Rommel L Santos

INTROARTS

MUSIC

 is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which

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." Musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez summarizes the relativist, post-modern viewpoint: "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."
HISTORY OF MUSIC

Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Around
50,000 years ago, early modern humans began to disperse from Africa, reaching all the habitable
continents. Since all people of the world, including the most isolated tribal groups, have a form of music,
scientists conclude that music is likely to have been present in the ancestral population prior to the
dispersal of humans around the world. Consequently music may have been in existence for at least
50,000 years and the first music may have been invented in Africa and then evolved to become a
fundamental constituent of human life.

A culture's music is influenced by all other aspects of that culture, including social and economic
organization and experience, climate, and access to technology. The emotions and ideas that music
expresses, the situations in which music is played and listened to, and the attitudes toward music players
and composers all vary between regions and periods. "Music history" is the distinct subfield of musicology
and history which studies music (particularly western art music) from a chronological perspective.

CLASSIFICATION OF MUSIC INSTRUMENT

Sort musical instruments are to group them into groups according to their common characteristics. They
can be classified according to their constitution, the property of their sound or that way produce the
sound.

At various times, and in various different cultures, various schemes of musical instrument classification
have been used.

The most commonly used system in use in the west today divides instruments into string
instruments, wind instruments and percussion instruments. However other ones have been devised, and
some cultures also use different schemes.

The oldest known scheme of classifying instruments is Chinese and dates from the 4th century BC. It
groups instruments according to what they are made out of. All instruments made out of stone are in one
group, all those made out of wood in another, those made out of silk are in a third, and so on.

More usually, instruments are classified according to how the sound is initially produced (regardless of
post-processing, i.e. an electric guitar is still a string-instrument regardless of what analog or
digital/computational post-processing effects pedals may be used with it).
ELEMENT OF MUSIC

Dynamics
Dynamics refer to the volume or loudness of a tone. Dynamics range from very soft (pianissimo), to
very loud (fortissimo). Crescendo means gradually becoming louder. Decrescendo means gradually
becoming softer.

Tempo
Tempo comes from the Italian word meaning time, and refers to the pace of the piece of
music. Tempo markings are in Italian and range from very slow (adagio), to very fast (presto).

Melody

Melody is the part of music that we can sing. It is a series of notes arranged in a particular rhythmic
pattern and divided up into smaller units called phrases. Melody is the horizontal structure of music.

Rhythm
Rhythm is the heartbeat of music. As music passes in time, it is divided into perceptible sections, and
each section subdivided further.

Motif
A motif is a short musical idea, usually a subdivision of a theme or a phrase characterized by its
rhythm, melody or harmony.
Fugue
In the organization of a fugue, several parts (or voices) enter successively in imitation of each other.
The opening is called the subject, the imitations are called the answer, and the sections in between
are called episodes.
Rondo

The last movement of a symphony or sonata is often in the Rondo form. The term rondo comes from
the French “rondeau” meaning round. The rondo is a lively movement with a recurring theme. Its form
is A-B-A-C-A-D-A. The listener becomes more familiar and comfortable with the theme each time it
returns.
Sonata Form

The rules of sonata form apply to the first movement of a sonata or a symphony. The movement is
divided into three main sections, the exposition, the development and the recapitulation. The
exposition states the primary theme in the home key of the piece and then transitions to the
secondary theme in a new key. The development is a “working out” of these two themes reaching a
climax before returning to the primary and secondary themes in the recapitulation. This time both
themes are in the home key.
DIFFERENT MUSIC GENRES
That's a really open-ended question! But here's a try:

Rock 'n' roll (1950s) - Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley

Rock (1960s) - Beatles, Rolling Stones, Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival

Rock (1970s) - Led Zeppelin

Americana - Dave Alvin, Neko Case, John Hiatt

Emo - Death Cab for Cutie, Dashboard Confessionals

Country - Hank Williams Sr., Patsy Cline

Jazz - Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Louis Armstrong

Big Band - Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey

Pop vocalists - Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett

Blues - Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith

Folk - Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger

Reggae - Bob Marley, Toots & the Maytals

Soul - Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding

R&B - Ray Charles, Etta James

Celtic - the Chieftains

Rap - LL Cool J, Run DMC

Hip-hop - Lauryn Hill

VOICE TYPES

A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities
or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are
thereby designated into voice types. These qualities include but are not limited to: vocal range, vocal
weight, vocal tessitura, vocal timbre, and vocal transition points such as breaks and lifts within the voice.
Other considerations are physical characteristics, speech level, scientific testing, and vocal registration.
[1]
 The science behind voice classification developed within European classical music and is not generally
applicable to other forms of singing. Voice classification is often used withinopera to associate possible
roles with potential voices. There are currently several different systems in use including: the
German Fach system and the choral music system among many others. No system is universally applied
or accepted.[2] This article focuses on voice classification within classical music. For other contemporary
styles of singing see: Voice classification in non-classical music.