WHAT IS MUSIC?

 It came from the Greek word “mousike” which means the art of Muse.
 It is a common language of mankind.
 It is a collection of coordinated sound or sounds.
 Making music is the process of putting sounds and tones in an order, often combining them to create a
unified composition.
 People who make music creatively organize sounds for a desired result, like a Beethoven symphony or one
of Duke Ellington's jazz songs.
 Music is made of sounds, vibrations, and silent moments, and it doesn't always have to be pleasant or
pretty. It can be used to convey a whole range of experiences, environments, and emotions.
 To a scientist, music means that it is the system of vibrations.
 To a musician, it is the relationship between the ear and the instrument or voice.
 Almost every human culture has a tradition of making music.
 Each kind of music has its own rules that speaks to us in its own way. Music is one of the finest outlets for
self-expression.
SUBJECT IN MUSIC

 Coming of Age/ Growing Up - Many songs deal with growing up or growing older. The singer tends to tell a
story about his/her development as he/she grows old.
o Example: 7 years// Lucas Graham
 Statements of Discontent - Music can often be used as an expression of frustration with a political
situation, or with someone in that singer’s life.
o Example: Upuan// Gloc 9
 Friendship - This theme crosses all genres. It’s something that a worldwide audience can connect to since
it talks about being able to help each other through struggles or being an effective friend.
o Example: Minsan// Eraserheads
 Heartbreak - This theme is commonly used nowadays, it talks about dealing about loss or failure about love
o Example: Huling Sandali// December Avenue
 Death - While unfortunate, your favorite artists go through losing loved ones too, which makes it one of
the most popular themes. However, not all of it sounds morbid
o Example: Huling El Bimbo// Eraserheads
 Love - One of the common subject that’s being used today. It talks about everything about being in love or
having euphoria because of someone.
o Example: Ako’y Sa’yo// First Circle
Functions of Music

1. Entertainment

Entertainment is a huge part of music in society. It is all around us. Gigs in Pubs, music festivals, busking, TV
shows like X factor. The entertainment within music in society is one of the parts of the industry that people
who are not overly interested in listening to music will still get engaged in, because of the visuals, tv screen
and live performance. Being involved with these will also have a social benefit to the members of the public.

2. Communication 

There are lots of example of communication within music in society. There are many encouraging song which
is motivational to people who is listening to it.
For example: The song from ‘The Scripts’ called “Hall of Fame” is so motivational, because it narrates a story,
how a man who is good for nothing, becomes a champion and a girl who is deaf, becomes a great dancer, as
the background of the song, and also it have good lyrics as well.

3. Religious

Music and religion are closely linked in relationships as complex, diverse, and difficult to define as either term
in itself. Religious believers have heard music as the voices of gods and the cacophony of devils, praised it as
the purest form of spirituality, and condemned it as the ultimate in sensual depravity; with equal enthusiasm
they have promoted its use in worship and sought to eradicate it from both religious and secular life.
 4. Cult of Celebrity

In Music Society today, the majority of artists rank popularity, fashion and money above the importance of their
music.
Everyday, more and more artists are getting discovered and welcomed into the music business. Millions of
people around the world only dream of a lifestyle similar to stars like Miley Cyrus, Justin Bieber and One
Direction; which includes doing the thing they love every single day and getting paid extreme amounts for it.
To get their music out there, undiscovered artists will promote themselves via the internet, through friends and
family, through street busking and some will even apply to go on televised shows like the X-Factor to get their
musical name out there.

5. Music and politics

The connection between music and politics, particularly political expression in song, has been seen in many
cultures. Although music influences political movements and rituals, it is not clear how or to what extent
general audiences relate to music on a political level. Music can express anti-establishment or protest themes,
including anti-war songs, but pro-establishment ideas are also represented, for example, in national anthems,
patriotic songs, and political campaigns. Many of these types of songs could be described as topical songs.
Songs can be used to portray a specific political message. However, there may be barriers to the transmission
of such messages; even overtly political songs are often shaped by and reference their contemporary political
context, making an understanding of the history and events that inspired the music necessary in order to fully
comprehend the message. The nature of that message can also be ambiguous because the label “political
music” can be applied either to songs that merely observe political subjects, songs which offer a partisan
opinion, or songs which go further and advocate for specific political action. A distinction has been made, for
example, between the use of music as a tool for raising awareness, and music as advocacy.
 6. Music in Performing arts

Music is an art form which combines pitch, rhythm, and dynamic in order to create sound. It can be performed
using a variety of instruments and styles and is divided into genres such as folk, jazz, hip hop, pop, and rock,
etc. As an art form, music can occur in live or recorded formats, and can be planned or improvised.
As music is a protean art, it easily co-ordinates with words for songs as physical movements do in dance.
Moreover, it has a capability of shaping human behaviours as it impacts our emotions.

7. Ceremonies

Music takes some important role in most of the ceremonies. people used to convey the feelings through the
music played in the ceremonies.
The music played during the different part of the wedding ceremony had always a great importance in assuring
a nice, joyful and elegant background for the wedding.
The music played during a funeral also has a great importance in assuring sad, sorrow and the low spirits of
the relatives and the people around them.

Music takes an important role in most of the ceremonies, it is used to convey the feelings through the music
played. It always assure a nice, joyful, and elegant background during a wedding ceremony. The music played
during a funeral also has a great importance in assuring sad, sorrow, and the low spirits of the relatives and the
people around them.
 8. Dance Music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole

It is the music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece
or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance and
recorded dance music.

Music Media

Media Music is used for a vast number of media uses. Everything from "hold music" to the top Hollywood
blockbusters use Media Music. Media Music is written with the intention of enhancing a product or production.
It is not written specifically for direct sale to the public - which is where it differs from commercial music which
is sold by record companies around the world.

Media Music is often described as Stock Music, Production Music or Library Music. There are also other terms
such as Royalty Free Music and Buyout Music, which relate to specific types of music companies and how
they license music.
MUSIC GENRES

 Blues – It is developed in the 19th century. It was originally played by a single performer singing with a guitar
or banjo. By the 1960s, The Blues had evolved significantly along with the new instruments used like electric
guitars, bass and drums. A common feature of Blues music is the 12 bar blues chord structure.

 Classical – It refers broadly to most orchestral styles between 1750 and 1820. It came as a reaction to the
rules and restrictions prevalent in baroque music which predates it.

 Country – Country music has its roots in the south of the USA. It evolved from a combination of different
fold styles. In the modern era, there are numerous sub-genres like country pop, country rock, and neo-
country.

 Dance – It is a more modern genre that could also be categorized as electronic music. Combined with the
evolution of pop music, electronic dance music took off in the late 1980’s and early 90’s.

 Folk – A very traditional genre. It is orally passed down over time. Storytelling is a key aspect of folk music,
and folk genre is a consistent element.

 Jazz – It historically started in New Orleans in the early 1900’s. It has musical flexibility not seen in other
genres. It has a huge range of potential instrumental structures and setups.

 K-Pop – It was initially categorized as a brand rather than a type of music. It borrows a variety of forms,
including pop, electronic music, rap, R&B and even classical music.

 Pop – It is an ever-evolving genre that encompasses any music that is designed for the masses. Anything
played on mainstream radio can be categorized as pop.

 Rap – It describes a style of vocal delivery. It has grown to incorporate increasingly complex rhyme
schemes and has been appreciated in the same regard as poetry.

 Rhythm and Blues (R&B) – It originated in African American communities in the 1940s. It was popularized
in the 1950s and the term was applied to blues records. In the 1970s the term was used to describe soul
and funk.
  Reggae – It is a fusion of traditional Jamaican folk music with jazz and R&B. Offbeat rhythms and staccato
chords are common musical themes, and it is linked to Rastafarianism and Afrocentric religion.

 Genre Crossover – Musical genres in the modern era are subjective and fluid. The lines became so
blurred. (It doesn’t have the same rigidity and significance that it used to.) It’s almost expected that you
cross some boundaries as a modern artist to broaden your appeal.

ELEMENTS OF MUSIC

 Melody – the series of coordinated pitches that form the main line of a tune. It is the linear/horizontal
presentation of pitch (the word used to describe the highness or lowness of a musical sound). Many
famous musical compositions have a memorable melody or theme.
o Theme is a melody that is the basis for an extended musical work.
o It can be derived from various scales (families of pitches) such as the traditional major and
minor scales of tonal music, to more unusual ones such as the old church modes, the chromatic
scale and the whole tone scale (both used in popular and art-music styles of the late 19th and
20th-century periods), or unique scale systems devised in other cultures around the world.
o Melodies can be described as:
 Conjunct – smooth; easy to sing or play.
 Disjunct – disjointedly ragged or jumpy; difficult to sing or play.

 Harmony – It is the verticalization of pitch. It is often thought of as the art of combining pitches into chords;
several notes played simultaneously as a block. These chords are usually arranged into chord progressions.
o It is often described in terms of its relative harshness as:
 Dissonance – a harsh-sounding harmonic combination.
 Consonance – a smooth-sounding harmonic combination.
 Dissonant chords produce musical "tension" which is often "released" by resolving to
consonant chords.
o Other terms relating to harmony are:
 Modality – harmony created out of the ancient Medieval/Renaissance modes.
 Tonality – harmony that focuses on a “home” key center.
 Atonality – modern harmony that avoids any sense of a home key center.

 Rhythm – It is the repeated patterns of movement in sound. Basically, rhythm is the placement of sound in
time. It involves specific units of sound arranged as beats.
o There are several important aspects of rhythm:
 Duration – how long a sound or silence lasts.
 Tempo – the speed of the beat.
 Meter – beats organized into recognizable/recurring ancient patterns. It can be seen/felt
through the standard patterns used by conductors.
o Other terms relating to rhythm are:
 Syncopation – an “off-the-beat” accent between the counted numbers.
 Ritardando – it slows down the tempo.
  Accelerando – it speeds up the tempo.
 Rubato – freely and expressively making subtle changes in the tempo. It is a technique that
is commonly encountered in music of the Romantic era.

 Dynamics - All musical aspects relating to the relative loudness or quietness of music falls under the
general element of dynamics.
o Dynamic levels – Most of the terms used in describing dynamic levels are often in Italian.
 Pianissimo (pp) – very quiet
 Piano (p) – quiet
 Mezzo-piano (mp) – moderately quiet
 Mezzo-forte (mf) – moderately loud
 Forte (f) – loud
 Fortissimo (ff) – very loud
o Other terms relating to dynamics are:
 Crescendo – gradually getting louder.
 Diminuendo or decrescendo – gradually getting quieter.
 Accent – punching or leaning into a note harder to temporarily emphasize it.

 Tone Color or Timbre (tamber) – Each musical instrument or voice produces its own characteristic pattern
of “overtones,” which gives it a unique "tone color" or timbre. Composers use timbre much like painters use
colors to evoke certain effects on a canvas. A variety of timbres can also be created by combining
instruments and/or voices.

 Texture – It refers to the number of individual musical lines (melodies) and the relationship these lines have
to one another. There are four types of textures, these are:
o Monophonic – Music with only one note sounding at a time, having no harmony nor
accompaniment.
o Homophonic – Music with two or more notes sounding at the same time, but features a prominent
melody in the upper part, supported by a less intricate harmonic accompaniment underneath. Often
based on homogenous chords or the blocks of sound.
o Polyphonic – Music with two or more independent melodies sounding at the same time. It has the
most intricate types:
 Canon and Fugue – it may introduce three or more independent melodies simultaneously
which is called counterpoint.
o Imitative – Imitation is a special type of polyphonic texture produced whenever a musical idea is
ECHOED from "voice" to "voice". Although imitation can be used in monophonic styles, it is
more prevalent in polyphonic art-music— especially from the Renaissance and Baroque
periods.

 Musical Form – Letters are used to designate musical divisions brought about by the repetition of melodic
material for the presentation of new and contrasting material. These are the most common musical forms:
o Strophic – A design in vocal music, in which the same music is used for several different verses or
strophes of words.
o Through-composed – A structure in which there is no repeat or return of any large-scale musical
section.
o Binary – A two-part form in which both main sections are repeated. Contrast is the basic premise of
this form.
o Temporary – A three-part form that features a return of the initial music after a contrasting section.
Symmetry and balance are achieved through this return of material.
 All of these elements help to create a desired end result.