Chinese Ensemble

For this SACS assignment essay, I attended two world music ensembles in the Opperman Music Hall. These two ensembles allowed me to broaden my concepts of other music that I wasn’t prone to listen to on a daily basis. I learned a lot from attending these performances and I will continue to look into other performances that will be dedicated to music of the World because essentially it will make me more diverse in a sense. I really enjoyed the context of the music and would like to hear it again someday.

One of the performances I went to was the Chinese Ensemble. The cultural background of China goes back to over thousands of years ago. China's Foremost Philosopher of Music was Confucius. Confucius is said to have lived about 2,500 or so years ago. He is credited for setting the tone for much traditional Chinese music for thousands of years. He is thought that he was a prominent music teacher and a talented musician who was able to play several instruments expertly. He also was China's foremost social philosopher. In Confucian teachings, the purpose and role of music are laid out and the qualities of "good music" are defined.