先秦至漢代的樂教中，「中」與「和」是其中的重要關鍵詞，中聲、中音、和音、和樂……關係著樂與自然和諧、身心修養以及教化的核心課題。先秦時期論中、和往往由音樂所帶來的感受性而言，故而具有深刻的自然、氣化、身體、情感、倫理的向度。《禮記．樂記》上承著先秦時期樂與天地和的思想，所論「中」、「和」上承先秦論樂強調變化、化育的傳統，同時透過否定句式，凸顯中、和容受差異與變化的特質。〈樂記〉論至樂時還有「遺音」之說，學者往往在傳統中和之樂教下，摻入「淡」、「無」等思想。「中和」與「遺音」具開啟漢代以後音樂的性情論、美學修養、審美論的關鍵地位。本文探討《禮記．樂記》中有關大樂、至樂的「遺音」、「遺味」如何理解，認為由「餘」音理解「遺」音，與由「棄」、「絕」理解的「遺」音頗有不同。秦漢學者雖仍多從「德」與「中和」論樂，但受到《老子》「淡乎無味」等影響，其解釋「遺音」、和樂與傳統儒家立場有別。本文將說明先秦時期儒者在論樂之「和」、教化時，「無」之思想也居於重要地位，如《論語》中論教化之「無與」、「無能名」，楚簡《民之父母》或《禮記．孔子閒居》等「無聲之樂」的「三無」之表述。此「無」、「遺」與「進」、「文」有其辯證甚至弔詭的關係，為「中和」之表現，以此可以展現儒家思考禮樂之文化論述的重要特質。

Music education from the pre-Qin period to the Han dynasty involved using music to cultivate one’s moral character and investigate the way of the world, the natural world, and the harmony of ethical relationships. When discussing music, the terms zhong ‘centrality’ and he ‘harmony’ played a crucial role in the music education from the pre-Qin period to the Han dynasty. The zhong-sheng ‘central sounds,” the zhong-yin ‘central melodies,’ the he-yin ‘harmonious sounds,’ and the he-yue ‘harmonious music’ touched on the core issues that music connects with natural harmony, cultivation of body and mind, and enlightenment. In pre- Qin discussions, centrality and harmony were generally related to the feelings engendered by music. They covered the dimensions of nature, qi, body, emotions, and ethics. The “Record of Music,” Book of Rites inherited the pre-Qin thought that music is [the result of] the harmony between heaven and earth. This followed the music education tradition where changes and birth were emphasized in the concepts of “centrality” and “harmony.” In the meanwhile, through the negative sentences with the “passive and active” concept.The “Record of Music” further supplemented the yi-yin ‘remaining melodies’ and yi-wei ‘remaining flavor’ with the notions of dan ‘lightness’ and wu ‘nothingness .’ Central harmony and remaining melody open the human nature and self-cultivation of aesthetics of music after Han dynasty.This study delves into the meanings of “remaining melodies” and “remaining flavor” in da-yue ‘highest music’ and zhi-yue ‘ultimate music’ in the “Record of Music,” Book of Rites as wells as related explanations of scholars in the Qin and the Han dynasties. It also elucidates the importance of “nothingness” in pre-Qin Confucian discussions of harmony and cultivation. Three examples of “nothingness” are wu-yu ‘inactive participation’ and wu-neng-ming “indescribable name” in the discussions on education in The Analects and wu-sheng-zhi-yue ‘music having no sound’ mentioned in the Chu bamboo slips Parents of the People and the “Confucius Leisurely at Home,” Book of Rites. There is a dialectical logic and paradoxical between “nothingness,” “remaining” and jin ‘advance,’ wen ‘language.’ It embodies centrality and harmony and displays the important characteristics of Confucian understandings of music and rites.