A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of
making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through
purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical
instruments dates back to the beginnings of human culture. The purpose of early
musical instruments was ritual: a hunter might use a trumpet to signal success on the hunt, or a shaman
might use a drum in a religious ceremony.
Cultures later developed the processes of composing and performing melodies for entertainment. Musical
instruments evolved in step with changing applications.
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
The sound of rock
The sound of rock is traditionally centered around the electric guitar, which
emerged in its modern form in the 1950s with the popularization of rock and
roll. The sound of the
electric guitar in rock music is typically supported by the electric bass guitar pioneered in jazz
music in the same era, and percussion
produced from a drum kit that
combines drums and cymbals. This trio of
instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of others, particularly
keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers.A group of musicians
performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group and typically consists of between two and
five members. Classically, a rock band takes the form of a quartet whose members cover one or more roles,
including vocalist, lead guitarist, rhythm guitarist, bass
guitarist, drummer and
occasionally that of keyboard player or other instrumentalist.
Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four.Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Rock songs from the mid-1960s onwards often used the verse-chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock.Because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition."
Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four.Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, as well as major and minor modes. Harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Rock songs from the mid-1960s onwards often used the verse-chorus structure derived from blues and folk music, but there has been considerable variation from this model. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock.Because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that "it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition."
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll in 1950s America and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States.It has its roots in 1940s' and 1950s' rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of other genres such as blues and folk, and incorporated influences from jazz, classical and other musical sources.
Saturday, July 7, 2012
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. 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. 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."In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues
also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.
In the Ottoman Empire,
mental illnesses were treated with music.
20th- and 21st-century music

With 20th-century music, there was a vast
increase in music listening as the radio
gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute
music. The focus of art music
was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg,
and John Cage were all
influential composers in 20th-century art music. The invention of sound
recording and the ability to edit music gave rise to new sub-genre of classical
music, including the acousmatic [20] and Musique concrète
schools of electronic composition.
Jazz evolved and became an important
genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half
of that century, rock music
did the same. Jazz is an American musical artform that originated in the
beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern
United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. The style's West African pedigree is
evident in its use of blue
notes, improvisation,
polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note. From its early
development until the present, jazz has also incorporated music from 19th- and
20th-century American popular music. 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, analog synthesizers and digital ones and
computers since the 1990s. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing
instruments. In its "purest form," it "has three chords, a strong, insistent
back beat, and a catchy melody."In the late 1960s
and early 1970s, it branched out into different subgenres, ranging from blues rock and jazz-rock fusion to heavy metal and punk rock, as well as the more
classical influenced genre of progressive rock and several types of experimental rock
genres.
Improvisation
Musical
improvisation is the creation of spontaneous music. Improvisation is often
considered an act of instantaneous composition by performers, where
compositional techniques are employed with or without preparation. Improvisation
is a major part of some types of music, such as blues, jazz, and jazz fusion, in which
instrumental performers improvise solos and melody lines. In the Western art
music tradition, improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque era and
during the Classical era; solo performers and singers improvised virtuoso
cadenzas during concerts. However, in the 20th and 21st century, improvisation
played a smaller role in Western Art music.
Classicism
The music of the Classical Period (1750 A.D. to 1830
A.D.) looked to the art and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome, to the ideals
of balance, proportion and disciplined expression. It has a lighter, clearer and
considerably simpler texture, and tended to be almost voicelike and singable.
New genres were discovered. The main style was the homophony, where prominent melody and accompaniment are clearly distinct.
The Baroque
During the Baroque music expanded
in range and complexity. The era of Baroque music (1600 to 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. The late Baroque
style was polyphonically complex and ornamental and rich in its melodies.
Composers from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George
Frideric Handel, and Georg Philipp Telemann.
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