A Study Of Chen Heqin's Thoughts Of Early Childhood Music Education:Holism And Balance

Chen Heqin,who has been widely regarded as the"father of China's early childhood education",was one of the most prominent experts in the field of early childhood education in modern and contemporary China.Since the late 19th century and the early 20th century,he had dedicated himself to the field,creating and developing a series of complete and scientific-based early childhood education systems.In his treatises,albeit written in a plain style,he revealed extremely profound scientific principles,providing much inspiration and paths for interpretation to music educators and kindergarten teachers alike.This paper was aimed at discovering the general principles and methods of early childhood music education as revealed in Chen Heqin's thoughts on the area.By employing the most advanced achievement in the development of psychology at both home and abroad——the lifespan(developmental)psychology——as well as the areas of ecological psychology that branched from it,the underlying teaching principles contained in his thoughts on music education,that is,the teaching ideas of"holism and balance",were explored.The question of how to apply these ideas in such teaching modules as"percussion music","variations"and"polyphonic chorus"in practical music teaching were discussed,keeping in mind the objective of helping both the children,in terms of better acquiring the practical essence of music appreciation and creation,as well as the music educators,and how the knowledge of music should be taught to children in a scientific and "music-oriented" way.