Design a General Education Music Appreciation Course—
Take Chinese Opera 「Dou Er Yuan」as the Example

Yang Chen-Huei

General Education Center Tzu Chi College of Technology

Abstract

                In view of the realistic and materialistic values, the blurred moral standards and chaotic
          social phenomenon in the modern society, this paper, therefore, is trying to find out what
          Music courses in General Education can do to help bring the world back on track. This paper
          tries to use Guan, Han-ching’s music--「Dou Er Yuan」in Yuan Dynasty as the main research
          material, and collects its music scores and audio-visual materials in the original composition.
          Then, a wide search is conducted on the market and on the Internet for any related
          audio-visual materials of similar music. Third, due to the large number of adapted versions,
          only the best of them are introduced. Finally, after the cross-field search for some related
          information, such as the social background, political conditions, and the personality traits of
          the characters in the opera「Dou Er Yuan」, this paper compares and contrasts comprehensive
          materials in the past with those in the modern society.
               By doing so, design a music course which lays its main focus on music and its
          appreciation, and incorporates the cross-field information in course contents. Then, through
          discussion and interaction between teacher and students, this paper hopes to inspire students to
          be able to think actively and then act morally. Therefore, this will be a course that meets one
          of the goals in General Education – to educate our students to become people with moral
          disposition.

          Keywords：General Education, Music Appreciation, Dou Er Yuan.