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A painting on an Ancient Greek vase depicts a music lesson (ca. 510 BC).

Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music 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]

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 individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts", music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art, and auditory art.

To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. Greek philosophers and 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."^[2] According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be, except that it is 'sound through time'."^[3]

History

Prehistoric eras

Ancient music can only be imagined by scholars, based on findings from a range of paleolithic sites, such as bones in which lateral holes have been pierced: these are usually identified as flutes,^[4] blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. Instruments, such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites.^[5] India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (marga) can be found in the ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas.^[6] The earliest and largest collection of prehistoric musical instruments was found in China and dates back to between 7000 and 6600 BC.^[7]

References in the Bible

Main article: History of music in the biblical period

"David with his harp" Paris Psalter,
c. 960, Constantinople

Music and theatre scholars studying the history and anthropology of Semitic and early Judeo-Christian culture, have also discovered common links between theatrical and musical activity in the classical cultures of the Hebrews with those of the later cultures of the 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:"^[8]

"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 which 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."^[8]

Antiquity

Music was an important part of cultural and social life in Ancient Greece: mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual ceremonies; musicians and singers had a prominent role in ancient Greek theater.^[9] In the 9th century, the Arab scholar al-Farabi wrote a book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir ("Great Book of Music"). He played and invented a variety of musical instruments and devised the Arab tone system of pitch organisation, which is still used in Arabic music.^[10]

Western cultures

During the Medieval music era (500-1400), the only European repertory which has survived 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. From the Renaissance music era (1400-1600), much of the surviving music of 14th century Europe is secular. By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers used a smooth polyphony for sacred musical compositions. The introduction of commercial printing helped to disseminate musical styles more quickly and across a larger area. Prominent composers from this era are Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thomas Morley and Orlande de Lassus.

Allegory of Music, by Filippino Lippi

The era of Baroque music (1600-1750) 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 the Baroque 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.^[11] Composers from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann. The music of the Classical period (1750-1800) is characterized by homophonic texture, often featuring a prominent melody with accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable. The now popular instrumental music was dominated by further evolution of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata, and the concerto, with the addition of the new form, the symphony. Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are among the central figures of the Classical period.

In 1800, the Romantic era (1800-1890s) in music developed, with Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert as transitional composers who introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. During this era, existing genres, forms, and functions of music were developed, and the emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over technique and tradition. In Beethoven's case, motifs (developed organically) came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit. 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. Later Romantic composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Gustav Mahler created complex and often much longer musical works. They used more complex chords and used more dissonance to create dramatic tension.

Non-Western Classical traditions

Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.^[12] The Indus Valley civilization has sculptures which show dance^[13] 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.^[14] The Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.^[15] Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based around a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas. Carnatic music 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. Hindustani music was also influenced by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals.

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). See also: Music of Iran, Music of Afghanistan, Music of Tajikistan, Music of Uzbekistan.

The music of Greece was a major part of ancient Greek theater. In Ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music was an important part of education in ancient Greece, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of development; Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes, eventually became the basis for Western religious music and classical music. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.

20th and 21st century music

Double bassist Reggie Workman, tenor saxophone player Pharoah Sanders, and drummer Idris Muhammad performing in 1978

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.

Jazz evolved and became a significant 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 art form which 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.^[16] From its early development until the present, jazz has also incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music.^[17] 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. 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, digital synthesizers. 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."^[18] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock music 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.

Performance

Chinese Naxi musicians

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 which 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.

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, unornamented melody. However, it was expected that performers would 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. It was expected that the performer would 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.

Production

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. 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 and orchestras. 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

An old songbook showing a 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 which 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" which may create musical sounds; examples of this range from wind chimes, through computer programs which select sounds. Music which contains elements selected by chance 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.

What is important in understanding the composition of a piece is singling out its elements. An understanding of music's formal elements can be helpful in deciphering exactly how a piece is constructed. A universal element of music is how sounds occur in time, which is referred to as the rhythm of a piece of music. When a piece appears to have a changing time-feel, it is considered to be in rubato time, an Italian expression that indicates that the tempo of the piece changes to suit the expressive intent of the performer. Even random placement of random sounds, which occurs in musical montage, occurs within some kind of time, and thus employs time as a musical element.

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.

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.

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 would improvise virtuoso cadenzas during concerts. However, in the 20th and 21st century, improvisation played a smaller role in Western Art 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 ^[19]. 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.^[20] 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.

Cognition

A chamber music group consisting of stringed instrument players, a flautist, and a harpsichordist perform in Salzburg

The field of music cognition involves the study of many aspects of music including how it is processed by listeners. Rather than accepting the standard practices of analyzing, composing, and performing music as a given, much research in music cognition seeks instead to uncover the mental processes that underlie these practices. Also, research in the field seeks to uncover commonalities between the musical traditions of disparate cultures and possible cognitive "constraints" that limit these musical systems. Questions regarding musical innateness, and emotional responses to music are also major areas of research in the field.

Deaf people can experience music by feeling the vibrations in their body, a process which can be enhanced if the individual holds a resonant, hollow object. A well-known deaf musician is the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed many famous works even after he had completely lost his hearing. Recent examples of deaf musicians include Evelyn Glennie, a highly acclaimed percussionist who has been deaf since age twelve, and Chris Buck, a virtuoso violinist who has lost his hearing. This is relevant because it indicates that music is a deeper cognitive process than unexamined phrases such as, "pleasing to the ear" would suggest. Much research in music cognition seeks to uncover these complex mental processes involved in listening to music, which may seem intuitively simple, yet are vastly intricate and complex.

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.

Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert. 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. 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 which 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

A 12-inch (30-cm) 33¹⁄₃ rpm record (left), a 7-inch 45 rpm record (right), which are both analog sound storage mediums, and a CD (above), a digital medium.

The music that composers make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence, or as one of the musicians. 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 which mixes together sounds which were never played "live". Recording, even of styles which are essentially live, often uses the ability to edit and splice to produce recordings which are 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.^[21] During the 1920s live musical performances by orchestras, pianists, and theater organists were common at first-run theaters.^[22] 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"^[23]

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 which centres around 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.^[24]

Another effect of the Internet arises with online communities like YouTube and MySpace. MySpace has made social networking with other musicians easier, and greatly facilitates the distribution of one's music. YouTube also has a large community of both amateur and professional musicians who post videos and comments.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[25]

Business

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 which 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.^[26] 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, 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 (PhD) (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 DMAis 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 Language, 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 that which studies 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

Ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore recording Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology (1916)

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

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.^[27] 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.^[28] 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." ^[29][30][31] In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford^[32] and his colleagues also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.^[33] In the Ottoman Empire, mental illnesses were treated with music.^[34]

See also

Music portal

• Wikipedia Books: Music
• Music-specific disorders

References

Further reading

• Colles, Henry Cope (1978). The Growth of Music : A Study in Musical History, 4th ed., London ; New York : Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-316116-8 (1913 edition online at Google Books)
• Harwood, Dane (1976). "Universals in Music: A Perspective from Cognitive Psychology", Ethnomusicology 20, no. 3:521-33.
• Johnson, Julian (2002). Who Needs Classical Music?: Cultural Choice and Musical Value. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-514681-6.
• Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. "Piano Improvisation Develops Musicianship." Orff-Echo XXXVII No. 1 (2004): 11-14.
• Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. "The Singing Muse: Three Centuries of Music Education in Germany." Journal of Historical Research in Music Education XXVI no. 1 (2004): 8-27.
• Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. "Didaktik of Music: A German Concept and its Comparison to American Music Pedagogy." International Journal of Music Education (Practice) 22 No. 3 (2004): 277-286.
• Kertz-Welzel, Alexandra. "General Music Education in Germany Today: A Look at How Popular Music is Engaging Students." General Music Today 18 no. 2 (Winter 2005): 14-16.
• Molino, Jean (1975). "Fait musical et sémiologue de la musique", Musique en Jeu, no. 17:37-62.
• Nattiez, Jean-Jacques (1987). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music (Musicologie générale et sémiologue, 1987). Translated by Carolyn Abbate (1979). ISBN 0-691-02714-5.
• Owen, Harold (2000). Music Theory Resource Book. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-511539-2.
• Small, Christopher (1977). Music, Society, Education. John Calder Publishers, London. ISBN 0-7145-3614-8
• Habib Hassan Touma (1996). The Music of the Arabs, trans. Laurie Schwartz. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus Press. ISBN 0-931340-88-8
• Woodall, Laura and Brenda Ziembroski, (2002). Promoting Literacy Through Music.

External links

• BBC Blast Music For 13-19 year olds interested in learning about, making, performing and talking about music.
• The Virginia Tech Multimedia Music Dictionary, with definitions, pronunciations, examples, quizzes and simulations
• The Music-Web Music Encyclopedia, for musicians, composers and music lovers
• Dolmetsch free online music dictionary, complete, with references to a list of specialised music dictionaries (by continent, by instrument, by genre, etc.)
• Musical Terms - Glossary of music terms from Naxos
• "On Hermeneutical Ethics and Education: Bach als Erzieher", a paper by Prof. Miguel Ángel Quintana Paz in which he explains the history of the different views hold about music in Western societies, since the Ancient Greece to our days.
• Monthly Online Features From Bloomingdale School of Music, addressing a variety of musical topics for a wide audience
• Arts and Music Uplifting Society towards Transformation and Tolerance Articles meant to stimulate people’s awareness about the peace enhancing, transforming, communicative, educational and healing powers of music.

Music History Ancient · Biblical · Medieval · Renaissance · Baroque · Classical period · Romantic · 20th century · Contemporary Composition Composer · Form · Genre · Notation · Theory · Improvisation Careers Music history · Musicology · Ethnomusicology · Music cognition · Music therapy · Music education Production Musician · Lyrics · Song · Album (compilation · live · studio) · Record label · Record producer Music around the world African (East Africa  · North African  · Southern Africa  · West African)  · Asian (Central Asia  · East Asia  · Middle East  · South Asia  · Southeast Asia) · European (Eastern Europe  · Northern Europe  · Southern  · Southeastern Europe  · Western) · Latin American (Caribbean  · Central America  · South American) · Middle Eastern  · Oceania (Polynesian  · Melanesia  · Micronesia) Lists Topics · Outline · Glossary of musical terminology · Glossary of jazz and popular musical terminology · Forms · Instruments · Audio Other topics Definition of music · Music and mathematics · Music and politics · Aesthetics of music · Philosophy of music · Music psychology Category · Portal

From Wikiquote

Music is an art form that involves sounds and silence. Music may be used for artistic or aesthetic, communicative, entertainment, or ceremonial purposes. The definition of what constitutes music varies according to culture and social context.

Sourced

• 2 A.M. and I'm still awake writing this song.
  If I get it all down on paper, it's no longer
  Inside of me, threatenin' the life it belongs to.
  • Anna Nalick, "Breathe (2 A.M.)", Wreck of the Day (2005)

• All aspects of musical practice may be disengaged, and privileged, in order to give birth to new forms of variation: variations on the relationships between the composer and the performer, between the conductor and the performer, between the performers, between the performer and the listener, variations upon gestures, variations on silence that end in a mute music that is still music because it preserves still something of the musical totality of the tradition...all elements belonging to the total musical fact may be seperated and taken as a strategic variable of musical production. This autonomization serves as true musical experimentation: little by little, the individual variables that make up a total musical fact are brought to light. Any particular music then appears as one that has made a choice among these variables, and that has privileged a certain number of them. Under these conditions, musical analysis would have to begin by recognizing the strategic variables characteristic of a given musical system: musical invention and musical analysis lend each other mutual aid.
  • Jean Molino quoted in Nattiez, Jean-Jacques, Abbate, Carolyn (translator) (1987 (original), 1990 (translation)). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. pp. 42–43. ISBN 0691027145.  

• Being in a band is really great when you're 20. When you're 30, it's kind of 'Spinal Tap,' and when you're 40, it's just pathetic.
  • Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo, quoted in "Make a Myth, Whip It Good", New York Times, 2001-04-18.

• The emphasis of study upon a particular aspect of music is in itself ideological because it contains implications about the music's value.
  • Green, Lucy (1999). "Ideology". Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. ISBN 0631212639.  

• If we compel the composer to write in terms of what the listener is able to hear, we flirt with the danger of freezing the evolution of musical language, whose progressive development comes about through transgressions of a given era's perceptual habits."
  • Nattiez, Jean-Jacques, Abbate, Carolyn (translator) (1987 (original), 1990 (translation)). Music and Discourse: Toward a Semiology of Music. ISBN 0691027145.  

• In order for music to free itself, it will have to pass over to the other side -— there where territories tremble, where the structures collapse, where the ethoses get mixed up, where a powerful song of the earth is unleashed, the great ritornelles that transmutes all the airs it carries away and makes return.
  • Gilles Deleuze, from his Essays Critical and Clinical, p. 104.

• It appears to me that the subject of music, from Machaut to Boulez, has always been its construction. Melodies of 12-tone rows just don't happen. They must be constructed. … To demonstrate any formal idea in music, whether structure or stricture, is a matter of construction, in which the methodology is the controlling metaphor of the composition... Only by 'unfixing' the elements traditionally used to construct a piece of music could the sounds exist in themselves—not as symbols, or memories which were memories of other music to begin with.
  • Morton Feldman, quoted in Kostelanetz, Richard (editor) and Joseph Darby (editor). Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music. ISBN 0028645812.  

• Most people have music in the center of their lives. I believe my work sheds light on how music affects us and why it is so influential.
  • Susan McClary, quoted in Sullivan, Meg (May 2002). Spotlight: Susan McClary, Musicologist.

• Music has no subject beyond the combinations of notes we hear, for music speaks not only by means of sounds, it speaks nothing but sound.
  • Eduard Hanslick, quoted by Wolfgang Sandberger (1996) in the liner notes to the Juilliard String Quartet's Intimate Letters. Sony Classical SK 66840.

• One day I said to myself that it would be better to get rid of all that—melody, rhythm, harmony, etc. This was not a negative thought and did not mean that it was necessary to avoid them, but rather that, while doing something else, they would appear spontaneously. We had to liberate ourselves from the direct and peremptory consequence of intention and effect, because the intention would always be our own and would be circumscribed, when so many other forces are evidently in action in the final effect.
  • Christian Wolff, quoted in Kostelanetz, Richard (editor) and Joseph Darby (editor). Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music. ISBN 0028645812.  

• Our musical alphabet is poor and illogical. Music, which should pulsate with life, needs new means of expression, and science alone can infuse it with youthful vigor. Why, Italian Futurists, have you slavishly reproduced only what is commonplace and boring in the bustle of our daily lives. I dream of instruments obedient to my thought and which with their contribution of a whole new world of unsuspected sounds, will lend themselves to the exigencies of my inner rhythm.
  • Edgard Varese, quoted in Kostelanetz, Richard (editor) and Joseph Darby (editor). Classic Essays on Twentieth-Century Music. ISBN 0028645812.  

• The term 'chromatic' is understood by musicians to refer to music which includes tones which are not members of the prevailing scale, and also as a word descriptive of those individually non-diatonic tones.
  • Shir-Cliff, J (1965). Chromatic Harmony. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0029286301.  

• We can no longer maintain any distinction between music and discourse about music, between the supposed object of analysis and the terms of analysis.
  • Horner, Bruce (1999). "Discourse". Key Terms in Popular Music and Culture. ISBN 0631212639.  

• We must ask whether a cross-cultural musical universal is to be found in the music itself (either its structure or function) or the way in which music is made. By 'music-making,' I intend not only actual performance but also how music is heard, understood, even learned.
  • Dane Harwood (1976:522). "Universals in Music: A Perspective from Cognitive Psychology", Ethnomusicology 20, no. 3:521-33

• We're blues people. And blues never lets tragedy have the last word.
  • Wynton Marsalis in Smithsonian Magazine, November 2005.

• "Without music, life would be a mistake."
  • Friedrich Nietzsche, in Götzen-Dämmerung (Twilight of the Idols)

• Music is an extraordinary locksmith; it is so competent that it can open our soul's door even with closed eyes!
  • Mehmet ildan, in Quotations

• Orsino: If music be the food of love, play on;
  Give me excess of it that, surfeiting,
  The appetite may sicken and so die.
  
  • Shakespeare, Twelfth Night Act I, sc. i

• "We get nearer to the Lord through music than perhaps through any other thing except prayer."
  • J. Reuben Clark, LDS Conference Report, Oct. 1936

• "Music" includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession of repetitive beats.
  • Section 63 (1)(b) of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (United Kingdom).
  • This section attempts to define music played at raves, in order to give police power to ban them. It was widely ridiculed at the time and since (see, e.g., Marcel Berlins, "Writ Large", The Guardian, February 1, 1994).

Unsourced

• "Ahh...music, a magic far beyond all we do here."
  • character Albus Dumbledore in JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the U.S.)

• "After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music."
  • Aldous Huxley

• "But then there's a moment like tonight, a profound and transcendent experience, the feeling as if a door has opened, and it's all because of that instrument, that incredible, magical instrument."
  • from the TV show Northern Exposure (episode 5x13, Mite Makes Right)

• "Classical music is the kind we keep thinking will turn into a tune."
  • Kin Hubbard

• "For those of you seeking immortality, forget politics. Support the arts instead."
  • Dr. Ruth Griffioen

• "Hell is full of musical amateurs: music is the brandy of the damned."
  • George Bernard Shaw

• "I don't know anything about music. In my line you don't have to."
  • Elvis Presley

• "I hate music, especially when it's played."
  • Jimmy Durante

• "I look at it this way, if the guitarist jumps ship, and we can't replace him, i'll point my gun at my drummer, and he'll point his at me, we'll count to three and end this madness."
  • Toast

• "If a composer could say what he had to say in words he would not bother trying to say it in music."
  • Gustav Mahler

• "If you develop an ear for sounds that are musical it is like developing an ego. You begin to refuse sounds that are not musical and that way cut yourself off from a good deal of experience."
  • John Cage

• "In the beginning there was Jack, and Jack had a groove. And from this groove came the grooves of all grooves. And while one day visciously throwing down on his box, Jack boldly declared: "Let there be house!" And housemusic was born. I am you see, I am the creator, and this is my house, and in my house there is only housemusic. But I am not so selfish, because once you're into my house it then becomes our house and our housemusic. And you see, no one man owns house, because housemusic is a universal language spoken and understood by all. You see, house is a feeling, that no one can understand really, unless you're deep into the vibe of house. House is an uncontrolable desire to jack your body. And as I told you before: This is our house and our housemusic. In every house, you understand, there is a keeper and in this house the keeper is Jack. Now, some of you might wonder "Who is Jack and what is it that Jack does?" Jack is the one who gives you the power to jack your body. Jack is the one who gives you the power to do the snake. Jack is the one who gives you the key to the wiggly worm. Jack is the one who learns you how to walk your body. Jack is the one that can bring nations and nations of all jackers together under one house. You may be black, you may be white, you may be Jew or Gentile... It dont make a difference in our house. And this is fresh."
  • Larry Heard (Mr Fingers)

• "Music is the chalk to the blackboard of life. Without it, everything is a blank slate."
  • Lexi Carter

• "Playing the blues is like having to be black twice - Stevie Ray Vaughan missed on both counts, but I never noticed."
  • B.B. King

• "There is only one better thing than music - live music."
  • Jacek Bukowski

• “Thanks to great singers, music has acquired a human voice.”
  • Leonid S. Sukhorukov

• "The immoral profession of musical criticism must be abolished."
  • Richard Wagner

• "…I think, fundamentally, music is something inherently people love and need and relate to, and a lot of what's out right now feels like McDonalds. It's quick-fix. You kind of have a stomachache afterwards."
  • Trent Reznor, interview in Salt Lake Tribune, September 29, 2005

• "I think I should have no other mortal wants, if I could always have plenty of music. It seems to infuse strength into my limbs and ideas into my brain. Life seems to go on without effort, when I am filled with music."
  • George Eliot

• "It seems like people get afraid of a certain music if they can't pigeonhole it to their satisfaction...Good music is good music, and that should be enough for anybody."
  • Bradley Nowell

• The most important thing to me as a songwriter is the breath. The most important thing I could say to somebody is, "Sometimes I just breathe you in."
  • Tori Amos

• Most people die with their music still locked up inside them.
  • Benjamin Disraeli

• Music expresses that which cannot be said and on which it is impossible to be silent.
  • Victor Hugo

• Musicians are the architects of heaven.
  • Bobby McFerrin

• Music is a discipline, and a mistress of order and good manners, she makes the people milder and gentler, more moral and more reasonable.
  • Martin Luther

• Music is a laudable medium of soothening the hearts of people.
  • M.S. Subbulakshmi

• Music is essentially useless, as life is: but both have an ideal extension which lends utility to its conditions.
  • George Santayana

• Music is love in search of a word.
  • Sidney Lanier

• Music is everything one listens to with the intention of listening to music.
  • Luciano Berio

• Music is organized sound.
  • Edgard Varèse

• Music is the application of sounds to the canvas of silence.
  • Carl Jung

• Music is the exaltation of the mind derived from things eternal, bursting forth in sound.
  • Thomas Aquinas

• Music is the only language in which you cannot say a mean or sarcastic thing.
  • John Erskine

• Music is what I love and it's what I feel and it's in me and to know that I can do something that I enjoy and hopefully bring some enjoyment to other people through is an incredible felling and I am just really thankful for it.
  • Mariah Carey

• Music, like religion, unconditionally brings in its train all the moral virtues to the heart it enters, even though that heart is not in the least worthy.
  • Jean Baptiste Montegut

• Music makes one feel so romantic - at least it always gets on one's nerves - which is the same thing nowadays.
  • Oscar Wilde

• Music with dinner is an insult both to the cook and the violinist.
  • G. K. Chesterton

• My heart, which is so full to overflowing, has often been solaced and refreshed by music when sick and weary.
  • Martin Luther

• My mother's idol among pianists was Paderewski. I knew that I would never be a Paderewski, so I searched among the other great pianists of the day, looking for a model, and I found one at last who seemed to be just right for me. He was Vladimir de Pachmann. His style was refined, and so was mine. He was distinguished for the fact that especially in the works of Chopin he struck a great number of wrong notes. It was here that I knew I could rival him, and perhaps even excel him. You see, he struck his wrong notes in extremely rapid passages; I worked at my technique until I was certain that I could strike great numbers of wrong notes in very slow passages.
  • Robertson Davies, "My Musical Career"

• My music is best understood by children and animals.
  • Igor Stravinsky

• No good opera plot can be sensible, for people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.
  • W. H. Auden

• The sexual embrace can only be compared with music and with prayer.
  • Havelock Ellis

• Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons, and you will find that it is to the soul what the water bath is to the body.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

• There is no feeling, except the extremes of fear and grief, that does not find relief in music.
  • George Eliot

• There are two means of refuge from the misery of life—music and cats.
  • Albert Schweitzer

• Those who are affected by music can be divided into two classes: those who hear the spiritual meaning, and those who hear the material sound. There are good and evil results in each case.
  • Anonymous

• When we are touched by a song, it is because the artist cannot hide himself.
  • Leonard Cohen

• The whole problem can be stated quite simply by asking, "Is there a meaning to music?" My answer would be, "Yes." And "Can you state in so many words what the meaning is?" My answer to that would be, "No."
  • Aaron Copland

• "Look, I'm a pop star... I'm very busy. I do not have time to learn how to play a musical instrument."
  • Phil Oakey of The Human League

• The only thing to rely on is music, as it is the only thing that will be there when you need it.
• Music is everywhere from the sound of your alarm to the word goodnight.
  • Stephen Conlan

• Music is the human soul compressed into noise
  • Richard Leadbeater

• "Never sound pompous. You always sound noble, noble. Absolute character of music is nobility. Even popular music can be noble, you see. If it's not noble, then it's not very good..Music is an art of emotion, of nobility, of dignity, of greatness, of love, of tenderness. All that must be brought out in music but never a show of pompousness."
  • Arthur Rubinstein, during master class on Chopin's First Ballade

• "Assassins!"
  • Arturo Toscanini to his orchestra

• "I think of music more like a mirror that reflects the things we feel inside to the rest of the world."
  • Joshua Greenway when reflecting on the various claims that music gives meaning to life.

See also

• Art
• Mass culture

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Music

Look up music in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

From Wikisource

Music may refer to:

Encyclopedic

• 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Music

Literary

• Music, a poem by Florence Earle Coates from Poems (1898)
• Music, a poem by E. E. Cummings
• Music, a poem by Wilfred Owen
• Music, a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley
• Music, a poem by Clark Ashton Smith

From LoveToKnow 1911

(There is currently no text in this page)

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia has an article on:

Music

Wikipedia

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: myo͞o'zĭk, IPA: /ˈmjuːzɪk/, SAMPA: /"mju:zIk/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -uːzɪk

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman musik, musike, Old French musique, and their sourceLatin mūsica, from Ancient Greek μουσική (τέχνη) "(art) of the Muses".

Noun

music (uncountable) (mass noun)

1. A sound, or the study of such sounds, organized in time.
2. (figuratively) Any pleasing or interesting sounds
3. Something wonderful.

   That's music to my ears!

4. A guide to playing or singing a particular tune; sheet music.

Synonyms

• melody
• vibe

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• Wikipedia article on the definition of music
• MusicNovatory: the science of music encyclopedia

Interlingua

Pronunciation

• IPA: [ˈmuzik]

Adjective

music

1. musical, of, or pertaining to music.

Synonyms

• musical

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

A reader requests that this book be expanded to include more material. You can help by adding new material (learn how) or ask for help in the reading room.

TODO *Create a proper TOC Define and solidify scope of book Organize all sections/modules into broad Units/Parts/Chapters Remove topics which are beyond the scope of the book Use development stages to indicate relative completeness of particular sections/modules

This book discusses tonal music theory, specifically of the common practice period onwards, including jazz, blues, rock, and other modern styles. It focuses mostly on Western (i.e., Western European, Euro-American, and Afro-American) styles, however, all styles of music are discussed.

Common Practice Style

Fundamentals of Common Practice Music

The very basics of Western music theory.

What is a pitch? How is a keyboard set up? How is Western music notated? What are keys, modes and chords? What about scales? What is part-writing? What is figured bass?

Musical Instruments

We can create musical notes with many different vibrating objects: instruments. The most obvious ones are our vocal cords: flaps of flesh within our throats, which vibrate when we push air through them with our lungs.The pitch of the note produced by our vibrating vocal cords depends upon the size of the gap we leave between them. Other types of instruments include reed instruments, (which produces sound by the vibration of a piece of wood) brass instruments, (which produce sounds by vibration of the lips) and percussion instruments ( which vibrates things using their hand or a mallet).

Tones, overtones, and harmonics

Harmony

Harmony is the underlying foundation of music of the Common Practice period. To study harmony is to study how particular sonorities are related and function with respect to a primary tonal region based upon a central pitch class.

The Mathematical definition of harmony: Presume that waves X and Y are of wavelengths A and B. In other words X(nA) = X(mA), and Y(nB) = Y(mB), where n and m are any 2 integer numbers.

Now, presume that wave Z is a combination of X and Y. In other words Z(n) = X(n) + Y(n), where n is any number. Because Z is a function of X+Y, Z only repeats at any point where X and Y both repeat. This point is the lowest common multiple of A and B, which will henceforth be referred to as value C. C is the combined wavelength of X and Y.

The nature of tonal harmony is that the lower the value of C, the more harmonized the notes are. This is why octaves are the most harmonized; a note's octave repeats twice as often as the note itself, so if 2n is the wavelength of any note, n is its octave. Obviously, the lowest common multiple of N and 2N is 2N itself, which makes the wavelength of a note combined with its octave just the wavelength of the note itself, and the shortest possible combine wavelength of 2 notes.

Counterpoint

The study of how melodic lines best interact in order to create functional and logical harmonic progressions. The term "counterpoint" comes from the Latin 'punctus contra punctum' or point against point (note against note).

Form

Basics

• Introduction
• How to read Music
• Music Notation Systems
• Rhythm
• Scales and Intervals
• Modes
• Chords
• Chord Structures
• Consonance and Dissonance

Beyond the Basics

• The Physics of Music
• Finding the Key and Mode of a Piece
• Playing by Ear
• Complete List of Chord Patterns
• Modulation
• Chromaticism
• Syncopation

Modern Styles

• Barbershop
• Blues
• Country
• Dance
• Folk, Old Time, Bluegrass, etc.
• Funk
• Hip Hop, Rap, etc.
• Hymn
• Jazz, incl. Swing
• Metal
• New Age
• Pop, Pop/Rock, etc.
• Reggae
• Rock, Hard Rock, etc.
• Samba
• Ska
• Miscellaneous Styles
• R&B
• Reggaetón

Styles in the Western Classical Tradition

• Plainsong
• Early Western European
• Renaissance
• Baroque
• Classical
• Romantic
• Atonal
• Serialism
• Spectralism

Traditional and Folk styles

• Calypso
• Celtic
• Chinese
• Eastern European
• Indian
• Japanese

Composer: Personal styles

• Messiaen, Olivier
• Lohse, Martin

Composing

• Software Needed
• Four Part
  • Melody(Soprano)
    • Phrasing
  • Bass
  • Alto And Tenor
• Counterpoint

Further reading

Western Music History

• Making Cassette Tape Loops
• Real Book Errata
• Writing Effective Songs
• Guitar
• Harmonica
• Indonesian/Children's songs
• Writing a Metal Song
• Animal Behavior/The Correlation Between Bird Song and Human Speech
• Accordion

About this book

• Authors

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

The Music genre encompasses games which heavily incorporate the use of music in the gameplay.

An entry about Music games can be found at Wikipedia.

From BibleWiki

Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban's interview with Jacob (Gen 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15).

But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1Sam 10:5; 19:19-24; 2Kg 3:15; 1Chr 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Sam 19:35; Eccl 2:8). The temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam 6:5; 1 Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6).

In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Psalm 137; Jer 48:33; Lk 15:25).

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