Music

** TLE Majors
Music Is All Around
Us.
From the moment we are born we experience music
everywhere it is all around us and in fact there is even a
market for introducing music to us before we are born!
So we should all have quite a lot to say about a subject that
affects us all so much in our lives! Good for a possible General
Studies question.. so lets now have a more detailed look at
the various functions of music in our lives.
Functions of music in our lives

Music Affects Mood.

Music is an important part of many of our cultural
RITUALS.
Music can help us to IDENTIFY things.
Music can help to promote UNITY within a social group
Music is also Big Business!
 What is music?
Music is an organized sound created by human voices or
instruments.
Some historians believe that music started with the
desire to imitate sounds in nature.

Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature

cannot do without - Confucius
Music is love in search of a voice - Leo Tolstoy

Without music, life would be a mistake

- Friedrich Nietzsche

Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Music is th

electrical soil in which the spirit lives, thinks and invents." - Ludwig van
Beethoven

Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production

deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid - Frank Zappa
 |Music Genres
CLASSICAL / ART MUSIC. The term classical music refers to a number of different, but related,
genres. Without any qualification, the usual meaning of "classical music" in the English language is
European classical music (an older usage describes specifically the Western art music of the Classical
Music Era). It can also refer to the classical (or art) music of non-Western cultures such as Indian
classical music or Chinese classical music.
RHYTHM AND BLUES. Rhythm and blues is a name for black popular music tradition. When speaking
strictly of "rhythm 'n' blues", the term may refer to black pop-music from 1940s to 1960s that was
not jazz nor blues but something more lightweight. The term "R&B" often refers to any contemporary
black pop music.
ROCK. Rock, in its broadest sense, can refer to almost all popular music recorded since the early
1950s. Its earliest form, rock and roll, arose from multiple genres in the late 1940s, most importantly
jump blues. It was first popularized by performers like Bill Haley, Dan and the Huberettes, and Elvis
Presley, who fused the sound with country music, resulting in rockabilly.
 |Music Genres
COUNTRY MUSIC. Country music is usually used to refer to honky tonk today. Emerging in the 1930s
in the United States, honky tonk country was strongly influenced by the blues, as well as jug bands
(which cannot be properly called honky tonk). In the 1950s, country achieved great mainstream
success by adding elements of rock and roll; this was called rockabilly.
ELECTRONIC MUSIC. Electronic music started with the invention of the synthesizer. Some
subcategories of electronic music include electronic dance music, space, new age, ambient, and the
catch-all "electronica," which can sometimes include all of the above electronic sub-genres.
ELECTRONIC DANCE MUSIC. Although many artists in the 50s and 60s created pure electronic music
with pop structures, fully formed electronic dance music as we know it today really emerged in 1977
with Giorgio Moroder's From Here to Eternity album.
ELECTRONICA. Electronic music that does not fall into the new age, techno or dance categories are
often referred to as "left-field" or "electronica" (although there are critics who maintain that the
term "electronica" is an invention of the media).
 |Music Genres
MELODIC MUSIC. Melodic music is a term that covers various genres of non-classical music which are
primarily characterised by the dominance of a single strong melody line. Rhythm, tempo and beat are
subordinate to the melody line or tune, which is generally easily memorable, and followed without great
difficulty.
REGGAE, DUB AND RELATED FORMS. In Jamaica during the 1950s, American R&B was most popular,
though mento (a form of folk music) was more common in rural areas. A fusion of the two styles, along
with soca and other genres, formed ska, an extremely popular form of music intended for dancing. In the
1960s, reggae and dub emerged from ska and American rock and roll.
PUNK MUSIC. Punk is a subgenre of rock music (see below). The term "punk music" can only rarely be
applied without any controversy. Perhaps the only bands always considered "punk" are the first wave of
punk bands, such as the Clash and the Ramones.
HIP HOP / RAP. Hip hop music (also commonly referred to as "rap") can be seen as a subgenre of R&B
tradition (see above). Hip hop began in inner cities in the US in the 1970s. The earliest recordings, from the
late-1970s and early 1980s, are now referred to as old school hip hop. In
 |Music Genres
CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN MUSIC. Since the 1960s, most African popular music incorporates
traditional local vocal, instrumental, and percussive styles, but also draws heavily on rock, reggae,
and/or hip hop.
HIGH-ENERGY. Disco never died, it split. At the beginning part became Hi-NRG and part became
house. Now Hi-NRG took additional techno sound. This is the current evolution of disco that
remained truest to its mid'70'-dlsco roots and is the perennial musical staple of gay dance clubs.
JUNGLE / DRUM N BASS. Jungle is quite chaotic and has a breakbeat of 160BPM with the bass drum
on half speed. If you're not used to it, it's hard to predict when there is a beat and/or bass. Jungle's
origins are from England and it is named after the big concrete, metallic "jungle" city.
 Musical
Instruments

Exploring the Families of Musical

Instruments, and More!
Categories:

Musical instruments, like plants and animals, are

categorized into families. Traditional classical orchestra
instruments are divided into four distinct families.
Today, we recognize a fifth family. Also, non-traditional
instruments, new creations, and odd-ball instruments are
classified in the family structure, based on their
characteristics.
 The Brass Family
Brass instruments were traditionally made
of brass, but today, we recognize that some
instruments are classed as brass although
theyre made of other materials. Some
instruments made of brass are in fact not
in the brass family!
^^ Brass instruments create sound by the musician
buzzing their lips into a round mouthpiece. Here is a
trombone mouthpiece:
 ^^ Brass instruments usually have long, sometimes coiled tubing
which leads to a bell where the sound comes out.

Trumpet

French Horn
^^ The Tuba and the Euphonium look very similar, but the
Euphonium has longer, narrower coils, and makes a less abrupt
sound.

Left: Tuba Right: Euphonium

 Here are some brass instruments that are not in common use. They look
similar to other more familiar instruments, dont they!

Ophicleide Cornett
(Off-i-clyde)
 Here are some really different instruments, that are (believe it
or not) members of the brass family. The player must buzz
their lips as they play:

Alphorn
Conch

Didgeridoo
 The Woodwind Family
Woodwinds are, like brass, instruments whose sound is
created by the musicians breath. However, these
instruments do not require the buzzing that the brass
need. There are two types of woodwinds, flutes and
reeds.
 The Flute family consists of instruments with which you blow
over a hole or edge to create the sound. These include all flutes,
recorders, and various types of whistles.

Flute Recorder
 Most of the woodwinds have a mouthpiece with either one or two
reeds. When the musician blows into the mouthpiece, the reed
vibrates to create the sound.

Comparison of the
Clarinet sizes of 4 different
woodwinds.
 The bassoon and the oboe are two-
reed woodwinds.

The bagpipes can have either one

or two reeds
Top: Bassoon
Bottom: Oboe
 Beware!
The Saxophone is classified as a woodwind instrument.
Although its body is made of brass, the mouthpiece
contains a reed, and only exhaling is necessary to make
to work.

Didgeridoos, Cornetts and

Alphorns, although
theyre made of wood,
are not woodwinds.
Which of these instruments are
woodwinds?
 The Strings Family
Instruments
- whose sounds are created by
manipulating tightened strings are
members of the string family. The strings
may be plucked; they may be scratched
with a bow, and they may be strummed.
 String quartets consist of two violas, one violin, and one cello. The viola is slightly larger
than the violin, and has a lower register. Check out the difference in size! The cello is too
large to hold to your chin; it rests on the floor and the player sits to play it.

String Quartet Left: Violin Right: Viola

 Left: Double Bass,
or Contrabass

Cello

Electric Bass
 There are many different types of guitars, and they can be found in
cultures all around the world. The Classical Guitar is used more frequently
in modern symphonies. Modern rock music is largely guitar-based.

Left: Classical Guitar Center: Mandolin Right: Banjo

 Many guitars are uniquely crafted to create new, innovative sounds. They
often go by their inventors name:

Left: Warr Guitar

Above: Dobro
Right: Chapman Stick (Bass Guitar)
 There are too numerous string family instruments to list here. The string
family is one of the most diverse, with countless different styles found
everywhere, and in virtually ever genre of music.

Top Left:
Hurdy Gurdy

Top Right:
Sitar

Bottom Left:
Mouth Bow

Bottom Right:
Zither
 Harps are also part of the string family; the harp is included in the classical
orchestra.

Below: Autoharp
The musician
pushes keys while
strumming.

Left: Classic Harp

Right: Lyre (ancestor of the harp)
 The Percussion Family
Percussion instruments are those that are played by striking or
shaking.
All drums are percussion instruments.
Often, drums are used to keep the rhythm in a musical piece.
They are used for effect and add dynamics to complex
compositions.
 Here are some examples of different types of drums:

Left: Snare drum; Bottom Left: Concert Tom Drums

Bottom Right: Timpani
 Some percussion instruments are tuned instruments, which means you
can play notes in a scale on them:

Left: Chimes (Orchestra)

Bottom Left: Glockenspiel

Bottom Right: Xylophone

Right: Bells

Glockenspiels are
made of metal;
xylophones are made
of wood.
 Here are some other familiar percussion
instruments:

Left: Tambourine Center: Cymbals Right: Maracas

Left: Triangle Center: Cowbell Right: Wood block

What family of instruments does this belong to?
The Keyboard
Family
 Today, many people recognize that there is now a fifth family of instruments.
The keyboard family includes pianos, organs, electronic keyboards and
synthesizers, among others.
One could argue that a piano is a percussion instrument, because you strike
the keys to play it. It has also been considered a string instrument, because it
has tightly bound strings which produce the sound.

Left: Strings inside a grand

piano.
Right: Felt mallets that
strike the strings inside an
upright piano
Some other keyboard family instruments:

Top Left: Mellotron popular in the 1960s and

70s, replicates string sounds.
Top Center: Early model Moog Synthesizer
Top Right: Harpsichord, very common Baroque
keyboard, ancestor of the piano
Left: Pipe organ found in churches and
cathedrals around the world.
What Is
This?!?!
It is called a Theramin. It is played by moving
your hands closer and further from the device,
causing the radio frequencies to change pitch.

Like the theramin, there are other oddball

instruments that defy classification. Who
knows, maybe there will be more families of
instruments some day!
And then there were

these!
Any questions?