Compared with the studies of Ci in Ming and Qing based on phonology, musical scores and metrical patterns, a major change in modern Ci studies is to expand the research horizon and to reexamine the origin of words and Ci styles from the perspective of the relationship between Ci and Yue (music). With the introduction of Western musicology and the rise of modern Chinese musicology, a group of scholars with the latest knowledge of Western learning, including Shen Xingong, Wang Guangqi, Hu Shih, Zhu Qianzhi, Xiao Youmei, Huang Zi, Zhao Yuanren and Long Yusheng, use the methods of modern musicology to examine the tradition of Chinese Ci , redefining the concept of "writing Ci in accordance with musical scores " and constructing a modern Ci system which is completely different from traditional Ci studies. The influence of modern musicology on the Ci studies is mainly embodied in two aspects. One is the establishment of the concept of "music literature" and the other is the redefinition of “writing Ci in accordance with musical scores". The study of Ci style from the perspective of modern musicology mainly benefits from the writing practices and theoretical explorations of school music and artistic songs. These practices include writing Ci according to the musical scores, refurbishment of old musical scores, multiple Ci poems based on one musical scores, combination of Chinese and foreign music and many more, with the spread of Western Huyue and the rise of Quzici in Tang. It was a common practice that people wrote modern Chinese artistic lyrics based on Western melodies, this practice has been used as a reference for modern Ci studies and serves as an empirical basis for understanding the relationship between traditional Ci and music, especially the relationship between “writing Ci in accordance with musical scores” and “selecting Ci conforming to musical scores”. The establishment of the concept of "music literature" and the redefinition of “writing Ci in accordance with musical scores” have promoted the study of traditional musical scoring to the level of modern musicology. The musical scores of the poems of Tang and Song were Guganpu. It was a normal practice to develop variants according to a major tune, variants which were different from the fixed modern Western musical scores. In the past, the definition of the essential characteristics of Ci emphasized that a musical score decided a Ci poem writing in terms of Shengshi (musical poems) and Yuefu poems, while on the other hand it neglected selecting poems for musical scores, even writing musical scores according to Ci and singing in accordance with Ci. Modern musicology provides both a theoretical and a practical basis for us to attribute the origin of Ci to a kind of music or musical form, whereas at the same time exaggerates the decisive functions of music and creates a narrow understanding of “Ci writing in accordance with musical scores”. In the concepts of Western music, music scores are complete and self-contained, but traditional Chinese music scores are only part of the ancient Chinese music. There are more abundant elements of performance besides the musical scores. Traditional song writing of folk music and melody does not only include “singing in accordance with Ci” based on form, but there is also “singing in accordance with Yi” based on meaning. The former is based on the tone of a single Chinese character in Ci lyrics to determine the direction of the melody tone. The latter is in the process of the singing to express the meaning of specific words and emotions in the content of Ci, with different movement forms. While making use of modern musicology to sort out and study the ancient literature of Ci and music, we should pay more attention to traditional Yue (music) studies, to music handed down from the Tang and Song Dynasties and its practice among the locals, and construct a historical view of Ci or the study of Ci style of Tang and Song based on the unification of history, logic and practices.