist in the development of music education. Dialectical materialism in Marxist philosophy is closely related to the theory of music education. Applying Marxist philosophy to music education can promote the smooth development of music education and help the audience of music education achieve their training goals. This article indicates that in-depth research on the application of Marxist philosophical thoughts, in the development of music education, is of great practical significance.

Keywords:
Marxist Philosophical Thought; Music Education; Dialectal Materials Experience; Development Status.

Resumo:

O pensamento filosófico marxista é uma importante arma ideológica para que as pessoas entendam e transformem o mundo. Este artigo estuda a aplicação e a influência da filosofia marxista, no campo da educação musical, bem como o atual status de desenvolvimento da educação musical, oferecendo suporte teórico para a mesma e discutindo como combinar a filosofia marxista com o campo da educação musical. A educação musical é um meio de cultivar e moldar o patrimônio musical de uma pessoa, alcançando, assim, uma educação de qualidade. A filosofia marxista é um importante suporte teórico para o desenvolvimento da educação musical. A epistemologia do materialismo dialético na filosofia marxista está intimamente relacionada à educação musical. Este texto explorou a influência e o papel do pensamento filosófico marxista no desenvolvimento da educação musical, combinando o pensamento filosófico marxista e a teoria da educação musical com a situação atual do desenvolvimento da educação musical contemporânea, analisando os problemas existentes no seu desenvolvimento. O materialismo dialético da filosofia marxista está intimamente relacionado à teoria da educação musical. A aplicação da filosofia marxista à educação musical pode promover o seu desenvolvimento harmonioso e ajudar o público da educação musical a atingir suas metas de treinamento. Este artigo indica que uma pesquisa aprofundada sobre a aplicação dos pensamentos filosóficos marxistas no desenvolvimento da educação musical é de grande importância prática.

Palavras-chave:
Pensamento filosófico marxista; Educação musical; Experiência com materiais dialetais; Status do desenvolvimento.

Introduction

China has a history of 5,000 years, and the history of 5,000 years has nurtured a brilliant and splendid Chinese culture through the succession of dynasties from generation to generation. China is one of the first countries in the world to educate, popularize and disseminate music as an art. The idea that music can transcend the secular world and enter a more real and higher level of existence is relevant to both symbolism and romanticism. As an art form, it is constrained by the surface of reality, making it the most difficult to approach the rational mind. Music provides a direct path from reality to higher reality (Panteleeva, 2019PANTELEEVA, O. How Soviet Musicology Became Marxist. Slavonic and East European Review, v. 97, n. 1, p. 73-109, 2019., p. 73). Music has always been an ambiguous term with different meanings for different people, and music education is as subtle as the language and practice it spreads (Powell, 2019POWELL, B. Popular Music Education: A Call to Action. Music Educators Journal, v. 106, n. 1, p. 21-24, 2019., p. 21). Music education has a long history in China, and it has become a mainstay of the education industry since its development. In the development of music education, Marxist philosophical thoughts can guide its new development in the new era, provide important theoretical support for China’s music education, and further promote the scientific and sustainable development of China’s music education. Therefore, guided by Marxist philosophy and focusing on the current situation of modern music education, clear educational methods are used to explore its development path. At the same time, correct theoretical understanding is applied in the practice of music education, striving to cultivate high-quality talents and achieve the concept of comprehensive development. Marxism emphasizes the cultivation of social consciousness.

Music, as an important part of cultural and social phenomena, can help students better understand the social and historical background. Marxism also pays attention to the cultivation of aesthetic consciousness. Music education can help students cultivate their perception and appreciation of beauty, which is very important to forming critical thinking and aesthetic concepts. Socio-economic development is a complex multi-dimensional concept, which involves not only economic changes, but also social and cultural changes. By improving people’s lives, the prosperity and the whole society’s well-being can be improved. Different countries and regions may have different specific goals and policies for social and economic development, but the overall goal is to improve people’s quality of life and achieve sustainable development. Social historical materialism holds that aesthetic concepts are shaped by social conditions. Music education can help students understand the diversity of aesthetics by teaching music works of different cultures and historical periods. This helps to cultivate students’ openness and inclusiveness, and makes students learn music with more aesthetic sensitivity. Marxist social and historical materialism emphasizes the influence of social structure and historical background on individuals and cultures. In music education, this view can be used to analyze the historical and cultural background of music and help students better understand the meaning behind music works.

Although the importance of music education has always been emphasized, there are still many students who are unable to receive music education well due to the existence of music education barriers (Henley; David, 2022HENLEY, J.; DAVID, B. Time for Change? Recurrent Barriers to Music Education. British Journal of Music Education, v. 39, n. 2, p. 203-217, 2022., p. 203). Therefore, it is necessary to use Marxist philosophical thoughts as theoretical guidance for music education to make music education practice more inclusive (Bell, 2020BELL, A. P. Hacking, Disability, and Music Education. International Journal of Music Education, v. 38, n. 4, p. 657-672, 2020., p. 657). Learning music education can also cultivate students’ awareness of respecting ancient traditions, customs, labor songs and melodies, respecting national values, and cultivating a deep and thorough spirit of learning music art (Gafurovna, 2021GAFUROVNA, A. Z. The Importance of Teaching Folklore Genres to Music Education Students in Higher Education. Boshqaruv Va etika qoidalari onlayn ilmiy jurnali, v. 1, n. 6, p. 1-7, 2021., p. 1). Moreover, music education, due to its role in cultivating sentiment and aesthetic concepts, can also be used to confirm students’ mental health status (Payne; Wesley; Frank, 2020PAYNE, P. D.; WESLEY, L.; FRANK, M. Looking within: An Investigation of Music Education Majors and Mental Health. Journal of Music Teacher Education, v. 29, n. 3, p. 50-61, 2020., p. 50). Combined with long-term teaching research and practice, supported by the theories of pedagogy, psychology, musicology, Marxism and other disciplines, the teaching objectives are determined through the learners’ needs, the contemporary social life’s needs and the development of disciplines (Yang, 2018YANG, Y. Research on Curriculum Reform of Music Education Major in Colleges and Universities under the Guidance of Core Literacy. Journal of Tongren University, v. 20, n. 8, p. 60-66, 2018., p. 60). The content of music education has also been constantly updated with the development of music education, and people cannot assert which method is the most suitable for music education. Only practice is the only truth. Accompanied by the quality of keeping up with the times and constantly advancing and changing with the pace of the times, Marxist philosophical thoughts are constantly advancing and changing.

When it comes to music education, music educators always have their perspectives and reflections. Throughout history, music educators have attempted to find ways to transcend the tendencies and limitations imposed by neoliberal political creation to reimagine their profession and achieve self-understanding (Karlsen, 2019KARLSEN, S. Competency Nomads, Resilience and Agency: Music Education (Activism) in a Time of Neoliberalism. Music Education Research, v. 21, n. 2, p. 185-196, 2019., p. 185). Today, this method is defined as the dialectical materialism view of Marxist philosophy. Music education is of great significance in cultivating students’ outlook on life, worldview and values. Therefore, incorporating local knowledge, teaching methods, and worldviews into music education is becoming increasingly important for global music educators (Prest, 2020PREST, A. Cross-Cultural Understanding: The Role of Rural School-Community Music Education Partnerships. Research Studies in Music Education, v. 42, n. 2, p. 208-230, 2020., p. 208). However, at present, music educators still focus on honing various aspects of music teaching and excellent learning, but neglect the exercise of students’ real abilities and social behavior. The purpose of music education is not only to teach students how to taste music, but also to enable students to establish correct and positive three outlooks through music education, and have cross-cultural ability and social inclusiveness to face the future society’s strong competitiveness.

Therefore, cross-cultural competence and social inclusion behavior should be seamlessly embedded into student-centered, positive, practical, experiential and authentic music learning activities (Crawford, 2020CRAWFORD, R. Beyond the Dots on the Page: Harnessing Transculturation and Music Education to Address Intercultural Competence and Social Inclusion. International Journal of Music Education, v. 38, n. 4, p. 537-562, 2020., p. 537). The development of music education is inevitable. However, because the energetic radicalism musicians’ unique and common vision, in the field of ethnomusicology and music education, has led to changes in the process of music education (Campbell, 2020CAMPBELL, P. S. At the Nexus of Ethnomusicology and Music Education: Pathways to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Arts Education Policy Review, v. 121, n. 3, p. 106-110, 2020., p. 106), changes in the process of music education are also inevitable. If music education wants to achieve sustainable development, it must adapt to this change and constantly enrich and improve itself. Based on Marxist philosophical thoughts, a correct methodology and worldview are applied to advance toward the path of achieving comprehensive human development.

The first part introduces the present situation of music education and its development. The second part introduces the basic principles of Marxist philosophy. The third part expounds the relationship between Marxist philosophy and music education. The fourth part describes the problems existing in the development of music education. The fifth part puts forward suggestions to promote the development of music education. The sixth part summarizes the significance of Marxist philosophy to the development of music education. This article takes the overview and development of music education as the starting point, studies the positive role of music education in cultivating students’ aesthetic awareness, and analyzes the current development status of music education. Combining the basic principles of Marxist philosophical thought and its connection with music education, the role and influence of Marxist philosophical thought on music education are analyzed. Suggestions for improvement are put forward in response to the current problems in music education.

1 Overview and development status of music education

1.1 Overview of music education

The purpose of music education is to cultivate students’ interest and hobbies in music, strengthen their understanding of music and enable them to develop a higher level of understanding of music, thereby forming good personal qualities and personalities. Music education stimulates students’ interest in music. Through music education, students can get in touch with all kinds of music and find their music preferences, which helps students find fun in the music field.

Music education plays an important role in promoting students to deeply appreciate the beauty of music and art, and cultivating aesthetic and artistic interests (Gaibullaevich, 2021GAIBULLAEVICH, N. F. Methodological requirements for the selection of bukhara folk songs in music education. Web of Scientist: International Scientific Research Journal, v. 1, n. 01, p. 83-88, 2021., p. 83). Music education, like other subject one, is an important component of education and has universal commonalities. With the continuous deepening of quality education, various art forms are playing their unique role in the implementation of quality education. Music education is also using its uniqueness to shine brightly in quality education.

1.2 Origin of music education

Music is an important component of human spiritual wealth and social culture, and people’s pursuit and longing for beauty and art are inherent and deeply rooted in human nature. In ancient times, due to the low level of productivity, people could only satisfy their pursuit of art and beauty through simple and rough labor methods. With the continuous improvement of productivity, people are beginning to try to express their pursuit and longing for art and beauty in different types and forms. After human society entered a civilized society, due to the continuous enrichment and development of material resources and spiritual products, humans gradually realized that aesthetics is crucial for human survival and development. As a result, schools specialized in cultivating people’s aesthetic abilities and interests emerged, and gradually formed a relatively complete and systematic music education system. China is one of the earliest countries in the world to establish a school system for music education. The earliest music education in China was founded by Confucius, and as early as the Warring States period, there were already schools for performing instruments, such as “qin, se, sheng, xiao” and “houses of singing and dancing” in China. In the West, music education also has a long history. In the first century AD, the famous Greek educator Aristotle elaborated on music in his work The Politics of Aristotle. From a historical perspective, the development of music education has been synchronized with the development of human civilization.

1.3 Music education and aesthetic awareness

Aesthetic consciousness is a positive affirmation, pursuit and longing for beauty, and it is an important component of human spiritual civilization, occupying a very important position in all human spiritual lives.

Aesthetic consciousness, as a form of consciousness, can help humans actively express themselves to the world, affirm themselves and surpass themselves, and reflect their self-worth, subjective feelings and emotions. It is the human spiritual life’s most fundamental component and an important spiritual activity for humans to understand and transform the world. Therefore, aesthetic awareness is of great significance to students, as it not only cultivates the spiritual world, but also serves as a correct and positive orientation towards the Three Concepts.

The role of aesthetic awareness, in music education, mainly includes the following aspects:

(1) In the process of music education, by appreciating the beauty of music works, students can gain aesthetic pleasure in experiencing beauty, thereby achieving a certain level of emotional and spiritual cultivation.

(2) Music education can cultivate students’ aesthetic awareness, guide them to form a positive, optimistic and upward outlook on life and values, and promote students to better self-awareness and self-improvement.

(3) Aesthetic awareness, in music education, can help students gain a sense of pleasure and beauty through music, thereby generating positive feelings about life and other aspects, and it has a certain effect on cultivating sentiment (Elpus, 2018ELPUS, K. Music Education Promotes Lifelong Engagement with the Arts. Psychology of Music, v. 46, n. 2, p. 155-173, 2018., p. 155).

(4) Music education can encourage students to constantly reflect on themselves, allowing them to reflect and improve themselves in music appreciation. During this process, students can fully understand their thoughts, reach their inner world and better realize their self-worth.

The role of aesthetic conscious, in music education, is multifaceted, covering all aspects of the development of students’ thinking abilities. An important aspect is the continuous updating of music courses, reflecting the cultural changes and emerging music genres of the 21st century. Although classical music training plays an irreplaceable role in music education, it must also be acknowledged that students’ musical taste and cultural backgrounds are constantly evolving.

1.4 Development status of music education

Since the reform and opening up, the national economy has made great progress, and people have also made significant improvements in material life and spiritual and cultural aspects. Especially after the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, there has been a significant improvement in people’s living standards, cultural quality and ideological consciousness, as well as the achievement of economic and social development (Yang; Cai, 2019YANG, Z.; CAI, L. On China’s Sea Power and Protection of Overseas Interests since the Reform and Opening Up. Asia-Pacific Security and Ocean Research, v. 3, p. 37-49, 2019., p. 37). Therefore, in cultural construction, music education has also become a very important component, attracting attention from the country and people. However, in the current context of the new era, with the rapid development of the social economy, music education has also made significant progress. At present, the current development status of education can be analyzed from three aspects:

(1) The development of the social economy has made people increasingly eager to improve their artistic level and pursue more perfect works of art. Over time, people have found that more and more sounds can be expressed, and the modes have become increasingly rich. People’s spiritual and cultural requirements are becoming increasingly widespread, and over the years, people have gradually realized the importance of music education. Therefore, music education has become more widespread. As music culture becomes more diverse, music education institutions are gradually emerging. In order to meet social needs, these music education institutions have been continuously improving and enriching themselves.

(2) The current teaching methods, used in music education, are not scientific enough. Although the country has invested a large amount of manpower, material resources, financial resources and energy in music education at present. However, in terms of teaching methods, they have not kept up with the times, but have been taught in traditional ways. This traditional teaching method is difficult to adapt to the increasing demand for music talents in today’s society. Therefore, in this situation, music education is also constantly undergoing reforms to better meet the social demand for music talents.

(3) The educators’ level, engaged in music education, varies in current society. Although the country has invested a large amount of funds and energy in music education to cultivate excellent talents, due to the educators’ limited level, engaged in music education in society, many problems have arisen in cultivating talents.

2 Basic principles of Marxist philosophical thought

Marxist philosophical thought mainly has two aspects. One is dialectical materialism, and the other is historical materialism. The former is the fundamental principle of Marxist philosophy, namely the worldview and methodology of Marxist philosophy. The two most important principles, in dialectical materialism and historical materialism, are the law of unity of opposites and the law of mutual transformation of quality. Dialectical materialism believes that the opposites and unity of things are the commonness and particularity of things. In specific situations, contradictions can change, such as “[...] when the situation improves, things would reverse” (Cayari, 2018CAYARI, C. Connecting Music Education and Virtual Performance Practices from YouTube. Music education research, v. 20, n. 3, p. 360-376, 2018., p. 360) and “[...] when things reach their extreme, happiness would bring sorrow” (Cayari, 2018, p. 360). Dialectical materialism points out that the overall trend of the development of things is to move forward, but there are also twists, turns and even regressions. The development of things also has relativity, that is, there are two situations in the past and the future. Things have both general and special relationships. Materialist dialectics also points out that consciousness, determined by matter, has a counterproductive effect on matter, and vice versa.

3 Relationship between Marxist philosophical thought and music education

Marxist philosophical thought is the ideological guidance of music education, and music education is also an important practical activity of Marxist philosophical thought. Therefore, there is an inevitable connection between the two, and it can be said that they are mutually reinforcing and influencing each other. Firstly, music education is an indispensable part of Marxist philosophical thought in achieving comprehensive human development. The comprehensive development of human beings is not fully developed in one aspect, but in all aspects. Music education is an indispensable part of promoting comprehensive human development. By reforming and updating the content and form of music education, it can, to some extent, promote comprehensive human development. Secondly, as the theoretical guidance of music education, Marxist philosophical thoughts serve both in content and form to achieve comprehensive human development. Marxism emphasizes all-round development, and music education should pay attention to students’ various abilities, including music skills, aesthetic consciousness, creative thinking, social skills and so on. The content of music education should include not only music theory and performance skills, but also music history, cultural background and music creation. Finally, Marxist philosophical thought includes dialectical materialism, which reveals the characteristics of regularity, inevitability and non-repeatability in the process of things changing, developing, and disappearing through the analysis of the laws of contradiction movement. This provides theoretical guidance to analyzing and solving problems in music education in practice. For example, in music education, emphasizing students’ subjectivity, respecting students’ differences and stimulating students’ interest in learning are all reflected in the concept of “human” in Marxist philosophical thought. Therefore, the two promote and influence each other.

Marxist philosophy emphasizes each individual’s uniqueness and differences. In music education, understanding students’ differences, including music interests, backgrounds, learning styles and needs, can help educators better adjust teaching methods and make education more inclusive and targeted. According to each student’s needs and level, personalized education plans need to be made. This means that educators need to understand each student’s learning style and needs to adjust teaching methods according to the students’ individual characteristics.

3.1 Impact of Marxist philosophical thought on music education

The core of Marxist philosophy is dialectical materialism, which is an important theoretical weapon for people to understand the world. In music education, the combination of Marxist philosophy and music education can promote the healthy and stable development of music education. In the process of music education, teachers combine Marxist philosophy with music education theory, which can scientifically analyze the nature and value of music and effectively improve students’ cognitive level and thinking ability. At the same time, the combination of Marxist philosophy and music education can strengthen students’ understanding of music, and enhance students’ national pride and self-confidence. By applying Marxist philosophy to guide students, in their thinking and exploration, during the teaching process, teachers can help students form correct values, outlooks on life and worldviews.

In today’s digital age, music education and the dissemination of Marxist philosophy are facing new challenges and opportunities. Modern music videos and short virus content have become powerful tools to convey music education and ideological guidance. These visually attractive media forms attract young audiences, which can be used to spread Marxist philosophy and improve the attraction of music education.

Modern and personalized music education may need more educational resources, including training high-quality music educators and investment in music equipment and technical tools. These resources may bring some cost pressure. Personalized music education is expected to improve students’ academic performance because it can meet the different students’ learning needs and make them easier to concentrate and participate.

Marxism emphasizes social equity and class equality. In music education, this view urges educators to strive to provide equal opportunities for music education, not only serving the society’s elites. This means that music education should be popularized to ensure that every student has the opportunity to get in touch with music, not just those students from rich families. By tracking the number of students enrolled in music education, the students’ frequency, participating in music activities and performances, and the students’ positive feedback, the influence of Marxist philosophy on music education can be measured.

3.2 Role of Marxist philosophy in music education

Marxist philosophical thought is an important guiding ideology that the Party has long adhered to, and also an important theoretical support for the development of music education theory. The combination of Marxist philosophical thought and music education theory continuously deepens the connotation of music education in practice, and achieves effective application of Marxist philosophical thought in music education. Marxist philosophy is a kind of world outlook and methodology, which mainly studies the relationship between man and the world. Its core idea is dialectical materialism, including materialism, dialectics and epistemology (Falconer, 2019FALCONER, K. Getting It on Its Feet Exploring the Politics and Process of Shakespeare outside the Traditional Classroom. Critical Survey, v. 31, n. 4, p. 42-53, 2019., p. 42). Marxist philosophy believes that the human beings’ essence is the sum of all social relationships. The theory of music education is closely related to the basic views on the relationship between humans and the world in Marxist philosophy. Essentially, music education is a spiritual activity with distinct humanistic and cultural attributes. Music education, as an artistic practice activity, can shape and enhance the people’s spiritual world. Therefore, applying Marxist philosophical thoughts to music education can promote the smooth development of music education and help the audience of music education achieve their cultivation goals. Different cultures have different values and educational traditions. Therefore, Marxist educational principles may need to be adjusted, in different cultures, to ensure that they are consistent with the local cultural background and values. This may include adding local cultural elements to the curriculum to meet the local students’ needs.

4 Problems in the development of music education

Although certain achievements have been made in the development of music education, the existing problems cannot be ignored, mainly manifested in the following aspects:

(1) The teaching concept is relatively backward. Most teachers still adhere to traditional educational concepts and teaching methods, with a single teaching method that emphasizes theory over practice, and students’ interest in learning is not high. Marxism emphasizes practice, and music education can pay more attention to practical teaching and encourage students to participate in music creation, performance and expression, thus making teaching more dynamic and modern.

(2) The content of the textbook is unreasonable. Some textbooks lack a sense of the times and local characteristics, and the content is outdated, not rich, and not in line with reality.

(3) The teachers’ comprehensive quality needs to be improved. Some music teachers have low overall quality, a single professional knowledge structure, insufficient teaching experience and overly traditional teaching methods. Most music teachers believe that music content knowledge is the most important, followed by music teaching content knowledge and general teaching knowledge. They have relatively little experience in music teaching aspects (Hart, 2019HART, J. T. The Status of Music Education Conducting Curricula, Practices, and Values. Journal of Music Teacher Education, v. 28, n. 2, p. 13-27, 2019., p. 13), and their teaching staff is significantly insufficient.

(4) The curriculum is not reasonable. Some schools have a relatively single curriculum, without highlighting the characteristics and advantages of music education, and the goals of music education are also unclear.

(5) The teaching equipment and facilities are outdated. Some schools have severe shortages of teaching equipment and facilities, which cannot meet the needs of music education. Some schools have simple and outdated music facilities.

(6) Students themselves lack correct aesthetic awareness and three perspectives.

The above six points are common problems in the current development of music education. However, in the process of music education, there is also a very important issue related to the development and future of music education, which is the subjectivity of music education. Because, in the process of music education, teachers should fully tap into the students’ subjectivity, so that their subjective initiative can be fully reflected. This is not only a requirement for quality education, but also a path forward for the profound implementation of educational reform. The unclear subject is a major taboo in music education. Although the music educators’ original intention is good, continuing to do so may lead to music education becoming an unattainable goal in the methodology of Marxist philosophical thought (Kallio, 2020KALLIO, A. A. Decolonizing Music Education Research and the (im)Possibility of Methodological Responsibility. Research Studies in Music Education, v. 42, n. 2, p. 177-191, 2020., p. 177). Under the influence of Marxist philosophical thought, the issue of “subjectivity” should be an urgent issue that needs to be paid attention to and solved. Their purpose is to protect human personality.

Insufficient resources: many schools and music education institutions lack sufficient resources, including musical instruments, music teaching materials and funds. These all limit the development of music education.

Insufficient teachers: excellent music education requires experienced educators, but many schools or music education institutions lack professionally trained music teachers. This affects the quality of music education.

In Marxist philosophical thought, it is believed that human beings are beings with self-awareness and subjective initiative, which is manifested as having subjectivity and initiative. The issue of subjectivity, in music education, is reflected in the relationship among teachers, students and textbooks. Another focus that needs to be paid attention to is the relationship between teachers and students, which reflects the issue of subjectivity. In music education, there is a subject-object relationship between teachers and students. Teachers serve as the “subject” and students, as the “object”. The teacher acts as a leader in teaching, while the student exists as a subject in learning. However, in fact, for music education, there should not be a subject-object relationship between teachers and students. Because music education is not only about teachers, students and textbooks, but also includes many aspects, such as teaching environment and content. This equal relationship also reflects the viewpoint that “human beings are the subject” in Marxist philosophical thought. Therefore, in current music education, there is still a lack of implementation of the thought that “students are the main body of education”.

5 Suggestions to promoting the development of music education

Marxist philosophical thought believes that there are differences in human development. Human development is the result of the interaction between individuals and the environment. The environmental factors that affect human development include internal and external factors. Internal factors refer to an individual’s understanding and adaptability to oneself and the environment, while external factors refer to an individual’s influence on external factors. It is in the process of human development that different personalities and abilities are formed. Therefore, in the process of music education, teachers should understand each student’s strengths and weaknesses, and cannot generalize in the teaching process. It is necessary to fully utilize each student’s advantages and potential, and deeply implement the perspective of individualized teaching based on their conditions and actual situation.

Parents can actively support their children to participate in music education and encourage them to practice and participate in music activities. School administrators can ensure adequate resources for music education, including teachers, equipment and teaching materials. Policymakers can formulate policies that are conducive to music education and ensure the equality and accessibility of music education.

Policymakers should formulate inclusive music education policies to ensure that every student has equal access to music education, regardless of their socio-economic background, disability or cultural background. Music educators need to receive comprehensive training, including teaching skills of diverse student groups, such as disabled students and cross-cultural students.

The view of individualized teaching is that, firstly, music teachers should be good at discovering each student’s strengths and interests, and then design teaching plans that are suitable for their characteristics, based on their strengths and interests. Secondly, different teaching methods should be adopted in teaching for students at different basic levels. For students with poor music foundation, low interest in learning, limited mastery of music knowledge and even no interest in music (Yuen, 2008YUEN, K. Bound by Sound: Music, Victorian Masculinity and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Critical Survey, v, 20, n. 3, p. 79-86, 2008., p. 79), teachers should start teaching from the simplest, starting with singing and then moving on to instrumental music foundation. For those who have a good foundation in music, a strong interest in learning, and have a certain artistic and cognitive ability, they can also perform after teaching music knowledge.

Furthermore, students with certain artistic talents and high aesthetic abilities in music should be given more opportunities to showcase themselves and improve themselves. Teachers should fully utilize their strengths and talents and explore them. Finally, for students with a poor foundation, low interest in learning, or even no interest in music at all, teachers should have a full understanding and be patient in providing guidance and assistance. Music teachers can also benefit from understanding the music creation process in the Internet, which was developed to incorporate extracurricular music production practices into formal educational environments (Cayari, 2018CAYARI, C. Connecting Music Education and Virtual Performance Practices from YouTube. Music education research, v. 20, n. 3, p. 360-376, 2018., p. 360), to stimulate students’ learning interest and intrinsic learning motivation.

In summary, Marxist philosophy believes that human freedom is conditional, and not everyone can become a great scientist or artist. Different people have different values and meanings in life. In Marxist philosophical thought, the viewpoint that “[...] human beings are the sum of all social relationships” (Cayari, 2018CAYARI, C. Connecting Music Education and Virtual Performance Practices from YouTube. Music education research, v. 20, n. 3, p. 360-376, 2018., p. 360) points out the changing laws of relationships among individuals. Specifically, in educational and teaching activities, it is “people-oriented”. At the same time, teachers should design various types of music classroom teaching in different forms, contents, levels, etc., based on the students’ advantages and potential in music education. For example, in music education, various methods, such as group discussion and heuristic methods, can be used to organize classroom teaching activities. Only by fully utilizing all available resources to design music education activities, every student can achieve comprehensive and healthy development.

In summary, in the process of music teaching, teachers should have a clear understanding of music literacy. Emphasis should be placed on cultivating students’ musical literacy. On this basis, it is necessary to establish a correct educational perspective and attach importance to the impact on students’ emotions, values and other aspects. Teachers need to transform traditional teaching methods, reform teaching methods, models and concepts, and use multiple methods to meet the students’ broad needs (Cruywagen; Hetta, 2020CRUYWAGEN, S.; HETTA, P. The World we live in: A Perspective on Blended Learning and Music Education in Higher Education. TD: The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, v. 16, n. 1, p. 1-9, 2020., p. 1), emphasizing the cultivation of students’ creativity to enhance their interest and motivation in learning. Teachers should make full use of modern educational techniques, such as multimedia, to explain music from multiple perspectives and stimulate students’ enthusiasm for learning. In music teaching, students need to be scientifically guided. It is necessary to establish a people-oriented education philosophy and actively engage in effective interaction with students. It is necessary to respect their differences and pay attention to their personal development.

In addition, teachers should adhere to the principle of individualized teaching and provide personalized guidance to students with different learning levels, personalities and interests. At the same time, efforts should be made to increase the promotion of music education and gain widespread recognition. At the same time, it is necessary to actively promote the modernization of music education, use Marxist philosophical thoughts as theoretical guidance and carry out modernization construction in three aspects: music teaching mode, teaching methods and teaching environment.

6 Significance of Marxist philosophical thoughts on the development of music education

When analyzing and researching the current stage of music education, it is first necessary to clarify the significance of Marxist philosophical thoughts in music education. In the current stage of music education, there are problems, such as neglecting the role of Marxist philosophical thought, blindly comparing Chinese and Western musics, and not having a deep understanding of Marxist philosophical thought. To solve these problems, it is necessary to adhere to the guiding role of Marxist philosophical thought, in the development of music education, combine it with the real society to improve the level of understanding of the current social reality and correctly grasp the contemporary society’s development laws in the context of the times. Marxist philosophical thought plays a significant role in guiding people to understand, analyze and solve problems in the current era, thus providing the correct direction for the development of music education at this stage. Marxist philosophical thought holds an important position in the development of music education and points out the direction for the development of music education. Studying the development of Marxist philosophical thoughts, in music education, is of great significance for improving the level and quality of music education and cultivating high-quality talents.

Conclusions

The dialectical materialism epistemology, in Marxist philosophy, is closely related to music education and plays an important role in promoting the development of music education. In the development of contemporary music education, although a relatively complete education system has been formed, there are still problems, such as incomplete teaching content, outdated teaching models, lack of scientific and reasonable evaluation systems, and insufficient teacher resources. In the context of the new era, to promote the healthy, orderly and rapid development of music education, relevant departments and educators need to further strengthen the study and research of Marxist philosophical thought, and organically combine Marxist philosophical thought with music education theory to fully play its positive role in the development of music education. At the same time, educators should also change their teaching philosophy and formulate scientific and reasonable teaching objectives, based on the actual situation of music teaching and the laws of students’ physical and mental development. It is also necessary to constantly update teaching models, and optimize teaching content, to cultivate high-quality talents with professional literacy, noble moral character and rich life experience.

Dialectical materialism epistemology emphasizes the development and change of things and phenomena. In music education, this view encourages educators to adopt a gradual approach to gradually guide students to improve their music skills and understanding, so that students can gradually master more complex music concepts and skills. Only in this way, music education can achieve significant development. This article applies Marxist philosophical thoughts to music education, which is of great significance for the development of music education.

Publication Dates

History