Preface

After the performance of Tai Chi with music by thousands of people at the opening ceremony of the 1990 Beijing Asian Games in China, it has attracted widespread attention from the martial arts community at home and abroad with its unique charm, and has gradually been carried out in various places. But at the same time, there are also differences. Some people think that the music destroys the inherent charm of Tai Chi, mechanizes Tai Chi, and affects its depth. But others think that Tai Chi itself has an inherent rhythm and is a very beautiful sport. The music taps into its musical potential and better expresses the beauty of Tai Chi. Generally speaking, as a popular fitness activity, it is okay to practice Tai Chi with music appropriately. It can increase the interest of practitioners and facilitate memory. Music is also a tool for adjustment. The music should be particular. Since it is fitness, the music should also please the body and mind, so it should be soothing and beautiful, the rhythm should not be intense, and the theme of the music should be healthy. The length of the music should be consistent with the length of the Tai Chi routine practice, especially the beginning and the end, and the jump should not be too big. If conditions permit, you can also choose and make it specifically so that the music can better match Tai Chi. In addition, the music for Tai Chi routines with different characteristics should be different, and the artistic conception of the music should be consistent with the style of the routine.

The value of the integration of Tai Chi and music

The involvement of music in Tai Chi is a demand of the development of the times. Contemporary students have the spirit and material of trying and advocating new and fashionable things, and pursue the realization of self-worth. For Tai Chi, it is slow and gentle. If they are allowed to practice for a long time, they will inevitably increase their boredom and not want to practice or even be unwilling to practice. In addition, the current martial arts teaching methods and forms in my country are mainly based on the two teaching methods of overall and decomposition. The teaching form is old, single and boring. When teaching movements, since most Tai Chi movements are relatively complex, students cannot understand them. Students can only imitate the teacher’s movements and copycat, which makes it difficult for students to grasp the connotation of Tai Chi and greatly reduces students’ interest in learning. How to change the status quo, we can only carry out teaching reforms, constantly try new teaching methods, summarize a set of teaching models that are adapted to the contemporary era, and constantly enrich the form of martial arts teaching, so as to improve the teaching quality and enable Tai Chi to be better inherited and developed. The survey results of Zhang Weixia’s “Experimental Research on the Use of Semi-Music Teaching Method in Tai Chi and Tai Chi Sword Teaching” show that “98.1% of students like and hope to learn Tai Chi with music, changing the dull and bland classroom atmosphere in traditional teaching” provides us with a teaching idea.

Music intervention in Tai Chi is a requirement of martial arts rules. From the introduction of the first “Martial Arts Rules” in 1959, it was finally stipulated in the rules of the 2004 National Wushu (Routine) Championship: “Changquan, Nanquan, and Tai Chi must be accompanied by music. Those who do not have music will be deducted 0.2 points from the final score of the routine.” This has brought the combination of Tai Chi and music into a new stage of development. The 9th World Wushu Championship “Good Luck Beijing” held at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium on October 11, 2007, for the first time stipulated the use of music in Tai Chi and Tai Chi Sword to enhance the viewing experience of the competition. Tai Chi takes 5 to 6 minutes to complete the routine. In order to achieve harmony between routines and music, the music time must be consistent with the routine time, and the choice of music must be consistent with the various styles of Tai Chi. Its changes change with the changes of music and end with the end of music. Only in this way can the expressiveness of music and the performance of movements achieve perfect unity.

Integrating Tai Chi with music is conducive to improving teaching results. ① Tai Chi music is conducive to cultivating students’ interest. For beginners, students’ learning interest is easily affected by emotions and depends to a large extent on the teacher’s teaching methods and teaching organization forms. If music is added to Tai Chi teaching, it can mobilize students’ enthusiasm and effectively attract students to practice independently. Zhang Wenjian stated in “Research on the Application of Simplified Chen-style Tai Chi Music Teaching”: “Music-accompanied teaching can give students a dual psychological and physiological impact. Through the effect of pleasant and beautiful music, the students’ cerebral cortex is excited, and a temporary connection is established in the relevant parts of the cerebral cortex command and use, so that the movement and music are combined into one, forming a new conditioned reflex. The movements kneaded by music become flexible, changeable, rhythmic and full of artistic charm. Students can learn and accept new movements with a happy mood and beautiful enjoyment.” Learning new movements with this mood will inevitably greatly shorten the time to form new movement conditioned reflexes and improve learning effects. Therefore, it can be said that using music to match Tai Chi teaching is a powerful means to cultivate students’ interest. ② Integrating Tai Chi with music is conducive to mobilizing students’ enthusiasm for learning. Tai Chi is a sport that alternates between movement and stillness, but there is no obvious trace between movement and stillness. It requires that the speed must be kept constant, and it cannot be fast or slow. The posture must also be kept at a certain height and cannot fluctuate back and forth. There is no pause in the middle of the movement, and the movements are connected and continuous. Moreover, students are required to concentrate. Therefore, it is relatively difficult for students to practice a complete set of Tai Chi. Students will easily feel bored, and the learning atmosphere and enthusiasm will be very poor. Zhang Wei pointed out in “Research on the Use of Accompaniment Teaching Method in Tai Chi Boxing and Tai Chi Sword Teaching”: The use of accompaniment teaching method in teaching with corresponding music for the exercise routine can attract students’ attention, and at the same time create a good classroom atmosphere and learning environment, stimulate students’ interest and motivation in learning, thereby improving students’ enthusiasm and initiative in learning, and learning in a relaxed and happy environment. As long as the music is played, students are very interested and can’t help but follow the music and actively practice. ③ Tai Chi incorporates music to facilitate students to master the rhythm of movements. Practicing Tai Chi accompanied by music can cultivate students’ sensitivity to music, enhance the training of the mind of the movements, enter the artistic conception of Tai Chi as soon as possible, and distinguish the different styles and practice characteristics of Tai Chi in different schools through the different rhythms of music. At the same time, students can also control the speed of the whole routine through the rhythm of music during the practice process to prevent it from being too fast or too slow. Moreover, when students listen to the rhythm of music, their thoughts are more concentrated, which effectively overcomes the boring teaching. For more exciting WeChat searches, search for Hemei Tai Chi, and it has a good effect on the memory of movements. ④ Tai Chi music is conducive to cultivating students’ artistic conception and emotions. The “sound wave information” given by music to people makes people feel excited, calm, and balanced. It can be used to eliminate the tension caused by brain work; it can also improve attention and promote the orderly meditation state of the brain. From an intuitive point of view, Tai Chi is soft but not hard, flexible but not stiff, loose but not tight, expanding but not contracting, continuous but not continuous. By listening to the corresponding music, students can’t help but make gestures, and quickly get into the state, following the rhythm of the music to express the Tai Chi mood. If there is no music, it will appear particularly irritable, without spirit and atmosphere, making people feel like they don’t want to practice. Before various sports competitions, it can be noticed that many athletes are listening to music, that is, through music to relax, or hyperactive, to adjust themselves to the best state of competition. Therefore, different people may have different moods and emotions when playing Tai Chi.

Music has a commanding effect on the collective practice of Tai Chi. Mastering the rhythm points of Tai Chi music can make everyone’s movements neat and orderly, and will not mess up the formation because of uneven movements. If the practitioners’ movements are not unified and they are messy when doing the movements, it will destroy the overall practice atmosphere or performance effect, so as to reduce the cohesion of group practice. Many large-scale group Tai Chi performances and competitions have the effect of overall movement coordination, mainly because music plays a directing role.

The integration of music and Tai Chi is conducive to rendering the atmosphere of the stadium. Any sports competition cannot be without the “applause” of the audience, and the same is true for Tai Chi competitions. It is precisely because of the cheering and shouting of this large group that the atmosphere of the scene is pushed to a climax. The audience’s dedication, excitement, and shouting, their moods are all affected by the athletes’ movements, stillness, urgency, and slowness. Appropriate music intervention makes Tai Chi even more icing on the cake. It not only plays the role of accompaniment, but more importantly, it sets off the movements, stimulates the high emotions of the athletes, and integrates the movements and music. Tai Chi with music locks the audience’s visual and auditory senses, so that they are no longer just watching the excitement, but also mixed with their emotions, so that they can experience the joy they have gained, and vent their body and mind. Although it is tense and exciting, the atmosphere deeply infects them, and they can fully feel the surging feeling brought by Tai Chi.

Disadvantages of integrating Tai Chi with music

Tai Chi and music lack harmony and unity. The rhythm between Tai Chi and music does not match. The movement and stillness of Tai Chi alternate in the process of activity. It is said that “there is stillness in movement and movement in stillness”. There is no obvious trace between movement and stillness. When exercising, you must maintain a uniform speed (some Tai Chi has fast and slow speeds), and you cannot be fast or slow, or high or low. Tai Chi movements from the start to the end do not stop or interrupt, and they are continuous. In each posture of Tai Chi, it seems to stop but not stop, and the inside and outside, up and down, left and right, front and back must be coordinated. Music has strengths and weaknesses, and has a regular rhythm. Tai Chi seems to have rhythm at first glance, but if you look closely, the time of each posture is not equal. In fact, it has no rhythm. Because the movements are slow, it is not like the clear landing points of each fixed posture of radio gymnastics, and it cannot be strong or weak at times. Otherwise, the force is uneven, which violates the principle of being even and light. Moreover, music leads the mind outside the body, while Tai Chi can only be practiced inside the body, and one must “retain the spirit” and “calmly understand and ponder” to implement the boxing theory. Mr. Zhang Yijing believes that the practice of matching Tai Chi with music means that Tai Chi is treated as radio gymnastics or dance, which is a good heart doing bad things.

The singleness of Tai Chi music. Since there are too many categories of Tai Chi, the exercises of each school are also quite different. For example, Yang’s Tai Chi is stretched and generous, the body is upright, and the body is light and calm; Wu’s Tai Chi is good at being soft, relaxed and natural, and continuous; Wu’s Tai Chi has slow movements and compact postures; Sun’s Tai Chi is stretched and flexible, and advances and retreats; and Chen’s Tai Chi has the characteristics of jumping around, dodging and fighting, and the softness is fast, hard, jumping, and crisp. Therefore, in terms of music, it cannot be simply understood that different categories of Tai Chi are matched with different music. The phenomenon of similarity in the selection of music is very serious. In the music of the 2004 Wushu Routine Championship, the music selected was mostly folk music and pop music, with a high rate of repetition. Even three team members used the same music, which made the music of the Wushu Routine too monotonous, boring, and without characteristics.

Conclusion

The development of things has two sides. As long as we grasp the boundaries between them, we cannot take a negative attitude towards their dissemination value. We have made clear the importance of the integration of Tai Chi and music, as well as some current problems. Therefore, we cannot think that adding music to Tai Chi is right or wrong. We must look at everything in two ways. Nothing in the world is absolutely perfect. We must learn to take the essence and discard the dross, so that it is conducive to the better development and inheritance of Tai Chi.