It is not the same thing to think that music belongs to external objective things, while sadness and joy belong to internal subjective feelings. It is not the same thing to assert that music itself has no sorrow or joy, so as to deny the Confucian thought of etiquette and music education.
The Value of Music Aesthetics
The theory of sound without sorrow and music also puts forward many important musical aesthetic problems from the contradiction of music itself.
Such as the relationship between music creation, performance and appreciation; The relationship between emotional expression diversity and musical expression diversity; The relationship between music creation and improvisation; The relationship between performers and musical instruments; The relationship between music appreciation and conditional association. It also discusses the different social functions of music in ancient society and after its decline. This is not touched in Confucian music thought, and it has groundbreaking significance.