A Study On The Theory, Practice And Relevant Issues Of Music Criticism

Music criticism has a long historical development in the West, both in terms of its theory and practice, and the achievement has been remarkable. In China, however, music criticism, which made a quite late start and has its own characteristics and patterns of progress, still to some extent lags behind that of the Western world, theoretically and practically. As time goes on, there have emerged quite a few excellent music critics, who have made their contribution to the development of Chinese music. In a sense, Chinese music would not have gained its accomplishment and status without the constant effort made by critics. As a quite new discipline, music criticism is in dire need of the improvement and enrichment of theories and experience. This thesis discusses the subject in three respects.The first chapter focuses on the theory of music criticism, divided into five sections. The first section deals with the concept of music criticism, including its definition and the relationship between music criticism and music review. The second section talks about the nature of music criticism, by the interpretation of such criticism and the comparison with other kinds of criticisms. The third section is concerned with the function of music criticism, and the fourth the value judgment. The final section of this chapter provides an outline of the development of the awareness of music criticism.What the whole chapter discusses are some basic issues concerned with musical theory, the opinions and positions of some of which are also connected with the guide to the practice of music criticism. The second chapter centers on the practice of music criticism, including three sections. The first analyzes the respects of the subject of music criticism. The second deals with the media and vehicles of music criticism, such as concerts, journals, audios and videos. The third section expounds the ways in which the criticism can be presented. The last chapter of the thesis proposes several questions related to the contemporary music criticism, and also offers some reflection on and prospects of the future of the Chinese music criticism.