Psychology, 2022, 13, 891-897

https://www.scirp.org/journal/psych
ISSN Online: 2152-7199
ISSN Print: 2152-7180

The Positive Emotional Effects of Chinese

Traditional Music on the College Students

Di Liu1, Mei Zhang2, Hui Zhao1, Tao Zhang1

1
Psychological Research & Counseling Center, South West Jiaotong University, Chengdu, China
2
School of Acupuncture and Tuina, Anhui University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China

How to cite this paper: Liu, D., Zhang, M., Abstract

Zhao, H., & Zhang, T. (2022). The Positive
Emotional Effects of Chinese Traditional The therapeutic capacity of Chinese traditional music for addressing anxiety,
Music on the College Students. Psychology, distress and stress has not been well studied. It is a noninvasive music psy-
13, 891-897.
chotherapy method, often practiced in Southwest Jiaotong University
https://doi.org/10.4236/psych.2022.136060
(SWJTU) and proves to be quite effective and lasting. Although extreme met-
Received: May 7, 2022 al music was reported done well with anger processing, individuals in psy-
Accepted: June 19, 2022 chological counselling mentioned that listening to metal music especially at
Published: June 22, 2022
all time everyday could cause psychological symptoms such as stress and an-
Copyright © 2022 by author(s) and xiety. The purpose is to clarify the positive effect of Chinese traditional music
Scientific Research Publishing Inc. which has had a long history. Students can choose healthy music for better
This work is licensed under the Creative
adjusting their mood to be their own best psychological counselors. Chinese
Commons Attribution International
License (CC BY 4.0). traditional music will be their own psychological tool to get a better college
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ life. 60 participants from freshman to sophomore have been recruited, in
Open Access which 53 participants completed the study. The 21-item Depression Anxiety
Stress Scale was used as a pre- and post-intervention measure in this study.
SPSS Statistical Analysis Software was used for pared-samples T-test. The re-
sult shows that the students’ psychological mean scores are significantly re-
duced (P = 0.004) after listening to Chinese traditional music. Differences in
pre-MT (BMT) and post-MT (AMT) scores indicated significant reductions
in the mean scores of anxiety (P = 0.002), and stress (P = 0.015). The mean
score of depression (P = 0.089) is also lowered from 38.1887 to 34.9811,
which is not a so significant reduction and the reason needs to be explored.
However, the study indicates that MT with Chinese traditional music can ef-
fectively achieve positive effect and improve mental health level on our cam-
pus.

Keywords
Positive Effects, Chinese Traditional Music, Music Therapy, College Students

DOI: 10.4236/psych.2022.136060 Jun. 22, 2022 891 Psychology

D. Liu et al.

1. Background
Music therapy was also called music treatment. It is a noninvasive music psy-
chotherapy method (Rossetti et al., 2017). Modern music therapy studies have
shown that music can directly or indirectly affect the human emotions and the
body. Extreme metal music was reported to be done well with anger processing
(Sharman & Dingle, 2015), Chinese traditional music will be their own psycho-
logical tool to get a better college life (Yang, 2016). Music therapy was usually
considered a kind of psychological treatment. The influence of music on emo-
tions can change the mental state of people, thus changing the human mind, and
finally achieving the purpose of treatment (Yan, 2018).
Classification of music is important to research that examines the effects of
music on these responses (Hirokawa & Ohira, 2003). A bone flute made in the
Neolithic Age might be the origin of Chinese traditional music. It can be traced
back to 7000 - 8000 years ago. In ancient times, only royal families and dignitary
officials had the opportunity to enjoy music, and most of the music was played
on chimes and bells. After Buddhism and Islam were accepted by Chinese, Chi-
nese music was combined with exotic and religious melodies. People at fairs
could hear music organized by religious temples. Since then all the common
Chinese have the opportunity to enjoy traditional music.
With the prosperity of foreign music, these elements have been absorbed into
Chinese traditional music group. Chinese traditional music is related closely to
instruments. For instance, Horse-Headed Fiddle is a bowed stringed instrument
with a scroll carved like a horse’s head. It is popular in Mongolian music.
Why do we recommend Chinese Traditional Music?
The Chinese Traditional Music is created by traditional musical instruments
in a traditional music repertoire; it contends Five Tones which always sound
harmonious. They are called Gong (Do), Shang (Re), Jiao (Mi), Zhi (Sol), Yu
(La), which correspond to heart, liver, spleen, lung, and kidney. A famous an-
cient writer Ouyang Xiu (Song Dynasty) wrote his own adjustment of depressive
mood with music in his Farewell Message to His Friend Yang Zhi.
In Louis Armstrong Center for Music & Medicine of New York Mount Sinai
Hospital, Music therapists prescribed Chinese traditional music for patients who
had cancer and were receiving CT examination at the hospital. And the Chinese
traditional music worked well and helped the patients a lot, especially bringing
them calm, peace and joy when they were at hospital.
In addition, since the pandemic of COVID-2019, more and more college stu-
dents are coming to our psychological center for psychological aid. They seem to
have more and more psychological problems, which are much harder for the
psychological counselors to deal with. The main problems are stress, anxiety,
and depression.

2. Literature Review
As a result of technological advances, music is widely available as a means of

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 D. Liu et al.

modifying social occasions (Dees & Vera, 1978). The selection of music is a vital
technique in MT (music therapy), including factors such as patients’ culture, and
patient preferred music should be used through MT. To observe the effect of
Chinese traditional music on the emotion of university students, 14 students re-
ceived Chinese traditional music relaxing therapy for 4 weeks, and the other 14
students randomly selected as control group did not receive Chinese traditional
music relaxing therapy. Compared with control group, the total scores of SAS,
PSQI in the experiment group were significantly decreased after having received
Chinese traditional music therapy for 4 weeks (P < 0.05), and the total scores of
the all scales had no significant differences (P > 0.05) in control group. The Chi-
nese traditional music relaxation training could decrease anxiety and improve
sleep quality (Hu & Liang, 2018). The Meridian flow injection TCM music ther-
apy is based on the meridian flow injection and takes music as the treatment
method. According to the meridian injection theory, the human viscera should
choose specific times to adjust with different natural music. The results of this
study show that the SAS and SDS scores of the trial group are lower than those
of the control group (P < 0.05), indicating that the Five Elements Music Therapy
can significantly improve the negative mood of decompensated cirrhosis pa-
tients and promote the psychological recovery of patients (Sun, Wang, & Qian,
2018). A group of the elderly who resided in a nursing home has been measured
by the 21-item Depression Anxiety Stress Scale, after 10 weeks of daily mu-
sic-based sessions (each 90 minutes). Differences in pre- and post-intervention
scores indicated significant reductions in mean scores of anxiety (P = 0.004),
stress (P = 0.001), and depression (P = 0.001) in the intervention group as com-
pared with the control group (no music) (Mohammadi et al., 2011). Patients
with KOA have better effect in relieving pain and bad emotions by using
five-element music therapy (Li et al., 2021). All these studies reveal that Chinese
traditional music plays an effective role in reducing anxiety and stress, it can
promote positive emotions quite efficiently in our society and campus life.

3. Method
Listening to Chinese traditional music 15 minutes once a week at 3:50 pm on
Wednesday, 15 weeks in total. Altogether 60 students were recruited. The data of
7 students was invalid because of absent, 53 kept completing the Chinese tradi-
tional music listening. Those participants are from freshman (N = 35) to soph-
omore (N = 3), also including Junior (N = 12) and senior (N = 3), female (N =
21), male (N = 32), aged from 17 to 23. This study has passed the ethical review
and the participants were informed.
1) Three pieces of traditional Chinese music: Listen to the Pine (Erhu, Solo),
About Mountain and Moon (Zither, Solo), Water Town (Chinese dulcimer, Solo).
2) Depression Anxiety Stress Scale 21 (Gong et al., 2010).
3) Before listening, allow themselves to get a comfortable seat. Their eyes
closed when listening to the music.

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D. Liu et al.

4. Results
Negative stress is a serious risk factor for the onset and progression of a wide
range of physical illnesses and emotional problems (De Witte et al., 2022). The
average score of college students decreased after music treatment. Chinese Tra-
ditional Music had a significant effect on anxiety level (T = 3.325, P = 0.002),
stress level (T = 2.525, P = 0.015), compared with aromatherapy and music
therapy as separate interventions. Although the depression level (T = 1.735, P =
0.089) is not quite significant, the mean is reduced from 11.7925 to 11.0755.
Chinese traditional music enhances college students’ mood. After 15 days lis-
tening, their scores of anxiety, stress and depression decreased. Positive effect
has been achieved after MT (see Table 1).
The results suggest that Chinese traditional music may be effective for im-
proving Positive Emotion of the College Students, reducing anxiety, stress and
depression level among college students in SWJTU (Wang et al., 2021). After
continuous listening to Chinese traditional music, a positive emotional guidance
has been achieved among college students, P = 0.004, less than 0.05, “paired T
test” results are significant, the overall score of the scale dropped after MT, sig-
nificant assessment scores reveals that the Chinese traditional music can cause
psychological positive influence of college students.

5. Discussion
Though the study of music therapy has been more and more common and deep,
however, there are very few research and study that focus on Chinese traditional
music and its effect, and few of the research has been published on the interna-
tional magazines. Therefore, this article is a literature to talk about the benefits
of using Chinese traditional music therapy sessions for people with stress, de-
pression and anxiety disorders (Santos et al., 2019). It is obvious that college
students have more psychological problems than before, which are more difficult
to handle within a traditional way. Chinese traditional music has a long history,

Table 1. Mean change and T-test between pre- and post-MT measurements.

N = 53 Mean Change SD T Sig. (2-tailed)

Stress (Post-MT) 12.6604 4.61579 2.525 0.015 (*)

Stress (Pre-MT) 13.7925 4.07317

Anxiety (Post-MT) 11.2453 3.68941 3.325 0.002 (**)

Anxiety (Pre-MT) 12.6038 3.64976

Depression (Post-MT) 11.7925 3.67088 1.735 0.089

Depression (Pre-MT) 11.0755 4.1503

Abbreviations: MT = music therapy; P < 0.05 (*) Statistic difference, P < 0.01 (**) Signifi-
cant statistical difference, P < 0.001 (***) A very significant statistical difference.

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 D. Liu et al.

thousands of years of accumulation and development have formed a unique

style, it is the power source of the continuous development of the Chinese na-
tional culture and an important symbol of the vigorous development. Its enligh-
tening role in the process of youth quality education is irreplaceable, and it plays
an important role in the aesthetic pursuit and personality quality of teenagers
especially college students. Chinese Traditional Music had a significant effect on
anxiety level (T = 3.325, P = 0.002), stress level (T = 2.525, P = 0.015), compared
with aromatherapy and music therapy as separate interventions. Although de-
pression level (T = 1.735, P = 0.089) is not shown quite significant, the mean de-
creased from 11.7925 to 11.0755. The different results of anxiety, stress and de-
pression reveal that we have a long way to handle with depression with Chinese
traditional music. Anyway, Chinese traditional music can help students change
their mood to some positive aspect. The results suggest that Chinese traditional
music may be effective for improving the emotion of the College Students, re-
ducing anxiety, stress and depression level among college students. The subjects
in this study are all Chinese. Music is stateless, it expresses the mutual mood of
human beings, the experimental results will not deviate due to the subjects’ cul-
tural acceptance and identity.
There is no boundary in music regardless of listeners’ nationality, So not only
the Chinese can benefit from the traditional Chinese music, but also all the mu-
sic lovers around the world can do so. Using Chinese traditional music in MT is
not ridiculous for the participants and they will benefit a lot by gaining a positive
mood. We encourage more and more music therapists to use Chinese traditional
music in MT.

6. Conclusion
With the development of education on campus, more attention should be paid
to the psychological health of college students. In fact, under all kinds of pres-
sure such as study, interpersonal interaction, career planning, various college
students have demonstrated various problems in psychological health, such as
anxiety, nervousness, and loneliness. The mental health status may have very
negative influences on college students. For this reason, many universities have
created the psychological education courses for college students. At present, the
psychological center on our campus starts to focus on music therapy in psycho-
logical research (Yi, 2019). This method proves to be an excellent way to handle
the mental health problems of college students. Chinese traditional music has a
long way to go for helping people solve their mental problems such as stress, de-
pression, and anxiety. The aim of this study was to check out music therapy of
the positive effects of using Chinese traditional music therapy for college stu-
dents. 53 students participated in this study. The results showed that after the
Music Therapy, their stress and anxiety scores have reduced significantly and
depression scores have lowered quite a bit. This indicates that MT with Chinese
traditional music can effectively achieve positive effect and improve mental

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D. Liu et al.

health level on our campus.

Funding
The author received financial support from Sichuan Mental Health Education
and Research Center for the research, authorship, and or publication of this ar-
ticle.
Project Title: An Empirical Study on Alleviating Anxiety of College Students
by Chinese Folk Music.
Project Number: (XLJKJY1919B).

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this pa-
per.

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