A Contemporary Feminist Approach To Music Education In Normal Universities In China

Music education in normal universities and teachers’colleges in China is an important part of the overall music education of this country. At the beginning of the20th century, foundation of China’s modern higher music education was laid following the guideline regarding "Chinese traditions as basis, western techniques as tools." This foundation continues to influence other aspects of music education concerning different levels ranging from higher education institutions, elementary schools and kindergartens. Over one hundreds years this principle has helped pushing forward China’s20th century music education to normalization, standardization, systemization, and institutionalization.The results of other scholars demonstrate that compared with what it was in its early stage, today’s music education in normal universities aimed at turning out music teachers gradually appears to be more technique-driven than culture-driven, more reason-orientated than emotion-orientated, more shaping than nurturing, more western than eastern. At the same time a kind of "masculinity" is indicated in this tendency which features professionalism, rationalism, domination, competitiveness, and expansion. Metaphorically, in this research the music education based on modern western philosophy is a kind of masculine one. whereas the model based on post-modern western philosophy, which features tolerance, responsibility, emotion, concern, and pluralism, is a feminine one.Since the1970s, a post-modernism turn took place in western education thought under the influence of the post-modernism in western philosophy. Supported by its mother-strong post-modernist philosophy, the feminist music education theory puts forward its own strategies regarding the specific countries, nations, regions, cultures, and social backgrounds. The notion of "Holy Grail" is used by the feminists in the harmonious music education. This feminist holy grail, as the origin of life, stresses openness, inclusiveness, dialogs and individualism, which are complementary to those hierarchical features caused by the sword-style masculine thought. On the one hand, this conception makes people aware of the drawbacks and unreasonable aspects of the masculinity-centered musical education system; on the other hand it offers a brand-new theoretical framework for the novel feminist music education paradigm.The introduction of the feminist "Holy Grail" culture to music education in China’s normal universities will bring a new partnership which is a kind of cooperation based on gender differences, and will co-exist peacefully with the masculine music education model. This feminist model will weaken or neutralize the masculine domination in music education in form of competition, conflict, power, and Europe-centeredness, and will infuse warmth, love, and kindness to music education. The feminist music education paradigm advocates "mother", i.e., the music traditions in one’s motherland, and life, i.e., music teaching close to life with warmth and kindness. It also emphasizes "dialog", communication with excellent musical genres and traditions in other parts of the world, and emotion, which is the core of the value of essence of music. The incorporation of the feminist music education paradigm means the end of the dominance of western modern music education in China, and it will lead Chinese music educators into a new world of pluralism. Against the background of building a harmonious society in China, feminism heralds a more equal and harmonious future for music education in China’s normal universities.