The Sound Image In The Music Aesthetics

As an important aesthetic psychology, Gestalt psychology was originally applied to the study of visual arts and had a close relationship with artistic aesthetic of visual arts. The word "Gestalt" was first proposed by Austrian psychologist Christian von Ehrenfels (1859-1932) in the essay "Gestalt Qualities" in1890. Gestalt psychology emphasizes the "the law of tendency gestalt" and "heterogeneous isomorphism", and both of them can be applied to the study of auditory arts.In this paper, by means of comparative analysis method, empirical analysis method and other kinds of methods, the meaning and characters of sound image in music aesthetics and the main views and principles of Gestalt psychology are investigated. Therefore, a close relationship between the aesthetics of sound image and the theory of auditory Gestalt is found. Auditory Gestalt, to some degree, can answer some questions of the aesthetic essence like the formation and characters of sound image. The theory of Gestalt psychology mainly influences the subject’s feeling and experience of sound image in activities of music aesthetics in the following two aspects:"the law of tendency gestalt" and "heterogeneous isomorphism".The paper is divided into three parts:the introduction, three chapters and the conclusion. Chapter one is an introduction, which explains the sound image in music as well as how to generate the sound image and its statue in the music aesthetics base on the views of the "form","likeness","image" and "sound image".Chapter two demonstrates the aesthetic qualities in the sound image. It narrates these qualities mainly from the material and performance characteristics. The materials of sound include melody, rhythm and harmony, and all of them are revealed in the integrity and heterogeneity of the Gestalt isomorphism.Chapter three shows the application of the two Gestalt psychology principles, i.e."the law of tendency gestalt" and "heterogeneous isomorphism", in the music. And it discusses the subjects’aesthetic perception of sound image in music as well as effectively appreciation on sound image in the process.