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166-890: In music , an ostinato ( Italian: [ostiˈnaːto] ; derived from the Italian word for stubborn , compare English obstinate ) is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice , frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces include classical compositions such as Ravel 's Boléro and the Carol of the Bells , and popular songs such as John Lennon ’s “ Mind Games ”(1973), Donna Summer and Giorgio Moroder 's " I Feel Love " (1977), Henry Mancini 's theme from Peter Gunn (1959), The Who 's " Baba O'Riley " (1971), The Verve 's " Bitter Sweet Symphony " (1997), and Flo Rida's " Low " (2007). Both ostinatos and ostinati are accepted English plural forms,

332-421: 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

498-408: A computer screen . In ancient times, music notation was put onto stone or clay tablets. To perform music from notation, a singer or instrumentalist requires an understanding of the rhythmic and pitch elements embodied in the symbols and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or genre. In genres requiring musical improvisation , the performer often plays from music where only

664-548: A crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza. This style was emulated by other bel canto composers, especially Vincenzo Bellini ; and later by Wagner (in pure instrumental terms, discarding the closing vocal cadenza). Applicable in homophonic and contrapuntal textures , they are "repetitive rhythmic-harmonic schemes", more familiar as accompanimental melodies, or purely rhythmic. The technique's appeal to composers from Debussy to avant-garde composers until at least

830-477: A pendulum ." Many instruments south of the Sahara Desert play ostinato melodies. These include lamellophones such as the mbira , as well as xylophones like the balafon , the bikutsi , and the gyil . Ostinato figures are also played on string instruments such as the kora , gankoqui bell ensembles, and pitched drums ensembles. Often, African ostinatos contain offbeats or cross-beats , that contradict

996-579: A rota ("wheel") in the manuscript source. The term "round" only first came to be used in English sources in the 16th century. Canons featured in the music of the Italian Trecento and the 14th-century ars nova in France. An Italian example is "Tosto che l'alba" by Gherardello da Firenze . In both France and Italy, canons were often featured in hunting songs. The medieval and modern Italian word for hunting

1162-405: A vamp is a repeating musical figure , section , or accompaniment . Vamps are usually harmonically sparse: A vamp may consist of a single chord or a sequence of chords played in a repeated rhythm. The term frequently appeared in the instruction 'Vamp till ready' on sheet music for popular songs in the 1930s and 1940s, indicating the accompanist should repeat the musical phrase until the vocalist

1328-637: A "self-portrait, a gesture of friendship, prescription for an ideal party... [and] an environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved". Amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure and derive income elsewhere. Professional musicians are employed by institutions and organisations, including armed forces (in marching bands , concert bands and popular music groups), religious institutions, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production companies, and music schools . Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians , seeking contracts and engagements in

1494-446: A contour’s cells are presented and altered in a rotational motion, until the entire image or contour can be seen in its Prime form. Each cell in a pairing of Subcontouric Cells cycles through their rotational variations, until they have established themselves in their intended contour position, or Prime Form, such as (1-1)(1-2), referred to as a contour’s Cell Cycle. Although, for clarity, this article uses leader and follower(s) to denote

1660-502: A crab canon or mensuration canon the two lines can start at the same time and still respect good counterpoint. Many such canons were composed during the Renaissance , particularly in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries; Johannes Ockeghem wrote an entire mass (the Missa prolationum ) in which each section is a mensuration canon, and all at different speeds and entry intervals. In

1826-461: A defense to scare off predators. Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from paleolithic archaeology sites. The disputed Divje Babe flute , a perforated cave bear femur , is at least 40,000 years old, though there is considerable debate surrounding whether it is truly a musical instrument or an object formed by animals. The earliest objects whose designations as musical instruments are widely accepted are bone flutes from

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1992-451: A fashion. The closest word to mean music in Chinese , yue , shares a character with le , meaning joy, and originally referred to all the arts before narrowing in meaning. Africa is too diverse to make firm generalizations, but the musicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia has emphasized African music's often inseparable connection to dance and speech in general. Some African cultures, such as

2158-450: A form of sexual selection , perhaps via mating calls. Darwin's original perspective has been heavily criticized for its inconsistencies with other sexual selection methods, though many scholars in the 21st century have developed and promoted the theory. Other theories include that music arose to assist in organizing labor, improving long-distance communication, benefiting communication with the divine , assisting in community cohesion or as

2324-416: A ground rich in melodic intervals: The first variation that Bach builds over this ostinato consists of a gently syncopated motif in the upper voices: This characteristic rhythmic pattern continues in the second variation, but with some engaging harmonic subtleties, especially in the second bar, where an unexpected chord creates a passing implication of a related key: In common with other Passacaglias of

2490-543: A lighter, clearer and considerably simpler texture than the Baroque music which preceded it. The main style was homophony , 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

2656-408: A long phrase—either an accompanimental figure or an actual melody—is repeated over and over again in the bass part, while the upper parts proceed normally [with variation]". However, he cautions, "it might more properly be termed a musical device than a musical form." One striking ostinato instrumental piece of the late Renaissance period is "The Bells", a piece for virginals by William Byrd . Here

2822-425: A mensuration canon (also known as a prolation canon , or a proportional canon), the follower imitates the leader by some rhythmic proportion. The follower may double the rhythmic values of the leader (augmentation or sloth canon) or it may cut the rhythmic proportions in half (diminution canon). Phasing involves the application of modulating rhythmic proportions according to a sliding scale. The cancrizans, and often

2988-558: A new diversity in theatre music , including operetta , and musical comedy and other forms of musical theatre. In the 19th century, a key way 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 the violin. With 20th-century music , the invention of new electric technologies such as radio broadcasting and mass market availability of gramophone records meant sound recordings heard by listeners (on

3154-552: A number of canons for player piano . (See Mensuration and tempo canons below.) Anton Webern employed canonic textures in his work; his Op. 16 work is a collection of five canons for soprano, clarinet, and bass clarinet. Considering the many types of canon "in the tonal repertoire", it may be ironic that "canon—the strictest type of imitation—has such a wide variety of possibilities". The most rigid and ingenious forms of canon are not strictly concerned with pattern but also with content. Canons are classified by various traits including

3320-438: A nursery rhyme" that consists of an ostinato shared between viola and cello supporting a melody in octaves in the first and second violins: Beethoven reverses this relationship a few bars later with the melody in the viola and cello and the ostinato shared between the violins: Both the first and third acts of Wagner 's final opera Parsifal feature a passage accompanying a scene where a band of Knights solemnly processes from

3486-514: 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. Music has many different fundamentals or elements. Depending on

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3652-426: A performer. Although a musical composition often uses musical notation and has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre, when one person writes the melodies, a second person writes the lyrics, and a third person orchestrates the songs. In some styles of music, such as

3818-401: A refrain or melodic figure , often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instruments that form the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though they are most often found in rock music , heavy metal music , Latin , funk and jazz , classical music is also sometimes based on a simple riff, such as Ravel 's Boléro . Riffs can be as simple as a tenor saxophone honking

3984-438: A relationship between the origin of music and the origin of language , and there is disagreement surrounding whether music developed before, after, or simultaneously with language. A similar source of contention surrounds whether music was the intentional result of natural selection or was a byproduct spandrel of evolution. The earliest influential theory was proposed by Charles Darwin in 1871, who stated that music arose as

4150-418: A sequence of 13 chords in the sixth mode (B–C–D–E–F–F–G–A–B) onto the 18 duration values, while the left hand twice states nine chords in the third mode. Peter Maxwell Davies was another post-tonal composer who favoured rhythmic canons, where the pitch materials are not obliged to correspond. The notion of rhythmic canon transfers Messiaen's idea of mode of limited transposition from the domain of pitch to

4316-452: A sequence of every fourth beat, entering at the first, at the second, and at the third beat, which is a rhythm analogy of the transpositions of pitch class classes {C, E ♭ , F ♯ , A}. Non-trivial solutions have been found by Dan Tudor Vuza for a circular time with periods 72, 108, 120,... Computational methods for finding rhythmic canons, both infinite and finite, with arbitrary generative rhythmic patterns were developed in

4482-509: A simple, catchy rhythmic figure, or as complex as the riff-based variations in the head arrangements played by the Count Basie Orchestra . David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on

4648-404: A single written melodic line. This rule was usually given verbally, but could also be supplemented by special signs in the score, sometimes themselves called canoni . The earliest known non-religious canons are English rounds , a form first given the name rondellus by Walter Odington at the beginning of the 14th century; the best known is " Sumer is icumen in " (composed around 1250), called

4814-422: A song is often called a tag . " Take Five " begins with a repeated, syncopated figure in 4 time, which pianist Dave Brubeck plays throughout the song (except for Joe Morello 's drum solo and a variation on the chords in the middle section). The music from Miles Davis 's modal period ( c. 1958–1963) was based on improvising songs with a small number of chords. The jazz standard " So What " uses

4980-457: A song may state the song is a "slow blues" or a "fast swing", which indicates the tempo and the genre. To read notation, a person must have an understanding of music theory , harmony and the performance practice associated with a particular song or piece's genre. Written notation varies with the style and period of music. Nowadays, notated music is produced as sheet music or, for individuals with computer scorewriter programs, as an image on

5146-521: A source of ideas for classical music. Igor Stravinsky , Arnold Schoenberg , and John Cage were influential composers in 20th-century art music. The invention of sound recording and the ability to edit music gave rise to new subgenres of classical music, including the acousmatic and Musique concrète schools of electronic composition. Sound recording was 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

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5312-429: A square, by disjoint equal figures. ...By analogy with covering the scale by a few pitch classes and their transpositions, the pulse train was covered by a certain rhythmic pattern with different delays. The disjointedness of pitch classes implied no common beats in different instances of the rhythmic pattern. ...A rhythmic canon is one whose tone onsets result in a regular pulse train with no simultaneous tone onsets at

5478-520: A strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody." The traditional rhythm section for popular music is rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, drums. Some bands have keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, analog synthesizers . In the 1980s, pop musicians began using digital synthesizers, such as the DX-7 synthesizer, electronic drum machines such as the TR-808 and synth bass devices (such as

5644-447: A technique which he called "rhythmic canon", a polyphony of independent strands in which the pitch material differs. An example is found in the piano part of the first of the Trois petites liturgies de la présence divine , where the left hand (doubled by strings and maracas ), and the right hand (doubled by vibraphone ) play the same rhythmic sequence in a 3:2 ratio, but the right hand adapts

5810-448: A time. In that sense, a rhythmic canon tiles time, covering a regular pulse train by disjoint equal rhythms from different voices. Note that the established term "rhythmic canon" is somewhat misleading, and "disjoint rhythm canon" might be more exact. ...It turned out, however, that solutions to the time-tiling problem are mainly trivial and musically not interesting. A typical solution is a metronome rhythm entering with equal delays, e.g.,

5976-516: A vamp in the two-note "Sooooo what?" figure, regularly played by the piano and the trumpet throughout. Jazz scholar Barry Kernfeld calls this music vamp music . Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of form , harmony , melody , rhythm , or otherwise expressive content . Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all human societies. Definitions of music vary widely in substance and approach. While scholars agree that music

6142-426: A variety of settings. There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras. A distinction is often made between music performed for a live audience and music that

6308-667: A variety of sources, including the indigenous mbira , as well as foreign influences such as James Brown -type funk riffs. However, the foreign influences are interpreted through a distinctly African ostinato sensibility. African guitar styles began with Congolese bands doing Cuban cover songs . The Cuban guajeo had a both familiar and exotic quality to the African musicians. Gradually, various regional guitar styles emerged, as indigenous influences became increasingly dominant within these Africanized guajeos . As Moore states, "One could say that I – IV – V – IV [chord progressions]

6474-436: A vibrant tradition of secular song (non-religious songs). Examples of composers from this period are Léonin , Pérotin , Guillaume de Machaut , and Walther von der Vogelweide . Renaissance music ( c.  1400 to 1600) was more focused on secular themes, such as courtly love . Around 1450, the printing press was invented, which made printed sheet music much less expensive and easier to mass-produce (prior to

6640-512: Is pentatonic - diatonic , having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5 + 7 = 12) as does European-influenced music. The medieval music era (500 to 1400), which took place during the Middle Ages , started with the introduction of monophonic (single melodic line) chanting into Catholic Church services. Musical notation was used since ancient times in Greek culture , but in

6806-482: Is "caccia", while the medieval French word is spelled "chace" (modern spelling: "chasse"). A well-known French chace is the anonymous "Se je chant mains". Richard Taruskin describes "Se je chant mains" as evoking the atmosphere of a falcon hunt: "The middle section is truly a tour de force, but of a wholly new and off-beat type: a riot of hockets set to 'words' mixing French, bird-language, and hound-language in an onomatopoetical mélange." Guillaume de Machaut also used

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6972-427: Is a canon with two simultaneous themes ; a triple canon has three. A double canon is a composition that unfolds two different canons simultaneously. A duet aria, "Herr, du siehst statt guter Werke" from J. S. Bach 's Cantata BWV 9, Es ist das Heil uns kommen her features a double canon "between flute and oboe on the one hand and the soprano and alto voices on the other. But what is most interesting in this movement

7138-513: Is a core component and an essential criterion of performances. Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. When music was only available through sheet music scores, such as during the Classical and Romantic eras, music lovers would buy the sheet music of their favourite pieces and songs so that they could perform them at home on

7304-455: Is a fundamental component of modern-day salsa , and Latin jazz . The following example shows a basic guajeo pattern. The guajeo is a seamless Afro-Euro ostinato hybrid, which has had a major influence upon jazz, R&B, rock 'n' roll and popular music in general. The Beatles ' " I Feel Fine " guitar riff is guajeo-like. In various popular music styles, riff refers to a brief, relaxed phrase repeated over changing melodies. It may serve as

7470-412: Is a genre of popular music that developed in the 1950s from rock and roll , rockabilly , blues , and country music . The sound of rock often revolves around the electric or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section . Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords,

7636-413: Is a typical Cuban ostinato melody, most often consisting of arpeggiated chords in syncopated patterns. The guajeo is a hybrid of the African and European ostinato. The guajeo was first played as accompaniment on the tres in the folkloric changüí and son . The term guajeo is often used to mean specific ostinato patterns played by a tres, piano, an instrument of the violin family, or saxophones. The guajeo

7802-402: Is broad enough to include the creation of popular music and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces as well as spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drummers . Performance is the physical expression of music, which occurs when a song is sung or piano piece, guitar melody, symphony, drum beat or other musical part

7968-428: Is called aleatoric music , and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage , Morton Feldman , and Witold Lutosławski . A commonly known example of chance-based music is the sound of wind chimes jingling in a breeze. The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition

8134-441: Is defined by a small number of specific elements , there is no consensus as to what these necessary elements are. Music is often characterized as a highly versatile medium for expressing human creativity . Diverse activities are involved in the creation of music, and are often divided into categories of composition , improvisation , and performance . Music may be performed using a wide variety of musical instruments , including

8300-440: Is gamelan, an ensemble of tuned percussion instruments that include metallophones , drums , gongs and spike fiddles along with bamboo suling (like a flute ). Chinese classical music , the traditional art or court music of China, has a history stretching over about 3,000 years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or genres. Chinese music

8466-482: Is governed primarily by the pre-compositional scheme." "The rhythmical current running through the music is what binds together these curious mosaic-like pieces." A subtler metrical conflict can be found in the final section of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms . The choir sing a melody in triple time, while the bass instruments in the orchestra play a 4-beat ostinato against this. "This is built up over an ostinato bass (harp, two pianos and timpani) moving in fourths like

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8632-570: Is his Fantasia upon a Ground for three violins and continuo: The intervals in the above pattern are found in many works of the Baroque Period. Pachelbel's Canon also uses a similar sequence of notes in the bass part: Two pieces by J.S.Bach are particularly striking for their use of an ostinato bass: the Crucifixus from his Mass in B minor and the Passacaglia in C minor for organ, which has

8798-469: Is much easier for listeners to discern the pitch of a single note played on a piano than to try to discern the pitch of a crash cymbal that is struck. Canon (music) An accompanied canon is a canon accompanied by one or more additional independent parts that do not imitate the melody. During the Middle Ages , Renaissance , and Baroque —that is, through the early 18th century—any kind of imitative musical counterpoints were called fugues , with

8964-514: Is not the case worldwide, and languages such as modern Indonesian ( musik ) and Shona ( musakazo ) have recently adopted words to reflect this universal conception, as they did not have words that fit exactly the Western scope. Before Western contact in East Asia , neither Japan nor China had a single word that encompasses music in a broad sense, but culturally, they often regarded music in such

9130-452: Is not the only ostinato pattern that Purcell uses in the opera. Dido's opening aria "Ah, Belinda" is a further demonstration of Purcell's technical mastery: the phrases of the vocal line do not always coincide with the four-bar ground: "Purcell's compositions over a ground vary in their working out, and the repetition never becomes a restriction." Purcell's instrumental music also featured ground patterns. A particularly fine and complex example

9296-427: Is notated relatively precisely, as in classical music, there are many decisions that a performer has to make, because notation does not specify all of the elements of music precisely. The process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and

9462-469: Is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world. Sculptures from the Indus Valley civilization show dance and old musical instruments, like the seven-holed flute. Stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Mortimer Wheeler . The Rigveda , an ancient Hindu text, has elements of present Indian music, with musical notation to denote

9628-417: Is performed in a studio so that it can be recorded and distributed through the music retail system or the broadcasting system. However, there are also many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in both classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers. In

9794-429: Is played. In classical music, a work is written in music notation by a composer and then 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,

9960-524: Is that the very attractive melodic surface of the canon belies its dogmatic message by offering a moving simplicity of tone to indicate the comfort that particular doctrine provides for the believer. Canonic devices often bear the association of strictness and the law in Bach's work." In a mirror canon (or canon by contrary motion), the subsequent voice imitates the initial voice in inversion. They are not very common, though examples of mirror canons can be found in

10126-463: Is the canonic passage from the second movement of his Piano Sonata 28 in A major, Op. 101 : Beethoven's most spectacular and dramatically effective use of canon occurs in the first act of his opera Fidelio . Here, four of the characters sing a quartet in canon, "a sublime musical wonder", accompanied by orchestration of the utmost delicacy and refinement. "Each of the four participants delivers his or her quatrain ", "The use of canon to embody

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10292-427: Is the descending chromatic ground bass that underpins the aria "When I am laid in earth" (" Dido's Lament ") at the end of his opera Dido and Aeneas : While the use of a descending chromatic scale to express pathos was fairly common at the end of the seventeenth century, Richard Taruskin pointed out that Purcell shows a fresh approach to this musical trope : "Altogether unconventional and characteristic, however,

10458-566: Is the interpolation of an additional cadential measure into the stereotyped ground, increasing its length from a routine four to a haunting five bars, against which the vocal line, with its despondent refrain ("Remember me!"), is deployed with marked asymmetry. That, in addition to Purcell's distinctively dissonant, suspension-saturated harmony, enhanced by additional chromatic descents during the final ritornello and by many deceptive cadences, makes this little aria an unforgettably poignant embodiment of heartache ." See also: Lament bass . However, this

10624-416: Is there, but one doesn't easily hear it." Peter Latham describes Brahms ' Intermezzo in F minor, Op. 118, No. 4 as a piece "rich in canons". In the following passage, the left hand shadows the right at the time distance of one beat and at the pitch interval of an octave lower: Michael Musgrave writes that as a result of the strict canon at the octave, the piece is "of an anxious, suppressed nature, ... in

10790-577: Is to African music what the 12-bar blues is to North American music." Such progressions seem superficially to follow the conventions of Western music theory. However, performers of African popular music do not perceive these progressions in the same way. Harmonic progressions which move from the tonic to the subdominant (as they are known in European music) have been used in Traditional sub-Saharan African harmony for hundreds of years. Their elaborations follow all

10956-414: Is used in a number of different contexts. The two most common contexts can be differentiated by describing them as the "rudimentary elements of music" and the "perceptual elements of music". Pitch is an aspect of a sound that we can hear, reflecting whether one musical sound, note, or tone is "higher" or "lower" than another musical sound, note, or tone. We can talk about the highness or lowness of pitch in

11122-515: Is used in the production of other media, such as in soundtracks to films, TV shows, operas, and video games. Listening to music is a common means of entertainment . The culture surrounding music extends into areas of academic study , journalism , philosophy , psychology , and therapy . The music industry includes songwriters, performers, sound engineers , producers, tour organizers, distributors of instruments, accessories, and publishers of sheet music and recordings . Technology facilitating

11288-757: The Old French musique of the 12th century; and the Latin mūsica . The Latin word itself derives from the Ancient Greek mousiké ( technē )— μουσική ( τέχνη )—literally meaning "(art) of the Muses". The Muses were nine deities in Ancient Greek mythology who presided over the arts and sciences . They were included in tales by the earliest Western authors, Homer and Hesiod , and eventually came to be associated with music specifically. Over time, Polyhymnia would reside over music more prominently than

11454-666: The Roman Empire , Eastern Europe, and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music. The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world. The oldest surviving work written about music theory is Harmonika Stoicheia by Aristoxenus . Asian music covers a swath of music cultures surveyed in the articles on Arabia , Central Asia , East Asia , South Asia , and Southeast Asia . Several have traditions reaching into antiquity. Indian classical music

11620-666: The Songye people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Tiv people of Nigeria, have a strong and broad conception of 'music' but no corresponding word in their native languages. Other words commonly translated as 'music' often have more specific meanings in their respective cultures: the Hindi word for music, sangita , properly refers to art music , while the many Indigenous languages of

11786-689: The Swabian Jura , Germany, namely from the Geissenklösterle , Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves. Dated to the Aurignacian (of the Upper Paleolithic) and used by Early European modern humans , from all three caves there are eight examples, four made from the wing bones of birds and four from mammoth ivory ; three of these are near complete. Three flutes from the Geissenklösterle are dated as

11952-477: The TB-303 ) or synth bass keyboards. In the 1990s, an increasingly large range of computerized hardware musical devices and instruments and software (e.g. digital audio workstations ) were used. In the 2020s, soft synths and computer music apps make it possible for bedroom producers to create and record types of music, such as electronic dance music , in their home, adding sampled and digital instruments and editing

12118-529: The blues , a composer/songwriter may create, perform and record new songs or pieces without ever writing them down in music notation. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples range from avant-garde music that uses graphic notation , to text compositions such as Aus den sieben Tagen , to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance

12284-460: The chord changes and form of the song are written, requiring the performer to have a great understanding of the music's structure, harmony and the styles of a particular genre e.g., jazz or country music . In Western art music, the most common types of written notation are scores, which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece, and parts, which are the music notation for the individual performers or singers. In popular music, jazz, and blues,

12450-427: The fugue , the invention , the sonata , and the concerto . The late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and richly ornamented. Important composers from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach ( Cello suites ), George Frideric Handel ( Messiah ), Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi ( The Four Seasons ). The music of the Classical period (1730 to 1820) aimed to imitate what were seen as

12616-541: The human voice . It can also be composed, sequenced, or otherwise produced to be indirectly played mechanically or electronically, such as via a music box , barrel organ , or digital audio workstation software on a computer. Music often plays a key role in social events and religious ceremony . The techniques of making music are often transmitted as part of a cultural tradition. Music is played in public and private contexts, highlighted at events such as festivals and concerts for various different types of ensembles. Music

12782-413: The jam band scene, live, improvised jam sessions are preferred to studio recordings. Music notation typically means the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music, such as the notes of a melody , are notated. Music notation often provides instructions on how to perform the music. For example, the sheet music for

12948-423: The multitrack recording system had a major influence on rock music , because it could do 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

13114-470: The recording and reproduction of music has historically included sheet music , microphones , phonographs , and tape machines , with playback of digital musics being a common use for MP3 players , CD players , and smartphones . The modern English word ' music ' came into use in the 1630s. It is derived from a long line of successive precursors: the Old English ' musike ' of the mid-13th century;

13280-457: The sasando stringed instrument on the island of Rote, the Sundanese angklung , and the complex and sophisticated Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras. Indonesia is the home of gong chime , a general term for a set of small, high pitched pot gongs. Gongs are usually placed in order of note, with the boss up on a string held in a low wooden frame. The most popular form of Indonesian music

13446-592: 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.g., the sonata form used in string quartets and symphonies ), but these forms were expanded and altered. In many cases, new approaches were explored for existing genres, forms, and functions. Also, new forms were created that were deemed better suited to

13612-512: The 1970s "... lies in part in the need for unity created by the virtual abandonment of functional chord progressions to shape phrases and define tonality". Similarly, in modal music, "... relentless, repetitive character help to establish and confirm the modal center". Their popularity may also be justified by their ease as well as range of use, though, "... ostinato must be employed judiciously, as its overuse can quickly lead to monotony". Ostinato patterns have been present in European music from

13778-428: The 2000s with further generalization to so-called "rhythmic fugues" with a few generative rhythmic patterns. A puzzle canon, riddle canon, or enigma canon is a canon in which only one voice is notated and the rules for determining the remaining parts and the time intervals of their entrances must be guessed. "The enigmatical character of a [puzzle] canon does not consist of any special way of composing it, but only of

13944-455: The 20th and early 21st century, as "common practice" Western art music performance became institutionalized in symphony orchestras, opera houses, and ballets, improvisation has played a smaller role, as more and more music was notated in scores and parts for musicians to play. At the same time, some 20th and 21st century art music composers have increasingly included improvisation in their creative work. In Indian classical music , improvisation

14110-571: The 20th century, Conlon Nancarrow composed complex tempo or mensural canons, mostly for the player piano as they are extremely difficult to play. Larry Polansky has an album of mensuration canons, Four-Voice Canons . Arvo Pärt has written several mensuration canons, including Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten , Arbos and Festina Lente . Per Nørgård's infinity series has a sloth canon structure. This self-similarity of sloth canons makes it "fractal like". The most familiar of

14276-413: The 20th century, Stravinsky is possibly the one most associated with the practice of ostinato. In conversation with the composer, his friend and colleague Robert Craft remarked "Your music always has an element of repetition, of ostinato. What is the function of ostinato?" Stravinsky replied; "It is static – that is, anti-development; and sometimes we need a contradiction to development." Stravinsky

14442-400: The 3-voice "chace" form in movements from his masterpiece Le Lai de la Fontaine (1361). Referring to the setting of the fourth stanza of this work, Taruskin says "a well-wrought chace can be far more than the sum of its parts; and this particular chace is possibly Machaut's greatest feat of subtilitas ." An example of late 14th century canon which featured some of the rhythmic complexity of

14608-549: The Americas have words for music that refer specifically to song but describe instrumental music regardless. Though the Arabic musiqi can refer to all music, it is usually used for instrumental and metric music, while khandan identifies vocal and improvised music. It is often debated to what extent the origins of music will ever be understood, and there are competing theories that aim to explain it. Many scholars highlight

14774-412: 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

14940-437: 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

15106-512: The Countess, his wife, and Figaro, his butler, for plotting behind his back. A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo, owes its name to a crescendo that underlies a persistent musical pattern, which usually culminates in a solo vocal cadenza. In the energetic Scherzo of Beethoven ’s late C sharp minor Quartet, Op. 131 , there is a harmonically static passage, with "the repetitiveness of

15272-496: The Middle Ages onwards. In the famous English canon " Sumer Is Icumen In ", the main vocal lines are underpinned by an ostinato pattern, known as a pes : Later in the medieval era, Guillaume Dufay 's 15th-century chanson Resvelons Nous features a similarly constructed ostinato pattern, but this time 5 bars long. Over this, the main melodic line moves freely, varying the phrase-lengths, while being "to some extent predetermined by

15438-608: The Middle Ages, notation was first introduced by the Catholic Church, so chant melodies could be written down, to facilitate the use of the same melodies for religious music across the Catholic empire. The only European Medieval repertory that has been found, in written form, from before 800 is the monophonic liturgical plainsong chant of the Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant . Alongside these traditions of sacred and church music there existed

15604-885: The Middle English word vampe (sock), from Old French avanpie , equivalent to Modern French avant-pied , literally before-foot . Many vamp-oriented songwriters begin the creative process by attempting to evoke a mood or feeling while riffing freely on an instrument or scat singing. Many well known artists primarily build songs with a vamp/riff/ostinato based approach—including John Lee Hooker (" Boogie Chillen ", "House Rent Boogie"), Bo Diddley (" Hey Bo Diddley ", " Who Do You Love? "), Jimmy Page (" Ramble On ", " Bron Yr Aur "), Nine Inch Nails (" Closer "), and Beck (" Loser "). Classic examples of vamps in jazz include " A Night in Tunisia ", " Take Five ", " A Love Supreme ", " Maiden Voyage ", and " Cantaloupe Island ". Rock examples include

15770-564: The Minuet of Haydn 's String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 76, No. 2 . "Throughout its sinewy length, between upper and lower strings. Here is the superbly logical fulfilment of the two-part octave doubling of Haydn's earliest divertimento minuets": Beethoven 's works feature a number of passages in canon. The following comes from his Symphony No. 4 : Antony Hopkins describes the above as "a delightfully naïve canon". More sophisticated and varied in its treatment of intervals and harmonic implications

15936-554: The Mood " had an earlier life as Wingy Manone 's "Tar Paper Stomp". All these songs use twelve bar blues riffs, and most of these riffs probably precede the examples given. Neither of the terms 'riff' or ' lick ' are used in classical music . Instead, individual musical phrases used as the basis of classical music pieces are called ostinatos or simply phrases. Contemporary jazz writers also use riff- or lick-like ostinatos in modal music. Latin jazz often uses guajeo-based riffs. In music,

16102-478: The Western art music tradition, improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque era and during the Classical era. In the Baroque era, performers improvised ornaments, and basso continuo keyboard players improvised chord voicings based on figured bass notation. As well, the top soloists were expected to be able to improvise pieces such as preludes . In the Classical era, solo performers and singers improvised virtuoso cadenzas during concerts. However, in

16268-408: The above methods. Contour Canon A Contour Canon can be recognized in the traditional sense, similar to a strict canon or to a canon by inversion, where an original theme or design is presented, and is then followed by a response of the same theme, as well as in an untraditional fashion, where Subcontouric Cells are positioned in such a way that they assemble a canon. In this untraditional fashion,

16434-487: The building of large public performance spaces. Symphonic music including symphonies, musical accompaniment to ballet and mixed vocal/instrumental genres, such as opera and oratorio , became more popular. The best known composers of Classicism are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach , Christoph Willibald Gluck , Johann Christian Bach , Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert . Beethoven and Schubert are also considered to be composers in

16600-514: The canons is the perpetual/infinite canon (in Latin: canon perpetuus ) or round . As each voice of the canon arrives at its end it can begin again, in a perpetuum mobile fashion; e.g., "Three Blind Mice". Such a canon is also called a round or, in medieval Latin terminology, a rota . Sumer is icumen in is one example of a piece designated rota. Additional types include the spiral canon, accompanied canon, and double or triple canon. A double canon

16766-482: The central section this tension is temporarily eased through a very contained passage which employs the canon in chordal terms between the hands." According to Denis Matthews , "[what] looks on paper like another purely intellectual exercise... in practice it produces a warmly melodic effect." Stravinsky composed canons, including a Canon on a Russian Popular Tune and the Double Canon . Conlon Nancarrow composed

16932-599: The church to aristocratic courts, kings, queens and princes competed for the finest composers. Many leading composers came from the Netherlands, Belgium, and 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 1600 to 1750, coinciding with

17098-462: The composer typically orchestrates his or her own compositions, but in musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration. In some cases, a songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead, compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. Even when music

17264-487: The conventions of traditional African harmonic principles. Gehard Kubik concludes: The harmonic cycle of C–F–G–F [I–IV–V–IV] prominent in Congo/Zaire popular music simply cannot be defined as a progression from tonic to subdominant to dominant and back to subdominant (on which it ends) because in the performer's appreciation they are of equal status, and not in any hierarchical order as in Western music—(Kubik 1999). A guajeo

17430-477: 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 composers began exploring darker, harsher sounds. Traditional music styles such as jazz and folk music were used by composers as

17596-644: The cradle of tonality, the ostinato patterns can be considered the playground in which it grew strong and self-confident. Within the context of European classical and film music, Claudia Gorbman defines an ostinato as a repeated melodic or rhythmic figure that propels scenes that lack dynamic visual action. Ostinati play an important part in improvised music (rock and jazz), in which they are often referred to as riffs or vamps . A "favorite technique of contemporary jazz writers", ostinati are often used in modal and Latin jazz and traditional African music including Gnawa music . The term ostinato essentially has

17762-406: The creation of music notation , such as a sheet music "score", which is then performed by the composer or by other singers or musicians. In popular music and traditional music, the act of composing, which is typically called songwriting, may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet , which sets out the melody , lyrics and chord progression . In classical music,

17928-499: The definition of "element" being used, these can include pitch, beat or pulse, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, style, allocation of voices, timbre or color, dynamics, expression, articulation, form, and structure. The elements of music feature prominently in the music curriculums of Australia, the UK, and the US. All three curriculums identify pitch, dynamics, timbre, and texture as elements, but

18094-458: The depths of forest to the hall of the Grail. The "Transformation music" that supports this change of scene is dominated by the iterated tolling of four bells: Brahms used ostinato patterns in both the finale of his Fourth Symphony and in the closing section of his Variations on a Theme by Haydn : Debussy featured an ostinato pattern throughout his Piano Prelude " Des pas sur la neige ". Here,

18260-414: The differing perspectives of the participants a first glance seems odd, but the rigid form allows for some character differentiation and does in fact make a dramatic point". "Everyone sings the same music to very different words, sinking their private thoughts into musical or at least linear anonymity". "The softly padding gait, the dove-tailed perfection of the counterpoint , induce a trance that, carrying

18426-432: The discretion of the group leader (e.g., viol, cello, theorbo, serpent), Classical chamber groups used specified, standardized instruments (e.g., a string quartet would be performed by two violins, a viola and a cello). The practice of improvised chord-playing by the continuo keyboardist or lute player, a hallmark of Baroque music, underwent a gradual decline between 1750 and 1800. One of the most important changes made in

18592-415: The domain of time: Messiaen considered a set of disjoint pitch classes with the same interval content which covers the twelve-tone tempered scale. For instance, four pitch classes {C, E♭, F# , A} and two transpositions, by one and by two semitones, cover the twelve-tone scale and, consequently, meet this requirement. This is similar to what is called in mathematics tiling , that is, covering an area, e.g.,

18758-491: The double-reed aulos and a plucked string instrument , the lyre , principally a special kind called a kithara . Music was an important part of education, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created significant musical development. Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes , that eventually became the basis for Western religious and classical music. Later, influences from

18924-486: The era, the ostinato is not simply confined to the bass, but rises to the uppermost part later in the piece: A performance of the entire piece can be heard here . Ostinatos feature in many works of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Mozart uses an ostinato phrase throughout the big scene that ends Act 2 of the Marriage of Figaro , to convey a sense of suspense as the jealous Count Almaviva tries in vain to incriminate

19090-461: The famous children's songs Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Frère Jacques . If the follower imitates the precise interval quality of the leader, then it is called a strict canon; if the follower imitates the interval number (but not the quality—e.g., a major third may become a minor third ), it is called a free canon. The follower is by definition a contrapuntal derivation of the leader. An inversion canon (also called an al rovescio canon) has

19256-694: The flourishing of the Baroque artistic style in Europe. The start of the Baroque era was marked by the penning of the first operas . Polyphonic contrapuntal music (music with separate, simultaneous melodic lines ) remained important during this period. 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 . Musical complexity increased during this time. Several major musical forms were created, some of them which persisted into later periods, seeing further development. These include

19422-499: The follower moving in contrary motion to the leader. Where the leader would go down by a particular interval, the follower goes up by that same interval. In a retrograde canon, also known as a canon cancrizans (Latin for crab canon , derived from the Latin cancer = crab), the follower accompanies the leader backward (in retrograde ). Alternative names for this type are canon per recte et retro or canon per rectus et inversus . In

19588-403: The genre include Ciconia , Ockeghem, Byrd , Beethoven, Brumel , Busnois , Haydn , Josquin des Prez , Mendelssohn , Pierre de la Rue , Brahms , Schoenberg , Nono and Maxwell Davies . According to Oliver B. Ellsworth, the earliest known enigma canon appears to be an anonymous ballade, "En la maison Dedalus ", found at the end of a collection of five theory treatises from

19754-599: The guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of a rock song." In jazz and R&B , riffs are often used as the starting point for longer compositions. The riff from Charlie Parker 's bebop number " Now's the Time " (1945) re-emerged four years later as the R&;B dance hit " The Hucklebuck ". The verse of "The Hucklebuck"—another riff—was "borrowed" from the Artie Matthews composition " Weary Blues ". Glenn Miller's " In

19920-650: The invention of the press, all notated music was hand-copied). The increased availability of sheet music spread musical styles quicker 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. Prominent composers from this era include Guillaume Du Fay , Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina , Thomas Morley , Orlando di Lasso and Josquin des Prez . As musical activity shifted from

20086-466: 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 2000s, which includes the Classical period as one of a number of periods). Music from the Classical period has

20252-402: The key of F# minor by South Korean Pianist Lee Ru-ma or Yiruma , features a repetitive canon using the same key progression (F#, D, A, E x2). Since its recognition online, there have been multiple covers of the song, including a mashup of it with Johann Pachelbel's Canon and Gigue in D Major . In his early work, such as Piano Phase (1967) and Clapping Music (1972), Steve Reich used

20418-431: The late 14th century ars subtilior school of composers is La harpe de melodie by Jacob de Senleches . According to Richard Hoppin, "This virelai has two canonic voices over a free and textless tenor." In many pieces in three contrapuntal parts, only two of the voices are in canon, while the remaining voice is a free melodic line. In Dufay 's song "Resvelons nous, amoureux", the lower two voices are in canon, but

20584-499: The late Romantic period, composers explored dramatic chromatic alterations of tonality , such as extended chords and altered chords , which created new sound "colors." 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

20750-450: The later part of the Classical era, as it began to move towards Romanticism. Romantic music ( c.  1820 to 1900) from the 19th century had many elements in common with the Romantic styles in literature and painting of the era. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all

20916-413: The latter reflecting the word's Italian etymology . The repeating idea may be a rhythmic pattern, part of a tune, or a complete melody in itself. Strictly speaking, ostinati should have exact repetition, but in common usage, the term covers repetition with variation and development , such as the alteration of an ostinato line to fit changing harmonies or keys . If the cadence may be regarded as

21082-422: The leading voice in a canon and those that imitate it, musicological literature also uses the traditional Latin terms dux and comes for "leader" and "follower", respectively. A canon of two voices may be called a canon in two, similarly a canon of x voices would be called a canon in x . This terminology may be used in combination with a similar terminology for the interval between each voice, different from

21248-489: The location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tablature was used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute , a stringed, fretted instrument. 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

21414-408: The long jam at the ends of " Loose Change " by Neil Young and Crazy Horse and " Sooner or Later " by King's X . In jazz , fusion , and related genres, a background vamp provides a performer with a harmonic framework supporting improvisation. In Latin jazz guajeos fulfill the role of piano vamp. A vamp at the beginning of a jazz tune may act as a springboard to the main tune; a vamp at the end of

21580-480: 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 . Other 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,

21746-404: The mensuration canon, take exception to the rule that the follower must start later than the leader; that is, in a typical canon, a follower cannot come before the leader (for then the labels 'leader' and 'follower' should be reversed) or at the same time as the leader (for then two lines together would constantly be in unison, or parallel thirds, etc., and there would be no counterpoint), whereas in

21912-427: The meter and mode of chanting. Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic , and based on a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas . The poem Cilappatikaram provides information about how new scales can be formed by modal shifting of the tonic from an existing scale. Present day Hindi music was influenced by Persian traditional music and Afghan Mughals. Carnatic music , popular in

22078-627: The method of writing it down, of which a solution is required." Clues hinting at the solution may be provided by the composer, in which case the term "riddle canon" can be used. J. S. Bach presented many of his canons in this form, for example in The Musical Offering . Mozart, after solving Father Martini 's puzzles, composed his own riddles, K. 73r , using Latin epigrams such as Sit trium series una and Ter ternis canite vocibus ("Let there be one series of three parts" and "sing three times with three voices"). Other notable contributors to

22244-571: The metric structure. Other African ostinatos generate complete cross-rhythms by sounding both the main beats and cross-beats. In the following example, a gyil sounds the three-against-two cross-rhythm ( hemiola ). The left hand (lower notes) sounds the two main beats, while the right hand (upper notes) sounds the three cross-beats. Popular dance bands in West Africa and the Congo region feature ostinato-playing guitars. The African guitar parts are drawn from

22410-440: The modern classical concert, religious processions, classical music festivals or music competitions . Chamber music , which is music for a small ensemble with only one or a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than large symphonic works. Musical improvisation is the creation of spontaneous music, often within (or based on) a pre-existing harmonic framework, chord progression , or riffs . Improvisers use

22576-416: The more general sense, such as the way a listener hears a piercingly high piccolo note or whistling tone as higher in pitch than a deep thump of a bass drum . We also talk about pitch in the precise sense associated with musical melodies , basslines and chords . Precise pitch can only be determined in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise. For example, it

22742-702: The new subject matter. Composers continued to develop opera and ballet music, exploring new styles and themes. In the years after 1800, 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 ). Later Romantic composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , Antonín Dvořák , and Gustav Mahler used more unusual chords and more dissonance to create dramatic tension. They generated complex and often much longer musical works. During

22908-459: The notes of the chord, various scales that are associated with each chord, and chromatic ornaments and passing tones which may be neither chord tones nor from the typical scales associated with a chord. Musical improvisation can be done 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, melody lines, and accompaniment parts. In

23074-432: The number of voices, the interval at which each successive voice is transposed in relation to the preceding voice, whether voices are inverse , retrograde , or retrograde-inverse ; the temporal distance between each voice, whether the intervals of the second voice are exactly those of the original or if they are adjusted to fit the diatonic scale , and the tempo of successive voices. However, canons may use more than one of

23240-719: The oldest, c.  43,150–39,370 BP. 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. Percussion instruments, lyres , and lutes were added to orchestras by the Middle Kingdom . Cymbals frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in Egypt today. Egyptian folk music , including

23406-513: The ostinato (or 'ground') consists of just two notes: In Italy, during the seventeenth century, Claudio Monteverdi composed many pieces using ostinato patterns in his operas and sacred works. One of these was his 1650 version of "Laetatus sum", an imposing setting of Psalm 122 that pits a four-note "ostinato of unquenchable energy." against both voices and instruments: Later in the same century, Henry Purcell became famous for his skilful deployment of ground bass patterns. His most famous ostinato

23572-409: The ostinato pattern stays in the middle register of the piano – it is never used as a bass. "Remark that the footfall ostinato remains nearly throughout on the same notes, at the same pitch level... this piece is an appeal to the basic loneliness of all human beings, oft-forgotten perhaps, but, like the ostinato, forming a basic undercurrent of our history." Of all the major classical composers of

23738-574: The other identified elements of music are far from universally agreed upon. Below is a list of the three official versions of the "elements of music": In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: "appropriate musical notations " was added to their list of elements and the title of the list was changed from the "elements of music" to the "inter-related dimensions of music". The inter-related dimensions of music are listed as: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure, and appropriate musical notations. The phrase "the elements of music"

23904-553: The other muses. The Latin word musica was also the originator for both the Spanish música and French musique via spelling and linguistic adjustment, though other European terms were probably loanwords , including the Italian musica , German Musik , Dutch muziek , Norwegian musikk , Polish muzyka and Russian muzïka . The modern Western world usually defines music as an all-encompassing term used to describe diverse genres, styles, and traditions. This

24070-573: The parts are together from a rhythmic and tuning perspective. 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 organized performances such as

24236-695: 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

24402-428: The performers have 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 such as adding a guitar solo or inserting an introduction. A performance can either be planned out and rehearsed (practiced)—which is the norm in classical music, jazz big bands , and many popular music styles–or improvised over

24568-469: The piano. With the advent of the phonograph , records of popular songs, rather than sheet music became the dominant way that music lovers would enjoy their favourite songs. With the advent of home tape recorders in the 1980s and digital music in the 1990s, music lovers could make tapes or playlists of favourite songs and take them with them on a portable cassette player or MP3 player. Some music lovers create mix tapes of favourite songs, which serve as

24734-401: The playing or singing style or phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting their songs, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and a given place is referred to as performance practice , whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of

24900-456: The protagonists outside Time, hints that there are realms of truth beyond the masks they pathetically or comically present to the world." In the Romantic era , the use of devices such as canon was even more often subtly hidden, as for example in Schumann 's piano piece "Vogel als Prophet" (1851). According to Nicholas Cook , "the canon is, as it were, absorbed into the texture of the music—it

25066-705: The radio or 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; anyone with a radio or record player could hear operas, symphonies and big bands in their own living room. During the 19th century, the focus on sheet music had restricted access to new music to middle and upper-class people who could read music and who owned pianos and other instruments. Radios and record players allowed lower-income people, who could not afford an opera or symphony concert ticket, to hear this music. As well, people could hear music from different parts of

25232-428: The recording digitally. In the 1990s, bands in genres such as nu metal began including DJs in their bands. DJs create music by manipulating recorded music, using a DJ mixer . "Composition" is the act or practice of creating a song, an instrumental music piece, a work with both singing and instruments, or another type of music. In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing also includes

25398-492: The repeating pattern of the canon in the lower two voices." Ground bass or basso ostinato (obstinate bass) is a type of variation form in which a bass line , or harmonic pattern (see Chaconne ; also common in Elizabethan England as Grounde ) is repeated as the basis of a piece underneath variations. Aaron Copland describes basso ostinato as "... the easiest to recognize" of the variation forms wherein, "...

25564-542: The same meaning as the medieval Latin word pes , the word ground as applied to classical music, and the word riff in contemporary popular music. Within the domain of European classical music traditions, Ostinati are used in 20th-century music to stabilize groups of pitches, as in Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring Introduction and Augurs of Spring . A famous type of ostinato, called the Rossini crescendo , owes its name to

25730-535: The second half, 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

25896-616: The southern states, is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are songs emphasizing love and other social issues. Indonesian music has been formed since the Bronze Age culture migrated to the Indonesian archipelago in the 2nd-3rd centuries BCE. Indonesian traditional music uses percussion instruments, especially kendang and gongs . Some of them developed elaborate and distinctive instruments, such as

26062-586: The standard musical notation is the lead sheet , which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and structure of the music. Fake books are also used in jazz; they may consist of lead sheets or simply chord charts, which permit rhythm section members to improvise an accompaniment part to jazz songs. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz " big bands ." In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tablature (often abbreviated as "tab"), which indicates

26228-528: The strict imitation now known as canon qualified as fuga ligata , meaning "fettered fugue". Only in the 16th century did the word "canon" begin to be used to describe the strict, imitative texture created by such a procedure. The word is derived from the Greek "κανών", Latinised as canon , which means "law" or "norm". In contrapuntal usage, the word refers to the "rule" explaining the number of parts, places of entry, transposition, and so on, according to which one or more additional parts may be derived from

26394-569: The terminology in the following paragraph. Another standard designation is "Canon: Two in One", which means two voices in one canon. "Canon: Four in Two" means four voices with two simultaneous canons. While "Canon: Six in Three" means six voices with three simultaneous canons, and so on. A simple canon (also known as a round ) imitates the leader perfectly at the octave or unison. Well-known canons of this type include

26560-581: The third quarter of the fourteenth century collected in the Berkeley Manuscript. Thomas Morley complained that sometimes a solution, "which being founde (it might bee) was scant worth the hearing", J. G. Albrechtsberger admits that, "when we have traced the secret, we have gained but little; as the proverb says, ' Parturiunt montes, etc. '" but adds that, "these speculative passages ... serve to sharpen acumen". A famous piano piece, "River Flows in You" in

26726-463: The traditional Sufi dhikr rituals, are the closest contemporary music genre to ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms and instruments. The " Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal ", found on clay tablets in the ancient Syrian city of Ugarit , is the oldest surviving notated work of music, dating back to approximately 1400 BCE. Music was an important part of social and cultural life in ancient Greece , in fact it

26892-401: The upper part is what David Fallows describes as a "florid top line": Both J. S. Bach and Handel featured canons in their works. The final variation of Handel's keyboard Chaconne in G major ( HWV 442) is a canon in which the player's right hand is imitated at the distance of one beat, creating rhythmic ambiguity within the prevailing triple time: An example of a classical strict canon is

27058-449: The works of Bach, Mozart (e.g., the trio from Serenade for Wind Octet in C minor , K. 388/384a), Anton Webern , and other composers. A table canon is a retrograde and inverse canon meant to be placed on a table in between two musicians, who both read the same line of music in opposite directions. As both parts are included in each single line, a second line is not needed. Bach wrote a few table canons. Olivier Messiaen employed

27224-496: Was one of the main subjects taught to children. Musical education was considered important for the development of an individual's soul. Musicians and singers played a prominent role in Greek theater , and those who received a musical education were seen as nobles and in perfect harmony (as can be read in the Republic, Plato ). Mixed gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration, and spiritual ceremonies. Instruments included

27390-415: Was particularly skilled at using ostinatos to confound rather than confirm rhythmic expectations. In the first of his Three Pieces for String Quartet , Stravinsky sets up three repeated patterns, which overlap one another and never coincide . "Here a rigid pattern of (3+2+2/4) bars is laid over a strictly recurring 23-beat tune (the bars being marked by a cello ostinato), so that their changing relationship

27556-405: Was ready. Vamps are generally symmetrical, self-contained, and open to variation. They are used in blues , jazz , gospel , soul , and musical theater . Vamps are also found in rock , funk , reggae , R&B , pop , and country . The equivalent in classical music is an ostinato, in hip hop and electronic music the loop , and in rock music the riff . The slang term vamp comes from

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