The Modern Perceptions of Classical Music Essay example

For as long as mankind has walked on this earth, music has been an important part of our culture and lifestyles. Each walk of life beats to a different drum. Different cultures use music for many aspects of their lives; for religious purposes, for celebrations, for comfort, for sorrow, for relaxation, for sports, for dances, for energy, for learning, for sleeping, and for sexual experiences. Everyone uses music for something. Music connects with people and reaches them in ways that words simply cannot. Music is a representation of what feelings sound like. It expresses emotion and brings that characteristic out from within us; it tells us a story. Every generation has its’ own sound and different music styles have emerged and become

What is music? Denotatively speaking, music is sounds combined in such a way to produce beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotion. Music to me is something that I rely on to get me through everything, it is the thing that has shaped me into the person I am today. But, if I asked you how many symphonies Beethoven had written, could you tell me? To be blunt, probably not. Not only is this a problem with people today, it is a recurring problem with our youth. In Daniel Felsenfeld’s essay “Rebel Music,” he explains the fault in our youth when it comes to being musically cultured. Throughout his essay he acknowledges how he was a stereotypical teenager who just listened to whatever was on KROQ. However, he also talks about how he changed and cultured himself, unlike all of his peers. In his essay, Felsenfeld proves his message that younger generations are musically uncultured through his use of allusions, connotative diction, and critical tone.

Perrine, William M. "Julian Johnson, Who Needs Classical Music? Cultural Choice and Musical Value." Philosophy Of Music Education Review 22, no. 1 (2014): 96-100.

Today, sources of mainstream music such as radio, television and film soundtracks tend to reflect an increasingly superficial, formulaic and predictable mode of music production and distribution. The result is an increasingly homogenous mainstream market that tends to stifle creativity, experimentation and artistic vision in favor of proven commodity. This helps to account for the dominance of mechanized dance tracks aimed at younger listeners and the permeation of Middle of the Road (MOR) content aimed at Baby Boomer consumers. Especially in the face of a declining overall music buying market, the industry has become especially unwilling to take risks on artist's whose style is unfamiliar or

We listen to music that has changed drastically throughout the past several years. Throughout the years, musical styles have changed with society and lyrics in music have been more and more explicit, particularly in certain genres. This type of music can be noticed all around our daily lives. Music has a great impact on the development of today’s youth culture and how they are exposed to certain things. I, personally, am just a fragment of the immense group of adolescents today and from observation, I can clearly see how music has affected my generation. I have realized that culture and music flow together. For instance, the music, our parents used to listen to, today’s youth would find lame and in a few years, the music we think is cool now will probably be outdated. There is nothing wrong with the music, trends are just constantly changing.

From bell bottoms to Barbies, every generation has its own distinct trends. While various fads have cropped up in each era, music has always been a key element of culture. Starting in the 1950’s, music became integrated within the American culture as the favored form of expression. The popular types of music found on the Top 100 lists today however, have changed dramatically since then. What has promoted this obvious change in music choice? While rock ‘n’ roll still holds its own in the music billboards of 2010, the general public now prefers the mechanical sounds of hip hop and

With its extensive history, the role of music in our lives is very unlikely to ever lose its importance. Its presence in every culture has kept music relevant for centuries and will continue to do so despite any lack of sales or interest in other forms of entertainment. Music has always existed; just because it is easier to obtain doesn’t mean it is any less valuble.

That brings us to another point-- that most popular music is neither unique nor creative. Just about all of the music coming out now is generally the same. It lacks creativity because artists are just in it to make money, not for the love of music. Society is force-fed this bland music on a daily basis. Through radio stations and the emergence of MTV, new hit songs come out every week and people digest them, claiming to enjoy them just so that they appear to be versed on the latest "on hit wonder" groups. Since the music is generally the same and really does not change that dramatically every week, album after album is put out to fatten the wallets of wealthy producers. The more albums that are put out, the more money is made, as consumers shell out millions every week for something new to listen to, but are merely continuing to feed the frenzy of the popular music industry.

Friday night, lying in bed, eyes closed absorbing the legendary lyrics of The Kinks with the Pontefract cake-like disc rotating on the retro record player you bled your parents dry for. This is as close as the discerning music fan will get to real musical talent. Truth is, young people will never understand the sensation of music in the decades owned by The Beatles, The Rolling Stones or The Searchers, instead the quality of modern popular music now has collapsed into a never ending and monotonous spiral of auto tuned sounds and sub-standard ‘talents’ who pale in comparison to the musical artists of last century.

Music has played a vital role in human culture and evidence based on archaeological sites can date it back to prehistoric times. It can be traced through almost all civilizations in one form or another. As time has progressed so has the music and the influences it has on people. Music is an important part of popular culture throughout the world, but it is especially popular in the United States. The music industry here is, and has been, a multi-million dollar business that continues to play an important role in American popular culture. This is also a art form and business that is forever changing as the times and more importantly, technology changes. Technology has changed the way music is made as well as how it is produced,

Romantic: of, characterized by, or suggestive of an idealised, sentimental, or fantastic view of reality… concerned more with feeling and emotion than with form and aesthetic qualities.

I’m sure you’ll all agree when I say that music is changing very fast. It’s either that or we keep changing our tastes in music every five minutes – which is far more probable. Today if someone put on a record from just 10-20 years ago we’d probably think of that music as being incredibly old or very simple. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand to watch some (if not most) of the early Top of the Pops because the music is so old. We think of this as being old, but in

Imagine you 're scrolling through Facebook. You click on a video and like the song that is playing in the background. The comment section links you directly to the band 's website. Now, imagine you are driving in your car. You switch on the radio to your favorite radio station and Voilà: instant access to new, popular music. Maybe you are a rule breaker and you visit torrent sites to illegally download music. Whatever the case, we all listen to music every day. When is the last time you stopped to think about what it took for that music to reach you? Thinking about what a song means or what the artist’s inspiration was is easy, but what about the recording process or distribution? So much goes into the musical process that we don 't see. New technology, along with increased internet use, has begun affecting these processes to give you the musical experiences you know and love. We play music to our children their entire lives, sometimes even starting in the womb. Astronomical progress of technology in the 20th century has allowed better access to music, as well as furtherance in music instruction. (Kirk, Hunt). Technology is not only responsible for a change in how we receive music, but also for a change in the music itself.

The classical music period extends from 1740 to 1810, which includes the music of Haydn, Mozart, and the first period of Beethoven. The classical period of music combined harmony, melody, rhythm, and orchestration more effectively than earlier periods of music. With the natural evolution of music slowly changing with the culture, the baroque era had ended. That era had left a structure, articulation and periodic phrasing of music which would shape classical music.

The literal meaning of the word 'music' according to any dictionary is: 'art of combining vocal or instrumental sounds in a harmonious or expressive way.' But music has a meaning which is far broader than this. Music is life. Music means Self-expansion and oneness. It is an art by itself. Art, in any of its forms, is generated by a person, or a group of talented yet usually ordinary people, that express, willingly or not, an opinion regarding present times. It is not a want; it is a need. If you try to imagine yourself without it, you are bound to feel incomplete. For many of us, it has become a necessity of our lives. Music has no boundaries. Music is the