Hip hop has long been a global phenomenon, uniting people through its values and ideas which influence its style, technique and fashion.
Plato (480-347/347 BC) considered music an indispensable aspect of religion and morality, favoring simple compositions with no sensuous elements.
Anthropologist Jeremy Montagu asserts that music may have developed before human language. Music creates bonding experiences like when a mother humming to her baby.
Origins
Though every culture engages in music, scholars remain uncertain how it developed as an art form. One major question for researchers is whether music emerged before, after, or alongside language development.
Not surprisingly, early humans likely sung for both entertainment and emotional reasons, although some experts speculate that music may have begun with simple vocal sounds.
Around 600 BCE, the legendary mathematician Pythagoras dissected music scientifically and created the octave scale – setting the groundwork for Classical music today.
Purposes
Music, despite its many forms and diverse compositions, shares certain commonalities. It consists of sounds organized horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies; its structure and organization follow rules and standards set by musical organizations; while its content conveys culture and emotion.
Music’s diverse nature allows it to form relationships with words (song, poetry) and physical movement (dance), making it easy to form alliances between it and other art forms such as dance and theatre. That it has been used in ritual, ceremony, and entertainment contexts worldwide is testament to the belief in its ability to influence human emotions.
Plato considered music an ethical pursuit and, like Confucius, stressed its simplicity. Today it’s easier than ever before to see that music serves an array of practical tasks while conferring numerous advantages to individuals and societies alike.
Techniques
Musical technique refers to a broad set of skills used by musicians, from fingering for string instruments to mouthing techniques (appropriate positioning and shape of lips for brass and woodwind instruments) as well as physical tasks such as tuning or shifting a trombone slide.
Other musical techniques include using sequences to expand on a motif or motivic unit, an essential aspect of developing compositions. Sequences are frequently employed in contemporary pop songs and especially effective when combined with harmony; they also serve to build tension or add dramatic impact and are frequently combined with elements like reverb and delay for maximum impact.
Instruments
Musical instruments are devices designed to produce musical sounds. Their classification usually refers to their mode of producing sound; however, they may also be distinguished based on their role within music or reason for existence.
Xylophones, glockenspiels and recorders have long been utilized as educational instruments due to their ability to play tuned notes accurately, helping students develop musical ear.
The trumpet is an integral component of symphony orchestra brass sections and widely utilized across jazz, R&B, and some rock ensembles. Known for its wide range of tones – even low, rich low tones – its popularity remains undiminished today.
Styles
Musicians utilize styles to express and articulate their musical ideas and intentions, while audiences rely on styles as guides for expectations and interpretations of what they are listening to. Furthermore, the arrangement and relationship among different elements in a piece of music also contributes significantly to its style.
Musical styles evolve over time due to a combination of factors including historical influences and cross-cultural exchanges as well as individual creativity and emotional expression by musicians. Musical styles may also be classified by their sonic and textural properties such as specific scales, chord progressions or instrumentation used within genres or cultural traditions; melodic sequences also serve to identify these styles.
Musicians
Musicians are instrumentalists and singers who use their talent and technical abilities to compose melodies for performance. They may perform solo, as part of an ensemble or rehearsals in order to perfect their performances.
Musicians typically work flexible schedules, traveling between venues to perform for audiences or recording studios to compose scores for films or soundtracks.
Some musicians specialize in specific genres like classical, rock or pop music; others may focus on cultural or storytelling traditions – for instance folk musicians often play acoustic instruments such as guitar or banjo and find inspiration from traditional or contemporary cultures.