Music and Popular Music

Music and Popular Music

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A Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.

A Caribbean steel band.

An English rock group.

A choir singing Christmas carols.

A sitar player performing Indian music.

A marching band in a parade.

Mariachi players at an outdoor café in Mexico City.

Folk singer Bob Gibson

Bulgarian folk musicians and dancers perform a dunce song Dance songs are a type of folk music composed to accom­pany folk dances.

Myer Music Bowl, an auditorium of striking modem design, offers open-air concerts during the summer. It is located in King's Domain, Melbourne, Australia.

Japanese music is often played on plucked stringed instru­ments called kotos. Other Japanese instruments include gongs, banjolike samisens, and shakuhachi (bamboo flutes).

An Indonesian gamelan orchestra consists of drums, gongs, and xylophones. Camelan music has a kind of harmony because the instruments play different melodies.

American Indian music often features singing and dancing accompanied by rattles. American Indians almost always perform music as part of an activity, such as a religious ceremony.

A music hall singer entertained audiences with comical or sentimental songs, adding jokes and dance steps. In early music halls, drinks were served during performances.

Myer Music Bowl, an auditorium of striking modem design, offers open-air concerts during the summer. It is located in King's Domain, Melbourne, Australia.

The instruments below are grouped in four major classes: (1) stringed instruments, (2) wind instruments, (3) percussion instruments, and (4) keyboard instruments. The fifth major class of musical instruments - electronic instruments - is not represented in these illustrations. Electronic instruments include electric guitars, electric pianos, electronic organs, and synthesizers

Musical instruments

Wind Instruments (Woodwinds): Oboe, English horn, Clorinet, Bass Clorinet, Flute, Piccolo, Bassoon, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Baritone Saxophone.

Stringed Instrument: Violin, Viola, Mondolin, Guitar, Cello, Bass, Harp, Lute.

Brasses: Trumpet, Bugle, Trombone, French Horn, Sousaphone,  Baritone Horn, Flugelhorn

Percussion Instrument: Kettledrum, Snare Drum, Bass Drum, Bongo Drums, Vibraphone, Triangle, Triangle, Cymbals, Sleigh Bells, Chimes, Gong.

Keyboard Instrument: Piano, Harpsichord, Pipe Organ.

Some types of scales

The C major scale has a semitone between its third and fourth notes and between its seventh and eighth notes. You hear it when you play the white keys from C to C on the piano.

The natural minor scale follows a pattern of one whole tone, one semitone, two whole tones, one semitone, and two whole tones. This scale is often used in folk music.

The harmonic minor scale has three semitones between its sixth and seventh notes. This wide leap provides a bridge to the tonic, or main note at the octave.

The chromatic scale consists entirely of semitones and has 12 notes to an octave. You hear this scale when you play all the white and black keys from C to C on the piano.

Triadic chords

Combinations of notes are called chords. A triad is a chord made up of three notes, each a third apart, such as C, E, and G in a major scale. The most important triads in a musical composi­tion are the tonic, dominant, and subdominant.

Cadences

A series of chords that ends a piece of music is called the ca­dence. Most classical music ends with an authentic cadence. Many hymns use a plagal cadence. Examples appear below.

Pitch

Composers use a staff to indicate the pitch of notes. A def sign determines the name of each line and space of the staff. The main kinds of clefs are shown below.

The bass clef, also called the F clef, locates the F below middle C on the second line from the top of the staff. This clef is used in music that has low notes.

The C clef (alto) fixes middle C on the third line of the staff. It is chiefly used in music for the viola.

The C clef (tenor) locates middle C on the second line from the top of the staff. It is used for cello and bassoon music.

The great staff combines the treble and bass clefs

Time values: The shape of a note or rest indicates how long it lasts. The notes and rests shown are semibreve, minim, crochet; quaver, semiquaver, demisemiquaver, and hemide-misemiquaver. Staff signatures - The staff signature, or key signature, tells what key the music is written in. If the music has no flats or sharps, it may be in the key of C major or its relative minor, A minor. Each major key has a relative minor, and each minor key has a relative major

Time signatures: The time signature is a fraction that tells the number of beats in each bar and what kind of note receives one beat. For example, a signature of J has four beats, and a time signature of J has three. Both have a crotchet as the beat unit.

Expression: Composers use words and symbols to show the kind of expres­sion they want in music. For example, a curved line over notes indicates that the notes should be played legato (smoothly). A dot over notes means they should be played staccato (sharply separated)

Cadences - A series of chords that ends a piece of music is called the ca­dence. Most classical music ends with anauthentic cadence. Many hymns use a plagal cadence.

Pitch - Composers use a staff to indicate the pitch of notes. A def sor determines the name of each line and space of the staff. The main kinds of clefs …

Time values

The shape of a note or rest indicates how long it lasts. The notes and rests shown are semibreve, minim, crochet; quaver, semiquaver, demisemiquaver, and hemide-misemiquaver.

Staff signatures - The staff signature, or key signature, tells what key the music is written in. If the music has no flats or sharps, it may be in the key of C major or its relative minor, A minor. Each major key has a relative minor, and each minor key has a relative major

Time signatures - The time signature is a fraction that tells the number of beats in each bar and what kind of note receives one beat. For example, a signature of J has four beats, and a time signature of J has three. Both have a crotchet as the beat unit.

Expression - Composers use words and symbols to show the kind of expres­sion they want in music. For example, a curved line over notes indicates that the notes should be played legato (smoothly A dot over notes means they should be played staccato (sharply separated).

Definition of Music:

(1)vocal or instrumental sounds (or both) combined in such a way as to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion.

"couples were dancing to the music"

synonyms:

notes, strains, tones, chords, sound; More

(2)the written or printed signs representing vocal or instrumental sound.

"Tony learned to read music"

A variety of musical performances  -  suggests some of the many

forms of music. But whatever the form, all music is sound

arranged for artistic effect.

Music

Music is sound arranged into pleasing or interesting patterns. It forms an important part of many cultural and social activities. People use music to express feelings and ideas. Music also serves to entertain and relax.

Like drama and dance, music is a performing art. It differs from such arts as painting and poetry, in which artists create works and then display or publish them. Musical composers need musicians to interpret and perform their works, just as playwrights need actors to perform their plays. Thus, musical performances are partnerships between composers and performers.

Music also plays a major role in other arts. Opera combines singing and orchestral music with drama. Bal­let and other forms of dancing need music to help the dancers with their steps and evoke an atmosphere. Film and TV dramas use music to help set the mood and em­phasize the action. Also, composers have set many poems to music.

Music is one of the oldest arts. People probably a Caribbean steel band started to sing as soon as language developed. Hunting tools struck together may have been the first musical in­struments. By about 10,000 B.C., people had discovered how to make flutes out of hollow bones. Many ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Chinese, and Babylo­nians, and the peoples of India, used music in court and religious ceremonies. The first written music dates from about 2500 B.C.

Today, music takes many forms around the world. The music of people in Europe and the Americas is known as Western music. There are two chief kinds of Western music, classical and popular. Classical music includes symphonies, operas, and ballets. Popular music includes country music, folk music, jazz, and rock music. The cultures of Africa and Asia have developed their own types of classical and popular music.

This article deals with the importance of music, musi­cal instruments, the elements of music, and the system used for writing down music. It also includes informa­tion on the various types of Western and non-Western music.

The importance of music

Music plays an important part in all cultures. People use music (1) in ceremonies, (2) in work, and (3) in per­sonal and social activities.

In ceremonies. Nearly all peoples use music in their religious services. One kind of religious music seeks to create a state of mystery and awe. For example, some cultures have special musical instruments played only by priests on important occasions, such as harvest cere­monies and the burials of chiefs. Similarly, much West­ern church music attempts to create a feeling of dis­tance from the daily world. Other religious music, such as hymn-singing, helps produce a sense of participation among worshippers.

Many nonreligious ceremonies and spectacles also use music. They include sports events, graduation cere­monies, circuses, parades, and the crowning of kings and queens.

In work. Before machines became important, people had to do much difficult or boring work by hand. For example, labourers sang songs to help make their work seem easier. Crews aboard sailing ships sang shanties songs with a strong, regular beat. The sailors pulled or lifted heavy loads in time to the beat. Today, the wide use of machines has made the singing of work songs rare in industrialized societies. However, many offices and factories provide background music for their work­ers.

In personal and social activities. Many people perform music for their own satisfaction. Singing in a choir or playing a musical instrument in a band can be very enjoyable. Music provides people with a way to express their feelings. A group of happy campers may sing cheerful songs as they sit around a campfire. A sad per­son may play a mournful tune on a guitar.

Many famous rulers have used music to help them relax. According to the Bible, David played the harp to help King Saul take his mind off the problems of ruling Israel. Kings Richard I and Henry VIII of England com­posed music. Other leaders have performed music. For example, the former British Prime Minister, Edward Heath is a spare-time organist and conductor. Former United States presidents Harry S. Truman and Richard M. Nixon played the piano.

People use music at a variety of social occasions. At parties and dinners, music is often played for dancing or simply for listening to. In some countries, it is customary for a young man to show that a young woman is special to him by serenading her or by sending musicians to play and sing for her.

Musical instruments

A musical sound, or note, is produced when air vi­brates a certain number of times each second. These vi­brations are called sound waves. Sound waves must be contained in some way so that the performer can con­trol the pitch, loudness, duration, and quality of the note. Whatever contains the sound waves must also pro­vide resonance - that is, it must amplify and prolong the sound so the note can be heard.

The vocal cords produce musical sounds in the human voice. These two small folds of tissue vibrate and create sound waves when air passes them from the lungs. The throat and the cavities in the head provide the resonance needed for singing.

Most musical instruments have a string, a reed (thin piece of wood or metal), or some other device that creates sound waves when set in motion. Musical in­struments can be grouped in five major classes. These classes are (1) stringed instruments, (2) wind instru­ments, (3) percussion instruments, (4) keyboard instru­ments, and (5) electronic instruments.

Stringed instruments produce notes when the player makes one or more strings vibrate. There are two basic types of stringed instruments: (1) bowed stringed instruments and (2) plucked stringed instruments.

Bowed stringed instruments are played by drawing a bow (a wooden rod with horsehair stretched from end to end) back and forth across the strings. The friction (rubbing) of the bow on the strings produces vibrations that are amplified by the body of the instrument. Most bowed instruments have four strings. Each string is tuned to a different pitch. To produce other pitches, the musician shortens the strings by pressing down on them with the fingers. This is called stopping.

The main bowed instruments, in descending order of pitch and ascending order of size, are the violin, viola, violoncello or cello, and string bass. These instruments form the heart of a symphony orchestra. Violins in an or­chestra are divided into first violins and second violins.

Musical terms

Accelerando means gradually speeding up the tempo. Accidentals are sharps, flats, and naturals not included in a key signature.

Adagio means slow.

Ad libitum indicates that the musician may play a composition with great freedom.

Agitato means played in a restless or excited manner.

Allegro means fast and lively.

Andante means smooth and flowing, at a moderate speed. Animato means lively or animated.

Appassionato means with great feeling.

Bar is a unit of musical time containing an indicated number of beats.

Cadence is a series of chords that brings a composition or one of its sections to a conclusion.

Cantabile means songlike.

Chord is a combination of notes played at the same time.

Clef is a sign that fixes the positions of notes on the lines and spaces of the staff.

Counterpoint is music that consists of two or more melodies played at the same time.

Crescendo means growing louder.

Decrescendo means growing softer.

Diminuendo means gradually growing softer.

Espressivo means with expression.

Flat is the semitone below a given tone, with the same letter name as that note. A flat is also the sign used to show that a note should be lowered a semitone.

Forte means loud.

Fortissimo means very loud.

Interval is the distance between two notes. The interval consist­ing of the notes C and E is called athird because E is the third note of a diatonic scale from C to C Likewise, C and F is a fourth, C and G a fifth, C to A a sixth, and so on.

Key is the particular scale used for a piece of music. It is based on a certain note, called the tonic.

Largo means extremely slow.

Ledger line is a short line drawn above or below the staff. It is used for notes too high or too low to appear on the staff.

Legato means smoothly connected.

Maestoso means majestic.

Meter is the arrangement of beats in a piece of music. It is indi­cated by the time signature, a fraction that appears at the begin­ning of the piece.

Mezzo means medium. It modifies other terms, as in mezzo forte (moderately loud).

Moderato means playing in moderate tempo.

Modulation is moving from one key to another key in a musical composition.

Molto means very or much. It modifies other terms, as in motto allegro (very lively).

Motive is a series of notes repeated throughout a piece of music.

Natural is a note that is neither sharp nor flat. A natural is also the sign used to cancel a preceding sharp or flat.

Octave is an interval of eight notes.

Pianissimo means very soft.

Piano means soft.

Piu means more. It modifies other terms, as in piupresto (faster).

Prestissimo means as fast as possible.

Presto means extremely fast.

Rallentando, or Ritardando, means gradually slowing the tempo.

Scale is a series of notes spanning an octave, arranged accord­ing to pitch.

Sforzando means played with a sudden, strong accent.

Sharp is the semitone above a given note, with the same letter name as that note. A sharp is also the sign used to show that a note should be raised a semitone.

Staccato means sharply separated from one another. The notes are as short as possible.

Staff consists of five horizontal lines and the spaces between them. Notes are written on the lines and spaces.

Tempo is the characteristic speed of a piece of music.

Theme is the main melody of a musical composition.

Tremolo means playing in a quivering or trembling style. Vibrato means a slight wavering in pitch, occurring so quickly that it sounds like a single pitch.

Vivace means played in a lively manner or with great speed.

The first violins play higher-pitched parts of musical compositions than the second violins.

Plucked stringed instruments are played by plucking the strings with the fingers or a pick or plectrum. The guitar is the most common plucked stringed instrument. It has 6 to 12 strings. The harp, another important plucked instrument, has up to 47 strings. Other plucked stringed instruments include the banjo, lute, lyre, man­dolin, sitar, ukulele, and zither. The strings of the violin and other bowed instruments also may be plucked to produce special effects. This style of playing on a bowed instrument is called pizzicato.

Wind instruments are played by using breath to vi­brate air in a tube. There are two chief types: (1) wood­wind instruments and (2) brass instruments.

Woodwind instruments are grouped together be­cause, before the invention of the saxophone, they were all made of wood. Today, many are made of metal or other materials. In such woodwinds as recorders, the player blows into a mouthpiece. In some other wood­winds, such as flutes and piccolos, the player blows across a hole in the side of the instrument. Still other woodwinds, called reed instruments, have one or two reeds attached to the mouthpiece. The reeds vibrate when the musician blows on them. The clarinet and sax­ophone are the chief single-reed instruments. Double reed instruments include the bassoon, English horn or cor anglais, and oboe.

The player controls the pitch of a woodwind by placing the fingers on holes in the instrument or on keys that cover holes. In this way, the player lengthens or shortens the column of air that vibrates inside the instrument. The piccolo and flute have the highest pitches of the woodwinds. The bassoon and contrabassoon have the lowest pitches.

Brass instruments are played in a different way from that of woodwinds. The player presses the lips against the instrument's mouthpiece so that they vibrate like reeds when the player blows. By either tensing or relaxing the lips, the player produces different pitches. With many brass instruments, the player can further control the pitch with valves that lengthen or shorten the tube in which the air column is made to vibrate.

The chief brass instruments in an orchestra are the French horn, trumpet, trombone, and tuba have lower pitches. The trombone has a slide instead of valves. The performer pulls the slide in and out of the instrument to control the pitch. Other brass instruments, including the baritone horn and sousaphone, are used in bands.

Percussion instruments are sounded by shaking them or by hitting them with the hand, a stick, or a mal­let. Drums are the most common percussion instru­ments. Most Western drums do not produce a range of pitches. But kettledrums, also called timpani, can be tuned to various pitches by adjusting the tension of the drumheads. Glockenspiels and xylophones have a series of metal or wooden bars that produce a range of pitches. Other percussion instruments include casta­nets, cymbals, gongs, marimbas, and tambourines.

Keyboard instruments have a series of keys con­nected by mechanical means to a device that produces notes. The musician presses the keys to make sounds. The best-known keyboard instruments are the piano, harpsichord, and pipe organ. The keys on a piano acti­vate small hammers that strike strings. On a harpsi­chord, the keys control a mechanism that plucks strings. Pressing a key on a pipe organ opens a pipe in which a column of air vibrates. The player operates some pipes by pressing pedals with the feet.

Electronic instruments include those that generate sounds by electricity and those that electronically am­plify sounds produced by an instrument. The most com­mon electronic instrument is the electric guitar, it makes louder and more varied notes than an ordinary guitar. Electric guitars, electric pianos, and electronic organs are widely used in rock music. A complex electronic in­strument called a synthesizer is used to create original sounds or to imitate the sounds of other musical instru­ments. Some synthesizers are operated by computer.

The elements of music

A composer uses five basic elements to create a piece of music. These elements are (1) notes, (2) rhythm, (3) melody, (41 harmony, and (5) tone colour.

Notes are musical sounds of definite pitch. Most music is based on a scale, a particular pattern of notes arranged according to rising or falling pitch. Western musicians name the notes of a scale by labelling them with the letters A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. This cycle of seven letters is repeated as the scale is continued upward. The distance between a note and the next highest note hav­ing the same letter name (for example, from C to C) is called an octave. There are eight scale notes in an oc­tave, including both the repeated notes. The note at the upper end of an octave has exactly twice as many vibra­tions per second as the note at the lower end.

The distance between one note and another is called an interval. The adjacent notes in a scale are separated from each other by one of two types of interval - a whole tone or a semitone (half a whole tone). In many countries, a whole tone is known as a whole step and a semitone is called a half step.

Most Western composers have based their musical works on diatonic scales. A diatonic scale has the eight notes of the octave arranged in a pattern that uses both whole tones and semitones. There are two chief types of diatonic scales, major scales and minor scales. The scales differ in the location of the semitones. A major scale has a semitone between the third and fourth notes and between the seventh and eighth notes. All the other intervals are whole tones. The natural minor scale fol­lows a pattern of one whole tone, one semitone, two whole tones, one semitone, and two whole tones. Two other minor scales, the harmonic minor and the melodic minor, have different arrangements of whole tones and semitones. But all minor scales have a semitone be­tween the second and third notes.

Sometimes composers need to raise or lower the pitch of a note in a scale by a semitone. A note raised in this way is called sharp. A lowered note is called flat.

The notes of a diatonic scale, which are also called degrees, vary in importance. The main note, called the tonic, is the first degree of the scale. The tonic serves as the tonal centre of the scale, and all other notes are re­lated in some way to the tonic. The tonic also gives the scale its name. For example, C is the tonic in the C major and C minor scales.

Next to the tonic, the most important notes of a scale are the fifth degree, called the dominant, and the fourth degree, called the subdominant. The seventh degree is calted the leading note because it leads to the tonic at the octave.

A chromatic scale consists entirely of semitones. It has 12 notes to an octave, rather than 8. You can hear the chromatic scale if you play all the white and black keys from one C to the next C on a piano. After 1850, compos­ers increasingly used notes from the chromatic scale to make their music more colourful. During the 1920's, the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg developed a type of music based on this scale. This music, called atonal music or 12-tone music, has no tonal centre.

Rhythm is the way the composer arranges notes in time. Every note has a certain duration as well as a defi­nite pitch. Some notes may last a short time, and others a relatively long time. Rhythm helps give music its char­acter. For example, a familiar piece of music sounds very different if performed with all its notes the same length. The piece of music sounds strange because it lacks the variety of the short and long notes that make up its nor­mal rhythm.

Another important element of rhythm is accent. Most composers build their music on a pattern of regularly occurring accents. Certain types of music have a fixed pattern of accent. For example, a waltz follows a strong-weak-weak pattern, ONE two three ONE two three. A march has a strong-weak pattern, ONE two ONE two.

Some composers create different rhythms by accenting beats that are normally unaccented. This techniqL-5 known as syncopation, has been widely used in jazz.

Melody. The composer combines pitches and rhythms to create a melody, or tune. The American co­mposer Aaron Copland said, "Melody is what the piece is about." When we hear a piece of music, we most often remember its melody.

Some short pieces of music have only one melody. Longer pieces may consist of different melodies to give the music contrast and variety. A melody repeated throughout a composition is called a theme. Composer: often use a part of a melody or theme to develop musi­cal ideas. Such a part is called a motive. The first four notes of the German composer Ludwig van Beethoven s fifth symphony form a motive. By repeating and varying these four notes, Beethoven developed a theme for the first part of this work.

Harmony. Most Western music is based on the idea of sounding notes together. The sounding together of two or more notes is called harmony.

Harmony involves the use of various intervals in a scale. Intervals are named according to the number of degrees they cover in a major scale. For example, an in­terval from A to C covers three degrees - A, B, and C -  and is called a third. An interval spanning five degrees, such as A to E or C to G, is a fifth. Fourths, fifths, and eighths are called perfect intervals. Seconds, thirds, sixths, and sevenths can be either major intervals or minor intervals. Perfect intervals and major intervals can be augmented (raised a semitone). Perfect intervals and minor intervals can be diminished (lowered a semitone).

Composers use intervals to create chords, which are combinations of notes sounded at the same time. The composer may build a chord on any note. The most common type of chord is the triad, which consists of three notes, each a third apart. For example, a chord that consists of the notes C, E, and G is a major triad. A chord with the notes C, E flat, and G is a minor triad.

The tonic triad, or tonic chord, is the most important chord in a piece of music. It is built on the tonic note of the scale. The second most important chord is the domi­nant chord, and the third is the subdominant chord. The dominant chord is built on the fifth note of the scale, and the subdominant chord on the fourth. In the C major scale, the tonic chord is formed by C, E, and G; the dominant chord by G, B, and D; and the subdomi­nant chord by F, A, and C. Any note in the diatonic scale can be harmonized with one of the chords—the tonic, dominant, or subdominant. Many simple songs are har­monized by using only these chords.

Most Western composers use a harmonic system based on the tonic and dominant notes of the scale. The composer fixes the tonic and thus a specific key (tonal centre) firmly in the listener's mind. The composer may then modulate (shift) from one key to another by adding sharps or flats to the music. Generally, these sharps or flats prepare the dominant or tonic of the new key. Modulation adds variety and may emphasize a contrast­ing section of a work. In most cases, the composer eventually returns to the original key.

Another important element of harmony is the ca­dence. This is a succession of chords that end a musical work or one of its sections. Most pieces of classical music end with a perfect cadence,which consists of a dominant chord followed by a tonic chord. A plagal ca­dence consists of a subdominant chord followed by a tonic chord. The "Amen" ending of a hymn is an example of a plagal cadence.

Harmony has been a part of Western music for more than 1,000 years. However, Western composers' ideas about harmony have changed considerably over the centuries, particularly their ideas about consonance and dissonance. Harmony that sounds smooth and pleasant is consonant. Harmony that sounds rough and tense is dissonant. Generally, the notes that belong to the major and minor triads are considered consonant intervals, and all other intervals are dissonant.

Composers use harmony chiefly for music that has a melody and accompaniment. Some musical composi­tions consist of two or more melodies played at the same time. This form of music is called counterpoint.

Tone colour, also called timbre, is the quality of a musical sound. Tone colours produced by different mu­sical instruments vary widely. For example, a flute has a smooth, bright sound, while an oboe has a more nasal quality. The differences in tone colour are due to differ­ence in the way the instruments are made and in the means of producing sounds on them. Composers take account of tone colour in orchestration (writing or ar­ranging music for a group of instruments). They com­bine tone colours just as an artist combines paints to create a picture.

Musical notation

Through the years, composers developed a system for writing down music so it could be performed by mu­sicians. This system is called notation. Notation indicates (1) the pitch of notes; (2) the time values, or duration of the notes; and (3) expression—that is, the composer's ideas about the manner in which the music should be performed.

Indicating pitch. The simplest way to express pitch is to use the letters A to G. This kind of notation, how­ever, cannot show rhythm. Since the 1200"s, composers have used staff notation to express both pitch and rhythm. In this system, signs called notes represent mu­sical sounds. The notes appear on a staff, which consists of five horizontal lines and the four intervening spaces. Each line and space represents a certain pitch. Short ledger lines indicate pitches above or below the staff.

A clef sign at the left end of the staff determines the names of each line and space. Most music is written in either treble clef or bass clef. High notes, such as those for the violin and flute, appear in treble clef. This clef is often called the G def. It fixes the G above middle C (the C nearest the middle of the piano keyboard) on the second line from the bottom of the staff. Lower notes ap­pear in bass def, also called F def. The bass clef fixes the F below middle C on the second line from the top of the staff.

Composers use both treble clef and bass clef for piano and harp music. The C def is used in music for the viola, and sometimes in music for the bassoon, cello, and trombone. This clef fixes middle C in a posi­tion that minimizes the number of ledger lines.

A staff signature, or key signature, appears at the right of the clef sign. It consists of sharp signs (#) or flat signs (b) that indicate which notes should always be played sharp or flat. Each staff signature can indicate ei­ther of two keys - one major key and one minor key. For example, two sharps can mean the key of either D major or B minor.

The composer may show a change from the staff sig­nature by placing an accidental in front of a note. An ac­cidental is the sign for a sharp, a flat, or a natural. Any note not marked by a sharp or a flat is a natural. The nat­ural sign cancels a sharp or a flat.

Indicating time values. Staff notation enables com­posers to indicate how long each note should be held. The semibreve has the longest time value of any note. The second longest note is the minim, then the crotchet, quaver, semiquaver, demisemiquaver, hemidemisemi - quaver, and so on. Each time value is divided by two to find the next smallest note value.

The shape of a note shows its time value. Semibreves and minims have an open oval shape. Notes with shorter values have solid oval shapes. All notes except semi-breves have stems. To indicate notes with shorter values than the crotchet, composers attach flags, or tails, to the stems. A quaver has one flag; a semiquaver has two, a demisemiquaver has three, and so on. In a series of short notes, the composer connects the note stems with beams instead of attaching a flag to each stem.

A dot on the right of a note increases its duration by half. For example, a dotted minim equals a minim plus a crotchet. Duration may also be increased by a tie, a curved line that connects consecutive notes of the same pitch. The total duration of tied notes equals that of the notes combined.

Periods of silence are an important part of a piece of music. The composer uses marks called rests to indicate silence in music. The various shapes of rests indicate their time values.

A composer groups the notes and rests in a piece of music into units of time called bars, or measures. The composer uses bars to separate measures on the staff. The way in which beats are grouped in bars is called the metre.

Metre is indicated by the time signature, a fraction that appears at the beginning of a piece of music. The numerator of the fraction tells the number of beats in a bar. The denominator tells what kind of note - minim, crotchet, quaver - receives one beat. Music with a J metre, for example, has two beats to a bar and a crotchet as the beat unit. One bar of J may have a minim, two crotchets, four quavers, or some other com­bination totalling two beats. A J metre, sometimes writ­ten as C, has four crotchets to a measure. Other com­monly used metres include \ and J.

Many modern composers create irregular rhythms by changing the time signature several times during a piece of music. These composers also may use unusual time signatures, such as J or jj.

Another important element of time in music is tempo. The tempo tells how slowly or quickly the beat unit should be played. Composers sometimes show tempo by a metronome mark, which indicates the number of beats per minute. The musician can then follow the tempo by using ametronome, a timekeeping machine that can be adjusted to tick off each beat. Composers also may use a number of Italian words to indicate tempo. For example, the word adagio means slowly, and the word presto means fast. These Italian words are used because Italian musicians had the greatest influence in Europe during the 1600's and 1700s, when com­posers first used words to indicate tempo.

Indicating expression. To affect a listener's feelings, music must be expressive. Composers use various words and symbols to indicate the kind of expression they want in a piece of music.

Some directions indicate articulation - that is, how a series of notes should be connected. A curved line over or under notes means that the notes should be con­nected smoothly. This style of playing is called legato. A dot over or under notes indicates that they should be played as short notes with silence between them. Musi­cians call this type of articulation staccato.

Composers use certain Italian words or their abbrevi­ations to indicate dynamics (loudness or softness). For example, the word pianissimo (or pp) means very soft, and the word fortissimo (or ff) means very loud. Other directions, also in Italian, concern the emotional quality of the music. For example, dolce means sweetly, allegro means lively, and cantable mean songlike.

Music around the world

Western music is the music of people of European ancestry. It is the major form of music in Europe, North America, South America, and Australia. People in some Asian countries - for example, China, Korea, and Japan— also enjoy Western music. Western music can be di­vided into three main types: (1) classical music, (2) popu­lar music, and (3) folk music.

Classical music, also called art music, is composed according to certain rules and performed by musicians from written music. It includes symphonies and music for opera and ballet. Classical composers have written different styles of music during different periods of history. For example, most classical music composed in the late 1700s stresses simplicity and elegance. But much classical music of the late 180ffs is highly imaginative and emotional. Music written by great classical compos­ers of the past provides as much enjoyment today as when it was written. See Classical music.

Popular music includes many kinds of music, such as country music, jazz, rock music, and music from musical comedies and films. Popular music, or entertainment music, is generally much simpler than classical music. However, some pieces written as popular music hun­dreds of years ago are performed as classical music today. In addition, many great classical composers wrote some tunes in the style of the popular music of their time. Thus, the line between popular and classical music is flexible, not hard and fast.

Country music is derived from the folk music of rural whites of the Southern United States and other Ameri­can traditional music. Country music is played from memory or improvised (spontaneously varied) from an existing song. See Country music.

Jazz first became popular about 1900 among blacks of the Southern United States. It combines the complex rhythms of African music and the harmony of Western music. Jazz musicians have experimented with many kinds of instruments and styles. Most jazz features much improvisation.

Rock music is a mixture of blues, country music, so. and American and British entertainment music. It is eas­ier to understand than classical music or jazz. Styles or rock music frequently change, but such music always has a strong beat and a simple melody and rhythm.

Folk music consists of the traditional songs of a pepie. Most folk songs begin in rural communities. One person makes up a song, and other people hear it and learn to sing it. Some folk songs have been passed or - this way for hundreds of years. Many composers of clas­sical music have used folk music in their works. See Folk music.

Asian music sounds different from Western music because the scales, instruments, and composing tech­niques used are different. For example, a scale in West­ern music has 12 notes to an octave. But the Arab scale has 17 notes to an octave, and the Indian scale has 22 notes. Such scales are called microtonal because they are made up of microtones - that is, intervals smaller than a semitone. The chief types of Asian music are those of (1) China, (2) Japan, (3) India, (4) the Arab coun­tries, and (5) Indonesia.

Chinese music began more than 2,000 years ago. Or­chestras with hundreds of musicians performed at early Chinese religious ceremonies and court festivities. Today, all Chinese plays are set to music. Peking opera.

The principal Chinese musical instruments are the jin and the pipa, two plucked stringed instruments. Chinese’ musicians also play bowed stringed instruments, flutes, and percussion instruments, especially bells, drums, and gongs. The basic scale of Chinese music has five notes, most commonly F, G, A, C, and D. Traditional Chi­nese music does not have harmony.

Japanese music was influenced by the court music of China. Japanese court music, called gagaku,dates from the A.D. 700's. Japanese orchestras consist of shakuhachi (bamboo flutes), gongs, drums, and such plucked stringed instruments as the samisen and the koto.

Music is an essential part of Japanese theatre. The no play, a form of Japanese drama developed in the 1300's, features solo and choral singing with accompaniment by a small orchestra. A large orchestra provides back­ground music for the kabuki, a dance-drama.

Japanese music has no harmony but makes use of microtones and free rhythm. The basic scales are the natural minor scale and a major scale with the fourth note raised a half step - for example, the C major scale with an F sharp instead of an F.

Indian music is one of the few kinds of non-Western music that have become internationally popular. It first flourished in Hindu temples and the courts of the maha­rajahs (great kings) of India. A soloist sings or plucks a stringed instrument, such as the vina or the sitar. The so­loist may be accompanied by a drummer and a musician playing a tambura, a lutelike instrument.

The notes of the Indian scale are arranged in various patterns called ragas. Each raga has a special meaning and may be associated with a particular mood, emotion, season, or time of day. The performer chooses an ap­propriate raga, plays it, and then improvises on it. See also India, Dance and music of.

Arab music is the music of the Arab nations of the Middle East and northern Africa. The main Arab instru­ments include flutes; drums; and two plucked stringed instruments, the oud and the qanun. Most Arab songs have instrumental accompaniment. However, musical in­struments may not be used in Muslim worship. The chief Muslim religious music consists of calls to prayer sung by criers called muezzins and the chanting of pas­sages from the Quran, the sacred book of the Muslims.

Indonesian music is noted for orchestras called gamelans. These orchestras consist of drums, gongs, and xy­lophones and are used to accompany puppet plays. Gamelan music has a kind of harmony because the in­struments play different melodies at the same time.

African music is the music of black peoples who live south of the Sahara. These peoples use music in almost every aspect of their lives, especially religious ceremo­nies, festivals, and social rituals. Many Africans believe that music serves as a link with the spirit world.

Drums are the most important instruments in African music. Some drums are made of animal skins and may be played with the fingers. Others consist of hollow logs that the performer beats with sticks. African musicians also play flutes, xylophones, and stringed instruments. One kind of instrument, called the sansa or mbira, con­sists of a number of metal strips attached to a piece of wood. The musician plays the instrument by plucking the strips with the fingers or thumbs.

Most African music features complex rhythms. The musicians create these rhythms by combining different patterns of beats played on drums and iron bells or pro­duced by handclapping. Some African songs have har­mony. In many songs, a leader sings a phrase and then the chorus repeats the phrase or sings a refrain. Ele­ments of African music appear in jazz, spirituals, gospel music, and the popular music of Brazil and the Carib­bean.

American Indian music is the traditional music of the Indians of North and South America. Much of it de­veloped before Europeans arrived in the Americas.

American Indians almost always perform music as part of an activity. For example, music and dancing play an important part in Indian religious ceremonies and such tribal rituals as rain dances and hunting dances. In­dian religious leaders called medicine men sing songs as they treat the sick. The Indians also use songs in vari­ous social situations, such as courtship and trading. Many Indians compose their own' songs. In the past, they said that they learned these songs from spirits that appeared to them in dreams.

Most American Indian music consists of singing ac­companied by drums or rattles. Much of this vocal music uses a five-note scale—A, C, D, F, G. Some Indian groups also perform flute music.

In various parts of Latin America, the music of the In­dians mixed with the folk music of their Spanish con­querors. This mixture produced distinctive types of pop­ular music and dance.

Related articles: See the Arts section of the articles on various countries, such as China (The arts). See also the following articles:

Biographies: For biographies of people in the field of music, see the lists 0" Related articles at the end of Classical music; Hymn; Jazz; Musi­cal comedy; Opera; Piano; Popular music; and Violin.

Outline

The Importance of music

In ceremonies   

In work

Musical instruments

Stringed instruments

Wind instruments C Percussion instruments

The elements of music

Notes

Rhythm C Melody

Musical notation

Indicating pitch

Indicating time values

Indicating expression

Music around the world

Western music 

Asian music       

African music

American-Indian music

Questions

How do composers indicate silence in music?

What is Western music? Why does Asian music sound different from Western music?

What is a staff signature? A  time signature?

How do minor scales and major scales differ?

What is counterpoint?

What is the difference between tone and tone colour?

How does a musician play a brass instrument?

What is a theme? A  motive?

What is the major difference between music and such arts as painting and poetry?

Singing

Singing is the production of musical tones by the human voice with or without words. Singing is a natural form of expression found in cultures and societies throughout the world.

Singing may be accompanied by instrumental music, or it may be a cappella (without instrumental accompa­niment). This article discusses how people sing, the major voice classifications, and voice training for the in­dividual singer. For information on group singing, see Classical music (Choral music).

How people sing. Singing is produced in the same general way that a musical wind instrument creates sound—by causing a column of air to vibrate. A person sings by drawing air into the lungs and exhaling it past the vocal cords. The vocal cords are two folds of tissue that stretch across the larynx (voice box) in the throat.

The movement of the air against the vocal cords and the surface of the throat and mouth causes vibrations that create the sound of the voice.

Because the vocal cords are elastic, the pitch of tones produced when the cords vibrate may be varied, de­pending on the degree of tension. The more tightly the vocal cords are stretched, the higher the pitch. The more relaxed the vocal cords, the lower the pitch. A man's vocal cords tend to be longer, wider, and thicker than those of a woman. As a result, a man's voice tends to be an octave or more lower than a woman's voice.

Voice classification. Both men's and women's voices fall into three general categories of pitch—high, middle, and low. Within these categories, voices are classified into six basic types. From highest to lowest in pitch, they are soprano, mezzo-soprano, and contralto for women; and tenor, baritone, and bass for men. Most voices be­long in the mezzo-soprano and baritone categories.

Training the voice. Singing is a natural function and it requires no training to perform simple music. But seri­ous singing makes special demands on the voice. There­fore, a singer requires special training to perform opera and other difficult music. Singers study and train to de­velop and improve four basic singing skills: (1) breath control, (2) a broad range, (31 smoothness throughout the range, and (4) good resonance.

Breath control allows a singer to perform long musi­cal phrases in a single breath. The singer learns to breathe freely and naturally, filling the lungs from the bottom upward and expanding the chest cavity so that the lungs take in the maximum amount of air. The singer must learn how to release the air with evenly controlled pressure. The actions of muscles in the abdomen and chest cavities help the singer to achieve this goal.

A broad range allows a singer to correctly produce a wide span of notes from low to high. The singer's range determines his or her voice category. Training helps singers to produce the easy mid-range tones comfort­ably, and also the highest and lowest tones of which they are capable. Most untrained people can sing over a range of about 1 ½ octaves or less. But trained singers usually have a range of about two octaves.

Smoothness throughout the range means that a singer produces no audible breaks in the voice when moving from one tone to another. Some experts believe the voice is composed of either two or three registers (groups of tones within the range). They believe that the untrained singer whose voice breaks is moving from one register to another at the moment of the break. However, other experts believe that the entire range is composed of only one register, and that breaks result from other causes. All agree that the singer should be able to sing smoothly throughout the range, with no abrupt changes in the quality of the tone.

Good resonance strengthens and beautifies the tone. Resonance takes place as the tone vibrates in the cavi­ties of the throat, mouth, chest, and face. Resonance oc­curs naturally and cannot be directly controlled by the singer. However, to allow this action to take place, the singer learns to open the throat by relaxing the throat muscles. The singer also learns how to relax the jaw and lips and where to properly place the tongue.

Other singing skills. Singers should learn to read music notation (the signs and symbols) and understand music terms. For example, where the term messa di voce appears, the voice must increase the volume grad­ually from pianissimo (very soft) to fortissimo (very loud), and then back again. Singers also learn how to sing trills, which are quick alternations of two adjacent musi­cal tones, and how to control vibrato, a vibrating sound made up of slight, rapid changes in pitch. Clear diction (speech) is important so the lyrics can be understood.

Related articles: Barbershop, quartet. Singing, Bard, Blues, Calypso, Canon, Cantata, Classical music, Country music, Folk music, Hymn, Jazz, Larynx, Mastersinger, Minnesinger, Minstrel, Music, Musical Comedy, National anthem, Opera, Operettam, Pratorio, Rock music, Song, Troubadour, Trouvere and Voice.

Music hall is a form of entertainment that was at the height of its popularity in the late 1800's and early 1900's in Britain. Music hall entertained mainly the poorer working people, and most of the performers came from this class. The humour was broad and robust. Music halls had up to 20turns (performances) on their bills (programmes). Performers often appeared in three or four halls in one evening and toured all over the coun­try. The most popular performers were comedians, ac­robats, jugglers, dancers, singers, and conjurers. Top performers included the singer Marie Lloyd and the male impersonator Vesta Tilley.

Music hall developed from the singing rooms of tav­erns. In 1854, Charles Morton opened a special room at the Canterbury Arms on the south side of the River Thames. The room had a stage and was known as the Surrey Music Hall. Other public houses opened similar halls. Between World Wars I and II, music hall lost its popularity, party because of competition from the cinema and radio. After World War II, it virtually ceased as popular entertainment.

A musical box creates music mechanically. To produce notes, steel pins on a rotating cylinder pluck metal teeth of various lengths. A clockwork mechanism drives the cylinder.

The Black Crook, a musical comedy, opened in 1866 in the United States. The poster above reflects the show's emphasis on beautiful women and elaborate sets.

Show Boat helped start a new era of musical comedy in 1927. The show had realistic characters and situations and introduced some of the most popular songs in musical comedy history.

Oklahoma! began the age of the modern musical comedy in 1943. It revolutionized musicals through the way its dancing, songs, and dialogue combined to develop plot and characters.

Musical comedy is a type of play that tells a story through a combination of spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. Musical comedies are also called musicals.

Most of them are light in tone and contain much hu­mour. Musical comedies developed in the United States during the late 180ffs and have become a unique Ameri­can contribution to world theatre. Many of the best- known songs in popular music originated in musical comedies.

Musical comedy differs in several ways from other types of stage works that have music. For example, the revue has songs, dances, and skits but tells no story. The opera and operetta resemble musical comedy, but most of them have much less spoken dialogue. In addition, most operas use classical music, while nearly all musi­cals use popular music. Some plays may include songs or instrumental music, but the play remains dramatically complete without the music.

Most major American musical comedies are first pre­sented in New York City, normally on Broadway. The more successful musical comedies later tour through­out the country and may even be performed in other countries.

Elements of musical comedy

A typical musical comedy consists of four basic ele­ments: (1) the book, (2) the music, (3) the lyrics, and (4) dancing.

The book is the musical's story. It is sometimes called the libretto. The book provides shape and struc­ture to a musical. A successful book integrates the dia­logue, music, lyrics, and dancing. Some books are written specifically for a musical. Others are adaptations of other literary forms, especially novels, short stories, or plays. In some cases, the composer writes the book for a show, but most books are written by playwrights or other professional writers.

The music in a musical comedy may be vocal, instrumental, or both. In most shows, the music has a melody form that the audience can easily remember. During the early history of musical comedy, the music served pri­marily to entertain audiences and show off the talents of the performers. By the 1940's, however, the music began to serve a more dramatic function. Today, the music is expected to help create characterization, advance the plot, and develop important situations or pieces of ac­tion. The composer works with the author of the book to determine where the music can most effectively be used in the story.

The lyrics may be written by the composer or by an­other person, called a lyricist. If the musical involves both a composer and a lyricist, the two must work closely together to ensure that the lyrics fit the music. In many songs, the lyrics contribute to telling the story or describing a character's feelings. The best lyrics are ac­tually skilful poems set to music.

Dancing is one of the most distinctive elements of musical comedy. Some dances are meant only to enter­tain the audience. But many dances help tell the story or set a mood. Many shows employ a person called a cho­reographer, who creates dances especially for the show. In some cases, a show's director serves as the choreog­rapher. Most dances in musical comedy are light and rhythmic, but some musicals include long dance pieces that resemble classical ballet.

The history of musical comedy

The first musicals. American musical comedy devel­oped from a blend of American popular entertainment and the more classical elements of the European musi­cal stage. The basic American influences were vaude­ville, minstrel shows, and burlesques. All three types of entertainment had singing, dancing, and comedy, but none had a unifying story. European influences included the ballet, various forms of opera, and a form of elabo­rate spectacle called an extravaganza.

Most scholars believe that The Black Crook (1866) marked the beginning of American musical comedy.

The show was noted for its spectacular scenery and em­phasis on beautiful women. The Black Crook was based on European models. A truly American form of musical theatre began to appear with The Brook (1879). This show included American themes and attempted to inte­grate the story with the songs and dances.

During the late 1800’s and early 1900's, the European-style operetta was perhaps the most popular form of musical theatre in America. Three European-born composers -Rudolf Friml, Victor Herbert, and Sigmund Romberg - were the most important composers of oper­etta in the United States.

A number of American composers and performers at­tempted to create a more American form of musical theatre. In 1879, vaudeville stars Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart presented The Mulligan Guards' Ball. This show was the first in a series of Mulligan Guards' comic plays with music. The series dealt with recognizable American types and realistic scenes of everyday life. During the early 1900's, composer-actor George M. Cohan wrote the book, music, and lyrics for a number of high-spirited musicals. Such Cohan shows as Little Johnny Jones (1904) and Forty-Five Minutes from Broad­way (1906) helped turn American musical comedy from European traditions toward a more native American style.

Musical comedy matures. During World War I (1914-1918) and the years immediately afterward, Ameri­can musical comedy took shape as a unique form of mu­sical theatre. Composer Jerome Kern ranks as probably the most influential figure in bringing musical comedy to maturity. From 1915 to 1918, Kern composed the music for a series of sophisticated musicals. Most of the shows had a book and lyrics by the English playwrights P. G. Wodehouse and Guy Bolton. These musicals were known as the "Princess shows" because they were pre­sented in the Princess Theatre in New York City. The Princess shows had small casts and modern, everyday settings. The shows brought a more natural, informal style to musicals.

In 1927, Kern and lyricist Oscar Hammerstein li com­pleted Show Boat, a milestone in the development of musical comedy. Show Boat presented believable char­acters in a realistic manner and had a genuinely dra­matic book. In addition, the show dealt with racial dis­crimination and other serious issues that were rarely mentioned in musicals of the time. Show Boat also fea­tured some of the most popular songs in the history of musical comedy, notably "OI' Man River."

In 1931, a political satire called Of Thee I Sing opened in New York City. George Gershwin composed the music and his brother, Ira, wrote the lyrics. The noted playwright George S. Kaufman was co-author of the book. The show became the first musical to win the Pu­litzer Prize for drama. The award helped raise the status of musical comedy to the level of serious theatre. The sharp attacks on American political life also broadened the range of subject matter considered suitable for mu­sicals.

A number of teams contributed popular musicals dur­ing the 1950's and 1960^fs. Composer Frederick Loewe and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner created My Fair Lady (1956), one of the most popular shows of the century. Com­poser Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim wrote West Side Story (1957), a musical based on Wil­liam Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The show featured brilliant choreography by Jerome Robbins. Composer Jerry Bock and lyricist Sheldon Harnick collaborated on Fiddler on the Roof (1964). In 1983, A Chorus Line be­came the longest-running musical in Broadway history. When it closed in 1990, it had achieved a record of 6,137 performances.

Musical comedy today. Since the late 1960's, musi­cals have been noted for their enormous range of sub­jects and styles. Hair (1967) dealt with American young people in the 1960's who rebelled against society during the Vietnam War. Crease (1972) was a rock'n' roll musi­cal about American high school life during the 1950's.

In the 1970's, a new generation of composers of musi­cals came to the forefront. Among these is the English composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Webber had a string of successful musicals throughout the 197ffs and 1980's. Among them were Jesus Christ Superstar (1971), Evita (1978), Cats (1981), Phantom of the Opera (1986), and As­pects of Love (1989).

Many critics consider Stephen Sondheim as the most creative figure in musical comedy today. Sondheim began his career as a lyricist but soon began to write both words and music for his shows. Sondheim gained praise for the wit and sophistication of his lyrics and for the originality of his subject matter. His best-known shows include Company (1970), A Little Night Music (1973), and Sunday in the Park with George (1984).

Because of the enormous cost of staging musicals today, only audience-pleasing spectacles seem to suc­ceed. Some producers have attempted to present shows with small casts and few changes of scenery to keep costs of production low, but they have seldom been successful.

Related articles: Irving Berlin, Hammerstein, Cole Porter, Bernstein Leonard,  Oscar II,  Jerome Robbins, Fanny Brice,  Lorenz Hart,  Richard Rodgers, Burlesque, Victor Herbert,  Sigmund Romberg,  George M. Cohan,  Jerome Kern,  Dancing (Lloyd Webber),  Stephen Sondheim, American musical comedy, Vaudeville, Rudolf Friml, Minstrel show,  Kurt Weill,  George Gershwin, and  Operetta.

Musical box is an instrument that plays tunes auto­matically. Steel pins protrude from a rotating cylinder driven by clockwork or a spring. The pins pluck metal teeth of various lengths, producing delicate, high- pitched sounds. Several teeth may be tuned to the same note, so the box can repeat notes rapidly. Musical boxes may be connected with clocks, and play certain tunes on the hour. Musical-box movements are built into watches, toys, and other everyday objects. Early musical boxes had tiny flute pipes instead of teeth, and gave an organ like sound. Joseph Haydn wrote many charming pieces for the instrument. In the 1800's, some inventors developed musical boxes that had as many as 400 teeth.

Rock music 

Elvis Presley became rock's first superstar. His tough, rebellious manner and suggestive movements are apparent in this scene from the film Jailhouse Rock (1957).

Rock music is one of the world's most popular and adaptable musical forms. When it originated in the United States in the early 1950's, rock music was known as rock n' roll (also spelled rock and roll). From the start, party music, dance music, and music that apply to young listeners. It often celebrated the joys of being young, and it occasionally expressed the frustration of youth. It rapidly spread and became an international expression of youth culture.

Many adults dismissed rock n’ roll as a passing fad or condemned it as a threat to society. By the mid – 1960’s, however, rock 'n' roll had earned wide respect as a legitimate art form. By the end of the 1960’s, the music had moved far from its roots in blues and country music, it became known simply as rock.

Since then, rock has not only dominated the music industry, but has also influenced everything from film to fashion to politics. Rock music has continued to defy musical barriers and has drawn much of its strength international musical influences.

Characteristics of rock music

At first, rock music generally followed a 4/4 beat and used only two or three chords in its melody. The songs were simple, repetitive, and easy to remember. Most of them were only two or three minutes long. The simplest rock continues to rely on a basic beat and a few chords. But some rock songs are more complex and sophisticated. Traditional musical elements from Africa, Ireland, South America, and other places have become more widely used in rock music.

Many rock groups feature a vocal soloist, with other group members performing as a chorus. Early rock music featured electric guitar or a blues-style boogie-woogie piano and drums. Today, musicians may use computers and electronic instruments called synthesizers as well as guitars, pianos, and drums. Some record include electronic drum machines. Many studio recordings rely heavily on computer technology.

Beginnings of rock music

Musical roots. Rock developed from a variety of dif­ferent popular music styles. The roots of rock can be Heard in the lyrics and electric guitar of the blues, in the rhythms of a form of blues known as rhythm and blues, and in the spirit of American country music. The squawking saxophone of dance-band jazz, and the melo­dies, choruses, and harmonies of popular (pop) music also added to the rock sound.

Many of the elements of rock music had been around long before rock developed as a musical form. In the 1950's, musicians combined these musical elements and created the revolutionary form of music called rock 'n' roll. It was louder and faster than the forms from which it drew. Its lyrics contrasted sharply with the sentimental lyrics of earlier pop songs. And it was generally per­formed in a wild and spontaneous manner with a more primitive and raw display of emotions.

The emergence of rock 'n' roll. Before rock 'n' roll became a musical category, such rhythm and blues hits as "Rocket '88" (1951) by Jackie Brenston had the spirit of rock 'n' roll. This and other similar records became in­creasingly popular with both black rhythm and blues au­diences and white country music audiences.

The major rock 'n' roll explosion began with Elvis Presley. The popularity of his sound combined with his hip-shaking live performances and frequent radio play quickly made Presley a superstar. His first major success came with his 1956 recording of "Heartbreak Hotel" for RCA Victor.

Another important influence on rock music was St Louis blues artist Chuck Berry. He was the first of the great rock songwriters. His lyrics effectively expressed the feelings and problems of youth. Berry's first hit rec­ord was a country-styled tune titled "Maybellene" (1955).

Richard Penniman, known as Little Richard, helped in­fluence rock performance styles. His vigorous and flam­boyant stage performances provided a model for per­formers who followed. His first major success came in 1955 with "Tutti Frutti."

Bill Haley and the Comets became the first famous rock band. Their recording of "Rock Around the Clock" was the first international rock hit It was used as the theme song for The Blackboard Jungle, a 1955 film about juvenile delinquents. The song contributed to rock "n" roll's reputation as music of rebellion.

Crowing popularity. Radio played an important role in spreading rock music during the mid-1950’s. Televi­sion had replaced radio as the chief producer of drama and variety entertainment, and many radio stations began to play rock to capture an audience.

Though the United States was racially divided, rock 'n' roll featured black and white artists, who appealed to black and white audiences alike. Most important for its young listeners, rock n' roll was the first music that was all their own. Rock n' roll proclaimed that being a teen­ager was special. Although rock 'n' roll was extremely popular, its lyrics and the performance style that went with it were still considered indecent by many adults.

Artistic decline. As rock n' roll continued to grow in popularity, the major record companies and profes­sional songwriters who had ignored the music started to recognize rock n' roll's profitability. By the late 195ffs, much of what record companies released as rock n' roll was no longer wild, spontaneous, and rebellious. The music was much tamer than it had been.

Rock 'n' roll also lost many of its stars and creative forces toward the end of the 1950's. In 1958, Elvis Presley was drafted into the United States Army and rocking pianist Jerry Lee Lewis caused a scandal by marrying his 13-year-old cousin. Then in 1959, Chuck Berry was ar­rested. In the same year, songwriter-guitarist Buddy Holly and singer-guitarist Ritchie Valens died in an aero­plane crash, and Little Richard left music to study for the ministry.

British Influence and rock's revival

The Beatles. The Beatles, a group from Liverpool, England, returned excitement to rock 'n' roll in the early 1960's. They made the music more popular than ever and more respected artistically. Their witty and sophisti­cated music made the sentimental rock of the time seem tame and old-fashioned.

The Beatles consisted of George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr. Their first hit was "Love Me Do" in 1952. Lennon and McCartney eventually established themselves as the most popular songwriting team in rock's history.

Beatlemania was the term generally used to describe the excitement generated by the Beatles. It affected soci­ety in a number of ways. Teenage boys began growing their hair longer to copy the Beatles. Teenage girls screamed so loudly during the band's concerts that it was impossible to hear the music. At first, many parents feared the effects of Beatlemania. But the personal charm and musical appeal of the band soon conquered older listeners.

The Beatles turned rock n' roll from an American- dominated musical style into an international phenome­non. Soon after the Beatles hit the United States, popular music charts became filled with songs by British bands that wrote and played their own music.

The Rolling Stones were another of the groups that contributed to the British domination of rock music. They represented a scruffier, more rebellious alternative to the more widely accepted Beatles. Their music also was more faithful to its roots in the blues. Other British bands that became popular included The Who, the Kinks, and the Animals.         

Expanding styles and sounds. Another major force in the rock of the 1960's was the American singer- songwriter Bob Dylan. The strong social message of Dylan's songs influenced many musicians.

Dylan began his musical career in the early 1960's as a solo folk singer. Music fans turned to Dylan for his "pro­test songs." These songs protested about what many people considered the wrongs of society, such as racial prejudice, poverty, and war. Dylan's protest songs in­clude "Blowin' in the Wind" (1962) and "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" (1963).

Dylan had his first and biggest rock hit in 1965 with 'Like a Rolling Stone." An American group, the Byrds, also interpreted Dylan's ambitious, poetic lyrics set to a rock beat. This style became known as folk rock.

The mid-1960's became a time of peak creativity for rock music. Rock artists explored new possibilities in lyrical content and form. Some began to examine the meaning of dreams in their lyrics. One such artist was Jim Morrison, lead singer of the Doors. Songwriters began to use free-verse poetry that did not rhyme. Some musicians also began to produce concept albums, which linked their songs together by story line or theme. One such album was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) by the Beatles.

The 1960's also found instrumentalists exercising more creative freedom. American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, working in England, extended the range of the electric guitar by using electronic effects to create new sounds.

In addition, such instrumentalists as Hendrix and British guitarist Eric Clapton played extended solos inspired by blues and jazz traditions. The music played by such bands as the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Clapton's Cream was sometimes categorized as progressive rock. Some of their music was also called acid rock, after the illegal drug LSD, or "acid," which was popular among some rock fans.

Growing social significance. The growing influence and popularity of rock music affected society in a num­ber of ways. It produced new fashions, such as Beatle boots and longer hairstyles. Some rock music inspired public protest against such social and political problems as racial prejudice and the Vietnam War.

Toward the end of the 1960's, rock's various styles came together at massive outdoor rock festivals. These festivals showed how popular and diverse the music had become. The most significant rock festival was the 1969 Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in New York State. Woodstock was a musical, communal celebration of the alternative "hippie" culture. It was dedicated to world peace. The event drew more than 300,000 fans and featured three days of top rock talent. It included such performers as the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Jef­ferson Airplane, and blues singer Janis Joplin.

Rock music in the 1970's

Rock goes pop. Throughout the 1970's, almost all popular music contained elements of the rock style. The music's audience spanned from preteens to middle- aged adults. As the audience for rock grew, a variety of new musical categories developed. Musicians such as Chick Corea and such groups as Chicago and Weather Report blended rock with the improvisation techniques of jazz to create a form called jazz rock. Heavy metal rock groups, such as Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Kiss, stressed screaming electric guitars. The glitter rock of David Bowie and others popularized flamboyant on­stage visuals. Musician Frank Zappa and groups includ­ing King Crimson and Emerson, Lake, and Palmer com­bined a rock beat with the more complex melodies of classical music in a form called art rock.

In terms of musical quality, the early 1970's were gen­erally considered rock's lowest point since the pre-Beaties 1960's. Through its attempt to appeal to a wide audience, rock lost much of the youthful energy and spirit of rebellion that had once powered it.

By the mid-1970s, the music started to reclaim some of the inspiration and energy associated with earlier rock. Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band attracted an enthusiastic following with "Born to Run" (1975). Springsteen's music reflected the energetic rock 'n' roll and rhythm and blues music of the 1950's. He showed how rock might find a future by drawing from its past.

Punk. With the punk rock of the mid-1970s, such Brit­ish bands as the Sex Pistols and the Clash returned to the raw energy of earlier rock. They were fuelled by an anger at the materialism of society and the lack of inspi­ration in much of the early 1970's rock music. Punk had a number of important effects on rock music. It proved that new styles could develop outside the established rock industry. Rather than working for the large record empires, they recorded their music with small, inde­pendent companies.

Such New York City bands as Talking Heads and the Patti Smith Group took an artier approach to punk rock. These groups became categorized as punk's new wave of rock. The music of punk and new wave bands repre­sented an aggressive alternative to the more established musicians who dominated the rock industry.

At first, disco music and punk were considered oppo­sites. But they came together in the late 1970's. Blondie and other groups enjoyed hits that combined disco rhythms with the spirit of new wave rock.

Rock music in the 1980's and 1990's

New directions and old. The most popular new music to emerge from the 1980's was rap music. Rap is spoken rather than sung. Electronic rhythms and sounds of records being scratched (the record is physically pushed backward and forward to create a percussive ef­fect) provide background music. Rap's streetwise rhymes and chants reflect the concerns of urban youths living in a tough world. Public Enemy became one of the most successful rap groups.

Music from the 1960's inspired some of rock's most popular musicians of the 1980's. Among these musicians was the American band R.E.M., which drew heavily from 1960s folk rock. In addition, some bands from the 1960's, such as the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and the Grateful Dead, were among the leading concert attractions of the 1980's.

Rock videos. During the 1980's, rock videos became popular. They are short films made to accompany the re­lease of new records. In addition to music, these films include acting, dancing, striking visual images, and sometimes excerpts from rock concert performances. Rock videos were shown on commercial and cable tele­vision and at many dance clubs. The rise of rock videos brought widespread exposure and massive popularity to a number of artists. Many songs became as popular for the visual element of the video as they did for the music.

The American singer and dancer Michael Jackson starred in several highly successful videos and became one of the most popular performers in the history of rock music. His Thriller (1982) became the largest-selling record album of all time.

Technological changes. Since 1980, rock has continued to reflect an ongoing technological revolution. Computers, synthesizers, and rhythm machines have often replaced guitars and drums. Even in concert, musicians have mixed live music with preprogrammed computer and synthesizer backing.

Rock and internationalism. During the 1980's, rock displayed a broadening interest in international con­cerns and a reawakening of its social idealism. Several artists, including Peter Gabriel, Talking Heads, and Paul Simon, incorporated the music of Africa into their music.

Rock's idealism and internationalism came together in such events as Live Aid, an all-day concert held in July 1985. Money raised by the event went to help feed starv­ing people in Africa. The concert, held in both Philadelphia and London, was televised throughout the world and featured many of the biggest stars in rock. In the| early 1990's, rock musicians continued to explore international music as a source of inspiration.

Jazz

Jazz is a kind of music that has often been called the only art form to originate in the United States. The his­tory of jazz began in the late 1800's. The music grew from a combination of influences, including black Amer­ican music, African rhythms, American band traditions and instruments, and European harmonies and forms. Much of the best jazz is still written and performed in the United States. But musicians from many other coun­tries are making major contributions to jazz. Jazz was widely appreciated as an important art form in Europe before it gained such recognition in the United States.

One of the key elements of jazz is improvisation—the ability to create new music spontaneously. This skill is the distinguishing characteristic of the genuine jazz mu­sician. Improvisation raises the role of the soloist from just a performer and reproducer of others' ideas to a composer as well. And it gives jazz a fresh excitement at each performance.

Another important element of jazz is syncopation. To syncopate their music, jazz musicians take patterns that are even and regular and break them up, make them un­even, and put accents in unexpected places.

The earliest jazz was performed by black Americans who had little or no training in Western music. These musicians drew on a strong musical culture from black life. As jazz grew in popularity, its sound was influenced by musicians with formal training and classical back­grounds. During its history, jazz has absorbed influ­ences from the folk and classical music of Africa, Asia, and other parts of the world. The development of instru­ments with new and different characteristics has also in­fluenced the sound of jazz.

The sound of jazz

Jazz may be performed by a single musician, by a small group of musicians called a combo, or by a big band of 10 or more pieces. A combo is divided into two sections: a solo front line of melody instruments and a back line of accompanying instruments called a rhythm section. The typical front line consists of one to five brass and reed instruments. The rhythm section usually consists of piano, bass, drums, and sometimes an acous­tic or electric guitar. The front-line instruments perform most of the solos. These instruments may also play to­gether as ensembles. A big band consists of reed, brass, and rhythm sections.

The rhythm section in a combo or big band maintains the steady beat and decorates the rhythm with synco­pated patterns. It also provides the formal structure to support solo improvisations. The drums keep the beat steady and add interesting rhythm patterns and synco­pations. The piano—or sometimes a guitar—plays the chords or harmonies of the composition. The bass out­lines the harmonies by sounding the bottom notes of the chords, on the strong beats of each bar. Any of the rhythm instruments, especially the piano, may also play solo during a performance.

The brass. The principal brass instruments of jazz are the trumpet, the cornet, and the slide trombone. But the French horn, the valve trombone, the baritone horn, the flugelhorn, and even electronic trumpets have been used in jazz performances.

The cornet and trumpet are melody instruments of identical range. But the cornet is more mellow and the trumpet more brassy. Most jazz performers today use the trumpet. The slide trombone blends with the trum­pet. The typical brass section of a big band consists of four or five trumpets and three trombones.

Jazz trumpeters and trombonists frequently use ob­jects called mutes to alter or vary the sound of their in­strument. The player plugs the mute into the bell (flared end) of the instrument or holds it close to the bell.

The reeds. The clarinet and saxophone are the prin­cipal reed instruments of jazz. The flute, though techni­cally a woodwind, is often classified as a reed in jazz. It is used especially as a solo instrument.

Both the clarinet and saxophone families range from soprano to bass. Only the soprano clarinet has been uni­versally used in jazz. In early jazz, it was an equal mem­ber of the front line with the trumpet or cornet and the trombone. The clarinet eventually gave way to the saxo­phone, which is capable of much greater volume. Four members of the saxophone family—the soprano, alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones—are regularly em­ployed in jazz. A typical reed section in a big band is made up of one or two alto saxophones, two tenors, and a baritone. Musicians often "double" by playing two or more reed instruments, such as an alto saxophone and a tenor saxophone, during a performance.

Drums were familiar to black Americans dating back to the days of slavery. These early percussion instru­ments played a vital role in the development of jazz.

As jazz grew, the drum set evolved until one drum­mer could play more than one percussion instrument at the same time. The invention of a foot-operated bass- drum pedal and pedal-operated cymbals freed the drummer's hands to play other percussion instruments, such as snare drums, tom-toms, cowbells, and wood blocks. Another important invention was a wire brush, used in place of a drumstick or mallet to produce a more delicate sound on drums and cymbals. Today, a jazz drummer may use electronic percussion instru­ments that create an almost infinite variety of sounds and reproduce them accurately at virtually any volume.

The piano. Since the earliest days of jazz, the piano has served both as a solo instrument and as an ensem­ble instrument that performs as part of the rhythm sec­tion. Today, other keyboard instruments, including elec­tronic organs, electric pianos, and synthesizers con­trolled by a keyboard, may substitute for pianos.

The guitar, like the piano, is capable of playing both chords and melodies. In the early days of jazz, these two instruments, along with the banjo, were often substi­tuted for one another. Later, however, the guitar and banjo were most often used in the rhythm section in ad­dition to the piano. The banjo eventually disappeared from almost all later forms of jazz. Jazz musicians have used the acoustic guitar in ensembles and as a solo in­strument since jazz's earliest days. The electric guitar emerged in jazz in the late 1930's to add sustained notes, greater volume, and new sounds and effects to jazz.

The bass plays the roots of the harmonies. The musi­cian normally plucks a double bass. The rhythm section may substitute a brass bass, such as a tuba or Sousa- phone. When an electronic organ is used, the organist can play the bass part with foot pedals on the instru­ment. Electric bass guitars have been incorporated into some jazz ensembles, primarily those that play a "fusion" of jazz and rock music.

Other instruments. Nearly every Western musical instrument and many non-Western instruments have been used in jazz at one time or another. The vibra­phone, an instrument similar to the xylophone, and the violin deserve special mention. The vibraphone has been especially popular in combos. The violin has had only a few notable soloists in jazz, possibly because its volume could not match the power of the trumpet or trombone in ensemble. But throughout jazz history there have been some violinists who have skilfully adapted this basically classical music instrument to jazz. Modern amplification and sound manipulation devices have given the violin new and exciting possibilities as a jazz instrument.

Popular music is music that has mass appeal that is, enjoyed by a very large proportion of the population. The term is often used to distinguish such ‘music from classical music. Classical music is a studied art form in which more or less complicated compositions are performed by solo instrumentalists, string quartets, symphony orchestras, and so on. Some people feel that popular music is simple and entertaining while classical music is serious, refined, or difficult to appreci­ate. But popular songs, such as John Lennon and Paul McCartney's "Eleanor Rigby," are serious and quite com­plex, and many classical works, such as Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, the symphonies of Tchaikovsky, or Ravel's Bolero, are known and enjoyed bymillions.  Some classical pieces, such as several of Chopin's piano works, have even been adapted as popular songs.

Today, the term "popular music" covers such diverse styles as American country and western music, jazz, music from musical comedies and other stage shows, film music, and various styles such as rock, soul, and reggae, which together form modern pop music.

Every period in history had its own form of popular music. In the 1900's, popular music achievedgreat social and economic importance, largely through developments in sound recording and broadcasting. Today, it is ranks as a major industry in Europe, North America, and Australia. The booming musical film industry in lndia has also helped the development of a specifically Indian form of popular music.

Characteristics of popular music

Most popular music consists of songs that have a strong, memorable melody and suitable words. The words of popular songs are known as lyrics. These songs cover a wide range of subjects. A large number describe the joys and heartaches of being in love. Many songs protest against social injustices or illustrate a mood. Some songs comment wittily, movingly, or angrily upon events of the day. Others reflect dances, fads, fashions, and games.

Popular songs may be social documents that reflect a nation's history. But a major purpose of most popular music is to entertain. Much instrumental music is written for dancing, "in the Mood" and "Moonlight Sernade," by the famous U.S. bandleader of the 1930’s and 1940s, Glenn Miller, and the 1960^’s hit "Green Orions” by Booker T. and the M.G.s, are among popular in mental numbers of the 1900.

The development of popular music

Many experts consider that the authorship and date of folk songs is usually unknown, but popular music is normally the work of a known composer using the musical style of his or her time, or else it is a piece of music that appears at a particular point in time and reflects a particular historical event, fashion, or dance craze. The famous song "Greensleeves" appeared in the early 1500's. It was once thought that King Henry VIII had written it. A tune published in a book of melodies for pipe or recorder in 1686 was used for "Liliburlero," a savagely satirical song that appeared in 1687 in protest at the ap­pointment of General Richard Talbot as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

The pilgrim settlers who sailed to America in the 1600'S took with them many popular songs, especially palms. The Bay Psalm Book (16401 a book of psalms with directions on how to sing them, was the first book over published in America. In the late 1700s, British troops fighting American colonists during the American Revolution made up a song called "Yankee Doodle," mocking their opponents. This was the first successful popular song in America.

In the early 1800's, people began to identify popular musical items with individual performers. The British down Joseph Grimaldi used to end his act with a jokey song called "Hot Codlins," which became widely popular. In the later 1800's and early 1900's, music-hall stars such as Marie Lloyd, Nellie Wallace, and later Sir Harry lauder and George Formby all became associated with certain songs and made them famous.

In the 1800’s, many people in Britain enjoyed playing the piano at home, and parlour songs such as the Irish composer Michael Balfe's "Come into the garden, Maud," with lyrics by Alfred Tennyson, were very popu­lar. The U.S. composer Stephen Collins Foster left a wealth of popular songs that won international fame.

They include "Beautiful Dreamer," "Old Folks at Home," rod "Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair." One of Foster's songs, "Dixie," was the campaign song of the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (1861-1865). The sol­diers of the Union marched to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Negro spirituals sung by the black American slaves before the Civil War gained great popularity. After the war, minstrel shows, in which white performers wore blackface makeup to resemble blacks, promoted an un­realistic view of Afro-American life. Many of Stephen Foster's songs (such as "The Camptown Races") were sung in minstrel shows, which drew large crowds both within and outside the United States. Cowboy songs, such as "Home on the Range," composed in the 1870's, were very popular.

The 1900's. Many factors influenced the develop­ment of popular music in the 190ffs. These factors in­clude the start of electric recording and radio broad­casting, the birth of the "talkies" (films with sound), and die massive growth in the publishing of cheap sheet music, all during the 1920's. The music publishing industry became known as Tin Pan Alley. This was a nickname for 28th Street, New York City, where many music publishers had their offices. The same name was also ap­plied to Denmark Street, in London, for the same rea­son.

The two world wars provided their own crop of popu­lar songs. In World War I (1914-1918), British soldiers marched to "It's a Long Way to Tipperary" or "Pack Up your Troubles." U.S. soldiers sang "Over There." In World War II (1939-1945), sentimental ballads such as “Well Meet Again" and up-tempo big band numbers such as "Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree" were among very many songs that gained wide appeal through broadcasts to the Allied Forces. One Song, "Lilli Mar­lene," Was originally picked up from a broadcast by Ger­man radio. It became a favourite with both German and Allied troops.

In the 1900's, popular music of the United States ex­erted a great influence over that of other countries. In the 1920's, the first American singing stars began to emerge. Bing Crosby, probably the most famous of them, had a career that lasted 50 years before his death in 1977. Later singers were Nat "King" Cole and Frank Sinatra. Jazz, the single most important influence on popular music in the 1900s, produced such artists as Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.

The 1930^rs and 1940's were the era of the big bands (see Band). In the U.S., famous bandleaders included the pianists Count Basie and Duke Ellington and the clari­nettist Benny Goodman. In Britain, bands led by Henry Hall, Joe Loss, Geraldo, and Ambrose were loved by mil­lions. The 1940's were dominated by the music of U.S. bandleader Glenn Miller.

The 1900's saw the rise of musical comedy, a form of stage show or film in which the plot is held together by songs and dances punctuating the spoken dialogue. Song-writers such as Irving Berlin, George and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers (working with Lorenz Hart and later with Oscar Hammerstein II), Leonard Bern­stein, and Stephen Sondheim were major contributors to the stock of music and songs in this field. British com­posers of musicals include Noel Coward, whose clever musical plays packed British theatres in the 1930's, and Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose musical show Cats was one of the most successful stage productions of all time.

Pop music is the broad term used to describe the popular music enjoyed mainly by young people since the 1950's. The term pop also describes the changing youthful culture of which the music is an expression.

Pop music includes such diverse styles as rhythm and blues, rock and roll, punk, heavy metal, disco, soul, hip- hop, house music, world music, and New Age. The old­est of these, rhythm and blues, has its roots in blues music of the southern United States. Rock and roll de­rived from rhythm and blues and a type of country music that was popular in the United States soon after World War II. The most famous and influential rock and roll star was the American Elvis Presley. He began his re­cording career in 1954 and made a string of hits (such as "Hound Dog' and "All Shook Up") and 33 films before his tragically early death in 1977. Other great rock and roll stars included Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry. The term "rock music' encompasses many types of popular music including rock and roll and heavy metal.

In the late 1950's, a musical style called soul started to develop. Evolving out of rhythm and blues, soul merged the gospel tradition of music with secular lyrics. Ray Charles was the first leading light in this field, followed by Sam Cooke and James Brown. The Atlantic, Stax, and Motown record companies developed the form through the 1960's with major artists such as Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Stevie Wonder. Soul continues today, the style having expanded to include funk and dance music.

In the 1960's, the Beatles, four boys from Liverpool, England, became the most famous pop group in history. They used conventional pop group line-up of two electric guitars, bass guitar, and drums and had a long string of hits written by group members John Lennon and Paul McCartney that included "She Loves You," "Can't Buy Me Love," and the album Sergeant Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). The Beach Boys, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience also were very popular. Bob Dylan won fame with his protest songs and his folk-rock music. Other artists included U.S. singer-songwriters Carole King, James Taylor, and Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

In the 1970's use of the electronic synthesizer brought new dimensions to pop music through such bands as Genesis and Pink Floyd. The film Saturday Night Fever led to the emergence of a type of undemanding dance music called disco. The punk rock and new wave move­ments popular in the mid- and late 1970's began partly as a backlash against the technical, impersonal sounds of disco. Throughout the 1970's as a whole, artists and groups such as Elton John, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Queen, and Abba la group from Sweden) dominated.

The 1980's saw the rise of U.S. artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Madonna. But for many, the greatest pop star of the 1980s and early 1990's was Michael Jack­son. Chief trends included the development of world music, in which music from African countries plays a prominent part. Paul Simon's album Grace and was a formative influence in this respect.

The rise of rap began in the 1980's. Growing out of black street culture in New York City, rap consists of words recited over a strong rhythm track. Many rap groups use the form to comment on such social prob­lems as racism and poverty. Many performers whose ca­reers began in the 1960's remain prominent in pop music today. Eric Clapton, Tina Turner, and Neil Young all began their careers in the 1960s.

Successful Australian pop artists have included Rolf Harris, Frank Ifield, the Seekers, and the Bee Gees, all from the 1960s, and Olivia Newton John from the 1970's. In the 1980's, artists such as AC/DC, Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Men at Work, and Inxs won interna­tional acclaim. References: Composers and lyrics; Beatles; John Philip Sousa; Victor Herbert; Stephen C Foster and George M Cohan

The History of Jazz – Jazz is a kind of music that has often been called the only art form to originate in the United States. The history of Jazz began in the late 1800’s. The music grew from a combination of influences, including black Amer­ican music, African rhythms, American band traditions and instruments, and European harmonies and forms.

The roots of jazz. The folk songs and plantation dance music of black Americans contributed much to early jazz.

These forms of music occurred throughout the Southern United States during the late 1800's.

Ragtime, a musical style that influenced early jazz, emerged from the St. Louis, Missouri, area in the late 1890s.

It quickly became the most popular music style in….

  

Learning how to Manage Music, Musicians and Money

Students get hands-on experience in managing live concerts.

DO you want to be part of the multi-billion dollar music business and entertainment industry which includes music performance, composition, recording, production, pub­lishing, marketing, finance, law, distribution, licensing, retailing, manufacturing, promo­tion, management and more?

The International College of Music (ICOM) currently offers the Diploma in Business- Music Industry (DBMI).

This two-year programme covers gen­eral business subjects, but what makes it special is that students enrol for specialised industry courses such as Artist and Event Management, Record Company Operations, Music Publishing and other music indus- try-driven subjects.

On top of this, students experience a hands-on approach in organising and manag­ing concerts, events and show production.

With a blend of business acumen and music industry understanding, the students function as the crucial part of any event or concert production, which allows no room for mistakes.

If you are passionate in music and media and wish to enter the industry with well rounded knowledge, ICOM is the place to prepare you for an interesting and successful career through the Diploma in Business - Music Industry programme.

Students who complete their diploma can earn advanced standing at the University of Hertfordshire, UK and complete their under­graduate degree in Business.

ICOM has partnered Hertfordshire because of its high ranking in UK for Music Business. ICOM students need only spend another year to earn their BA (Hons) Music and Entertainment Industry Management from University of Hertfordshire.

The teaching faculty for the Music Business programme comprises highly qualified and experienced personnel from the music industry. The teachers bring with them years of experience from the industry into the classrooms and students receive tremendous support from their teachers and are often seen being involved in high-profile events.

If you are looking to pursue a business career, why not consider the Diploma in Business-Music Industry? You will receive a strong foundation in business principles and have a specialisation in the exciting world of music and entertainment.

ICOM also offers the Bachelor of Music (Hons) Professional Music, which is a validat­ed undergraduate programme by University of Wolverhampton, UK and the Bachelor of Music awarded by the Berklee College of Music, which is a 2+2 programme and the Certificate in Audio Production.

Admission for the January 2015 intake is now open. Closing date for applications for Malaysian students is Dec 19.

Students and parents can contact ICOM at 03-4023 6000 or through admissions@icom. edu.myto arrange for a college visit or for further queries. Potential students can submit their application online via http://www.icom.edu.my/oas.

Adapted from StarSpecial/6 November 2014/Education Guide

  

Country Music

Country music is a type of American popular music associated with rural culture and the Southern region of the United States. It developed in the 1800's, combining elements of folk music from Great Britain, the blues of Southern rural blacks, popular songs of the late 1800’s, and religious music. Country music, sometimes called country and western music, has been popular through­out the world since the 1940’s.

During the 1920's, most country singers and instru­mentalists came from such states as Georgia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Vir­ginia. In the 1930’s and 1940’s, many artists from Ala­bama, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas came to promi­nence. These performers created a wide variety of country music styles that today include bluegrass, Cajun, cowboy music, honky tonk, rockabilly, and west­ern swing.

Characteristics. The musical instruments vary with each type of country music, but some are common to nearly all country groups. Instruments from many areas

of the world combined in the New World to form the core of country music's instrumental sound. These in­struments include the fiddle from Great Britain, the banjo from West Africa, the guitar from Spain, and the mandolin from Italy. As country music came under the influence of other kinds of music, other instruments were added and altered the basic sound. The piano, Ha­waiian steel guitar, double bass, horns, and reed instru­ments have all been used in country music. Instruments that were electronically amplified first appeared in country music in the 1930’s.

The story told in songs is an important part of country music. Many country songs today use direct language and realistic situations to describe the real concerns of adults. Most country songs are about love and romantic feelings. Many are happy songs, but some explain the feelings of loneliness, loss and separation that result when love or romance ends, or when married couples are unfaithful. Some country songs are about work. Oth­ers express sacred themes, reflecting the importance of religion in Southern life. Some country songs are about events in the news, and some are humorous. Many old folk tunes are still sung in country music.

Styles vary from one style of country music to an­other. For example, bluegrass and other "mountain music' styles feature a high-pitched, nasal singing tone. Other singers sound like pop music vocalists.

Early years. Country music developed from the folk and religious music of the rural South. Beginning in the 1600's, immigrants from the British Isles brought their folk music to North America. This music included fid­dling and singing. Solo fiddlers played dance music at social events, such as country dances, weddings, and wakes (funerals). Ballads and other folk tunes were often sung by one person, alone or accompanied by a fiddle. The religious music of the South included hymns and, beginning in the late 1800’s, gospel songs and spirituals.

Folk music in the South changed through contact with other cultures. Between the mid-1800’s and about 1920, the banjo, guitar, mandolin, and Hawaiian steel guitar were borrowed from many folk music traditions. Various combinations of these instruments were used both with and without vocalists. By about 1920, the string band, consisting of a fiddle, banjo, and guitar, was the standard instrumental group. String bands played dance music and folk tunes in homes, at parties, and at country fairs.

Commercial success. During the early 1920’s, coun­try music became available on records and on the radio. Record companies set up temporary recording studios in such Southern cities as Atlanta, Georgia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Dallas, Texas; and Memphis, Tennessee. The music they recorded was often called hillbilly music, partly because of a popular band called the "Hill Billies." Sometimes, country entertainers were brought to New York City to record.

Early country radio shows were broadcast from cities as far north as Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, but the music was still concentrated in the South. There, it was broadcast from such cities as Atlanta; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Wheeling, West Virginia. The most important radio programme to feature country music - the ‘Grand Ole Opry'— was first broadcast from Nashville in 1925 as the "Bam Dance." It is still broadcast today from a theatre in Opryland, an entertainment park near the city.

Country music continued to change in the 1930’s. Many groups added drums, pianos, and electric instru­ments to their sound. The singing style became smoother, and the accompaniments began to contain chords that sounded more like those found in other popular music of the day. In the late 1920's and early 1930's, the famous country singer Jimmie Rodgers per­formed in a style that combined country yodelling with black blues.

During the 1930’s, radio stations broadcast country music to many regions of the United States. At the same time, Southerners moved to other parts of the country, taking their music with them. As a result, country music began to gain national popularity. During World War II (1939-1945), country music gained an international audi­ence when members of the United States armed forces brought records to other countries. The most popular performers of the 1930's and 1940's included Roy Acuff, Gene Autry, the Carter family, Jimmie Davis, Red Foley, Tex Ritter, Jimmie Rodgers, Ernest Tubb, and Bob Wills.

After World War II. During the 1950’s, mainstream pop singers recorded hits written by country composer and singer Hank Williams. These songs include "Cold, Cold Heart' and "Your Cheatin' Heart" Kitty Wells was the most popular solo female country singer from the mid-1950’s to the mid-1960’s.

During the late 1950’s and the 1960’s, the country music industry produced many records that blended characteristics of country and pop music. Vocal and string background ensembles became common, and much of the music was electronically amplified. This new style of country music was called the Nashville Sound. Its leading performers included Eddy Arnold, Patsy Cline, and Jim Reeves.

Country music today. In the 1970's, many country singers became national celebrities, and several became film and television performers. Such singers as Crystal Gayle, Loretta Lynn, Ronnie Milsap, Dolly Parton, and Kenny Rogers had hit records in both the country and popular markets.

Emmylou Harris, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and other singers have supported a return to a more basic authentic country style. Many country entertainers who began careers in the 1980’s drew inspiration from the roots of country music. Randy Travis, the Judds, Reba McEntire, and George Strait performed in styles associ­ated with the 1950’s and 1960’s. Other stars, such as Ala­bama, Hank Williams, Jr., and Restless Heart, combined country music and rock. Lee Greenwood, Barbara Mandrell, and K. T. Oslin explored the boundary between country music and pop.

Related articles: Arnold, Eddy; Autry, Gene; Williams, Hank; and Popular music. See also Dancing (The 1600's and 1700's).