The inheritance of Chinese ethnic music culture in universities is one of the hot spots in aesthetic education nowadays. Inheriting Chinese ethnic music culture in the aesthetic education of medical universities is necessary for enhancing college students' ethnic consciousness, self-confidence and sense of identity; giving full play to the auxiliary medical effect of folk music; inheriting, preserving and disseminating the ethnic music and culture, and improving the comprehensive quality of college students and promoting their all-round development. The "4+3+5" inheritance mode and pathway established by research and practice is based on the "four combinations", with "three measures" as the guarantee and "five paths" as the gripping hand, to carry out exploration of ethnic music culture education.