Music is an
art form whose
medium is
sound. Its common elements are
pitch (which governs
melody and
harmony),
rhythm (and its associated concepts
tempo,
meter, and
articulation),
dynamics, and the sonic qualities of
timbre and
texture. The word derives from
Greek μουσική (
mousike; "art of the
Muses").
[1]
In its most general form the activities describing music as an art form
include the production of works of music, the criticism of music, the
study of the history of music, and the aesthetic dissemination of music.
The creation,
performance, significance, and even the
definition of music
vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from
strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance),
through improvisational music to
aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into
genres and
subgenres,
although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are
often subtle, sometimes open to personal interpretation, and
occasionally controversial. Within
the arts, music may be classified as a
performing art, a
fine art, and auditory art. It may also be divided among
art music and
folk music. There is also a strong connection between
music and mathematics.
[2] Music may be played and heard live, may be part of a
dramatic work or
film, or may be recorded.
To many people in many cultures, music is an important part of their way of life.
Ancient Greek and
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."
[3]
Music as form of art
Jean-Gabriel Ferlan performing at a 2008 concert at the collège-lycée Saint-François Xavier
Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an
entertainment
product for the marketplace. As the poet and essayist Geoffrey O'Brien
notes, mix tapes are an art form in themselves, a "self-portrait, a
gesture of friendship, prescription for an ideal party... an environment
consisting solely of what is most ardently loved.".
[4]
Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own pleasure, and
they do not derive their income from music. Professional musicians are
employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed
forces, churches and synagogues, symphony orchestras,
broadcasting or
film production companies, and
music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings.
There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take
lessons
with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur
musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles,
such as
concert bands,
orchestras,
and other ensembles. In some cases, amateur musicians attain a
professional level of competence, and they are able to perform in
professional performance settings. A distinction is often made between
music performed for the benefit of a live audience and music that is
performed for the purpose of being 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 recorded
and distributed (or broadcast).
Composition
"Composition" is often classed as the creation and recording of music
via a medium by which others can interpret it (i.e., paper or sound).
Many cultures use at least part of the concept of preconceiving musical
material, or composition, as held in western
classical music.
Even when music is notated precisely, there are still many decisions
that a performer has to make. The process of a performer deciding how to
perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed
interpretation. Different performers' interpretations of the same music
can vary widely. Composers and song writers who present their own music
are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others
or folk music. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a
given time and a given place is referred to as
performance practice,
whereas interpretation is generally used to mean either individual
choices of a performer, or an aspect of music that is not clear, and
therefore has a "standard" interpretation.
In some musical genres, such as jazz and blues, even more freedom is
given to the performer to engage in improvisation on a basic melodic,
harmonic, or rhythmic framework. The greatest latitude is given to the
performer in a style of performing called
free improvisation, which is material that is spontaneously "thought of" (imagined) while being performed,
not preconceived. Improvised music usually follows stylistic or genre conventions and even "fully composed" includes some
freely chosen material.
Composition does not always mean the use of notation, or the known sole
authorship of one individual. Music can also be determined by
describing a "process" that creates musical sounds. Examples of this
range from wind chimes, through computer programs that select sounds.
Music from random elements is called
Aleatoric music, and is associated with such composers as John Cage,
Morton Feldman, and
Witold Lutosławski.
Music can be composed for repeated performance or it can be
improvised: composed on the spot. The music can be performed entirely
from memory, from a written system of musical notation, or some
combination of both. 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
spontaneously improvised works like those of
free jazz performers and African drummers such as the
Ewe drummers.
Notation
Sheet music is written representation of music. This is a
homorhythmic (i.e.,
hymn-style) arrangement of a traditional piece entitled "
Adeste Fideles", in standard two-staff format for mixed voices.
Play (help·info)
Notation is the written expression of music notes and rhythms on
paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm
of the music is notated, along with instructions on how to perform the
music. The study of how to read notation involves music theory, harmony,
the study of performance practice, and in some cases an understanding
of historical performance methods. Written notation varies with style
and period of 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. 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. Notated music is produced as
sheet music.
To perform music from notation requires an understanding of both 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
improvisation, the performer often plays from music where only the chord
changes are written, requiring a great understanding of the music's
structure and
chord progressions.
Improvisation
Musical improvisation
is the creation of spontaneous music. Improvisation is often considered
an act of instantaneous composition by performers, where compositional
techniques are employed with or without preparation. Improvisation is a
major part of some types of music, such as
blues,
jazz, and
jazz fusion,
in which instrumental performers improvise solos and melody lines. In
the Western art music tradition, improvisation was an important skill
during the Baroque era and during the Classical era; solo performers and
singers improvised virtuoso cadenzas during concerts. However, in the
20th and early 21st century, as "common practice" western
art music
performance became institutionalized in symphony orchestras, opera
houses and ballets, improvisation has played a smaller role at the same
time that many
composers
increasingly returned to its inclusion in their creative work. In
Indian classical music, spontaneous improvisation is a core component
and an essential criteria of any performance.
Theory
Main article:
Music theory
Music theory encompasses the nature and mechanics of music. It often
involves identifying patterns that govern composers' techniques and
examining the
language and
notation of music. In a grand sense, music theory distills and analyzes the
parameters or elements of music –
rhythm,
harmony (
harmonic function),
melody,
structure,
form, and
texture. Broadly, music theory may include any statement, belief, or conception of or about music.
[5] People who study these properties are known as music theorists. Some have applied
acoustics,
human physiology, and
psychology to the explanation of how and why music is
perceived.
Music has many different fundamentals or elements. These are, but are
not limited to: pitch, beat or pulse, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture,
allocation of voices, timbre or color, expressive qualities (dynamics
and articulation), and form or structure.
Pitch is a subjective sensation, reflecting generally the lowness or highness of a sound.
Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds and silences in
time.
Meter animates time in regular pulse groupings, called
measures or bars.
A melody is a series of notes sounding in succession. The notes of a
melody are typically created with respect to pitch systems such as
scales or
modes.
Harmony
is the study of vertical sonorities in music. Vertical sonority refers
to considering the relationships between pitches that occur together;
usually this means at the same time, although harmony can also be
implied by a melody that outlines a harmonic structure. Notes can be
arranged into different
scales and
modes.
Western music theory generally divides the octave into a series of 12
notes that might be included in a piece of music. In music written using
the system of major-minor
tonality, the
key of a piece determines the scale used.
Musical texture
is the overall sound of a piece of music commonly described according
to the number of and relationship between parts or lines of music:
monophony,
heterophony,
polyphony,
homophony, or
monody.
Timbre, sometimes called "Color" or "Tone Color" is the quality or sound of a voice or instrument.
[6]
Expressive Qualities are those elements in music that create change in
music that are not related to pitch, rhythm or timbre. They include
Dynamics and Articulation.
Form
is a facet of music theory that explores the concept of musical syntax,
on a local and global level. Examples of common forms of Western music
include the
fugue, the
invention,
sonata-allegro,
canon,
strophic,
theme and variations, and
rondo. Popular Music often makes use of
strophic form often in conjunction with
Twelve bar blues. Analysis is the effort to describe and explain music.
History
Prehistoric eras
Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from
paleolithic archaeology sites.
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
stringed instruments, such as the
Ravanahatha, have been recovered from the
Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites.
[7] 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.
[8] The earliest and largest collection of prehistoric musical instruments was found in
China and dates back to between 7000 and 6600 BC.
[9] The
Hurrian song, found on
clay tablets that date back to approximately 1400 BC, is the oldest surviving notated work of music.
Ancient Egypt
Main article:
Music of Egypt
The ancient
Egyptians credited one of their gods,
Thoth, with the invention of music, with
Osiris
in turn used as part of his effort to civilize the world. The earliest
material and representational evidence of Egyptian musical instruments
dates to the
Predynastic period, but the evidence is more securely attested in the
Old Kingdom when
harps,
flutes and
double clarinets were played.
[10] Percussion instruments,
lyres and
lutes were added to orchestras by the
Middle Kingdom.
Cymbals[11] frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in
Egypt today. Egyptian
folk music, including the traditional
Sufi dhikr rituals, are the closest contemporary
music genre to
ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms and instruments.
[12][13]
Asian cultures
Indian women dressed in regional attire playing a variety of musical instruments popular in different parts of India
Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.
[14] The
Indus Valley civilization has sculptures that show dance
[15]
and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types
of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from
Harrappa and
Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir
Mortimer Wheeler.
[16] The
Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.
[17] Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based on a single melody line or
raga rhythmically organized through
talas.
Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal gives so much information about how new scale can be formed by modal shift of tonic from existing scale.[18]
Hindustani 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 a lot of songs emphasising love and other social
issues.
Asian music covers the music cultures of
Arabia,
Central Asia,
East Asia,
South Asia, and
Southeast Asia.
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 music is the music of
Persia and Persian language countries:
musiqi, the science and art of music, and
muzik, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983).
References in the Bible
Music and theatre scholars studying the history and anthropology of
Semitic and early
Judeo-Christian culture have discovered common links in theatrical and musical activity between the classical cultures of the
Hebrews and those of later
Greeks and
Romans. The common area of performance is found in a "social phenomenon called
litany," a form of prayer consisting of a series of
invocations or
supplications.
The Journal of Religion and Theatre notes that among the earliest forms of litany, "Hebrew litany was accompanied by a rich musical tradition:"
[19]
- "While Genesis 4.21 identifies Jubal as the "father of all such as
handle the harp and pipe," the Pentateuch is nearly silent about the
practice and instruction of music in the early life of Israel. Then, in I
Samuel 10 and the texts that follow, a curious thing happens. "One
finds in the biblical text," writes Alfred Sendrey, "a sudden and
unexplained upsurge of large choirs and orchestras, consisting of
thoroughly organized and trained musical groups, which would be
virtually inconceivable without lengthy, methodical preparation." This
has led some scholars to believe that the prophet Samuel was the
patriarch of a school, which taught not only prophets and holy men, but
also sacred-rite musicians. This public music school, perhaps the
earliest in recorded history, was not restricted to a priestly
class—which is how the shepherd boy David appears on the scene as a
minstrel to King Saul."[19]
Antiquity
Western cultures
have had a major influence on the development of music. The history of
the music of the Western cultures can be traced back to Ancient Greece
times.
Ancient Greece
Music was an important part of social and cultural life in
Ancient Greece. Musicians and
singers played a prominent role in
Greek theater.
[20] Mixed-gender
choruses performed for entertainment, celebration, and spiritual ceremonies.
[21] Instruments included the double-reed
aulos and a plucked
string instrument, the
lyre, principally the special kind called a
kithara.
Music
was an important part of education, and boys were taught music starting
at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of music
development. Greek
music theory included the Greek
musical modes, that eventually became the basis for Western
religious and
classical music. Later, influences from the
Roman Empire,
Eastern Europe, and the
Byzantine Empire changed Greek music. The
Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world.
The Middle Ages
The
medieval era (476 to 1400) started with the introduction of chanting into
Roman Catholic Church
services. Western Music then started becoming more of an art form with
the advances in music notation. The only European Medieval repertory
that survives from before about 800 is the
monophonic liturgical plainsong of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called
Gregorian chant. Alongside these traditions of
sacred and
church music there existed a vibrant tradition of
secular song. Examples of composers from this period are
Léonin,
Pérotin and
Guillaume de Machaut.
The Renaissance
Renaissance music (c. 1400 to 1600) was more focused on secular themes. Around 1450, the
printing
press was invented, and that helped to disseminate musical styles more
quickly and across a larger area. Thus, music could play an increasingly
important role in daily life. Musicians 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. Prominent composers from this era are
Guillaume Dufay,
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina,
Thomas Morley, and
Orlande de Lassus. However, musical activity shifted to the courts. Kings and princes competed for the finest composers.
Many leading important composers came from the Netherlands, Belgium,
and northern France and are called the Franco-Flemish composers. They
held important positions throughout Europe, especially in Italy. Other
countries with vibrant musical lives include Germany, England, and
Spain.
The Baroque
The
Baroque era of music took place from 1600 to 1750, as the
Baroque artistic style flourished across Europe; and during this time, music expanded in its range and complexity. Baroque music began when the first
operas were written and when
contrapuntal music became prevalent. German Baroque composers wrote for small
ensembles including strings,
brass, and
woodwinds, as well as
choirs,
pipe organ,
harpsichord, and
clavichord.
During this period several major music forms were defined that lasted
into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further,
including the
fugue, the
invention, the
sonata, and the
concerto.
[22]
The late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and ornamental and
rich in its melodies. Composers from the Baroque era include
Johann Sebastian Bach,
George Frideric Handel, and
Georg Philipp Telemann.
Classicism
The music of the
Classical Period
(1750 to 1830) looked to the art and philosophy of Ancient Greece and
Rome, to the ideals of balance, proportion and disciplined expression.
It has a lighter, clearer and considerably simpler texture, and tended
to be almost voicelike and singable. New genres were discovered. The
main style was the
homophony,
[23] where prominent
melody and
accompaniment are clearly distinct.
Importance was given to
instrumental music. It was dominated by further evolution of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the
sonata, the
concerto, and the
symphony. Others main kinds were
trio,
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 were based on the dramatic structure of the sonata.
One of the most important evolutionary steps made in the Classical
period was the development of public concerts. The aristocracy would
still play a significant role in the sponsorship of musical life, but it
was now possible for composers to survive without being its permanent
employees. The increasing popularity led to a growth in both the number
and range of the orchestras. The expansion of orchestral concerts
necessitated large public spaces. As a result of all these processes,
symphonic music (including
opera,
ballet and
oratorio) became more extroverted.
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 evolution towards Romanticism.
Romanticism
Romantic music
(c. 1810 to 1900) turned the rigid styles and forms of the Classical
era into more passionate and expressive pieces. It attempted to increase
emotional expression and power to describe deeper truths or human
feelings. The emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take
precedence over technique and tradition. Romantic composers grew in
idiosyncrasy, and went further in the syncretism of different art-forms
(such as literature), history (historical figures), or nature itself
with music. Romantic love was a prevalent theme in many works composed
during this period. In some cases the formal structures from the
classical period were preserved, but in many others existing genres,
forms, and functions were improved. Also, new forms were created that
were deemed better suited to the new subject matter.
Opera and
ballet continued to evolve.
[20]
In 1800, the music developed by
Ludwig van Beethoven and
Franz Schubert introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. In Beethoven's case,
motifs, developed organically, came to replace
melody as the most significant compositional unit. Later Romantic composers such as
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky,
Antonín Dvořák, and
Gustav Mahler used more elaborated
chords and more
dissonance to create dramatic tension. They generated complex and often much longer musical works. During Romantic period
tonality was at its peak. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the
orchestra, and in the role of
concerts as part of
urban society. It also saw a new diversity in
theatre music, including
operetta, and
musical comedy and other forms of
musical theatre.
[20]
20th- and 21st-century music
With
20th-century music, there was a vast increase in music listening as the
radio gained popularity and
phonographs were used to replay and distribute music. The focus of
art music was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds.
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
acousmatic [24] and
Musique concrète schools of electronic composition.
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
African 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.
[25] From its early development until the present, jazz has also incorporated music from 19th- and 20th-century
American popular music.
[26] Jazz has, from its early-20th-century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, ranging from
New Orleans Dixieland (1910s) to 1970s and 1980s-era
jazz-rock fusion.
Rock music is a genre of
popular music that developed in the 1960s from 1950s
rock and roll,
rockabilly,
blues, and
country music.
[27] The sound of rock often revolves around the
electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong
back beat 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."
[28] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, it branched out into different subgenres, ranging from
blues rock and
jazz-rock fusion to
heavy metal and
punk rock, as well as the more classical influenced genre of
progressive rock and several types of
experimental rock genres.
Performance
Main article:
Performance
Performance is the physical expression of music. Often, a musical
work is performed once its structure and instrumentation are
satisfactory to its creators; however, as it gets performed, it can
evolve and change. A performance can either be rehearsed or
improvised.
Improvisation is a musical idea created without premeditation, while
rehearsal is vigorous repetition of an idea until it has achieved
cohesion.
Musicians will sometimes add improvisation to a well-rehearsed idea to create a unique performance.
Many cultures include strong traditions of
solo and performance, 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
for one's enjoyment to highly planned and organised performance rituals
such as the modern classical concert, religious processions,
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 symphonic works.
Aural tradition
Many types of music, such as traditional
blues and
folk music were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down
orally,
or aurally (by ear). When the composer of music is no longer known,
this music is often classified as "traditional." Different musical
traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make
changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those
that demand improvisation or modification to the music. A culture's
history may also be passed by ear through song.
Ornamentation
In a score or on a performer's music part, this sign indicates that the musician should perform a
trill—a rapid alternation between two notes.
Play (help·info)
The detail included explicitly in the
music notation
varies between genres and historical periods. In general, art music
notation from the 17th through the 19th century required performers to
have a great deal of contextual knowledge about performing styles. For
example, in the 17th and 18th century, music notated for solo performers
typically indicated a simple, unadorned melody. However, performers
were expected to know how to add stylistically appropriate ornaments,
such as
trills and
turns.
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,
accentuation, and
pauses
(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
popular music
and jazz, music notation almost always indicates only the basic
framework of the melody, harmony, or performance approach; musicians and
singers are expected to know the performance conventions and styles
associated with specific genres and pieces. For example, the "
lead sheet" for a jazz tune may only indicate the melody and the chord changes. The performers in the
jazz ensemble are expected to know how to "flesh out" this basic structure by adding ornaments, improvised music, and chordal accompaniment.
Philosophy and aesthetics
Philosophy of music is the study of fundamental questions regarding
music. The philosophical study of music has many connections with
philosophical questions in
metaphysics and
aesthetics. Some basic questions in the philosophy of music are:
- What is the definition of music? (What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying something as music?)
- What is the relationship between music and mind?
- What does musical history reveal to us about the world?
- What is the connection between music and emotions?
- What is meaning in relation to music?
Traditionally, the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and
cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the
eighteenth 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
Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by
Kant.
Through their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', meaning sensory
perception, received its present day connotation. In recent decades
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. However, many musicians,
music critics,
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.
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
Lamonte 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
lyricism,
harmony,
hypnotism,
emotiveness,
temporal dynamics,
resonance, playfulness, and
color (see also
musical development).
Psychology
Modern music psychology aims to explain and understand musical
behavior and
experience.
[29] Research in this field and its subfields are primarily
empirical; their knowledge tends to advance on the basis of interpretations of data collected by systematic
observation of and interaction with
human participants.
In addition to its focus on fundamental perceptions and cognitive
processes, music psychology is a field of research with practical
relevance for many areas, including music
performance,
composition,
education,
criticism, and
therapy, as well as investigations of human
aptitude,
skill,
intelligence,
creativity, and
social behavior.
Cognitive neuroscience of music
Cognitive neuroscience of music is the scientific study of
brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying
music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing,
reading, writing, and ancillary activities. It also is increasingly
concerned with the brain basis for musical aesthetics and musical
emotion. The field is distinguished by its reliance on direct
observations of the brain, using such techniques as
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI),
transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS),
magnetoencephalography (MEG),
electroencephalography (EEG), and
positron emission tomography (PET).
Cognitive musicology
Cognitive musicology is a branch of
cognitive science concerned with
computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.
[30] The use of computer models provides an exacting, interactive medium in which to formulate and test theories and has roots in
artificial intelligence and
cognitive science.
[31]
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.
[32]
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.
[33]
Psychoacoustics
Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of
sound perception. More specifically, it is the branch of science studying the
psychological and
physiological responses associated with sound (including
speech and music). It can be further categorized as a branch of
psychophysics.
Evolutionary musicology
Evolutionary musicology concerns the "origins of music, the question
of animal song, selection pressures underlying music evolution", and
"music evolution and human evolution".
[34] It seeks to understand music perception and activity in the context of
evolutionary theory.
Charles Darwin speculated that music may have held an adaptive advantage and functioned as a
protolanguage,
[35] a view which has spawned several competing theories of music evolution.
[36][37][38] An alternate view sees music as a by-product of
linguistic evolution; a type of "auditory cheesecake" that pleases the senses without providing any adaptive function.
[39] This view has been directly countered by numerous music researchers.
[40][41][42]
Culture in music cognition
An individual's
culture or
ethnicity plays a role in their
music cognition, including their
preferences,
emotional reaction, and
musical memory.
Musical preferences are biased toward culturally familiar musical
traditions beginning in infancy, and adults' classification of the
emotion of a musical piece depends on both culturally specific and
universal structural features.
[43][44]
Additionally, individuals' musical memory abilities are greater for
culturally familiar music than for culturally unfamiliar music.
[45][46]
Sociology
This Song Dynasty (960–1279) painting, entitled the "Night
Revels of Han Xizai," shows Chinese musicians entertaining guests at a
party in a 10th-century household.
Many ethnographic studies demonstrate that music is a participatory, community-based activity.
[47][48]
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, and
country—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.
[citation needed] Rather, they argued that this distinction was based largely on the
socioeconomics standing or
social class of the performers or audience of the different types of music.
[citation needed]
For example, whereas the audience for Classical symphony concerts
typically have above-average incomes, the audience for a rap concert in
an inner-city area may have below-average incomes.
[citation needed]
Even though the performers, audience, or venue where non-"art" music is
performed may have a lower socioeconomic status, the music that is
performed, such as blues, rap,
punk,
funk, or
ska may be very complex and sophisticated.
When composers introduce styles of music that break with convention,
there can be a strong resistance from academic music experts and popular
culture. Late-period Beethoven string quartets, Stravinsky
ballet scores,
serialism,
bebop-era jazz, hip hop, punk rock, and
electronica have all been considered non-music by some critics when they were first introduced.
[citation needed] Such themes are examined in the
sociology of music. The sociological study of music, sometimes called
sociomusicology, is often pursued in departments of sociology, media studies, or music, and is closely related to the field of
ethnomusicology.
Media and technology
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. Live music can also be broadcast over the
radio,
television or the
Internet.
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,
often uses the ability to edit and splice to produce recordings
considered better than the actual performance.
As
talking pictures
emerged in the early 20th century, with their prerecorded musical
tracks, an increasing number of moviehouse orchestra musicians found
themselves out of work.
[49] During the 1920s live musical performances by orchestras,
pianists, and
theater organists were common at first-run theaters.
[50] 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"
[51]
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 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
disc records 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
keyboards 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.
Internet
The advent of the
Internet has transformed the experience of music, partly through the increased ease of access to music and the increased choice.
Chris Anderson, in his book
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, suggests that while the economic model of
supply and demand describes scarcity, the Internet retail model is based on abundance.
Digital storage
costs are low, so a company can afford to make its whole inventory
available online, giving customers as much choice as possible. It has
thus become economically viable to offer products 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.
[52]
Another effect of the Internet arises with
online communities like
YouTube and
Facebook, a
social networking service.
Such sites simplify connecting with other musicians, and greatly
facilitate the distribution of music. 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, 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 and consumes. Manifestations of this in music include the production of
mashes,
remixes, and music videos by fans.
[53]
Business
Main article:
Music industry
The music industry refers to the business industry connected with the
creation and sale of music. It consists of record companies,
labels and
publishers
that distribute recorded music products internationally and that often
control the rights to those products. Some music labels are "
independent," while others are subsidiaries of larger corporate entities or international
media groups.
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 sites 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 store that sells digital files of songs over the Internet.
Education
Non-professional
A Suzuki violin recital with students of varying ages.
The incorporation of music training from
preschool to
post secondary education is common in North America and Europe. Involvement in music is thought to teach basic skills such as concentration,
counting, listening, and
cooperation while also promoting understanding of
language, improving the ability to
recall information, and creating an environment more conducive to learning in other areas.
[54] In
elementary schools, children often learn to play instruments such as the
recorder,
sing in small choirs, and learn about the history of Western art music.
In secondary schools students may have the opportunity to perform some
type of musical ensembles, such as choirs,
marching bands,
concert bands,
jazz bands, or orchestras, and in some school systems, music classes may be available. Some students also take private
music lessons
with a teacher. Amateur musicians typically take lessons to learn
musical rudiments and beginner- to intermediate-level musical
techniques.
At the
university level, students in most arts and
humanities programs can receive
credit for taking 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 type of musical ensembles that non-music students
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 in
Yogyakarta,
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).
Academia
Musicology is the study of the subject of music. The earliest definitions defined three sub-disciplines:
systematic musicology,
historical musicology, and comparative musicology or
ethnomusicology.
In contemporary scholarship, one is more likely to encounter a division
of the discipline into music theory, music history, and
ethnomusicology. Research in musicology has often been enriched by
cross-disciplinary work, for example in the field of
psychoacoustics.
The study of music of non-western cultures, and the cultural study of
music, is called ethnomusicology. Students can pursue the undergraduate
study of musicology, ethnomusicology,
music history, and music theory through several different types of degrees, including a
B.Mus,
a B.A. with concentration in music, a B.A. with Honors in Music, or a
B.A. in Music History and Literature. Graduates of undergraduate music
programs can go on to further study in music graduate programs.
Graduate degrees include the
Master of Music, the
Master of Arts, the
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) (e.g., in musicology or music theory), and more recently, the
Doctor of Musical Arts,
or DMA. The Master of Music degree, which takes one to two years to
complete, is typically awarded to students studying the performance of
an instrument, education, voice or composition. The Master of Arts
degree, which takes one to two years to complete and often requires a
thesis, is typically awarded to students studying musicology, music history, or music theory.
Undergraduate university degrees in music, including the
Bachelor of Music, the Bachelor of Music Education, and the
Bachelor of Arts
(with a major in music) typically take three to five years to complete.
These degrees provide students with a grounding in music theory and
music history, and many students also study an instrument or learn
singing technique as part of their program.
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.
Zoomusicology is the study of the music of non-human animals, or the musical aspects of sounds produced by non-human animals. As
George Herzog (1941) asked, "do animals have music?"
François-Bernard Mâche's
Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion (1983), a study of "ornitho-musicology" using a technique of
Nicolas Ruwet's
Langage, musique, poésie (1972)
paradigmatic segmentation analysis, shows that
bird songs
are organised according to a repetition-transformation principle.
Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990), argues that "in the last analysis, it is a
human being who decides what is and is not musical, even when the sound
is not of human origin. If we acknowledge that sound is not organised
and conceptualised (that is, made to form music) merely by its producer,
but by the mind that perceives it, then music is uniquely human."
Music theory is the study of music, generally in a highly technical
manner outside of other disciplines. More broadly it refers to any study
of music, usually related in some form with compositional concerns, and
may include
mathematics,
physics, and
anthropology. What is most commonly taught in beginning music theory classes are guidelines to write in the style of the
common practice period, or
tonal music. Theory, even of music of the common practice period, may take many other forms.
Musical set theory is the application of mathematical
set theory to music, first applied to
atonal music.
Speculative music theory, contrasted with
analytic music theory, is devoted to the analysis and synthesis of music materials, for example
tuning systems, generally as preparation for composition.
Ethnomusicology
In the West, much of the history of music that is taught deals with
the Western civilization's art music. The history of music in other
cultures ("
world music"
or the field of "ethnomusicology") is also taught in Western
universities. This includes the documented classical traditions of Asian
countries outside the influence of Western Europe, as well as the folk
or indigenous music of various other cultures. Popular styles of music
varied widely from culture to culture, and from period to period.
Different cultures emphasised different
instruments,
or techniques, or uses for music. Music has been used not only for
entertainment, for ceremonies, and for practical and artistic
communication, but also for
propaganda.
There is a host of music classifications, 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
commercial music – including
rock music,
country music, and
pop music). Some genres do not fit neatly into one of these "big two" classifications, (such as folk music, world music, or jazz music).
As world cultures have come into
greater contact, their indigenous musical styles have often merged into new styles. For example, the United States
bluegrass style contains elements from
Anglo-
Irish,
Scottish, Irish,
German
and African instrumental and vocal traditions, which were able to fuse
in the United States' multi-ethnic society. 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 are claimed by both opera and the
Broadway musical tradition. Many current music festivals celebrate a particular musical genre.
Indian music,
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,
Carnatic, 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.
Music therapy
Main article:
Music therapy
is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all
of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and
spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health. In some
instances, the client's needs are addressed directly through music; in
others they are addressed through the relationships that develop between
the client and therapist. Music therapy is used with individuals of all
ages and with a variety of conditions, including: psychiatric
disorders, medical problems, physical handicaps, sensory impairments,
developmental disabilities, substance abuse, communication disorders,
interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to: improve learning,
build self-esteem, reduce stress,
support physical exercise, and facilitate a host of other health-related activities.
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.
[55][verification needed] Music has long been used to help people deal with their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar
Robert Burton's
The Anatomy of Melancholy argued that music and dance were critical in treating
mental illness, especially
melancholia.
[56]
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."
[57][58][59] In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford
[60] and his colleagues also found that music therapy helped
schizophrenic patients.
[61] In the
Ottoman Empire, mental illnesses were treated with music.
[62]
