Please listen to ”Hallelujah” chorus, from Hndel’s Messiah – Mormon Tabernacle Choir
copy and paste
Once you listen to it please discuss the following questions in an essay. PLEASE USE MUSICAL TERMS PROPERLY provided in Uploads and on this description. (fundamentals, elements, harmony, Pitches, Themes ETC)
Does not have to be a long essay just detailed and terms used properly.
Listening assignment: This is one of the most famous works in Western music history.
Which music textures do you hear?
Which one is the predominant music texture in this work?
What other music elements that we have learned/are learning can you identify?
Themes?
Motives?
Cadences?
Consonance?
Dissonance?
Any other observations?
Western music- is defined by music deriving from the western
hemisphere, to include the Americas, portions of Europe, Africa, and
the extreme eastern portion of Russia (Siberia). (Wikipedia.com)
The term world music,- refers to music that is markedly different in form,
function and practice than ones own music. Clearly this is a
subjective term, and should be understood as such. To many parts of
the world, the music of the United States may be viewed as world
music. Concerning western music, there exists three fundamental
genres of music: folk, popular, and concert (also referred to as
classical or art music by some)
.
Folk music -in this context, should not be confused with the more
popular folk music that thrived in the United States during the 1950s
and 1960s. To create a distinction between these two types of music,
we refer to the more popular folk music of the 50s and 60s as urban
folk music.
Folk music in this context then, as a fundamental genre of western
music, is music that derives from a specific geographic location; the
music of a specific group of people in a specific place in the world. It
is music that expresses the lives and times of these people, it
celebrates their joys and mourns their tragedies. In a way, it can be
viewed as a sort of journal for that group of people. Folk music is the
music of the common person, usually deriving from the lower socioeconomic
levels of a given society. Folk music is not the music of the
rich and powerful.
Folk music is simple and highly repetitive. It is created and not
composed, meaning it is not notated, written down music. It is taught
and passed on orally. It is created by amateurs for amateurs.
Excessively ornate or complex music is not a consideration in the
creation of this music. Many times this type of music may serve
utilitarian needs for the given group of people, such as work songs,
wedding songs or funeral laments.
Popular music-, as the name implies, is music that is created for the
purpose of being accepted and embraced by as many people as
possible. For this reason, popular music tends to focus on more
universal topics such as love, so that as many people as possible
may relate to such music. In this case, this creates a distinction
between folk and popular music. However, like folk music, popular
music tends to also be more simple and repetitive. Popular music can
be created or it can be composed. In popular music there exists a
wider array of talent, from extraordinarily gifted performers, singers,
or instrumentalists who possess a supreme command of their music
abilities, yet have never studied music formally, to those who are
equally gifted, yet have studied music formally, and can read and
notate music.
One aspect of popular music is what is known as the hook, meaning
that there exists one portion of the song that is attractive, catchy and
memorable, easy to remember, so that you are hooked after just
one hearing of the song. The primary function of popular music is to
entertain, but popular music is not limited to only that purpose. Many
pop artists, within the context of popular success, do create
compelling artistic music. And, many pop artists have chosen to
express social/political messages to draw attention to specific issues
in a given society.
Concert music-, commonly referred to as classical music, is
probably the most distinct genre of music. It is usually written by very
well-trained composers for very well-trained musicians. As a result,
concert music tends to be more complex in nature, and this is one
reason why concert music has never been as popular as the other
two genres. In order to enjoy concert music, one has to know and
understand the music better. There is a necessary investment on the
listeners part to focus and pay attention to the music in order to fully
appreciate and enjoy it. And, while every person likes to be popular
and successful, and whereas there are many classical composers,
performers and conductors who strive to be very popular, many times
composers and performers of concert music are not motivated by
popularity or financial gain, but rather by artistic, self expression, at
the expense of popularity.
Hybrid music- is music that may posses qualities of more than one
fundamental genre. Crossover music is music that may begin in one
genre, but over time may take on qualities and characteristics of
another genre. Please do not confuse this term with crossover hits
in the Billboard Top 100.
Finally, sacred/religious/spiritual music may be categorized in any
three of the aforementioned genres of western music. And, whereas
such music is most definitely a genre of western music, please note
that it is not a fundamental genre of music.
a cappella is a music that terms that refers to a vocal group singing
without the aid and accompaniment of music instruments. In earlier
times the terms meaning was, the church style or in the style of the
church, referring to unaccompanied vocal music. In the Medieval
period, the only music allowed in the Catholic church (the first
Christian church) was unaccompanied vocal music. Thus, when
people would hear such music being performed outside of the church
(not necessarily sacred music), they would declare, look! In the style
of the church!
