Adjunct Faculty
Yuh-wen Wang
Adjunct Professor
Qualification: Ph.D., Music Theory, Columbia University
Research interests:Music Theory and Analysis / Aesthetics of Chinese Music / Body, Mind, Spirituality and Music / Yue Ji
Courses Taught：Introduction to Western Music Theory; Music body mind and Spirituality; Listening-oriented Music Analysis and Analytical Techniques; Music and Consciousness
TEL: 02-3366-4694
E-mail: ywwang@ntu.edu.tw
Personal Introduction
Yuhwen Wang obtained her Ph.D. from Columbia University in music theory. Her scholarly work engages the relationship among music, body, mind, and spirituality. She also specializes analytical investigations in aesthetic tastes in pre-modern Chinese and Taiwanese music. She has written articles about traditional guqin practice, the aesthetic practice of the erhu performer Abing, and ancient Chinese music philosophy. She recently finished a book on psychosomatic aesthetics of ancient Chinese “elegant music” (yayue) through an analysis and cross-disciplinary study of the classic Yue Ji. Also related to Chinese psychosomatic aesthetics is her earlier studies on traditional guqin practice. Her other research focus is analysis of musical temporality, which has been applied to Western art music, Chinese folk music, as well as popular songs, including those on sound recordings as well as notated music.
Lastest Monograph
《雅樂效應思維：〈樂記〉身心審美的當代解讀》 (Thinking Through the ’Yayue Effect’: A Modern Appraisal of the Music Body-Mind Aesthetics in Ancient Chinese Tradition). National Taiwan University Press, 2019.
Description
Chinese traditional music is often appreciated for its believed positive effects upon psychosomatic health. Under the music’s influence, “one’s ears and eyes are sharpened,” “outlook is glowing,” and “[his/her] qi is unimpededly affluent and radiant on the appearance,” according to various classics. Focusing on the music classic, the Yue Ji, this book takes a cross-disciplinary approach in exploring the basis and significance of such body-mind understanding of music. The content of the Yue Ji is analyzed, in comparison with current findings in the fields of music psychology, music therapy, as well as those in ethnomusicological studies on the relationship between trance and possession on the one hand, and music on the other. It is found that the Yue Ji indicates not only an understanding of the question how music is taken to affect psychosomatic health in accordance with current findings in the above mentioned disciplines, but also specifies practical techniques and related thinking in order to achieve music’s optimal effects. This book argues, in addition, that the ancient body-mind aesthetics of music cannot be understood apart from Chinese unique traditional way of thinking—what sinologists identify as “coordinative/associative thinking.”
Chinese traditional music is often appreciated for its believed positive effects upon psychosomatic health. Under the music’s influence, “one’s ears and eyes are sharpened,” “outlook is glowing,” and “[his/her] qi is unimpededly affluent and radiant on the appearance,” according to various classics. Focusing on the music classic, the Yue Ji, this book takes a cross-disciplinary approach in exploring the basis and significance of such body-mind understanding of music. The content of the Yue Ji is analyzed, in comparison with current findings in the fields of music psychology, music therapy, as well as those in ethnomusicological studies on the relationship between trance and possession on the one hand, and music on the other. It is found that the Yue Ji indicates not only an understanding of the question how music is taken to affect psychosomatic health in accordance with current findings in the above mentioned disciplines, but also specifies practical techniques and related thinking in order to achieve music’s optimal effects. This book argues, in addition, that the ancient body-mind aesthetics of music cannot be understood apart from Chinese unique traditional way of thinking—what sinologists identify as “coordinative/associative thinking.”
