I am very keen to find out which 20th century composers have written beautiful, listenable music of a very high calibre, music of real genius, comparable to that by Mozart and Beethoven. It does not have to be music written in a style imitating the classical epoch, but it surely must be tonal, diatonic, and melodious.
I am nearly always dissapointed when I take the courage to listen to 20th century 'contemporary classical music'. But there must be some good stuff out there! Is there anyone out there in blog-land who can point me to the listenable 20th century composers and their music?
Over to you.....
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Contemporary Classical Music or "New Music"
If you go to a concert given by a professional symphony orchestra these days, it is highly likely that the programme will contain one or two mainstream classical works, bundled with one or two contemporary works. This is the deliberate policy of the concert promoters, who wish to give contemporary works a hearing. So they tempt audiences with a Beethoven symphony and a Rachmaninov Piano Concerto, and throw in a couple of new works, hoping that they can still fill the auditorium.
When I have attended such concerts, I have never been able to remember one single melody or tune from the contemporary works. I've yet to be pleasurably surprised by any other aspects of this music. In fact, lots of these modern "serious" compositions seem to be deliberately discordant, painfully pugnacious, and fiercely forgettable.
I once went to a concert by the ACO (Australian Chamber Orchestra) in which Richard Tognetti played Mendelssohn's violin concerto in the first half. This was exquisite music, played brilliantly by Richard and the orchestra. I enjoyed the afterglow during the interval, having experienced Mendelssohn's sublime music so superbly presented. Then came the crunch in the second half of the concert. The violins of the ACO were wired up for amplification, a drum kit was wheeled on stage, and the ACO performed jointly with "The Whitlams", which turned out to be some kind of rock group. The wailing singing, the discordant and highly amplified string sounds, and the sheer volume of noise left me with crushing headache. I walked out of that concert feeling like an invalid. The pleasure of the violin concerto had been entirely wiped out by the pain inflicted in the second half.
Since about 1908, composers of Contemporary Classical Music have deliberately moved away from the traditional major and minor scales used by previous generations of composers. In their place they have substituted the chromatic scale, which they usually call the "12-tone scale". They deliberately try to avoid sounding any one note more often than any other, so there is no feeling of a home keynote. Each of the 12 notes appears an equal number of times in the composition. This music is often referred to as atonal music, dodecaphony, or twelve-tone technique.
Schoenberg (born in Austria, 1874-1951) invented these compositional techniques. He went further, defining a systematic mathematical way of writing music, based on transformations of a primary row of the 12 tones, placed in a random order, rather than as an ascending chromatic scale. These transformations involved playing the series backwards, or transposing the row up or down a certain interval, or both. Many or all the possible combinations of these transformations are then joined together, sometimes serially, sometimes contrapuntally, to create the final composition. The term used to describe the result is serial music.
Since Schoenberg and his pupils started the trend, his ideas have been enthusiastically taken up by Music Conservatories around the world, and these atonal and serial methods of composition form one of the most important parts of their musical teaching. New composers emerge from these establishments fully trained in atonal and serial techniques, so naturally, their own compositions employ them. Professors of music promote these works, striving to have them played at symphony and chamber concerts and on the radio, and to have them recorded. It seems likely, these days, that if a student attempted to write new music in a traditional tonal style, and submitted it to the Conservatory professors for examination, it would be laughed out and totally rejected.
It is a good philosophy to try anything once. You might like it. So if you've never heard atonal or serial music, give it a go. I've provided some links to web sites where you can listen to music by Schoenberg.
Wikipedia on Serialism
Listen to Schoenberg
The trouble with contemporary classical music.. by David Hunt
Personally speaking, I don't like this sort of music at all. It sounds awful, even painful, to me. The piano works sound to me remarkably similar to the music played by an 10 month-old baby using his elbows and fists to hit the piano keyboard. I am certain that the concert halls would be almost empty if the programme featured this sort of contemporary work exclusively. If you like music that has good tunes in it, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
When I have attended such concerts, I have never been able to remember one single melody or tune from the contemporary works. I've yet to be pleasurably surprised by any other aspects of this music. In fact, lots of these modern "serious" compositions seem to be deliberately discordant, painfully pugnacious, and fiercely forgettable.
I once went to a concert by the ACO (Australian Chamber Orchestra) in which Richard Tognetti played Mendelssohn's violin concerto in the first half. This was exquisite music, played brilliantly by Richard and the orchestra. I enjoyed the afterglow during the interval, having experienced Mendelssohn's sublime music so superbly presented. Then came the crunch in the second half of the concert. The violins of the ACO were wired up for amplification, a drum kit was wheeled on stage, and the ACO performed jointly with "The Whitlams", which turned out to be some kind of rock group. The wailing singing, the discordant and highly amplified string sounds, and the sheer volume of noise left me with crushing headache. I walked out of that concert feeling like an invalid. The pleasure of the violin concerto had been entirely wiped out by the pain inflicted in the second half.
Since about 1908, composers of Contemporary Classical Music have deliberately moved away from the traditional major and minor scales used by previous generations of composers. In their place they have substituted the chromatic scale, which they usually call the "12-tone scale". They deliberately try to avoid sounding any one note more often than any other, so there is no feeling of a home keynote. Each of the 12 notes appears an equal number of times in the composition. This music is often referred to as atonal music, dodecaphony, or twelve-tone technique.
Schoenberg (born in Austria, 1874-1951) invented these compositional techniques. He went further, defining a systematic mathematical way of writing music, based on transformations of a primary row of the 12 tones, placed in a random order, rather than as an ascending chromatic scale. These transformations involved playing the series backwards, or transposing the row up or down a certain interval, or both. Many or all the possible combinations of these transformations are then joined together, sometimes serially, sometimes contrapuntally, to create the final composition. The term used to describe the result is serial music.
Since Schoenberg and his pupils started the trend, his ideas have been enthusiastically taken up by Music Conservatories around the world, and these atonal and serial methods of composition form one of the most important parts of their musical teaching. New composers emerge from these establishments fully trained in atonal and serial techniques, so naturally, their own compositions employ them. Professors of music promote these works, striving to have them played at symphony and chamber concerts and on the radio, and to have them recorded. It seems likely, these days, that if a student attempted to write new music in a traditional tonal style, and submitted it to the Conservatory professors for examination, it would be laughed out and totally rejected.
It is a good philosophy to try anything once. You might like it. So if you've never heard atonal or serial music, give it a go. I've provided some links to web sites where you can listen to music by Schoenberg.
Wikipedia on Serialism
Listen to Schoenberg
The trouble with contemporary classical music.. by David Hunt
Personally speaking, I don't like this sort of music at all. It sounds awful, even painful, to me. The piano works sound to me remarkably similar to the music played by an 10 month-old baby using his elbows and fists to hit the piano keyboard. I am certain that the concert halls would be almost empty if the programme featured this sort of contemporary work exclusively. If you like music that has good tunes in it, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
Money, commercial music, trends in schools, and the 'death' of the symphony orchestra
Music and Money.
In the past, many composers experienced poverty, and struggled to earn a decent living from their compositions. So arose this old joke: What's the difference between a musician and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four.
Mozart was fortunate, in the earlier part of his career, to have a post at Salzburg under the patronage of Archbishops Schrattenbach and Colloredo, at a comfortable 150 florins a year. When he later chose to become a freelance in Vienna, his commissions fluctuated, in some years he became affluent, but in others he incurred large debts and he became quite poor.
Today, would-be 'serious' composers of contemporary classical music are likely to have a similar challenge. Some turn to academic formulas or methods to write their music, and rely on university support and government handouts to survive. Others, particularly those who have a natural talent for composing a good tune, probably turn to the lucrative pop/rock market in order to make ends meet. So the best tunesmiths are lost to those of us who like our classical music to be tonal and to contain good tunes. B Soliman The Gramophone Debate Forum
Commercial Music Today.
The 'music industry' today includes a huge variety of people, goods and services. Many rock and pop musicians become rich and famous if they succeed in getting recordings into the hit parades. Appearance is almost more important than the sound of their voices, as evidenced by the video clips which are an essential marketing requirement today. They are supported by teams of sound engineers who use sophisticated electronics to 'process' the sound of their voices, and film crews who glamorize them by putting them in exotic costumes in exiting places, and then enhance the images during editing, and skilled marketing executives who manage their publicity, tours, and recording assignments.
The pop, country and rock products of this music industry swamp TV channels and radio stations with their kind of music. Hotels, restaurants, clubs, shops, and shopping malls all have powerful PA systems pumping it out constantly. If you go on hold on the telephone it is injected into your ears. As you wait for your plane to take off, it pours down from above your head. The internet is full of downloadable rock and pop, which fits snugly into the vast memory of devices like the iPod. It is no wonder that people in general, and children and young people in particular, never have the opportunity to hear any other kind of music.
The insidious menace of piped music
Trends in Schools.
A frequent complaint coming from the organisers of amateur youth orchestras regards the lack of string players. Very few school students seem to study the violin any more. Why is this?
Many schools have turned away from classical music. Instead of orchestras, they have concert bands and show bands, which employ woodwinds, brass, electric guitars and percussion, but no strings. Instead of Mozart and Beethoven, they rehearse movie and TV show themes, rock musicals, and the latest pop/rock country music. And the music teachers themselves are more likely to be rock musicians than conservatory-trained music graduates. Perhaps the aim of the school authorities is to appeal to the popular taste of the students, in order to gain their attention. It is easier to teach them something they pretty well know already, such as the latest pop song, than it is to teach unfamiliar music, such as Beethoven's. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! If you want to give your children an introductory experience of the cream of the classical repertoire, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
As a result of all this commercial pop culture, our children, the adults of the future, are being denied any knowledge of an important part of our western culture. Most importantly, they are being denied the joy and pleasure that comes from experiencing the best music in the world - our inheritance of classical music.
Dumbing Down: Or The Banalisation of Culture
The death of the symphony orchestra.
For many decades, most symphony orchestras around the world have depended on sponsorship and government funding to keep them financially afloat. Ticket sales alone don't usually cover the cost of paying award salaries to 70 or 80 musicians in the large orchestras needed to perform works by Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven Berlioz and the like. And as government budgets come under pressure from so many competing demands for funding, orchestras tend to suffer the biggest cuts.
To make matters worse, audiences are declining. Reasons for this might include:
1. The lack of classical music education in schools has diminished the number of young people interested in symphony orchestra concerts.
2. The attempts by orchestra managements to entice young people might be backfiring. For example, if a concert contains some rock or crossover music, why would a rock music enthusiast spend $100 on a ticket that also has (boring) classical music in half the programme, when his $100 could be spent on a 100% rock concert? And why would a classical music lover attend such a concert, when he has to suffer the pain (to him) of rock in half the programme?
3. There seem to be several vested interests promoting contemporary classical music (new music), and succeeding in getting at least one such work played at every single symphony orchestra concert. Most of this music follows some abstract mathematical formula in its construction, (serial music), or employs the 12-tone scale (atonal music), or employs ludicrous gimmicks like vacuum cleaners or tape recordings of traffic noise. There are no good tunes. For most traditional classical music lovers, this is just painful, un-listenable noise, so they stay away from such concerts.
4. Recording companies are making far fewer live recordings these days, and they are cutting out contracts with symphony orchestras, thereby reducing yet another source of revenue for the orchestras. This is due to the lack of public interest in buying CDs of Contemporary Classical Music, simply because the public doesn't like it! Instead, the record companies sell re-issues of older recordings of the great classics, digitally remastered, and at budget prices.
So it seems that the Symphony Orchestra is an endangered species.
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to be cut from 72 to 56 players
In the past, many composers experienced poverty, and struggled to earn a decent living from their compositions. So arose this old joke: What's the difference between a musician and a pizza? A pizza can feed a family of four.
Mozart was fortunate, in the earlier part of his career, to have a post at Salzburg under the patronage of Archbishops Schrattenbach and Colloredo, at a comfortable 150 florins a year. When he later chose to become a freelance in Vienna, his commissions fluctuated, in some years he became affluent, but in others he incurred large debts and he became quite poor.
Today, would-be 'serious' composers of contemporary classical music are likely to have a similar challenge. Some turn to academic formulas or methods to write their music, and rely on university support and government handouts to survive. Others, particularly those who have a natural talent for composing a good tune, probably turn to the lucrative pop/rock market in order to make ends meet. So the best tunesmiths are lost to those of us who like our classical music to be tonal and to contain good tunes. B Soliman The Gramophone Debate Forum
Commercial Music Today.
The 'music industry' today includes a huge variety of people, goods and services. Many rock and pop musicians become rich and famous if they succeed in getting recordings into the hit parades. Appearance is almost more important than the sound of their voices, as evidenced by the video clips which are an essential marketing requirement today. They are supported by teams of sound engineers who use sophisticated electronics to 'process' the sound of their voices, and film crews who glamorize them by putting them in exotic costumes in exiting places, and then enhance the images during editing, and skilled marketing executives who manage their publicity, tours, and recording assignments.
The pop, country and rock products of this music industry swamp TV channels and radio stations with their kind of music. Hotels, restaurants, clubs, shops, and shopping malls all have powerful PA systems pumping it out constantly. If you go on hold on the telephone it is injected into your ears. As you wait for your plane to take off, it pours down from above your head. The internet is full of downloadable rock and pop, which fits snugly into the vast memory of devices like the iPod. It is no wonder that people in general, and children and young people in particular, never have the opportunity to hear any other kind of music.
The insidious menace of piped music
Trends in Schools.
A frequent complaint coming from the organisers of amateur youth orchestras regards the lack of string players. Very few school students seem to study the violin any more. Why is this?
Many schools have turned away from classical music. Instead of orchestras, they have concert bands and show bands, which employ woodwinds, brass, electric guitars and percussion, but no strings. Instead of Mozart and Beethoven, they rehearse movie and TV show themes, rock musicals, and the latest pop/rock country music. And the music teachers themselves are more likely to be rock musicians than conservatory-trained music graduates. Perhaps the aim of the school authorities is to appeal to the popular taste of the students, in order to gain their attention. It is easier to teach them something they pretty well know already, such as the latest pop song, than it is to teach unfamiliar music, such as Beethoven's. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em! If you want to give your children an introductory experience of the cream of the classical repertoire, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
As a result of all this commercial pop culture, our children, the adults of the future, are being denied any knowledge of an important part of our western culture. Most importantly, they are being denied the joy and pleasure that comes from experiencing the best music in the world - our inheritance of classical music.
Dumbing Down: Or The Banalisation of Culture
The death of the symphony orchestra.
For many decades, most symphony orchestras around the world have depended on sponsorship and government funding to keep them financially afloat. Ticket sales alone don't usually cover the cost of paying award salaries to 70 or 80 musicians in the large orchestras needed to perform works by Mahler, Wagner, Beethoven Berlioz and the like. And as government budgets come under pressure from so many competing demands for funding, orchestras tend to suffer the biggest cuts.
To make matters worse, audiences are declining. Reasons for this might include:
1. The lack of classical music education in schools has diminished the number of young people interested in symphony orchestra concerts.
2. The attempts by orchestra managements to entice young people might be backfiring. For example, if a concert contains some rock or crossover music, why would a rock music enthusiast spend $100 on a ticket that also has (boring) classical music in half the programme, when his $100 could be spent on a 100% rock concert? And why would a classical music lover attend such a concert, when he has to suffer the pain (to him) of rock in half the programme?
3. There seem to be several vested interests promoting contemporary classical music (new music), and succeeding in getting at least one such work played at every single symphony orchestra concert. Most of this music follows some abstract mathematical formula in its construction, (serial music), or employs the 12-tone scale (atonal music), or employs ludicrous gimmicks like vacuum cleaners or tape recordings of traffic noise. There are no good tunes. For most traditional classical music lovers, this is just painful, un-listenable noise, so they stay away from such concerts.
4. Recording companies are making far fewer live recordings these days, and they are cutting out contracts with symphony orchestras, thereby reducing yet another source of revenue for the orchestras. This is due to the lack of public interest in buying CDs of Contemporary Classical Music, simply because the public doesn't like it! Instead, the record companies sell re-issues of older recordings of the great classics, digitally remastered, and at budget prices.
So it seems that the Symphony Orchestra is an endangered species.
Adelaide Symphony Orchestra to be cut from 72 to 56 players
Children love good tunes and songs. They help their IQ as well
Many of us remember having nursery rhymes sung to us by our mothers when we were young. For centuries, people have always known that children love good tunes, especially if they can learn words to go with them. Recent research has shown that after teaching your children the nursery rhymes, you would be well advised to follow up with folk songs, then the popular classics. The children may discover classical music and enjoy it for the rest of their lives. And it may enhance their ability to learn in other subjects, and even enhance their IQ!.
Classical Music is good for children's brain development and their IQ
Mozart and Beethoven are good for the brain - and that's official. In the United States, anyway. Experts say that good music can stimulate a child's development. In Florida all state-funded pre-schools are now required to play classical music by law, and hospitals have started giving away classical CDs to new mums.
BBC web site Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.The findings, published in the online edition of the journal Brain, show that not only do the brains of musically-trained children respond to music in a different way to those of the untrained children, but also that the training improves their memory as well. After one year the musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2006) E Glenn Schellenberg - Music Lessons enhance IQ
Children love recognizing tunes.
A US home school magazine which recommends a music curriculum says that, in order to listen to classical music with understanding and pleasure, children, as well as adults, must recognize the main themes, the melodies. The children like the tunes, especially if there are words, or if you make up some amusing words to fit the tune. It also helped a lot when the names of both composer and composition were incorporated into the words. These were the themes the children asked to sing again and again. They loved them, remembered them, and wanted to play them on an instrument. One place you can find over 1100 good tunes for your children to listen to is Musical Discovery Themes, available on a 14 day free trial. This is a dictionary of musical themes, with quizes, juke boxes, hit parade lists, a virtual piano for identifying tunes, and lots of other stimulating things to interest your children.
Marjorie Persons - The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Classical Music is good for children's brain development and their IQ
Mozart and Beethoven are good for the brain - and that's official. In the United States, anyway. Experts say that good music can stimulate a child's development. In Florida all state-funded pre-schools are now required to play classical music by law, and hospitals have started giving away classical CDs to new mums.
BBC web site Tuesday, August 17, 1999
Researchers have found the first evidence that young children who take music lessons show different brain development and improved memory over the course of a year compared to children who do not receive musical training.The findings, published in the online edition of the journal Brain, show that not only do the brains of musically-trained children respond to music in a different way to those of the untrained children, but also that the training improves their memory as well. After one year the musically trained children performed better in a memory test that is correlated with general intelligence skills such as literacy, verbal memory, visiospatial processing, mathematics and IQ.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 20, 2006) E Glenn Schellenberg - Music Lessons enhance IQ
Children love recognizing tunes.
A US home school magazine which recommends a music curriculum says that, in order to listen to classical music with understanding and pleasure, children, as well as adults, must recognize the main themes, the melodies. The children like the tunes, especially if there are words, or if you make up some amusing words to fit the tune. It also helped a lot when the names of both composer and composition were incorporated into the words. These were the themes the children asked to sing again and again. They loved them, remembered them, and wanted to play them on an instrument. One place you can find over 1100 good tunes for your children to listen to is Musical Discovery Themes, available on a 14 day free trial. This is a dictionary of musical themes, with quizes, juke boxes, hit parade lists, a virtual piano for identifying tunes, and lots of other stimulating things to interest your children.
Marjorie Persons - The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Classical music is enjoyable, it's beautiful, and it lasts for ever
There is something for everyone in the huge world of 'classical' music. After that initial and possibly unexpected 'discovery' of a fantastic piece of music, an exciting and irrepressible adventure commences, which will provide listening pleasure for the rest of a person's life.
Probably 95% or more of the population prefers pop, country or rock music, to classical. However, I am convinced that more people would enjoy classical music if they even knew it existed! Many people never get introduced to it at school or in the home. And everyone is constantly bombarded by popular rock and country music blasting out of loudspeakers in shopping malls, offices, pubs and clubs, even on the streets. There are some good tunes in some rock/pop/country music, ones you can remember, tunes that hum through your head.
But there are many thousands more good tunes in classical music. And they are packaged in a greater variety of ways, with different instruments playing the melody, different harmonies, different orchestral textures, and different rhythmic patterns. And many longer classical works feature multiple themes, combined together in pleasing and contrasting ways, such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If you want a change from the pop/rock repertoire, and would like to sample some of the best music in the world, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
For example, the overture to the Magic Flute by Mozart might be compared to a beautiful building, with elegant classical columns, ornately carved porticos, and symmetrical design across several dimensions. It took a great architect to design it, and many skilled people took many years to build it. A popular country or pop song on the radio might be compared to a kit home, mass-produced, and assembled in a few hours. Just as selling kit homes is likely to be more profitable for builders, popular music is usually more marketable and profitable for record companies. However, geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Tchaikovsky were moved by something different, something moving in their souls. Listening to beautiful classical music will give you an appreciation for what is "truly" beautiful.
To carry the analogy further, our immortal works of classical music will last for ever, just as the classical buildings of ancient Greece and Rome have withstood the ravages of time for more than 2000 years. In contrast, our pop song may stay on the charts for a few weeks or months, and then be forgotten for ever, just like our kit home, which may be ripe for demolition after a couple of decades.
It is extremely hard to define what is meant by 'classical' music. It embraces a wide diversity of styles, periods, forms, and ensembles, ranging from Monks peacefully rendering Gregorian chant, to the heart-tearing and despairing emotions of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony, At one end of the spectrum there is the classical elegance of Mozart's trios for violin, cello and piano, at the other we have the jazz influences in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
If you want to escape from the stresses of a hectic modern life, and become calm and relaxed, there is nothing better than the exquisite, reserved and introspective chamber music of Haydn or Mozart. If you are inspired by hearing virtuoso pianists and violinists play incredibly difficult music, listen to works by Liszt or Paganini. If you crave the excitement of a full symphony orchestra going at full blast, then try Tchaikovsky or Richard Strauss. If you liked the symmetry, and complex interwoven textures in Bach, then you could try other baroque composers such as Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell or Scarlatti.
Classical Music to enjoy
How to enjoy a classical concert
Probably 95% or more of the population prefers pop, country or rock music, to classical. However, I am convinced that more people would enjoy classical music if they even knew it existed! Many people never get introduced to it at school or in the home. And everyone is constantly bombarded by popular rock and country music blasting out of loudspeakers in shopping malls, offices, pubs and clubs, even on the streets. There are some good tunes in some rock/pop/country music, ones you can remember, tunes that hum through your head.
But there are many thousands more good tunes in classical music. And they are packaged in a greater variety of ways, with different instruments playing the melody, different harmonies, different orchestral textures, and different rhythmic patterns. And many longer classical works feature multiple themes, combined together in pleasing and contrasting ways, such that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. If you want a change from the pop/rock repertoire, and would like to sample some of the best music in the world, try out Musical Discovery Themes on a 14 day free trial. It has over 1100 tuneful themes from the classical and folk repertoires.
For example, the overture to the Magic Flute by Mozart might be compared to a beautiful building, with elegant classical columns, ornately carved porticos, and symmetrical design across several dimensions. It took a great architect to design it, and many skilled people took many years to build it. A popular country or pop song on the radio might be compared to a kit home, mass-produced, and assembled in a few hours. Just as selling kit homes is likely to be more profitable for builders, popular music is usually more marketable and profitable for record companies. However, geniuses like Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Tchaikovsky were moved by something different, something moving in their souls. Listening to beautiful classical music will give you an appreciation for what is "truly" beautiful.
To carry the analogy further, our immortal works of classical music will last for ever, just as the classical buildings of ancient Greece and Rome have withstood the ravages of time for more than 2000 years. In contrast, our pop song may stay on the charts for a few weeks or months, and then be forgotten for ever, just like our kit home, which may be ripe for demolition after a couple of decades.
It is extremely hard to define what is meant by 'classical' music. It embraces a wide diversity of styles, periods, forms, and ensembles, ranging from Monks peacefully rendering Gregorian chant, to the heart-tearing and despairing emotions of Tchaikovsky's "Pathetique" Symphony, At one end of the spectrum there is the classical elegance of Mozart's trios for violin, cello and piano, at the other we have the jazz influences in Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.
If you want to escape from the stresses of a hectic modern life, and become calm and relaxed, there is nothing better than the exquisite, reserved and introspective chamber music of Haydn or Mozart. If you are inspired by hearing virtuoso pianists and violinists play incredibly difficult music, listen to works by Liszt or Paganini. If you crave the excitement of a full symphony orchestra going at full blast, then try Tchaikovsky or Richard Strauss. If you liked the symmetry, and complex interwoven textures in Bach, then you could try other baroque composers such as Handel, Vivaldi, Purcell or Scarlatti.
Classical Music to enjoy
How to enjoy a classical concert
Everyone loves a good tune
At risk of betraying my age, I can remember the days when you heard a cheery whistling as the milkman delivered the early morning milk, and a bit later, a jolly humming or singing as the postman arrived. And, seven times out of ten, I recognized the tune. It might have been a snatch from a song in the current radio top ten, but it was more likely to have been a folk song, or a vintage tune from the 1920s, 30s or 40s, or even a theme from a popular classic.
The postman and the milkman just wanted good tunes, pleasing to the ear, easily memorable, with a catchy lilt. And people today still like good tunes. They sing them in the shower, or hum them while cooking a meal.
A melody is a sequence of musical notes, of differing pitches, which is pleasing to the ear and memorable. A sequence of notes played at random will usually not be particularly pleasing or interesting, though occasionally it might be so.. The only effective test of a good tune is whether anyone still gets pleasure from it and recognizes it 10, 50 or 100 years after it was written. A very high proportion of new music, both popular and 'serious' music, is justifiably forgotten very soon after it is first published or released, simply because it does NOT contain any good tunes! It is impossible to predict which of today's music will still be played 100 years from now. Every generation debates what defines a good tune, and there are no hard and fast rules. However, we can certainly state that all the themes contained in Musical Discovery Themes have passed the test of time. They are "classical' not only in the traditional meaning (beauty, elegance, symmetry), but also because they are proven by generations of listeners to be the best of their class.
One thing all good tunes have in common is that they are tonal. This means that most of the notes used for the melody belong to a major or minor scale. A scale is a sequence of 8 notes, starting from a home keynote, with clearly defined intervals between each note and the next. The name of the home keynote also becomes the name of the scale, for example, the scale of F major starts and ends on an F. Many good tunes start on the keynote, and nearly all end on it. Also the harmony accompanying the tune is very tightly tied to the key. Simple melodies, like those in folk tunes, quite often use only three different chords, and the chord accompanying the last note of the tune is nearly always the so-called tonic chord, i.e. the chord based on the keynote. These chords sound sweet to our ears, they are described as consonant.
The ability to write a pleasing melody is an important part of the art of composition. Some people have a genius for this, Mozart, Schubert and Tchaikovsky were such people. The old folk tunes which are still sung and played today must have been composed by people who had this gift, but we don't know their names. They were passed down by oral tradition, and have lasted for hundreds of years simply because they are good tunes. Some examples of lovely lilting melodies in the English folk tradition are Early One Morning, As I was going to Strawberry Fair, Cherry Ripe, British Grenadiers and Begone Dull Care. Click on any of these to listen to them, or to download my MIDI arrangements, which were created with Musical Discovery Themes.
The postman and the milkman just wanted good tunes, pleasing to the ear, easily memorable, with a catchy lilt. And people today still like good tunes. They sing them in the shower, or hum them while cooking a meal.
A melody is a sequence of musical notes, of differing pitches, which is pleasing to the ear and memorable. A sequence of notes played at random will usually not be particularly pleasing or interesting, though occasionally it might be so.. The only effective test of a good tune is whether anyone still gets pleasure from it and recognizes it 10, 50 or 100 years after it was written. A very high proportion of new music, both popular and 'serious' music, is justifiably forgotten very soon after it is first published or released, simply because it does NOT contain any good tunes! It is impossible to predict which of today's music will still be played 100 years from now. Every generation debates what defines a good tune, and there are no hard and fast rules. However, we can certainly state that all the themes contained in Musical Discovery Themes have passed the test of time. They are "classical' not only in the traditional meaning (beauty, elegance, symmetry), but also because they are proven by generations of listeners to be the best of their class.
One thing all good tunes have in common is that they are tonal. This means that most of the notes used for the melody belong to a major or minor scale. A scale is a sequence of 8 notes, starting from a home keynote, with clearly defined intervals between each note and the next. The name of the home keynote also becomes the name of the scale, for example, the scale of F major starts and ends on an F. Many good tunes start on the keynote, and nearly all end on it. Also the harmony accompanying the tune is very tightly tied to the key. Simple melodies, like those in folk tunes, quite often use only three different chords, and the chord accompanying the last note of the tune is nearly always the so-called tonic chord, i.e. the chord based on the keynote. These chords sound sweet to our ears, they are described as consonant.
The ability to write a pleasing melody is an important part of the art of composition. Some people have a genius for this, Mozart, Schubert and Tchaikovsky were such people. The old folk tunes which are still sung and played today must have been composed by people who had this gift, but we don't know their names. They were passed down by oral tradition, and have lasted for hundreds of years simply because they are good tunes. Some examples of lovely lilting melodies in the English folk tradition are Early One Morning, As I was going to Strawberry Fair, Cherry Ripe, British Grenadiers and Begone Dull Care. Click on any of these to listen to them, or to download my MIDI arrangements, which were created with Musical Discovery Themes.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Introducing Victor's Blog - All About Fine Music
This blog is dedicated to music-lovers, students, and teachers of music, who appreciate classical music, and traditional folk music. I'm starting off five threads with articles written by me, and I hope to stir up some interest and possibly, some controversy. The threads are:
- Everyone Loves a Good Tune
- Classical' music is fun, it's beautiful, and it lasts for ever
- Children love good tunes and songs, and music helps their IQ as well.
- Money, commercial music, trends in schools, and the 'death' of the symphony orchestra
- The role of Contemporary Classical Music ("New Music")
I am looking forward to hearing comments from other music lovers. I welcome their links to relevant web sites.
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