Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musiciansseeking contracts and engagements in hardware in may pen clarendon jamaica uk variety of settings. For example, it can be hard to draw the line between some early s hard rock and heavy metal. To find out how you can make your money go further, read our guides to finance in Germany. Hatdware, Andy and Richard A.

Meter animates time in regular pulse groupings, called measures or bars , which in Western classical, popular and traditional music often group notes in sets of two e. Meters are made easier to hear because songs and pieces often but not always place an emphasis on the first beat of each grouping. In pop and rock, the rhythm parts of a song are played by the rhythm section , which includes chord-playing instruments e.

Musical texture is the overall sound of a piece of music or song. The texture of a piece or song is determined by how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall nature of the sound in a piece. Texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices see common types below.

For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these layers could be a string section, or another brass.

The thickness also is affected by the amount and the richness of the instruments. Texture is commonly described according to the number of and relationship between parts or lines of music:. Music that contains a large number of independent parts e.

Timbre , sometimes called "color" or "tone color" is the quality or sound of a voice or instrument. For example, a Hz A note sounds different when it is played on oboe , piano, violin or electric guitar. Even if different players of the same instrument play the same note, their notes might sound different due to differences in instrumental technique e.

Even two instrumentalists playing the same note on the same instrument one after the other may sound different due to different ways of playing the instrument e.

The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include the spectrum , envelope and overtones of a note or musical sound. For electric instruments developed in the 20th century, such as electric guitar, electric bass and electric piano , the performer can also change the tone by adjusting equalizer controls , tone controls on the instrument, and by using electronic effects units such as distortion pedals.

The tone of the electric Hammond organ is controlled by adjusting drawbars. Expressive qualities are those elements in music that create change in music without changing the main pitches or substantially changing the rhythms of the melody and its accompaniment. Performers, including singers and instrumentalists, can add musical expression to a song or piece by adding phrasing , by adding effects such as vibrato with voice and some instruments, such as guitar, violin, brass instruments and woodwinds , dynamics the loudness or softness of piece or a section of it , tempo fluctuations e.

Expression is achieved through the manipulation of pitch such as inflection, vibrato, slides etc. Expression therefore can be seen as a manipulation of all elements in order to convey "an indication of mood, spirit, character etc. In music, form describes the overall structure or plan of a song or piece of music, [25] and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections.

From the s onward, Western pop and rock songs are often in verse-chorus form , which is based around a sequence of verse and chorus "refrain" sections, with new lyrics for most verses and repeating lyrics for the choruses. Popular music often makes use of strophic form , sometimes in conjunction with the twelve bar blues. In the tenth edition of The Oxford Companion to Music , Percy Scholes defines musical form as "a series of strategies designed to find a successful mean between the opposite extremes of unrelieved repetition and unrelieved alteration.

Scholes states that European classical music had only six stand-alone forms: simple binary, simple ternary, compound binary, rondo, air with variations, and fugue although musicologist Alfred Mann emphasized that the fugue is primarily a method of composition that has sometimes taken on certain structural conventions. Where a piece cannot readily be broken down into sectional units though it might borrow some form from a poem, story or programme , it is said to be through-composed.

Such is often the case with a fantasia , prelude , rhapsody , etude or study , symphonic poem , Bagatelle , impromptu , etc. Some styles of music place an emphasis on certain of these fundamentals, while others place less emphasis on certain elements.

To give one example, while Bebop -era jazz makes use of very complex chords, including altered dominants and challenging chord progressions , with chords changing two or more times per bar and keys changing several times in a tune, funk places most of its emphasis on rhythm and groove , with entire songs based around a vamp on a single chord.

While Romantic era classical music from the mid- to lates makes great use of dramatic changes of dynamics, from whispering pianissimo sections to thunderous fortissimo sections, some entire Baroque dance suites for harpsichord from the early s may use a single dynamic.

To give another example, while some art music pieces, such as symphonies are very long, some pop songs are just a few minutes long. Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from paleolithic archaeology sites. Flutes are often discovered, carved from bones in which lateral holes have been pierced; these are thought to have been blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi.

The Divje Babe flute , carved from a cave bear femur , is thought to be at least 40, years old. Instruments such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments , such as the Ravanahatha , have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites. The ancient Egyptians credited one of their gods, Thoth , with the invention of music, with Osiris in turn used as part of his effort to civilize the world.

The earliest material and representational evidence of Egyptian musical instruments dates to the Predynastic period , but the evidence is more securely attested in the Old Kingdom when harps , flutes and double clarinets were played. Cymbals [39] frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in Egypt today. Egyptian folk music , including the traditional Sufi dhikr rituals, are the closest contemporary music genre to ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms and instruments.

Several have traditions reaching into antiquity. Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.

Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal provides information about how new scales can be formed by modal shifting of the tonic from an existing scale. Carnatic music , popular in the southern states, is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities.

There are also many songs emphasising love and other social issues. 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. Knowledge of the biblical period is mostly from literary references in the Bible and post-biblical sources. Religion and music historian Herbert Lockyer, Jr.

Music and theatre scholars studying the history and anthropology of Semitic and early Judeo-Christian culture have discovered common links in theatrical and musical activity between the classical cultures of the Hebrews and those of later Greeks and Romans.

The common area of performance is found in a "social phenomenon called litany ," a form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications. The Journal of Religion and Theatre notes that among the earliest forms of litany, "Hebrew litany was accompanied by a rich musical tradition:" [48]. Genesis 4. In I Samuel 10, there are more depictions of "large choirs and orchestras". These large ensembles could only be run with extensive rehearsals.

This had led some scholars to theorize that the prophet Samuel led a public music school to a wide range of students.

Music was an important part of social and cultural life in ancient Greece. Musicians and singers played a prominent role in Greek theater. Music was an important part of education, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of music development. Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes , that eventually became the basis for Western religious and classical music.

The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The medieval era to , which took place during the Middle Ages , started with the introduction of monophonic single melodic line chanting into Roman Catholic Church services. Musical notation was used since Ancient times in Greek culture , but in the Middle Ages, notation was first introduced by the Catholic church so that the chant melodies could be written down, to facilitate the use of the same melodies for religious music across the entire Catholic empire.

The only European Medieval repertory that has been found in written form from before is the monophonic liturgical plainsong chant 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 non-religious songs. Renaissance music c. Around , the printing press was invented, which made printed sheet music much less expensive and easier to mass-produce prior to the invention of the printing press, all notated music was hand-copied.

The increased availability of sheet music helped to spread musical styles more quickly and across a larger area. Musicians and singers often worked for the church, courts and towns. Church choirs grew in size, and the church remained an important patron of music. By the middle of the 15th century, composers wrote richly polyphonic sacred music, in which different melody lines were interwoven simultaneously.

As musical activity shifted from the church to the aristocratic courts, kings, queens and princes competed for the finest composers. Many leading important composers came from the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France.

They are called the Franco-Flemish composers. They held important positions throughout Europe, especially in Italy. Other countries with vibrant musical activity included Germany, England, and Spain. The Baroque era of music took place from to , as the Baroque artistic style flourished across Europe; and during this time, music expanded in its range and complexity.

Baroque music began when the first operas dramatic solo vocal music accompanied by orchestra were written. During the Baroque era, polyphonic contrapuntal music, in which multiple, simultaneous independent melody lines were used, remained important counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the Medieval era.

German Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including strings , brass , and woodwinds , as well as for choirs and keyboard instruments such as pipe organ , harpsichord , and clavichord.

During this period several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the fugue , the invention , the sonata , and the concerto.

The music of the Classical period to aimed to imitate what were seen as the key elements of the art and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome: the ideals of balance, proportion and disciplined expression. Note: the music from the Classical period should not be confused with Classical music in general, a term which refers to Western art music from the 5th century to the s, which includes the Classical period as one of a number of periods.

Music from the Classical period has a lighter, clearer and considerably simpler texture than the Baroque music which preceded it. The main style was homophony , [54] where a prominent melody and a subordinate chordal accompaniment part are clearly distinct. Classical instrumental melodies tended to be almost voicelike and singable. New genres were developed, and the fortepiano , the forerunner to the modern piano, replaced the Baroque era harpsichord and pipe organ as the main keyboard instrument though pipe organ continued to be used in sacred music, such as Masses.

Importance was given to instrumental music. It was dominated by further development of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata , the concerto, and the symphony. Others main kinds were the trio , string quartet , serenade and divertimento. The sonata was the most important and developed form.

Although Baroque composers also wrote sonatas, the Classical style of sonata is completely distinct. All of the main instrumental forms of the Classical era, from string quartets to symphonies and concertos, were based on the structure of the sonata. The instruments used chamber music and orchestra became more standardized. In place of the basso continuo group of the Baroque era, which consisted of harpsichord, organ or lute along with a number of bass instruments selected at the discretion of the group leader e.

The Baroque era improvised chord-playing of the continuo keyboardist or lute player was gradually phased out between and One of the most important changes made in the Classical period was the development of public concerts. The aristocracy still played a significant role in the sponsorship of concerts and compositions, but it was now possible for composers to survive without being permanent employees of queens or princes.

The increasing popularity of classical music led to a growth in the number and types of orchestras. The expansion of orchestral concerts necessitated the building of large public performance spaces. Beethoven and Schubert are also considered to be composers in the later part of the Classical era, as it began to move towards Romanticism. Romantic music c. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature.

Romantic music expanded beyond the rigid styles and forms of the Classical era into more passionate, dramatic expressive pieces and songs. Romantic composers such as Wagner and Brahms attempted to increase emotional expression and power in their music to describe deeper truths or human feelings. With symphonic tone poems , composers tried to tell stories and evoke images or landscapes using instrumental music. Some composers promoted nationalistic pride with patriotic orchestral music inspired by folk music.

The emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over tradition. Romantic composers grew in idiosyncrasy, and went further in the syncretism of exploring different art-forms in a musical context, such as literature , history historical figures and legends , or nature itself.

Romantic love or longing was a prevalent theme in many works composed during this period. In some cases the formal structures from the classical period continued to be used e.

In many cases, new approaches were explored for existing genres, forms, and functions. Also, new forms were created that were deemed better suited to the new subject matter. Composers continued to develop opera and ballet music, exploring new styles and themes.

In the years after , the music developed by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. In Beethoven's case, short motifs , developed organically, came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit an example is the distinctive four note figure used in his Fifth Symphony.

They generated complex and often much longer musical works. During the late Romantic period, composers explored dramatic chromatic alterations of tonality , such as extended chords and altered chords , which created new sound "colours". The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and the industrial revolution helped to create better instruments, creating a more powerful sound.

Public concerts became an important part of well-to-do urban society. It also saw a new diversity in theatre music , including operetta , and musical comedy and other forms of musical theatre.

In the 19th century, one of the key ways that new compositions became known to the public was by the sales of sheet music , which middle class amateur music lovers would perform at home on their piano or other common instruments, such as violin.

With 20th-century music , the invention of new electric technologies such as radio broadcasting and the mass market availability of gramophone records meant that sound recordings of songs and pieces heard by listeners either on the radio or on their record player became the main way to learn about new songs and pieces. There was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music, because whereas in the 19th century, the focus on sheet music restricted access to new music to the middle class and upper-class people who could read music and who owned pianos and instruments, in the 20th century, anyone with a radio or record player could hear operas, symphonies and big bands right in their own living room.

This allowed lower-income people, who would never be able to afford an opera or symphony concert ticket to hear this music. It also meant that people could hear music from different parts of the country, or even different parts of the world, even if they could not afford to travel to these locations.

This helped to spread musical styles. The focus of art music in the 20th century was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. The horrors of World War I influenced many of the arts, including music, and some composers began exploring darker, harsher sounds. Traditional music styles such as jazz and folk music were used by composers as a source of ideas for classical music.

Igor Stravinsky , Arnold Schoenberg , and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th-century art music. Sound recording was also a major influence on the development of popular music genres, because it enabled recordings of songs and bands to be widely distributed. The introduction of the multitrack recording system had a major influence on rock music, because it could do much more than record a band's performance.

Using a multitrack system, a band and their music producer could overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be possible in a live performance. Jazz evolved and became an important genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music did the same.

Jazz is an American musical artform that originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of 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.

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed in the s from s rock and roll , rockabilly , blues , and country music. 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". Some bands also have keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the s, analog synthesizers. In the s, pop musicians began using digital synthesizers, such as the DX-7 synthesizer, electronic drum machines such as the TR and synth bass devices such as the TB or synth bass keyboards. In the s, an increasingly large range of computerized hardware musical devices and instruments and software e.

In the s, soft synths and computer music apps make it possible for bedroom producers to create and record some types of music, such as electronic dance music in their own home, adding sampled and digital instruments and editing the recording digitally. In the s, some bands in genres such as nu metal began including DJs in their bands. Performance is the physical expression of music, which occurs when a song is sung or when a piano piece, electric guitar melody, symphony, drum beat or other musical part is played by musicians.

In classical music, a musical work is written in music notation by a composer and then it is performed once the composer is satisfied with its structure and instrumentation. However, as it gets performed, the interpretation of a song or piece can evolve and change. In classical music, instrumental performers, singers or conductors may gradually make changes to the phrasing or tempo of a piece.

In popular and traditional music, the performers have a lot more freedom to make changes to the form of a song or piece. As such, in popular and traditional music styles, even when a band plays a cover song , they can make changes to it such as adding a guitar solo to or inserting an introduction. A performance can either be planned out and rehearsed practiced —which is the norm in classical music, with jazz big bands and many popular music styles—or improvised over a chord progression a sequence of chords , which is the norm in small jazz and blues groups.

Rehearsals of orchestras, concert bands and choirs are led by a conductor. Rock, blues and jazz bands are usually led by the bandleader. A rehearsal is a structured repetition of a song or piece by the performers until it can be sung or played correctly and, if it is a song or piece for more than one musician, until the parts are together from a rhythmic and tuning perspective.

Improvisation is the creation of a musical idea—a melody or other musical line—created on the spot, often based on scales or pre-existing melodic riffs. Many cultures have strong traditions of solo performance in which one singer or instrumentalist performs , such as in Indian classical music, and in the Western art-music tradition. Other cultures, such as in Bali , include strong traditions of group performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance may range from improvised solo playing to highly planned and organised performances such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, classical music festivals or music competitions.

Chamber music , which is music for a small ensemble with only a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than large symphonic works. Many types of music, such as traditional blues and folk music were not written down in sheet music ; instead, they were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down orally , from one musician or singer to another, or aurally, in which a performer learns a song " by ear ".

When the composer of a song or piece is no longer known, this music is often classified as "traditional" or as a "folk song". Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those that demand improvisation or modification to the music.

A culture's history and stories may also be passed on by ear through song. In music, an ornament consists of added notes that provide decoration to a melody, bassline or other musical part. 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 centuries required performers to have a great deal of contextual knowledge about performing styles. For example, in the 17th and 18th centuries, music notated for solo performers typically indicated a simple, unadorned melody. Performers were expected to know how to add stylistically appropriate ornaments to add interest to the music, such as trills and turns.

Different styles of music use different ornaments. A Baroque flute player might add mordents , which are short notes that are played before the main melody note, either above or below the main melody note. A blues guitarist playing electric guitar might use string bending to add expression; a heavy metal guitar player might use hammer-ons and pull-offs. In the 19th century, art music for solo performers may give a general instruction such as to perform the music expressively, without describing in detail how the performer should do this.

The performer was expected to know how to use tempo changes, accentuation , and pauses among other devices to obtain this "expressive" performance style. In the 20th century, art music notation often became more explicit and used a range of markings and annotations to indicate to performers how they should play or sing the piece. In popular music and traditional music styles, performers are expected to know what types of ornaments are stylistically appropriate for a given song or piece, and performers typically add them in an improvised fashion.

One exception is note-for-note solos, in which some players precisely recreate a famous version of a solo, such as a guitar solo. Philosophy of music is a subfield of philosophy. The philosophy of music is the study of fundamental questions regarding music.

The philosophical study of music has many connections with philosophical questions in metaphysics and aesthetics. Some basic questions in the philosophy of music are:. In ancient times, such as with the Ancient Greeks , the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment plaisir and jouissance of music.

The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Immanuel Kant. Through their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', meaning sensory perception , received its present-day connotation. In the s, philosophers have tended to emphasize issues besides beauty and enjoyment.

For example, music's capacity to express emotion has been a central issue. However, many musicians, music critics , and other non-philosophers have contributed to the aesthetics of music. In the 19th century, a significant debate arose between Eduard Hanslick , a music critic and musicologist , and composer Richard Wagner regarding whether music can express meaning.

Harry Partch and some other musicologists , such as Kyle Gann , have studied and tried to popularize microtonal music and the usage of alternate musical scales. It is often thought that music has the ability to affect our emotions , intellect , and psychology ; it can assuage our loneliness or incite our passions.

The philosopher Plato suggests in The Republic that music has a direct effect on the soul. Therefore, he proposes that in the ideal regime music would be closely regulated by the state Book VII. There has been a strong tendency in the aesthetics of music to emphasize the paramount importance of compositional structure; however, other issues concerning the aesthetics of music include lyricism , harmony , hypnotism , emotiveness , temporal dynamics , resonance , playfulness, and color see also musical development.

Modern music psychology aims to explain and understand musical behavior and experience. In addition to its focus on fundamental perceptions and cognitive processes, music psychology is a field of research with practical relevance for many areas, including music performance , composition , education , criticism , and therapy , as well as investigations of human aptitude , skill, intelligence , creativity, and social behavior.

Cognitive neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing, reading, writing, and ancillary activities.

It also is increasingly concerned with the brain basis for musical aesthetics and musical emotion. The field is distinguished by its reliance on direct observations of the brain, using such techniques as functional magnetic resonance imaging fMRI , transcranial magnetic stimulation TMS , magnetoencephalography MEG , electroencephalography EEG , and positron emission tomography PET. Cognitive musicology is a branch of cognitive science concerned with computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.

This interdisciplinary field investigates topics such as the parallels between language and music in the brain. Biologically inspired models of computation are often included in research, such as neural networks and evolutionary programs. By using a well-structured computer environment, the systematic structures of these cognitive phenomena can be investigated. Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of sound perception. More specifically, it is the branch of science studying the psychological and physiological responses associated with sound including speech and music.

It can be further categorized as a branch of psychophysics. Evolutionary musicology concerns the "origins of music, the question of animal song, selection pressures underlying music evolution", and "music evolution and human evolution". Charles Darwin speculated that music may have held an adaptive advantage and functioned as a protolanguage , [64] a view which has spawned several competing theories of music evolution.

An individual's culture or ethnicity plays a role in their music cognition , including their preferences , emotional reaction , and musical memory. Musical preferences are biased toward culturally familiar musical traditions beginning in infancy, and adults' classification of the emotion of a musical piece depends on both culturally specific and universal structural features.

Many ethnographic studies demonstrate that music is a participatory, community-based activity. 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.

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 s and s, 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. When composers introduce styles of music that break with convention, there can be a strong resistance from academic music experts and popular culture. Late-period Beethoven string quartets, Stravinsky ballet scores, serialism , bebop -era jazz , hip hop , punk rock , and electronica have all been considered non-music by some critics when they were first introduced.

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. As well, it describes music movements, events and genres related to women, women's issues and feminism. In the s, while women comprise a significant proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters many of them being singer-songwriters , there are few women record producers, rock critics and rock instrumentalists.

Although there have been a huge number of women composers in classical music, from the Medieval period to the present day, women composers are significantly underrepresented in the commonly performed classical music repertoire , music history textbooks and music encyclopedias; for example, in the Concise Oxford History of Music , Clara Schumann is one of the only female composers who is mentioned.

Women comprise a significant proportion of instrumental soloists in classical music and the percentage of women in orchestras is increasing. Women are less common as instrumental players in popular music genres such as rock and heavy metal , although there have been a number of notable female instrumentalists and all-female bands. Women are particularly underrepresented in extreme metal genres. Though there were plenty of female singers on the radio, women Singing was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument, writing songs, or producing records simply wasn't done.

While women were discouraged from composing in the 19th century, and there are few women musicologists , women became involved in music education " According to Jessica Duchen, a music writer for London's The Independent , women musicians in classical music are " The music that composers and songwriters make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence of the musicians or as one of the musicians , in an outdoor or indoor space such as an amphitheatre, concert hall , cabaret room, theatre , pub, or coffeehouse.

Since the 20th century, live music can also be broadcast over the radio, television or the Internet, or recorded and listened to on a CD player or Mp3 player.

Some musical styles focus on producing songs and pieces for a live performance, while others focus on producing a recording that mixes together sounds that were never played "live.

For example, some singers record themselves singing a melody and then record multiple harmony parts using overdubbing, creating a sound that would be impossible to do live. Technology has had an influence on music since prehistoric times, when cave people used simple tools to bore holes into bone flutes 41, years ago. Technology continued to influence music throughout the history of music, as it enabled new instruments and music notation reproduction systems to be used, with one of the watershed moments in music notation being the invention of the printing press in the s, which meant music scores no longer had to be hand copied.

In the 19th century, music technology led to the development of a more powerful, louder piano and led to the development of new valves brass instruments. In the early 20th century in the late s , 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. The American Federation of Musicians AFM took out newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices.

Since legislation introduced to help protect performers, composers, publishers and producers, including the Audio Home Recording Act of in the United States, and the 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 in a communal setting. In industrialized countries, listening to music through a recorded form, such as sound recording on record or radio became more common than experiencing live performance, roughly in the middle of the 20th century.

By the s, watching music videos was a popular way to listen to music, while also seeing the performers. 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. Some pop bands use recorded backing tracks. Audiences can also become performers by participating in karaoke , an activity of Japanese origin centered on a device that plays voice-eliminated versions of well-known songs.

Most karaoke machines also have video screens that show lyrics to songs being performed; performers can follow the lyrics as they sing over the instrumental tracks. The advent of the Internet and widespread high-speed broadband access has transformed the experience of music, partly through the increased ease of access to recordings of music via streaming video and vastly increased choice of music for consumers.

Chris Anderson , in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More , suggests that while the traditional economic model of supply and demand describes scarcity, the Internet retail model is based on abundance.

Digital storage costs are low, so a company can afford to make its whole recording inventory available online, giving customers as much choice as possible. It has thus become economically viable to offer music recordings that very few people are interested in. Consumers' growing awareness of their increased choice results in a closer association between listening tastes and social identity, and the creation of thousands of niche markets.

Another effect of the Internet arose with online communities and social media websites like YouTube and Facebook, a social networking service. These sites make it easier for aspiring singers and amateur bands to distribute videos of their songs, connect with other musicians, and gain audience interest. Professional musicians also use YouTube as a free publisher of promotional material. YouTube users, for example, no longer only download and listen to MP3s, but also actively create their own.

According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams , in their book Wikinomics , there has been a shift from a traditional consumer role to what they call a " prosumer " role, a consumer who both creates content and consumes. Manifestations of this in music include the production of mashes , remixes , and music videos by fans. The music industry refers to the businesses connected with the creation and sale of music. It consists of songwriters and composers who create new songs and musical pieces, music producers and sound engineers who record songs and pieces, record labels and publishers that distribute recorded music products and sheet music 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 s, the increasing popularity of listening to music as digital music files on MP3 players, iPods, or computers, and of trading music on file sharing websites or buying it online in the form of digital files had a major impact on the traditional music business.

Many smaller independent CD stores went out of business as music buyers decreased their purchases of CDs, and many labels had lower CD sales. Some companies did well with the change to a digital format, though, such as Apple's iTunes , an online music store that sells digital files of songs over the Internet. In spite of some international copyright treaties , determining which music is in the public domain is complicated by the variety of national copyright laws that may be applicable.

US copyright law formerly protected printed music published after for 28 years and with renewal for another 28 years, but the Copyright Act of made renewal automatic, and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act changed the calculation of the copyright term to 70 years after the death of the creator.

Recorded sound falls under mechanical licensing , often covered by a confusing patchwork of state laws; most cover versions are licensed through the Harry Fox Agency. The incorporation of some music or singing training into general education from preschool to post secondary education is common in North America and Europe. Involvement in playing and singing 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.

Some elementary school children also learn about popular music styles. In religious schools, children sing hymns and other religious music. In secondary schools and less commonly in elementary schools , students may have the opportunity to perform in some types of musical ensembles, such as choirs a group of singers , marching bands , concert bands , jazz bands, or orchestras.

In some school systems, music lessons on how to play instruments may be provided. Some students also take private music lessons after school with a singing teacher or instrument teacher. Amateur musicians typically learn basic musical rudiments e. At the university level, students in most arts and humanities programs can receive credit for taking a few music courses, which typically take the form of an overview course on the history of music , or a music appreciation course that focuses on listening to music and learning about different musical styles.

In addition, most North American and European universities have some types of musical ensembles that students in arts and humanities are able to participate in, such as choirs, marching bands, concert bands, or orchestras.

The study of Western art music is increasingly common outside of North America and Europe, such as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts 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.

Gamelan music. Individuals aiming to become professional musicians, singers, composers, songwriters, music teachers and practitioners of other music-related professions such as music history professors, sound engineers , and so on study in specialized post-secondary programs offered by colleges, universities and music conservatories. Some institutions that train individuals for careers in music offer training in a wide range of professions, as is the case with many of the top U.

On the other hand, some small colleges may only offer training in a single profession e. While most university and conservatory music programs focus on training students in classical music, there are a number of universities and colleges that train musicians for careers as jazz or popular music musicians and composers, with notable U. Individuals aiming at careers in some types of music, such as heavy metal music , country music or blues are less likely to become professionals by completing degrees or diplomas in colleges or universities.

Instead, they typically learn about their style of music by singing or playing in many bands often beginning in amateur bands, cover bands and tribute bands , studying recordings available on CD, DVD and the Internet and working with already-established professionals in their style of music, either through informal mentoring or regular music lessons. Since the s, the increasing popularity and availability of Internet forums and YouTube "how-to" videos have enabled many singers and musicians from metal, blues and similar genres to improve their skills.

Many pop, rock and country singers train informally with vocal coaches and singing teachers. 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 about four 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.

Graduates of undergraduate music programs can seek employment or go on to further study in music graduate programs. Bachelor's degree graduates are also eligible to apply to some graduate programs and professional schools outside of music e.

Graduate music degrees include the Master of Music , the Master of Arts in musicology, music theory or another music field , the Doctor of Philosophy Ph. 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 singing 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, music theory or ethnomusicology.

The PhD, which is required for students who want to work as university professors in musicology, music history, or music theory, takes three to five years of study after the master's degree, during which time the student will complete advanced courses and undertake research for a dissertation.

The DMA is a relatively new degree that was created to provide a credential for professional performers or composers that want to work as university professors in musical performance or composition. The DMA takes three to five years after a master's degree, and includes advanced courses, projects, and performances. In Medieval times, the study of music was one of the Quadrivium of the seven Liberal Arts and considered vital to higher learning. Within the quantitative Quadrivium, music, or more accurately harmonics , was the study of rational proportions.

Musicology , the academic study of the subject of music, is studied in universities and music conservatories. The earliest definitions from the 19th century defined three sub-disciplines of musicology: systematic musicology , historical musicology , and comparative musicology or ethnomusicology.

In era 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. Expats moving to Germany for the long term should consider what inheritance tax Branching out alone in Germany?

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