{{Infobox performing art
| name = Music
| image = Music lesson Staatliche Antikensammlungen 2421.jpg
| caption = A painting on an ancient Greek vase depicts a music lesson (c. 510 BC).
| medium = Sound, silence, time
| types =
| ancestor =
| descendant =
| culture = Various
era
}}
Music is an art form and culture activity whose medium is sound organized in time. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch (music) (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter (music), and articulation (music)), dynamics (music) (loudness and softness), and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture (music) (which are sometimes termed the "color" of a musical sound). Different Music genre of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of musical instrument and vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely Instrumental music, a capella (such as songs without instrumental accompaniment) and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek language wikt:μουσική#Ancient Greek (''mousike''; "art of the Muses").
See glossary of musical terminology.
In its most general form, the activities describing music as an art form or Culture activity include the creation of works of music (songs, tunes, symphony, and so on), the Music criticism, the Musicology, and the Aesthetics of music. Greek philosophy and Ancient philosophy#Ancient Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."
The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Indeed, throughout history, some new forms or styles of music have been criticized as "not being music", including Ludwig van Beethoven's ''Grosse Fuge'' string quartet in 1825,Watson 2009, 109–10. early jazz in the beginning of the 1900sReiland Rabaka. ''Hip Hop's Amnesia: From Blues and the Black Women's Club Movement to Rap and the Hip Hop Movement''. Lexington Books, 2012. p. 103 and hardcore punk in the 1980s.Manabe, Noriko. ''The Revolution Will Not Be Televised: Protest Music After Fukushima''. Oxford University Press, 2015. p. 163. There are many types of music, including popular music, traditional music, art music, Liturgical music and work songs such as chanteys. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions–such as Classical music symphonies from the 1700s and 1800s, through to spontaneously played Musical improvisation such as jazz, and avant-garde styles of aleatory contemporary music from the 20th and 21st centuries.
Music can be divided into music genre (e.g., country music) and genres can be further divided into subgenres (e.g., country blues and pop country are two of the many country subgenres), although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to personal interpretation, and occasionally controversial. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early 1980s hard rock and heavy metal music. Within the arts, music may be classified as a performing arts, a fine art or as an auditory art. Music may be played or sung and heard live at a rock concert or orchestra performance, heard live as part of a theatre music (a music theater show or opera), or it may be recorded and listened to on a radio, MP3 player, CD player, smartphone or as film score or TV show.
In many cultures, music is an important part of people's way of life, as it plays a key role in religious rituals, rite of passage ceremonies (e.g., graduation and marriage), social activities (e.g., dance club) and cultural activities ranging from amateur karaoke singing to playing in an amateur Funk or singing in a community choir. People may make music as a hobby, like a teen playing cello in a youth orchestra, or work as a professional musician or singer. The music industry includes the individuals who create new songs and musical pieces (such as songwriters and composers), individuals who perform music (which include orchestra, jazz band and rock band musicians, singers and conductors), individuals who record music (music producers and sound engineers), individuals who organize concert tours, and individuals who sell recordings, sheet music, and scores to customers.
Amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure, and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians are employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed forces (in marching bands, concert bands and popular music groups), churches and synagogues, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or filmmaking companies, and music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings. There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take music lesson with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras.
A distinction is often made between music performed for a live audience and music that is performed in a studio so that it can be recorded and distributed through the music retail system or the broadcasting system. However, there are also many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in both classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where Bootleg recording are prized by music lovers. In the jam band scene, live, improvised jam sessions are preferred to studio recordings.
Even when music is notated relatively precisely, as in classical music, there are many decisions that a performer has to make, because notation does not specify all of the elements of music precisely. The process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style or musical phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting their songs, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and a given place is referred to as Historically informed performance, whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer.
Although a musical composition often uses musical notation and has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre, when one person writes the melodies, a second person writes the lyrics, and a third person orchestrates the songs. In some styles of music, such as the blues, a composer/songwriter may create, perform and record new songs or pieces without ever writing them down in music notation. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples range from avant-garde music that uses graphic notation (music), to text compositions such as ''Aus den sieben Tagen'', to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music, and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutosławski. A more commonly known example of chance-based music is the sound of wind chimes jingling in a breeze.
The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition is broad enough to include the creation of popular music and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces as well as spontaneously Music improvisation works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drumming.
Written notation varies with style and period of music. In the 2000s, notated music is produced as sheet music or, for individuals with computer scorewriter programs, as an image on a computer screen. In ancient times, music notation was put onto stone or clay tablets. To perform music from notation, a singer or instrumentalist requires an understanding of the rhythmic and pitch elements embodied in the symbols and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or a genre. In genres requiring musical improvisation, the performer often plays from music where only the Chord progression and form of the song are written, requiring the performer to have a great understanding of the music's structure, harmony and the styles of a particular genre (e.g., jazz or country music).
In Western art music, the most common types of written notation are scores, which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece, and parts, which are the music notation for the individual performers or singers. In popular music, jazz, and blues, the standard musical notation is the lead sheet, which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and structure of the music. Fake books are also used in jazz; they may consist of lead sheets or simply chord charts, which permit rhythm section members to improvise an accompaniment part to jazz songs. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz "big bands." In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tablature (often abbreviated as "tab"), which indicates the location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tabulature was also used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute, a stringed, fretted instrument.
In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: "appropriate musical notations" was added to their list of elements and the title of the list was changed from the "elements of music" to the "inter-related dimensions of music". The inter-related dimensions of music are listed as: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure and appropriate musical notations.Gov.uk. (2013). ''National curriculum in England: music programmes of study''. Retrieved 6 January 2016, from https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-curriculum-in-england-music-programmes-of-study
The phrase "the elements of music" is used in a number of different contexts. The two most common contexts can be differentiated by describing them as the "rudimentary elements of music" and the "perceptual elements of music".
Although writers of lists of "rudimentary elements of music" can vary their lists depending on their personal (or institutional) priorities, the perceptual elements of music should consist of an established (or proven) list of discrete elements which can be independently manipulated to achieve an intended musical effect. It seems at this stage that there is still research to be done in this area.
A melody (also called a "tune") is a series of pitches (notes) sounding in succession (one after the other), often in a rising and falling pattern. The notes of a melody are typically created using pitch systems such as Musical scale or Musical mode. Melodies also often contain notes from the chords used in the song. The melodies in simple folk songs and traditional songs may use only the notes of a single scale, the scale associated with the tonic note or key (music) of a given song. For example, a folk song in the key of C (also referred to as C major) may have a melody that uses only the notes of the C major scale (the individual notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B and C; these are the "white notes" on a piano keyboard. On the other hand, Bebop-era jazz from the 1940s and contemporary music from the 20th and 21st centuries may use melodies with many chromatic notes (i.e., notes in addition to the notes of the major scale; on a piano, a chromatic scale would include all the notes on the keyboard, including the "white notes" and "black notes" and unusual scales, such as the whole tone scale (a whole tone scale in the key of C would contain the notes C, D, E, F). A low, deep musical line played by bass instruments such as double bass, electric bass or tuba is called a bassline.
Music that contains a large number of independent Part (music) (e.g., a double concerto accompanied by 100 orchestral instruments with many interweaving melodic lines) is generally said to have a "thicker" or "denser" texture than a work with few parts (e.g., a solo flute melody accompanied by a single cello).
The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include the spectrum, envelope (waves) and overtones of a note or musical sound. For music technology (electric) instruments developed in the 20th century, such as electric guitar, electric bass and electric piano, the performer can also change the tone by adjusting Graphic equalizer, tone controls on the instrument, and by using effects unit such as distortion (music) pedals. The tone of the electric Hammond organ is controlled by adjusting Hammond organ#Drawbars.
Expression is achieved through the manipulation of pitch (such as inflection, vibrato, slides etc.), volume (dynamics, accent, tremolo etc.), duration (tempo fluctuations, rhythmic changes, changing note duration such as with legato and staccato, etc.), timbre (e.g. changing vocal timbre from a light to a resonant voice) and sometimes even texture (e.g. doubling the bass note for a richer effect in a piano piece). Expression therefore can be seen as a manipulation of all elements in order to convey "an indication of mood, spirit, character etc." although it can be considered an important rudimentary element of music.
Where a piece cannot readily be broken down into sectional units (though it might borrow some form from a poem, story or Programme music), it is said to be through-composed. Such is often the case with a Fantasia (music), Prelude (music), Rhapsody (music), etude (or study), symphonic poem, Bagatelle (music), impromptu, etc.
that may be referred to by letters but also often have generic names such as Introduction (music) and Coda (music), exposition, development and recapitulation (music), verse, chorus or refrain, and Bridge (music). Introductions and codas, when they are no more than that, are frequently excluded from formal analysis. All such units may typically be eight measures long. Sectional forms include:;Strophic form
This form is defined by its "unrelieved repetition" (AAAA...).
;Medley
Medley (music), Potpourri (music) is the extreme opposite, that of "unrelieved variation": it is simply an indefinite sequence of self-contained sections (ABCD...), sometimes with repeats (AABBCCDD...). Examples include orchestral overtures, which are sometimes no more than a string of the best tunes of the musical theatre show or opera to come.
;Binary form
This form uses two sections (AB...), each often repeated (AABB...). In 18th-century Western classical music, "simple binary" form was often used for dances and carried with it the convention that the two sections should be in different musical keys but same rhythm, duration and tone. The alternation of two tunes gives enough variety to permit a dance to be extended for as long as desired.
b
;Ternary form
This form has three parts. In Western classical music a simple ternary form has a third section that is a recapitulation of the first (ABA). Often, the first section is repeated (AABA). This approach was popular in the 18th-century operatic aria, and was called ''da capo'' (i.e. "repeat from the top") form. Later, it gave rise to the thirty-two-bar form, with the B section then often referred to as the "middle eight". A song has more need than a dance of a self-contained form with a beginning and an end of course.
;Rondo form
This form has a recurring theme alternating with different (usually contrasting) sections called "episodes". It may be asymmetrical (ABACADAEA) or symmetrical (ABACABA). A recurring section, especially the main theme, is sometimes more thoroughly varied, or else one episode may be a "development" of it. A similar arrangement is the ritornello form of the Baroque concerto grosso. Arch form (ABCBA) resembles a symmetrical rondo without intermediate repetitions of the main theme. It is normally used in a round.
;Variational form
Variational forms are those in which variation is an important formative element.
Theme and Variations: a theme (music), which in itself can be of any shorter form (binary, ternary, etc.), forms the only "section" and is repeated indefinitely (as in strophic form) but is varied each time (A, B, A, F, Z, A), so as to make a sort of sectional chain form. An important variant of this, much used in 17th-century British music and in the Passacaglia and Chaconne, was that of the ground bass – a repeating bass theme or ''basso ostinato'' over and around which the rest of the structure unfolds, often, but not always, spinning polyphony or counterpoint threads, or improvising division (music) and descants. This is said by Scholes (1977) to be the form ''par excellence'' of unaccompanied or accompanied solo instrumental music. The Rondo is often found with sections varied (AA1BA2CA3BA4) or (ABA1CA2B1A).
;Developmental form
Developmental forms are built directly from smaller units, such as motif (music). A well-known Classical piece with a motif is Beethoven's fifth symphony, which starts with three short repeated notes and then a long note. In Classical pieces that are based on motifs, the motif is usually combined, varied and worked out in different ways, perhaps having a symmetrical or arch-like underpinning and a progressive development from beginning to end. By far the most important developmental form in Western classical music is Sonata form.
This form, also known as ''sonata'' form, first movement form, compound binary, ternary and a variety of other names, developed from the binary-formed dance movement described above but is almost always cast in a greater ternary form having the nominal subdivisions of ''Exposition, Development'' and ''Recapitulation''. Usually, but not always, the "A" parts (Exposition (music) and Recapitulation (music), respectively) may be subdivided into two or three theme (music) or theme groups which are taken asunder and recombined to form the "B" part (the musical development) – thus e. g. (AabB[dev. of a and/or b]A1ab1+coda). This developmental form is generally confined to certain sections of the piece, as to the middle section of the first movement of a sonata, though 19th-century composers such as Berlioz, Liszt and Wagner made valiant efforts to derive large-scale works purely or mainly from the motif.
Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from paleolithic archaeology sites. Paleolithic flutes are often discovered, carved from bones in which lateral holes have been pierced; these are thought to have been blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. The Divje Babe flute, carved from a cave bear femur, is thought to be at least 40,000 years old. Instruments such as the seven-holed flute and various types of String instrument, such as the Ravanahatha, have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilization archaeology sites. India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (''marga'') are found in the Vedas, ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition. frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in Egypt today. Egyptian folk music, including the traditional dhikr rituals, are the closest contemporary music genre to ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms and instruments.__. "Rythme, mètre et mesure de la musique instrumentale et vocale des anciens Egyptiens." ''Acta Musicologica,'' Vol. 32, Fasc. 1. (Jan.–Mar., 1960), pp. 11-22.
Asian culturesFile:Raja Ravi Varma, Galaxy of Musicians.jpg | thumb | left | upright=0.75 | Indian women dressed in regional attire playing a variety of musical instruments popular in different parts of India { | class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:left; margin-right:50px;" |
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| Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.Richard O. Nidel, ''World Music: The Basics'', p. 219. The Indus Valley civilization has sculptures that show danceCharles Kahn, ''World History: Societies of the Past'', p. 98. and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harappa and Mohenjo-daro | Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.World History: Societies of the Past By Charles Kahn (p. 11) The Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.World Music: The Basics By Nidel Nidel, Richard O. Nidel (p. 10) Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based on a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through Tala (music) | talas. ''Silappadhikaram'' by Ilango Adigal provides information about how new scales can be formed by modal shifting of the tonic from an existing scale. Hindi music was influenced by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals. Carnatic music, popular in the southern states, is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are also many songs emphasising love and other social issues. |
Asian music covers the music cultures of Arabic music, Central Asian music, East Asian music, South Asian music, and Southeast Asian music. Chinese classical music, the traditional art or court music of China, has a history stretching over around three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5 + 7 = 12) as does European-influenced music. Persian traditional music is the music of Iran and Persian language countries: ''musiqi'', the science and art of music, and ''muzik'', the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983).
Middle Ages{ | class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:left; margin-right:50px;" | |||||||
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| File:Head of Christ1.jpg | thumb | upright=0.7 | Musical notation from a Catholic Missal, c. 1310–1320 | |||||
| The Medieval Music | medieval era (476 to 1400), which took place during the Middle Ages, started with the introduction of monophony | monophonic (single melodic line) Gregorian chant | chanting into Roman Catholic Church services. Musical notation was used since Ancient times in Ancient Greece | Greek culture, but in the Middle Ages, notation was first introduced by the Catholic church so that the chant melodies could be written down, to facilitate the use of the same melodies for religious music across the entire Catholic empire. The only European Medieval repertory that has been found in written form from before 800 is the monophony | monophonic Liturgy | liturgical plainsong chant of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant. Alongside these traditions of Religious music | sacred and church music there existed a vibrant tradition of Secular music | secular song (non-religious songs). Examples of composers from this period are Léonin, Pérotin, Guillaume de Machaut, and Walther von der Vogelweide. |
Renaissance{ | class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:left; margin-right:50px;" | |||
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| File:Filippino Lippi 001.jpg | thumb | upright=0.7 | right | Allegory of Music, by Filippino Lippi |
Renaissance music (c. 1400 to 1600) was more focused on secular (non-religious) themes, such as courtly love. Around 1450, the printing press was invented, which made printed sheet music much less expensive and easier to mass-produce (prior to the invention of the printing press, all notated music was hand-copied). The increased availability of sheet music helped to spread musical styles more quickly and across a larger area. Musicians and singers often worked for the church, courts and towns. Church choirs grew in size, and the church remained an important patron of music. By the middle of the 15th century, composers wrote richly polyphonic sacred music, in which different melody lines were interwoven simultaneously. Prominent composers from this era include Guillaume Dufay, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thomas Morley, and Orlande de Lassus. As musical activity shifted from the church to the aristocratic courts, kings, queens and princes competed for the finest composers. Many leading important composers came from the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France. They are called the Franco-Flemish composers. They held important positions throughout Europe, especially in Italy. Other countries with vibrant musical activity included Germany, England, and Spain.
Classicism{ | class="wikitable" style="text-align:right; float:left; margin-right:50px;" | |||
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| File:Mozart family crop.jpg | thumb | right | upright=0.9 | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (seated at the keyboard) was a child prodigy virtuoso performer on the piano and violin. Even before he became a celebrated composer, he was widely known as a gifted performer and improviser. |
| The music of the Classical period (music) | Classical period (1730 to 1820) aimed to imitate what were seen as the key elements of the art and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome: the ideals of balance, proportion and disciplined expression. (Note: the music from the Classical period (music) | Classical period should not be confused with Classical music in general, a term which refers to Western art music from the 5th century to the 2000s, which includes the Classical period as one of a number of periods). Music from the Classical period has a lighter, clearer and considerably simpler texture than the Baroque music which preceded it. The main style was homophony,Blume, Friedrich. Classic and Romantic Music: A Comprehensive Survey. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1970. Print. where a prominent melody and a subordinate chordal accompaniment part are clearly distinct. Classical instrumental melodies tended to be almost voicelike and singable. New genres were developed, and the fortepiano, the forerunner to the modern piano, replaced the Baroque era harpsichord and pipe organ as the main keyboard instrument. |
Importance was given to instrumental music. It was dominated by further development of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata, the concerto, and the symphony. Others main kinds were the Trio (music), string quartet, serenade and divertimento. The sonata was the most important and developed form. Although Baroque composers also wrote sonatas, the Classical style of sonata is completely distinct. All of the main instrumental forms of the Classical era, from string quartets to symphonies and concertos, were based on the structure of the sonata. The instruments used chamber music and orchestra became more standardized. In place of the basso continuo group of the Baroque era, which consisted of harpsichord, organ or lute along with a number of bass instruments selected at the discretion of the group leader (e.g., viol, cello, theorbo, serpent), Classical chamber groups used specified, standardized instruments (e.g., a string quartet would be performed by two violins, a viola and a cello). The Baroque era improvised chord-playing of the continuo keyboardist or lute player was gradually phased out between 1750 and 1800.
One of the most important changes made in the Classical period was the development of public concerts. The aristocracy still played a significant role in the sponsorship of concerts and compositions, but it was now possible for composers to survive without being permanent employees of queens or princes. The increasing popularity of classical music led to a growth in the number and types of orchestras. The expansion of orchestral concerts necessitated the building of large public performance spaces. Symphonic music including symphonies, musical accompaniment to ballet and mixed vocal/instrumental genres such as opera and oratorio became more popular.
The best known composers of Classicism are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Beethoven and Schubert are also considered to be composers in the later part of the Classical era, as it began to move towards Romanticism.
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| ! align=center | Richard Wagner | R. Wagner Die Walküre |
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| Romantic music (c. 1810 to 1900) from the 19th century had many elements in common with the Romanticism | Romantic styles in literature and painting of the era. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature. Romantic music expanded beyond the rigid styles and forms of the Classical era into more passionate, dramatic expressive pieces and songs. Romantic composers such as Wagner and Brahms attempted to increase emotional expression and power in their music to describe deeper truths or human feelings. With symphonic tone poems, composers tried to tell stories and evoke images or landscapes using instrumental music. Some composers promoted Nationalism | nationalistic pride with patriotic orchestral music inspired by folk music. The emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over tradition. |
Romantic composers grew in idiosyncrasy, and went further in the syncretism of exploring different art-forms in a musical context, (such as literature), history (historical figures and legends), or nature itself. Romantic love or longing was a prevalent theme in many works composed during this period. In some cases the formal structures from the classical period continued to be used (e.g., the sonata form used in string quartets and symphony), but these forms were expanded and altered. In many cases, new approaches were explored for existing genres, forms, and functions. Also, new forms were created that were deemed better suited to the new subject matter. Composers continued to develop opera and ballet music, exploring new styles and themes.
In the years after 1800, the music developed by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. In Beethoven's case, short motif (music), developed organically, came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit (an example is the distinctive four note figure used in his Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)). Later Romantic composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, and Gustav Mahler used more unusual chord (music) and more Consonance and dissonance to create dramatic tension. They generated complex and often much longer musical works. During the late Romantic period, composers explored dramatic Chromatic (music) alterations of tonality, such as extended chords and altered chords, which created new sound "colours". The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and the industrial revolution helped to create better instruments, creating a more powerful sound. Public concerts became an important part of well-to-do urban culture society. It also saw a new diversity in theatre music, including operetta, and Edwardian musical comedy and other forms of musical theatre.
In the 19th century, one of the key ways that new compositions became known to the public was by the sales of sheet music, which middle class amateur music lovers would perform at home on their piano or other common instruments, such as violin. With 20th-century music, the invention of new music technology (electric) such as radio broadcasting and the mass market availability of gramophone records meant that sound recordings of songs and pieces heard by listeners (either on the radio or on their record player) became the main way to learn about new songs and pieces. There was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music, because whereas in the 19th century, the focus on sheet music restricted access to new music to the middle class and upper-class people who could read music and who owned pianos and instruments, in the 20th century, anyone with a radio or record player could hear operas, symphony and big bands right in their own living room. This allowed lower-income people, who would never be able to afford an opera or symphony concert ticket to hear this music. It also meant that people could hear music from different parts of the country, or even different parts of the world, even if they could not afford to travel to these locations. This helped to spread musical styles.
The focus of art music in the 20th century was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. The horrors of World War I influenced many of the arts, including music, and some composers began exploring darker, harsher sounds. Traditional music styles such as jazz and folk music were used by composers as a source of ideas for classical music. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th-century art music. The invention of sound recording and the ability to edit music gave rise to new subgenre of classical music, including the acousmaticSchaeffer, P. (1966), Traité des objets musicaux, Le Seuil, Paris. and Musique concrète schools of electronic composition. Sound recording was also a major influence on the development of popular music genres, because it enabled recordings of songs and bands to be widely distributed. The introduction of the multitrack recording system had a major influence on rock music, because it could do much more than record a band's performance. Using a multitrack system, a band and their music producer could overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be possible in a live performance.
Jazz evolved and became an important genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music did the same. Jazz is an American musical artform that originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of Music of Africa and European music traditions. The style's West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note.Alyn Shipton, ''A New History of Jazz'', 2nd. ed., Continuum, 2007, pp. 4–5
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed in the 1960s from 1950s rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, and country music. The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong Backbeat (music) laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, analog synthesizers and digital ones and computers since the 1990s. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form," it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."
A performance can either be planned out and rehearsed (practiced)—which is the norm in classical music, with jazz big bands and many popular music styles–or Musical improvisation over a chord progression (a sequence of chords), which is the norm in small jazz and blues groups. Rehearsals of orchestras, concert bands and choirs are led by a conductor. Rock, blues and jazz bands are usually led by the bandleader. A rehearsal is a structured repetition of a song or piece by the performers until it can be sung and/or played correctly and, if it is a song or piece for more than one musician, until the parts are together from a rhythmic and tuning perspective. Improvisation is the creation of a musical idea–a melody or other musical line–created on the spot, often based on scales or pre-existing melodic riffs.
Many cultures have strong traditions of solo performance (in which one singer or instrumentalist performs), such as in Indian classical music, and in the Western art-music tradition. Other cultures, such as in Bali, include strong traditions of group performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance may range from improvised solo playing to highly planned and organised performances such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, classical music festivals or music competitions. Chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than large symphonic works.
In the 19th century, art music for solo performers may give a general instruction such as to perform the music expressively, without describing in detail how the performer should do this. The performer was expected to know how to use tempo changes, accent (music), and Rest (music) (among other devices) to obtain this "expressive" performance style. In the 20th century, art music notation often became more explicit and used a range of markings and annotations to indicate to performers how they should play or sing the piece.
In ancient times, such as with the Ancient Greece, the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment (''plaisir'' and ''jouissance'') of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Immanuel Kant. Through their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', meaning sensory perception, received its present-day connotation. In the 2000s, philosophers have tended to emphasize issues besides beauty and enjoyment. For example, music's capacity to express emotion has been a central issue.
In the 20th century, important contributions were made by Peter Kivy, Jerrold Levinson, Roger Scruton, and Stephen Davies (philosopher). However, many musicians, music criticism, and other non-philosophers have contributed to the aesthetics of music. In the 19th century, a significant debate arose between Eduard Hanslick, a music critic and musicologist, and composer Richard Wagner regarding whether music can express meaning. Harry Partch and some other musicologists, such as Kyle Gann, have studied and tried to popularize microtonal music and the usage of alternate musical scales. Also many modern composers like La Monte Young, Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca paid much attention to a scale called just intonation.
It is often thought that music has the ability to affect our emotions, intellect, and psychology; it can assuage our loneliness or incite our passions. The philosopher Plato suggests in ''the Republic'' that music has a direct effect on the soul. Therefore, he proposes that in the ideal regime music would be closely regulated by the state. (Book VII)
There has been a strong tendency in the aesthetics of music to emphasize the paramount importance of compositional structure; however, other issues concerning the aesthetics of music include lyrics, harmony, hypnotism, emotion, Temporal Dynamics of Music and Language, resonance, playfulness, and timbre (music) (see also musical development).
This interdisciplinary field investigates topics such as the parallels between language and music in the brain. Biologically inspired models of computation are often included in research, such as neural networks and evolutionary programs.Graci, C. (2009–2010) A brief tour of the learning sciences featuring a cognitive tool for investigating melodic phenomena. ''Journal of Educational Technology Systems'', 38(2), 181–211. This field seeks to model how musical knowledge is represented, stored, perceived, performed, and generated. By using a well-structured computer environment, the systematic structures of these cognitive phenomena can be investigated.Hamman, M., 1999. "Structure as Performance: Cognitive Musicology and the Objectification of Procedure," in Otto Laske: Navigating New Musical Horizons, ed. J. Tabor. New York: Greenwood Press.
Evolutionary musicology concerns the "origins of music, the question of animal song, selection pressures underlying music evolution", and "music evolution and human evolution".Wallin, Nils L./Björn Merker/Steven Brown (1999): "An Introduction to Evolutionary Musicology." In: Wallin, Nils L./Björn Merker/Steven Brown (Eds., 1999): ''The Origins of Music'', pp. 5–6. Chapter III; Language a view which has spawned several competing theories of music evolution.Steven Mithen, ''The Singing Neanderthals: the Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body'', Harvard University Press, 2006. This view has been directly countered by numerous music researchers.Perlovsky L. Music. Cognitive Function, Origin, And Evolution Of Musical Emotions. WebmedCentral PSYCHOLOGY 2011;2(2):WMC001494Alison Abbott. 2002. "Neurobiology: Music, maestro, please!" ''Nature'' 416, 12–14 (7 March 2002) | doi:10.1038/416012a
Many ethnographic studies demonstrate that music is a participatory, community-based activity.Grazian, David. "The Symbolic Economy of Authenticity in the Chicago Blues Scene." in Music Scenes: Local, Translocal, and Virtual. ed. Bennett, Andy and Richard A. Peterson. Nashville: Vanderbilt University Press, 2004. pp. 31–47Rebecca Elizabeth Ball (2010). [https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1125&context=open_access_etds Portland's Independent Music Scene: Formation of Community Identities and Alternative Urban Cultural Landscapes], p. 27 Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert, forming a music community, which cannot be understood as a function of individual will or accident; it includes both commercial and non-commercial participants with a shared set of common values. Musical performances take different forms in different cultures and socioeconomic milieus. In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a "high culture" and "low culture." "High culture" types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies, concertos, and solo works, and are typically heard in formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats.
Other types of music—including, but not limited to, jazz, blues, soul music, and country music—are often performed in bars, nightclubs, and theatres, where the audience may be able to drink, dance, and express themselves by cheering. Until the later 20th century, the division between "high" and "low" musical forms was widely accepted as a valid distinction that separated out better quality, more advanced "art music" from the popular styles of music heard in bars and dance halls.
However, in the 1980s and 1990s, musicologists studying this perceived divide between "high" and "low" musical genres argued that this distinction is not based on the musical value or quality of the different types of music.
Women have played a major role in music throughout history, as composers, songwriters, Musician, singers, conductors, musicology, music teacher, music criticism/music journalists and other musical professions. As well, it describes music movements, events and genres related to women, women's rights and feminism. In the 2010s, while women comprise a significant proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters (many of them being singer-songwriters), there are few women record producers, music journalist and rock instrumentalists. Although there have been a huge number of List of women composers in classical music, from the Medieval period to the present day, women composers are significantly underrepresented in the Western canon, music history textbooks and music encyclopedias; for example, in the ''Concise Oxford History of Music'', Clara Schumann is one of the only female composers who is mentioned.
Women comprise a significant proportion of instrumental soloists in classical music and the percentage of women in orchestras is increasing. A 2015 article on concerto soloists in major Canadian orchestras, however, indicated that 84% of the soloists with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal were men. In 2012, women still made up just 6% of the top-ranked Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. Women are less common as instrumental players in popular music genres such as rock and Heavy metal music, although there have been a number of notable female instrumentalists and all-female bands. Women are particularly underrepresented in extreme metal genres.Julian Schaap and Pauwke Berkers. "Grunting Alone? Online Gender Inequality in Extreme Metal Music" in ''Journal of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music''. Vol. 4, no. 1 (2014) p. 103 In the 1960s pop-music scene, "[l]ike most aspects of the...music business, [in the 1960s,] songwriting was a male-dominated field. Though there were plenty of female singers on the radio, women ...were primarily seen as consumers:... Singing was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument, writing songs, or producing records simply wasn't done."
The music that composers make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence of the musicians (or as one of the musicians), in an outdoor or indoor space such as an amphitheatre, concert hall, cabaret room or theatre music. Since the 20th century, live music can also be broadcast over the radio, television or the Internet, or sound recording and listened to on a CD player or Mp3 player. Some musical styles focus on producing a sound for a performance, while others focus on producing a recording that mixes together sounds that were never played "live." Recording, even of essentially live styles such as rock, often uses the ability to edit and splice to produce recordings that may be considered "better" than the actual performance.
Music technology has had an influence on music since prehistoric times, when cave people used simple tools to bore holes into bone flutes 41,000 years ago. Technology continued to influence music throughout the history of music, as it enabled new instruments and music notation reproduction systems to be used, with one of the watershed moments in music notation being the invention of the printing press in the 1400s, which meant music scores no longer had to be hand copied. In the 19th century, music technology led to the development of a more powerful, louder piano and led to the development of new valves brass instruments. In the early 20th century (in the late 1920s), as sound film emerged in the early 20th century, with their prerecorded musical tracks, an increasing number of moviehouse orchestra musicians found themselves out of work. During the 1920s, live musical performances by orchestras, pianists, and theater organists were common at first-run theaters.Hubbard (1985), p. 429. With the coming of the talking motion pictures, those featured performances were largely eliminated. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) took out newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. One 1929 ad that appeared in the ''Pittsburgh Press'' features an image of a can labeled "Canned Music / Big Noise Brand / Guaranteed to Produce No Intellectual or Emotional Reaction Whatever"[http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess.R0206/ "Canned Music on Trial"] part of Duke University's ''Ad*Access'' project.
Since legislation introduced to help protect performers, composers, publishers and producers, including the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 in the United States, and the 1979 revised Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in the United Kingdom, recordings and live performances have also become more accessible through computers, devices and Internet in a form that is commonly known as Music-On-Demand.
In many cultures, there is less distinction between performing and listening to music, since virtually everyone is involved in some sort of musical activity, often communal. In industrialized countries, listening to music through a recorded form, such as Sound recording and reproduction or watching a music video, became more common than experiencing live performance, roughly in the middle of the 20th century.
Sometimes, live performances incorporate prerecorded sounds. For example, a disc jockey uses gramophone record for scratching, and some 20th-century works have a solo for an instrument or voice that is performed along with music that is prerecorded onto a tape. Computers and many keyboard (computing) can be programmed to produce and play Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music. Audiences can also ''become'' performers by participating in karaoke, an activity of Japanese origin centered on a device that plays voice-eliminated versions of well-known songs. Most karaoke machines also have video screens that show lyrics to songs being performed; performers can follow the lyrics as they sing over the instrumental tracks.
The advent of the Internet and widespread high-speed broadband access has transformed the experience of music, partly through the increased ease of access to recordings of music via streaming video and vastly increased choice of music for consumers. Chris Anderson (writer), in his book ''The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More'', suggests that while the traditional economic model of supply and demand describes scarcity, the Internet retail model is based on abundance. Data storage device costs are low, so a company can afford to make its whole recording inventory available online, giving customers as much choice as possible. It has thus become economically viable to offer music recordings that very few people are interested in. Consumers' growing awareness of their increased choice results in a closer association between listening tastes and social identity, and the creation of thousands of niche markets.Anderson, Chris (2006). The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More. Hyperion. .
Another effect of the Internet arose with Virtual community and social media websites like YouTube and Facebook, a social networking service. These sites make it easier for aspiring singers and amateur bands to distribute videos of their songs, connect with other musicians, and gain audience interest. Professional musicians also use YouTube as a free publisher of promotional material. YouTube users, for example, no longer only download and listen to MP3s, but also actively create their own. According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams (author), in their book ''Wikinomics'', there has been a shift from a traditional consumer role to what they call a "prosumer" role, a consumer who both creates content and consumes. Manifestations of this in music include the production of mashup (music), remixes, and music videos by fans.
The music industry refers to the businesses connected with the creation and sale of music. It consists of songwriters and composers who create new songs and musical pieces, music producers and sound engineers who record songs and pieces, record labels and Music publisher (popular music) that distribute recorded music products and sheet music internationally and that often control the rights to those products. Some music labels are "independent record label," while others are subsidiaries of larger corporate entities or international media conglomerate. In the 2000s, the increasing popularity of listening to music as digital music files on MP3 players, iPods, or computers, and of trading music on file sharing websites or buying it online in the form of digital files had a major impact on the traditional music business. Many smaller independent CD stores went out of business as music buyers decreased their purchases of CDs, and many labels had lower CD sales. Some companies did well with the change to a digital format, though, such as Apple's iTunes, an online music store that sells digital files of songs over the Internet.
At the university level, students in most arts and humanities programs can receive Credit (education) for taking a few music courses, which typically take the form of an overview course on the history of music, or a music appreciation course that focuses on listening to music and learning about different musical styles. In addition, most North American and European universities have some types of musical ensembles that students in arts and humanities are able to participate in, such as choirs, marching bands, concert bands, or orchestras. The study of Western art music is increasingly common outside of North America and Europe, such as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts, Yogyakarta in Yogyakarta (city), Indonesia, or the classical music programs that are available in Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China. At the same time, Western universities and colleges are widening their curriculum to include music of non-Western cultures, such as the music of Africa or Bali (e.g. Gamelan music).
While most university and conservatory music programs focus on training students in classical music, there are a number of universities and colleges that train musicians for careers as jazz or popular music musicians and composers, with notable U.S. examples including the Manhattan School of Music and the Berklee College of Music. Two important schools in Canada which offer professional jazz training are McGill University and Humber College. Individuals aiming at careers in some types of music, such as heavy metal music, country music or blues are less likely to become professionals by completing degrees or diplomas in colleges or universities. Instead, they typically learn about their style of music by singing and/or playing in many bands (often beginning in amateur bands, cover bands and tribute bands), studying recordings available on CD, DVD and the Internet and working with already-established professionals in their style of music, either through informal mentoring or regular music lessons. Since the 2000s, the increasing popularity and availability of Internet forums and YouTube "how-to" videos have enabled many singers and musicians from metal, blues and similar genres to improve their skills. Many pop, rock and country singers train informally with vocal coaches and singing teachers.
The PhD, which is required for students who want to work as university professors in musicology, music history, or music theory, takes three to five years of study after the master's degree, during which time the student will complete advanced courses and undertake research for a dissertation. The DMA is a relatively new degree that was created to provide a credential for professional performers or composers that want to work as university professors in musical performance or composition. The DMA takes three to five years after a master's degree, and includes advanced courses, projects, and performances. In Medieval times, the study of music was one of the Quadrivium of the seven liberal arts and considered vital to higher learning. Within the quantitative Quadrivium, music, or more accurately harmonics, was the study of rational proportions.
There is a host of music classifications for non-Western music, many of which are caught up in the argument over the definition of music. Among the largest of these is the division between classical music (or "art" music), and popular music (or Contemporary commercial music – including non-Western styles of rock, country music, and pop music-related styles). Some genres do not fit neatly into one of these "big two" classifications, (such as folk music, world music, or jazz-related music).
As world cultures have come into Globalization, their indigenous musical styles have often merged with other styles, which produces new styles. For example, the United States bluegrass music style contains elements from Folk Music of England-Music of Ireland, Music of Scotland, Irish, Music of Germany and African instrumental and vocal traditions, which were able to fuse in the United States' multi-ethnic "melting pot" society. Some types of world music contain a mixture of non-Western indigenous styles with Western pop music elements. Genres of music are determined as much by tradition and presentation as by the actual music. Some works, like George Gershwin's ''Rhapsody in Blue'', are claimed by both jazz and classical music, while Gershwin's ''Porgy and Bess'' and Leonard Bernstein's ''West Side Story (musical)'' are claimed by both opera and the Broadway musical tradition. Many current music festivals for non-Western music include bands and singers from a particular musical genre, such as world music.
Music of India, for example, is one of the oldest and longest living types of music, and is still widely heard and performed in South Asia, as well as internationally (especially since the 1960s). Indian music has mainly three forms of classical music, Hindustani classical music, Carnatic music, and Dhrupad styles. It has also a large repertoire of styles, which involve only percussion music such as the talavadya performances famous in South India.
One of the earliest mentions of music therapy was in Al-Farabi's (c. 872–950) treatise ''Meanings of the Intellect'', which described the therapeutic effects of music on the Soul (spirit). Music has long been used to help people deal with their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar Robert Burton (scholar)'s ''The Anatomy of Melancholy'' argued that music and dance were critical in treating Mental disorder, especially melancholia.cf. The Anatomy of Melancholy, Robert Burton, subsection 3, on and after line 3,480, "Music a Remedy" He noted that music has an "excellent power ...to expel many other diseases" and he called it "a sovereign remedy against despair and melancholy." He pointed out that in Antiquity, Canus, a Rhodian fiddler, used music to "make a melancholy man merry, ...a lover more enamoured, a religious man more devout."Ismenias the Theban, Chiron the centaur, is said to have cured this and many other diseases by music alone: as now thy do those, saith Bodine, that are
troubled with St. Vitus's Bedlam dance. [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/10800/10800-8.txt Project Gutenberg's The Anatomy of Melancholy, by Democritus Junior][http://www.med.mun.ca/munmed/84/crellin.htm "Humanities are the Hormones: A Tarantella Comes to Newfoundland. What should we do about it?"]
Albert Einstein had a lifelong love of music (particularly the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart),