The purpose of research: The music education as a part of art education is quite important for the formation of personality and its curriculum, which has a great influence on the teaching plan, determines the quality of music education. Besides, the target of music education supports the liberal education and brings emotion cultivation through the ability to express or appreciate. If curricula contain the professional knowledge, which does not correspond to the level of middle school education, and deal with fragmentary lessons, the original goal of music education cannot be achieved at all. In this respect, the contents of musical education, such as the problem of what to teach or how to educate, are really important. As the music education program is generally based on cultural backgrounds, there is an interactive correlation between Korea and Japan. For this reason, my thesis tries to compare the Japanese guidelines for the teaching of the curriculum with the Korean ones on the curriculum in order to create a more effective curriculum for the music education. The research method: The main focus is on the mutual comparison by means of related references to the revised meaning of music education, the purpose, contents, and formulation of an instruction plan. Another approach method indicates the several alternatives to present problems in collaboration with analyzing the educational system. Conclusion: Although both Korea and Japan absolutely adopted the Western music after the War, more attention has been paid to turn one`s eyes to the music of their own countries since 2002. The trend of the Korean music education is involved in cultivating creative capabilities in order to be well prepared for the 21st century society on the basis of philosophical theories of Confucius. Moreover, students themselves are supposed to take part in each class the autonomy of schools and communities has been expanded in terms of the organization of a curriculum and its adjustment. On the other hand, with the curriculum proposal beginning in the 2002 fiscal year, the revised Japanese curriculum is almost the same as the Korean. In other words, active education (five-day classes a week, updated contents, more emphasis on individuality, and more elastic regulations) is much more popular through promoting the living power.