Ritual music cultivates traditional Confucian moral character.
In addition, musical forms, like language, are conventional forms. Their preservation delights in the same way any other practice of conventional forms delights. Finally music and chanting may have been closely linked. Confucianism celebrated the intoxication of chanting the ancient books, engaging in ritual dance, and undergoing the sublime states of mind that accompany total involvement in these activities. Placing the words of the ancient tradition in a chanting cadence or musical refrain, we enhance their power to capture human attention, mesmerize us, and shape human attitudes.