Order and Structure: Cultural and Historical Perspectives

The importance of order and structure varies from culture to culture; in some cultures, it is taught that order, structure and control are key, like in Confucian teachings. There are also eras which embrace the idea of order like the Eighteenth Century, also known as "The Age of Enlightenment". However there are eras like the Romantic period which believed that order was unimportant and emphasized the importance of freedom from constrictive rules. In Confucianism, strict rules on social relationships are given main focus because it was believed to maintain balance between people. People of the Eighteenth Century era would be able to appreciate the teachings of Confucianism because it valued balance and order. The Romantic era, however, would

Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, believed that tradition would lead the people back to harmony because during that time war was bring about much turmoil and people were needlessly dying. Confucius believed that creating a social order and going back to tradition would cure their problems. One of Confucius ' teachings, Li: Proper Rituals, explains the importance of performing rituals the traditional way. It was believed that performing rituals rationally and properly would cultivate one 's character. Another teaching of Confucianism that dealt with was the way of Wen, the arts of peace. It was tradition for sages of Confucianism to be trained in the way of Wen and Li: Proper Rituals. The sages were taught several the arts of peace which included writing in calligraphy, playing instruments , writing poetry and other activities. There was also a particular way one must do these activities. According to Li: Proper Rituals, the sage must be in the correct frame of mind to do these activities and the movements were also required to be done in the correct way to allow the flow of Chi throughout their bodies. An example of a these Wen and Li being used together is when the sage Yuan Jung-ping plays the song "Lament of Departure" on the Guqin, a traditional Chinese instrument and later writes the lyrics of the song

One of the popular forms of Eighteenth Century music was the Sonata Form. This form allowed the music to be balanced and orderly. Sonata Form had three parts, the exposition, the development and the recapitulation. In each of the parts are two themes. As the song is played, the theme changes from what it originally started off with in the exposition and then returns to it in the recapitulation. This creates a balance in the musical piece and creates a sense of satisfaction in the listener. An example of a musical piece that puts the Sonata Form in use is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 's "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K.525