Music Presentation

Sylva Emilyan, Fall 2008

What is music?

o Music is organized sound created by human voices
or instruments.

o 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 Seminar: Fall 2008
Silva Emilyan,
DIS 180 Information Ecology






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 the 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

What makes a
music genre popular?
In one
word,
FANS!

Most of us listen to
sounds made popular in
our commercial
culture: TV, movie
tracks, concerts, clubs,
malls
The more that we hear the same sound, the more
it becomes familiar to the ear.

The more familiar we become to hearing
particular types of sounds the more we can decide
what type of music sounds good.

By using the same elements to create a similar
sound, the audience identifies particular sounds
and groups them into categories of style.

Similar styles of music can be contained under a
larger category called a genre

Repetition
Religion
During the middle ages and the time of the
Renaissance era, the church had much greater
control of what the people could experience
culturally and the type of music and sounds that
could be played. During this time, what was
popular was greatly restricted by the church.

As the church began to lose some of its dominance
in the mainstream culture, people had more
freedom to choose and create music with fewer
limitations and restrictions.

Minor sound, complex rhythms and untraditional
dynamics and tonalities began to be explored.


Evolution of musical sounds

As time passes, the same old sound may begin to
lose popularity with the mainstream audience.

Newer sounds that have evolved from the old sound
begin to emerge and change the way particular styles
are played.

If the change in the style is drastic enough and
establishes enough fans, an entirely new genre is
born.

Inevitably, these new sounds eventually will become
familiar again and they too will be considered old.

Technology of musical sounds
In taking a closer look at how sounds can evolve to
form a new genre, we can compare the music of
the Classical period over 150 years ago to the
music of just 75 years ago, the age of Jazz and
Swing music.

During the very early years of Jazz music,
instruments were more similar to a concert band
but shortly after the birth of Jazz a single drummer
on a drum set became essential to every band.

150 years ago, in the height of the classical era,
this would not have been possible because the
drum sets were not invented until the early 1900s.

Technology + Evolution
Just as the drum set and a new style of playing called
improvisation ushered in a new genre called Jazz,
the invention of the electric guitar by Les Paul
paved the way for a new genre called Rock n
Roll, which evolved from the sound of Blues
music.

Political

Sometimes music gains popularity for
political reasons, as seen in the rise of
folk music during the anti-war / peace
movement of the 60s.





Regional
Throughout history, genres are developed in a
particular region.

Tango traditionally originated among European
immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay
but its still a dominant part of their culture.
We can see this regional factor in the
birth of Grunge in Seattle, in the
early 90s.

Bands like Pearl Jam and Nirvana
collaborated and influenced each
other in a way that was isolated to
the rest of the pop music world at
that time.
. . .we see how music influences the way we dress,
act, and relate among the people in our culture.
Nirvana

Pearl Jam

Lifestyle

A new genre of music often emerges because people
believe it gives them the power to express
themselves or the certain type of lifestyle that they
have.
David Bowie

Lifestyle

Again, we can see lifestyle play a role in peoples
choice of music, such as Glam and Goth music.

Glam

Goth

Sometimes, a genre is popular just because of the
way it is delivered or expressed.

One of the main reasons, Disco music became
popular in the late 70s was for its regular bass beat
which made it particularly fun for dancing.
Expression
Lifestyle + Expression
Hip-Hop is an expression of the trials of the
inner-city lifestyle and the emotions that are
associated with it.

Usually there are combination of reasons that
ultimately makes a genre of music popular.
In Review. . .
Although we didnt cover every reason that
makes a genre popular, we can see that
some of the main ones are:

Regional
Political
Lifestyle
Expression

Repetition
Religion
Evolution
Technology
Results of the survey from our class:
Todays 3 most popular genres: Hip-Hop, Pop, Rock
What makes genres popular? Most popular answer,
we hear it all the time

Where do you get your music from? Internet, iTunes,
and friends.

Do you download illegally? YES (8) NO (5)
FYI: According to the Recording Industry
Association of America

Top 5 Diamond (10 million copies +) albums:
1.Eagles Greatest Hits, 1971-1975
2.Michael Jackson Thriller
3.Pink Floyd The Wall
4.Led Zeppelin Zeppelin IV
5.AC/DC Back in Black
Top 5 selling artists of all time:
1.The Beatles
2.Garth Brooks
3.Elvis Presley
4.Led Zeppelin
5.Eagles
Credits:

www.RIAA.com

The Art of Being Human by Janaro Richard and
Altshuler Thelma

Listen by Joseph Kerman and Gary Tomlinson

Wikipedia, musicians

Recommended film: Latcho Drom