50 Cent wanted to play MR. T. in A-Team movie remake

LONDON - Rapper 50 Cent had auditioned for the role of ’80s icon MR. T. in the upcoming A-Team movie remake.

The hip-hop star is a big fan of the hit TV show. And after hearing about the plans to revive the classic series on the big screen, he vowed to land the role of Sergeant Bosco ‘B.A.’ Baracus. But had to pull out of because the shoot would have clashed with his music schedule.

“I went for the B.A. Baracus role in The A-Team a few weeks ago but they’d already started shooting, so it would have kinda jammed things up at my end, because I’ve got my new album coming out,” the Daily Express quoted him as telling ‘Total Film’ magazine.

Meanwhile, film bosses have hired mixed martial arts tough guy Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson to take on the iconic role.

The cast also includes Bradley Cooper as Faceman Peck and Liam Neeson as A-Team leader Hannibal Smith. (ANI)

The music of James Bond

The "Bond Music Style" is so familiar to people, that it sometimes seems as though it was always there. But if fact it took a lot of effort to establish all the recognisable facets of this style. Monty Norman had scored most of the first movie "Dr. No" but neither he nor the film-makers were completely satisfied that they had captured the essence of Bond. John Barry was brought in and orchestrated one of Norman's songs on electric guitar, and the unmistakeable Bond Theme had arrived. Barry was asked to score the next film "From Russia with Love" which had a theme tune and incidental music incorporating elements of the Bond theme and its style. The theme song for the next film "Goldfinger" was written to be larger than life and Shirley Bassey was asked to sing it in her powerful voice.

By now all the elements of the Bond Style were fully established and that format continued throughout the series, with John Barry staying on as composer for many years. A few other composers did one-off stints with Bond films, and there were several attempts to update the format and introduce pop songs and artists. It wasn't until the late 90s that David Arnold successfully updated the mix by introducing techno beats into the high-octane chase sequences, and Arnold has remained as the resident Bond composer every since. The recent Daniel Craig movies have reinvented the series and the music has also gone "Back to Basics". The latest film "Quantum of Solace" is in theatres now.

The Bond Composers

Here are the score composers for all the Bond films to date, including the original "Casino Royale" and "Never Say Never Again" though these films were made by different groups outside of the main franchise.

• Dr. No (1962) - Monty Norman
• From Russia with Love (1963) - John Barry
• Goldfinger (1964) - John Barry
• Thunderball (1965) - John Barry
• Casino Royale (1967) - Burt Bacharach
• You Only Live Twice (1967) - John Barry
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - John Barry
• Diamonds Are Forever (1971) - John Barry
• Live and Let Die (1973) - George Martin
• The Man with the Golden Gun 1974) - John Barry
• The Spy Who Loved Me 1977) - Marvin Hamlisch
• Moonraker (1979) - John Barry
• For Your Eyes Only (1981) - Bill Conti
• Never Say Never Again (1983) - Michel Legrand
• Octopussy (1983) - John Barry
• A View To a Kill (1985) - John Barry
• The Living Daylights (1987) - John Barry
• Licence to Kill (1989) - Michael Kamen
• GoldenEye (1995) - Eric Serra
• Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - David Arnold
• The World Is Not Enough (1999) - David Arnold
• Die Another Day (2002) - David Arnold
• Casino Royale (2006) - David Arnold
• Quantum of Solace (2008) - David Arnold

The Bond Songs

The Bond Song is a key part of the overall package, and more often than not the Song has the same Title as the films or include's the film's title within its lyrics. We have listed the title or main songs of all the Bond films below, with composers, lyricists and performers, but several films have other secondary songs used in to accompany the End Titles or as source music in the middle of the film. Notable additional songs include "Underneath the Mango Tree" from "Dr. No", "Mr. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" from "Thunderball", and "Do You Know How Christmas Trees are Grown" from "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Many Bond Songs have done very well in the music charts, but others have failed to hit the mark.

• Dr. No: "Kingston Calypso" by Monty Norman - performed by John Barry Orchestra
• "From Russia with Love" by Lionel Bart - sung by Matt Monro
• "Goldfinger" by John Barry, Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "Thunderball" by John Barry & Don Black - sung by Tom Jones
• "Casino Royale" by Burt Bacharach - performed by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
• "You Only Live Twice" by John Barry and Leslie Bricusse - sung by Nancy Sinatra
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service: "We Have All the Time In The World" by John Barry - sung by Louis Armstrong
• "Diamonds Are Forever" by John Barry & Don Black - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "Live and Let Die" by Paul & Linda McCartney - performed by Paul McCartney and Wings
• "The Man with the Golden Gun" by John Barry and Don Black - sung by Lulu
• The Spy Who Loved Me: "Nobody Does It Better" by Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager - sung by Carly Simon
• "Moonraker" by John Barry and Hal David - sung by Shirley Bassey
• "For Your Eyes Only" by Bill Conti and Michael Leeson - sung by Sheena Easton
• "Never Say Never Again" by Michel Legrand, Alan & Marilyn Bergman - sung by Lani Hall
• Octopussy: "All Time High" by John Barry, Tim Rice & Stephen Short - sung by Rita Coolidge
• "A View To a Kill" by John Barry and John Taylor - performed by Duran Duran
• "The Living Daylights" by John Barry and Pal Waaktaar - performed by a-ha
• "Licence to Kill" by N. Michael Walden, Jeffrey Cohen & Walter Afanasieff - sung by Gladys Knight
• "GoldenEye" by Bono and The Edge - sung by Tina Turner
• "Tomorrow Never Dies" by Sheryl Crow and Mitchell Froom - sung by Sheryl Crow
• "The World Is Not Enough" by David Arnold and Don Black - performed by Garbage
• "Die Another Day" by Madonna and Mirwais Ahmadzai - sung by Madonna
• Casino Royale: "You Know my Name" by David Arnold and Chris Cornell - sung by Chris Cornell
• Quantum of Solace: "Another Way to Die" by Jack White - sung by Jack White and Alicia Keys

Further information and recommendations

Here are various links associated with James Bond music on the mfiles web-site, including score composer biographies and soundtracks reviews.

• John Barry - composer for 11 Bond films from "Thunderball" to "The Living Daylights"
• David Arnold - composer for 5 Bond films from "Tomorrow Never Dies" to "Quantum of Solace"
• George Martin - Beatles producer and composer for "Live and Let Die" with the Paul McCartney title song
• Marvin Hamlisch - famous song writer and composer for "The Spy Who Loved Me"
• Bill Conti - composer for all the Rocky films and "For Your Eyes Only"
• Michael Kamen - composer for "Licence to Kill"
• Eric Serra - composer for "GoldenEye"
• Michel Legrand - composer for "Never Say Never Again"
• Burt Bacharach - legendary song writer and composer for the original "Casino Royale"
• Casino Royale - review of this soundtrack by David Arnold
• Live and Let Die - review of this soundtrack by George Martin
• The Best of Bond - superb album recreating Bond songs and instrumental tracks
• James Bond: The Gold Edition - a double album of instrumental Bond music, with a 20+ page booklet on the history of Bond music

Here are a selection of external links to sites associated with the music of the James Bond films.

• James Bond 007 Collection - a great Sheet Music Book, available for piano and other instruments
• Monty Norman - the website of the "Dr No" composer lets you listen to the original song "Bad Sign, Good Sign" which became the James Bond Theme
• John Barry - website of the man who crafted the "James Bond Music Style"
• David Arnold - website of the current established Bond composer
• James Bond - official film website now focussing on "Quantum of Solace"

Music Theory

So what exactly is music? We constantly hear music so we almost take it for granted. For a little demonstration, play some random notes we put together. Yuck, if you're anything like us, you're probably cringing right now because of all those awful notes. Close it, quickly! Now, click here to play the second movement from Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto #2. Ah, that sounds much better than those random notes, doesn't it? You don't need to close THIS file!

So how did Rachmaninoff and all other composers decide how their music was going to sound? You can definitely tell that they did not just put random notes on paper and hope it sounded good... there was a general set of rules they followed. This set of rules is what we today call music theory. It would be wrong, however, to say that composers had a nice little "music theory handbook" that they referred to as they were writing their music. Actually, it is just the other way around... our study of music theory is based on what composers wrote many years ago.

This section will deal mostly with the music written from about 1700-1900 (also called the common practice period). We will not really go into the study of modern music here, mostly because much of the music of the 20th century has been designed to completely redefine music theory. If you want to learn about some of the theory behind 20th century music, you can visit the Modern Period section of our site.

If you already feel confident in your knowledge about music theory, feel free to skip a few of the lessons below... If you don't have a solid base in music, however, we recommend that you follow the silver links at the bottom of each page in order to gain a foundation that will be used in the upcoming sections. Well, let's get started!

• Lesson 1: What is Sound?
• Lesson 2: What is Pitch?
• Lesson 3: The Scale
• Lesson 4: What is Rhythm?
• Lesson 5: Learn to Read Music
• Lesson 6: What are Intervals?
• Lesson 7: The Major Scale Revisited
• Lesson 8: Basic Harmony

  What is Sound?

  So what exactly is sound? Well, let's look at the properties of sound. We can hear it, but we can't see, taste, smell, or feel it, right? Now, wait a minute, we CAN feel sound. Have you ever stood next to a large speaker? Or maybe you've felt the rumbling of heavy bass music through a table or a floor. These effects prove that sound is some kind of physical phenomenon. Sound must somehow be "hitting" you, letting you "feel the beat". But how can that be happening? We don't see anything when we "feel" sound...nothing but air! So we must be feeling the air when we feel sound!

  OK, so how exactly are we "feeling" the air? Well, to answer this question, we need you to complete a little demonstration. Ready? Gently, take one of your hands and find your windpipe (at the base of your neck). The windpipe is the tube through which air passes when we breathe or talk. Now, keep your fingers touching your windpipe and sing a note (any note!) for a few seconds. If you're not the singing type, you can also hum or talk instead of singing. So, what did you notice? Your windpipe probably vibrated; if not, you may need to try again while singing a little louder.

  Hmm, now we have the results of an experiment on sound, but what do these results mean? Let's think about this logically. Your windpipe vibrated when you made a sound. So, this means your windpipe caused the air to vibrate. Great, now we've figured out that sound is just vibrating air. But that still doesn't explain the rich variety of sounds that we can hear.

  Well, the answer to this one is simple. We've established that sound is simply vibrations in the air. In fact, the reason we can hear sounds is that these vibrations trigger tiny sensors in our ears that send the messages to our brains. Back to the question: why is there such a wide variety of sound? Well the answer is that there is an almost infinitely wide variety of vibrations in the air. For example, the air can vibrate at different speeds and intensities. Each of these slight variations can produce a different sound. Everyone has experienced a wide variety of sound, from the lyrical singing of a violin to the chirping of a bird.
  
  

  
  
  

  Instruments and Sound

  Another question: how do all the musical instruments produce sound? Well, in all cases, the instruments produce a vibration (usually through the vibration of a string). This vibration is in turn transferred to the air, and eventually reaches our ears. Again, a wide variety of vibration is possible from the many different instruments. Of course, one violin may sound drastically different from another violin due to a slightly different type of vibration produced. This applies to any instrument, not just violins.

  Yet another point to think about is acoustics. You've probably realized that an instrument sounds different in a small room than in a huge concert hall. At least, you've experienced an echo, which is just the vibration of the air being reflected by something so that it is heard multiple times. The acoustics of a room work the same way: the various surfaces can slightly alter the type of vibration and change the sound slightly. The surfaces can also direct the sound to travel in a certain direction. For example, in a concert hall, the sounds made on the stage travel out towards the audience because of the design and shaping of the hall. In some places, the concert hall is so well designed that a musician cannot even clearly hear the musician sitting next to him/her because all the sound is being directed outwards!
  
  

  
  
  

  Conclusion

  Well, hopefully we've provided you with some basis on how sound works. This knowledge will be important in the upcoming pages where we go into more detail about sound and specifically music.
  

  What are Pitches?

  Now we know how much a wide variety of pitches can help the sound of music. But what exactly is pitch? We know that musicians can produce both high and low notes, but how exactly does it work? Well, remember what we discussed in Lesson 1? Sound is simply vibrations of air. We've established that there is an infinite variety of vibration possible, creating an infinite variety of sound. But that still doesn't answer our question of "What are Pitches?".

  Well, consider this: the main chamber music instruments all have strings, right? Well, a string instrument player can raise the pitch of his/her instrument by moving his/her fingers to shorten the string! A pianist can raise the pitch of his/her instrument by playing a key connected to a shorter string! So, a shorter string must cause a higher pitch, and a longer string must cause a lower pitch! Maybe you've tried this with a rubber band before: if you pinch off the rubber band and pluck it, it will vibrate; causing a high pitch to occur. If you don't pinch the rubber band and just pluck the entire band, it will vibrate and cause a lower pitch to occur. This works in the same principle as the chamber music instruments

  Great! Now we know how to create a higher or lower pitch. But what exactly is happening? Well, every time a musician plays a note, his or her string is vibrated very rapidly. In other words, the string moves back and forth almost inconceivably fast (the violin's A string vibrates at 440,000 times per second!). A longer string will vibrate more slowly than a shorter string. Perhaps you've experienced this with a jump rope. A single person jumping rope can get his/her rope to go very quickly. This is similar to the vibration of a short string. A jump rope held by two people standing far away will not travel nearly as quickly as the single person's jump rope. This is similar to the vibration of a long string. So, fast vibrations must correspond to higher pitches, and slow vibrations must correspond to lower pitches.
  
  

  
  

  Note Names

  OK, so we have some idea of what pitches are. It gets a little more complicated, though... In music, only a select number of pitches are ever played. Why? Well, music has just evolved over thousands of years to only incorporate a select number of pitches. You can bet that it has evolved the right way, too, if you've ever heard an out-of-tune viola. An out-of-tune instrument plays pitches that are slightly off from what they should be. For example, if an instrument was supposed to play a pitch vibrating at 440,000 times per second, it might vibrate at 441,000 times per second. This creates an awful sound, almost as bad as those random notes from Lesson 1.

  So how exactly did musicians decide to use only a certain number of notes? Well, that brings us to a funny story involving the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach. After the end of the Renaissance, there was some debate over the best notes to be used in music. For example, Indian music uses 22 notes per octave. Well, J.S. Bach was a strong supporter of using 12 notes per octave, which is the system still used today in Western music. To prove that his system was the best, Bach wrote a prelude and fugue in 24 keys: two on every note (both major and minor). Evidently, Bach made his point and so his system of 12 notes per octave is still used today.

  Anyway, since there are a fixed number of pitches, they actually have names! These names include: A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Of course, these note names repeat, but we'll get more into that later. Note names are vital to musicians because they represent each pitch. You can see how confusing it would get if someone told you to play a note vibrating at 500,000 times per second. It would be much easier if they just told you the note name.
  In addition to these 7 pitches, there are 5 more pitches that can be represented by adding a '#' or a 'b' symbol to each note (e.g. A#, Bb). These symbols are referred to by a group as "accidentals". An accidental can be cancelled out by using the "natural" symbol, which is unfortunately not a member of ascii text. We have put together a little display of the most common accidentals used in music. There are more complex symbols (such as the double flat or double sharp) but these are rarely used.
  

  The Major Scale

  Let's move on to one of the basic building blocks of music: the scale. First, play a simple major scale starting on C. Perhaps you've heard this before, perhaps not, but this is what a basic major scale sounds like. What is a scale exactly? Well, it's a series of notes like the one you just heard. Of course, it doesn't have to start on C. For example, we have another simple major scale starting on C#. This sounds slightly different, but you can tell that the scales are really the same thing. Hopefully, you've noticed that the note that the scales start and end on sound the same. This is an important point because a scale spans an octave, which is just two notes that are 12 notes apart.

  What exactly is a major scale? Well, we've heard two of them, but that might not necessarily make it clear. Let's come up with an official definition: a major scale is a set of notes that defines the key of a piece. Wow, there are a lot of new terms in that. Rather than attempt to explain that, we'll give you an audio demonstration. Notice how all the notes in this demo are also notes in the C major scale? Well, that's a technique used by composers to create music. This makes the major scale extremely useful in composing pieces. The scale that composers take their notes from is called the key of the piece. Of course composers are not limited by any means to using only certain tones. Composers are free to write whatever notes they wish to make their pieces sound good. For example, composers often quickly change from key to key, utilizing different scales.

  Now, we've neglected to mention some important aspects of the major scale. Not only does the scale define the key of the piece, but the notes in the scale are not variable. In other words, a composer cannot make up anything he or she wants and call it a scale. Instead, all major scales sound very similar and are all based on the same scale. For example, if you took the basic C major scale and bumped it up a few steps, you'd still have a major scale.
  
  

  
  
  

  The Minor Scale

  Hopefully, you now have some understanding on what a major scale is. Later on, we will go into more depth onto what the notes are that make up the major scale. First, though, we'd like to look into another type of scale: the minor scale. Again, don't worry too much about what the notes in this scale are; just play our simple harmonic minor scale starting (and ending) on C. What's a harmonic minor scale, you ask? Well, there are three different types of minor scales: natural, melodic, and harmonic. They all sound very similar but are slightly different.

  Well, hopefully you were able to hear the harmonic minor scale. Notice anything different between it and the major scale? That's right; the minor scale sounded much "sadder". Like the major scale, the minor scale can be utilized by composers to create music. We've put together another little demonstration in the key of C minor. This means that the notes used in this demonstration were in that C minor scale. By the way, when a key is in a minor key, the general practice is to write the key of the piece in lower case. So, the key of this demonstration is c whereas the key of the demonstration before was C.
  
  

  
  
  Now we know a little bit about how scales and keys work. There's still a whole lot more that we need to learn about music, though. Remember that music is more than just notes put together, there are also many different other components of music, including complex rhythms. Speaking of rhythms, continue to the next page for a lesson on rhythm.

  What is Rhythm?

  So what exactly is rhythm? We know that it's the timing of the notes, but how do the composers write down these timings into a simple format? Well, if you can read music, then you know exactly how this is done. Otherwise, we'll have to teach you about notation. Basically, all musical notes are arranged notes that last for different amounts of time. For example, a quarter note is a common note that is used by composers. Usually, a quarter note will last for a quarter of a measure.

  What is a measure? Well, it's just a section of one full beat. Are you confused? Don't worry! Here's an example: four quarter notes make up one full beat. This makes sense because four quarters added together is one. So, a quarter note lasts for a certain amount of time. Now, for example, composers can also use half notes, eighth notes, sixteenth notes, or any other fraction. This allows them to use an almost limitless array of note lengths.

  Now, you may have noticed that a major part of music is also silence. What we mean by this is that the short or long silences in between notes are often very important. So how do composers write these silences? Well, the silences are called "rests", and they work the same way as notes do. For example, a quarter rest is silence that lasts as long as a quarter note and an eighth note is silence that lasts as long as an eighth rest.

  By now you may be wondering how a musician knows how long to hold a note. Well, composers often write down a tempo marking. Tempo markings, such as moderato or allegro, give the musicians some idea about how long to hold each note. Of course, the final speed and style of the piece is up to the musicians themselves. On the next page, we will show you some actual notes and rests and you will able to see how composers are able to quickly symbolize to musicians how long to hold a note.

  What are Clefs?

  Well, the first thing that you will see at the beginning of every line of music is a clef. There are three main clefs that are used by musicians: treble, alto, and bass. In the little example in the upper left corner, you can see a treble clef and a bass clef. These two clefs are often used to write piano music.

  So what is a clef? Well, a clef basically tells the musician what note each line in the staff corresponds to. Sound complicated? Well, it's actually pretty simple. Let's look again at that example in the upper left corner. The top line of music is in treble clef while the bottom line is in bass clef. So, the notes in each line are different because there are two different clefs. For example, the middle line in treble clef corresponds to a G while the middle line in bass clef corresponds to a D. To further complicate things, the middle line in alto clef corresponds to a C.

  OK, so why did composers invent all these crazy clefs anyway? Well, good question. Clefs were introduced many centuries ago mainly for singers to use. This is because treble clef corresponds generally to the range of a soprano singer, alto clef corresponds generally to the range of an alto singer, and bass clef corresponds generally to the range of a bass singer. As composers grew skilled at writing music for singing groups, they translated their skills to writing for instruments. Of course, they did not want to learn a whole new system of writing music, so they just used the same clefs that they had always used before.

  Clefs also translate well to string instruments. This is because the violin is higher pitched like a soprano and can use the treble clef. The viola is a little bit lower pitched than the violin and can use the alto clef. Also, the cello is well suited to playing in bass clef due to its lower range. Of course, the lower instruments (viola and cello) can use the higher clefs to play when they are playing high passages. The piano uses a variety of treble and bass clefs often rapidly switching and using combinations of the two.
  
  

  
  

  What are Key Signatures?

  Let's look at that example in the upper left corner again. See those three flats (they look like the letter 'b')? That's an example of a key signature. We talked a little bit about keys in Lesson 3: The Scale. To refresh your memory, the key of a piece is just the scale from which the notes of the piece are taken.

  OK, so how do these flats translate to the key of the piece? Well, the flats are strategically placed on certain lines. When musicians see notes on these lines, they know to automatically play them flat. Using this technique of having a key signature saves the composer time because he or she does not need to continually draw the same flats over and over again. Of course, music could be written without a key signature, but that would just be confusing for the musicians and the composers.
  
  

  
  
  

  What are Notes?

  So what are notes? Most of us can probably recognize these famous musical components, but what do they really mean? Well, each musical note conveys quite a bit of information. Let's start with the placement of the note. The placement of the note on the staff is important because it tells the musician which pitch to play (for more information on pitches, see Lesson 2: What is Pitch?). As we mentioned before, the note values in each staff depend on the clef. Let's not get too involved with this now, though. We will talk more about these note values in Lesson 6: What are Intervals?.

  OK, so let's take a look at some real notes. See that picture to the right of this text? Well, that's an example of a few notes. The main differences in these notes are just in their stems, which is everything but the circular part of the note. Every time one of those "tails" is added, the note's duration gets halved. It's not really important for you to remember each note value at this point because it is much easier to understand note durations when you are actually playing an instrument. Also, remember that we already discussed a little bit about note durations in Lesson 4: What is Rhythm?.
  
  

  
  
  

  What are Rests?

  Remember our discussion of rests from Lesson 4: What is Rhythm?? Well, here are some examples of what rests might actually look like in music. These rests work in a very similar way to the notes. As little "tails" are added to the rests, the rest durations are halved.
  By now, you may be wondering why the whole, half, and quarter notes/rests are different from the eighth, sixteenth, and 32nd notes/rests. Well, we're not really sure why this happened as music evolved over the centuries. One theory to why these notes and rests are different is that composers wanted to let musicians easily see and recognize notes that were commonly used. So, musicians can quickly see whether a note is a half note or a quarter note without counting the stems. This is just one of the countless tiny timesavers that composers have built into music.

  How Does This Apply to Music?

  Good question! How does this apply to music? Well, if you recall, in Lesson 2: What is Pitch? we talked about various pitches. We mentioned how only 12 distinct pitches are used in music. We also mentioned how these 12 pitches continue repeating infinitely in both the higher and the lower direction. Well, let's take for example any two pitches. The distance between these two pitches is called an interval.

  So an interval is just the distance between any two notes. But it's a little more complicated than that. A musician needs to be able to say something and have other musicians understand exactly what interval he or she is talking about.
  
  

  
  
  

  Half Steps and Whole Steps

  No, we're not going to teach you to dance in this section, but we are going to teach you a little bit about musical steps. So let's start with the most basic step: a half step. A half step is simply the distance between two notes that are as close as possible to each other. So if you have one note and another one that is just a tiny bit (on a piano, the next key) above or below it, these two notes are separated by a half step.

  That seems pretty straighforward... So what's a whole step, then? Well, a whole step is just one half step wider than a half step. In other words a whole step is two half steps put together. On a piano keyboard, a whole step would just be two keys apart. OK, that's pretty simple, too. So what's the big deal about half steps and whole steps then? Well, these small little steps make up everything in music. Any notes you can play on any instrument (provided that they are actual notes!) are separated by a certain number of whole steps and half steps.

  The real beauty of having these steps is that a musician can say "that note is a half step too low" or something like that, and someone else will immediately know how to fix the problem. If a musician said "that note is 50 cents too low", no one would know what he or she was talking about (and we wouldn't either!).
  
  

  
  
  

  Intervals

  Still, there's more to intervals than just half steps and whole steps. It's OK to talk half steps and whole steps when a musician is just talking about a small interval. But what if the notes are 13 half steps apart? It would get a little bit cumbersome trying to calculate and figure out what interval the musician meant. For this reason, a slightly more complicated, yet easier to use method of intervals was developed.

  Remember the major scale we discussed in Lesson 3: The Scale? Well, this major scale actually plays a big role in this slightly more complex system of intervals. Basically, if a musician says some number as an interval, this interval will be the distance between the first note of the scale and whichever note the musician's number corresponds to. For example, if someone says, "play a 4th", that means to play the first note of the scale and then the fourth note of the scale. Since there are 8 notes in the major scale, these intervals including 2nds up to 8ths.

  Now that you know a little bit about intervals, we can see what these intervals truly are. Like any pairs of notes, the intervals are still made up of whole and half steps. Let's take a look at the major scale in more depth on the following page.

  The Major Scale Revisited

  So what exactly is a major scale? In Lesson 3, we talked about some of the uses of major scales, but we didn't really go into too much depth on what exactly a major scale is. Let's look again at the C Major Scale. Now, in Lesson 6: What are Intervals?, we discussed how any two notes in music are separated by a certain number of whole steps and half steps. Major scales also follow this rule.

  Let's take a look at this 'C' Major Scale graphic. Here, we've shown you where all the half steps and whole steps are by putting the letter 'H' where the notes are a half step apart and the letter 'W' where the notes are a whole step apart.

  No matter what note the scale starts on, this set of whole steps and half steps remains constant. So, as we said in Lesson 6, musicians can easily describe intervals by just saying the number of notes in the major scale that it would take to fill that interval. For example a whole step would just be a "second" because the first two notes in the major scale are equal to a whole step. A "third" would be two whole steps because the distance between the first note in the major scale and the third note is two whole steps. A "fourth" would be two whole steps and a half step since the distance between the first note in the major scale and the fourth note is two whole steps and one half step.

  OK, this seems pretty simple now. But what happens if a musician wants one whole step and one half step? Suddenly, our system fails because there is no note in the major scale that is one and a half whole steps away from the first note. This note is in between the second and third notes in the major scale.

  Again, musicians have devised a solution to this problem. When a note fits perfectly on the major scale, musicians call the note a major interval. For example, two whole steps would be a major third. However, if the interval is a 4th or a 5th, the interval is called a perfect interval. For example, two and a half whole steps would be called a perfect fourth.

  So, back to the problem of the note that is one and a half whole steps away from the first note in the scale. Well, musicians can lower the width of the interval by a half step by saying the word minor. So, a note that is one whole step and one half step away is a minor third.

  Well, that's pretty much all you need to know about intervals! Congratulations on having passed through this difficult section! Just one more page to go in the theory section!

  What is Harmony?

  So what exactly is harmony? Well, basically, harmony is anything that accompanies the melody. Often, the harmony can occur as chords, which are simply a few notes played simultaneously. Harmony can also occur as broken chords, which are the same notes in the chord, only they are played one after another. Often, listeners do not even know they are hearing harmony because the composer hides it so well from them. In almost all cases, though, the harmony that is being played can be converted into a chord.
  
  

  
  
  

  Triads

  The major triad is one of the most basic harmonies in music. It is formed by taking the first, third, and fifth note of the major scale and playing them simultaneously. This triad has a "happy" sound to it and is often used as the basic chord in a major piece. Another common triad is the minor triad. It is formed by taking the first, third, and fifth note of the minor scale. As you can tell, this triad has a "sadder" sound to it and is often used as the basic chord in a minor piece.

  So what's the big deal with triads? Well, they are a very common form of harmony. By themselves, though, they don't mean too much. This is because music uses a wide variety of chords that have complex relationships to each other. Let's make up an example so that we understand this section better. Let's say we have a piece in the key of C Major. This means that many of the melodic notes are taken from the C Major scale. The basic harmonic chord also starts on the key of C (the notes would then be C, E, and G). Now this doesn't prohibit the composer from using other triads starting on other notes in the scale. For example, the composer can use a triad starting on G (the notes would then be G, B, and D).

  By the way, there's a form of musical shorthand for quickly identifying the proper triad. Musicians use roman numerals corresponding to the starting note for identifying triads. For example, if we're in the key of C Major, I would be a triad starting on C. V would then be a triad starting on G.
  
  

  
  
  

  Harmonic Progressions and Cadences

  Still, chords are meaningless unless they add something to the music. Well, that's where harmonic progressions come in. As composers switch from chord to chord, they can create the impression that the music is moving somewhere. A lot of harmonic progressions have been established and commonly used, but composers such as Rachmaninoff are still able to invent new and exciting harmonic progressions.

  So, let's talk about some actual harmonic progressions. Cadences are one type of harmonic progression that are often used at the end of sections to settle the thought. Two common cadences are plagal (IV to I) and authentic (V to I). These progressions are quite simple and only consist of two triads. Composers have realized, though, that they give the impression of completion to a section of music. As a result, these cadences are also commonly used at the end of an entire piece.
  
  

  
  
  

  Inversions

  Inversions are our last topic, and they really are quite simple. Let's take a C Major triad for example. The notes in this triad are C, E, and G. The first inversion is simply E, G, and then C. The second inversion is simply G, C, and then E. We simply took the bottom note and put it on the top. Inversions are not important in harmonic progressions because they do not change the triads. Inversions can become important, though, when composers want certain notes to stand out. For example, the top note in a triad played on the piano will always stand out just because the highest note is more audible. For this reason, composers often place a melody note on the top of the triad so that it can be heard more easily.
  
  

  
  
  

  End of Music Theory

  Congratulations! You have passed through the most difficult and challenging portion of The Music Chamber. You may now continue following the silver links at the bottom each page into the Historical Periods section or you may use the navigation bar on your left to jump to any section of The Music Chamber!

What is Music?

Article: The question "What is Music?", and its many answers ... (I suggest that you read this article if you came here while searching for the phrase "what is music" in a search engine, and you were hoping for something other than a speculative scientific theory.)


What is Music?: Solving a Scientific Mystery is a book by Philip Dorrell which explains a new scientific theory about music: the super-stimulus theory.

The main idea of the theory is that music is a super-stimulus for the perception of musicality, where "musicality" is actually a perceived property of speech. "Musicality" refers to the property of music that determines how "good" it is, how strong an emotional effect it has, and how much we enjoy listening to it.

The theory implies that ordinary speech also has this property, in a manner which may vary as a person speaks. The musicality of speech is much more subtle than that of music, but it provides important information which the listener's brain processes (without conscious awareness of the processing), in order to derive some information about the internal mental state of the speaker. This information is applied to modulate the listener's emotional response to speech, and this accounts for the emotional effect of music.

What distinguishes the super-stimulus theory from all other serious attempts to explain music scientifically is that it starts from a simple assumption that music perception must be an information processing function, and this assumption results in quite specific explanations of how major aspects of music such as scales, regular beat and harmony are processed in the brain. It is the first theory to explain the perception of musical scales without a priori assuming the existence of musical scales. (The theory has to do this, because it is a theory of music perception as an aspect of speech perception, and musical scales do not occur in normal speech.)



How Scientifically Orthodox is the Super-Stimulus Theory?

These days there are many theories about scientific subjects proposed by those outside the mainstream. An immediate problem with most of them is that they ignore or contradict orthodox science.

I will admit that my theory is not part of the "mainstream" of music science, but the scientific assumptions underlying the super-stimulus theory are very orthodox indeed. (Read more ...)
Important Ideas about Music

The study of music is part of biology.

Music exists because people create it, perform it and listen to it. People are living organisms, and biology is the study of living organisms.

Any theory of music that claims to be complete must be able to pass the Luxury Yacht Test.

If you succeeded in developing a complete theory of music, you would be able to use that theory to compose strong original music, which you could then sell, and use the proceeds to purchase a luxury yacht. Be suspicious of anyone claiming to completely understand what music is who does not own a luxury yacht. (And no, I do not own a luxury yacht. It follows that the theory revealed in my book is not complete. I claim only that it is plausible and that it explains more about music than anyone else's theories.)

The human brain is an information processing system.

An information processing system has four basic components: input, output, calculation and storage. Applying this framework to the analysis of music, music appears to represent the input. What kind of information is the output, and what does it mean? How is it calculated?

Music is a super-stimulus for the perception of musicality in speech.

Musicality is a perceived attribute of speech, which tells the listener important information about the speaker and the speech. Music is a super-stimulus for this perceived musicality, i.e. music is "speech" that has been contrived to have an unnaturally high level of musicality.

Each aspect of music is a super-stimulus for a corresponding aspect of the perception of musicality of speech.

By investigating each aspect of music, we can make an intelligent guess as to the nature of the cortical map for which the musical aspect is a super-stimulus, and then we can determine what the response of that same cortical map would be to speech, and finally we can determine what role the cortical map plays in the perception of ordinary speech.

"Normal" stimuli for specific aspects of speech perception may lack properties of corresponding musical super-stimuli.

Musical harmony consists of simultaneous pitch values, yet perception of simultaneous pitch values from multiple melodies has no relevance to speech perception (i.e. we almost always only listen to one person speaking at a time). The normal function of the cortical map that responds to consonant relationships between different notes occurring at the same time within harmonies and chords must be the perception of consonant relationships between pitch values occurring at different times within the same speech melody.

Normal speech melody is not constructed from musical notes selected from a musical scale. The normal function of the cortical map that responds to discontinuous musical melodies constructed from musical scales must be the perception of continuous speech melody.

The rhythm of speech is not as regular and structured as the rhythms of music. The normal function of the cortical maps that respond to the regular rhythms of music must be the perception of irregular speech rhythm.

Dance is an aspect of music.

In other words, dance is not just something which accompanies music, dance actually is music. Music is a super-stimulus for aspects of speech perception, but speech perception is not just the perception of sounds: it also includes perception of the speaker's movements such as facial expressions, body language and hand gestures. Dance can be identified as the super-stimulus for this component of speech perception.

There are at least five and possibly six symmetries of music.

These are:

* Pitch translation invariance
* Time translation invariance
* Time scaling invariance
* Amplitude scaling invariance
* Octave translation invariance
* Pitch reflection invariance

Each of these symmetries represents an invariance of some aspect of the perceived quality of music under the corresponding set of transformations.

For each symmetry we can ask "Why?" and "How?".

The first four symmetries are functional symmetries in that they satisfy a requirement for invariance of perception, i.e. for each symmetry in this group our perception of speech should be invariant under the set of transformations that define the symmetry. For example, perception of speech melody is invariant under pitch translation so that people with different frequency ranges can speak the same speech melodies, and have those melodies perceived as being the same. The last two are implementation symmetries which play an internal role in the perception of music. (For example see the next item on octave translation invariance.)

In some cases the "how" part of the question has an answer less trivial than one might assume at first. It turns out that we can identify components of speech perception from hypotheses about the existence cortical maps that respond to aspects of music, and these components reflect the need to achieve perception of speech melody invariant under pitch translation and time scaling.

Octave translation invariance is an implementation symmetry which facilitates the efficient subtraction of pitch values.

Octave translation invariance is the result of splitting the representation of pitch into a precise value modulo octaves and an imprecise absolute value. This split enables the more efficient representation and processing of pitch values, particularly when one pitch value must be "subtracted" from another to calculate interval size.

Our perception of relative pitch must be calibrated somehow.

This explains the importance of consonant intervals in music perception. Consonant intervals correspond to the intervals between the harmonic components of voiced sounds in human speech, and they provide a natural standard for calibrating the comparison of pitch intervals between different pairs of pitch values. Our accurate ability to calculate and compare pitch intervals enables the pitch translation invariant perception of speech melody.

Musicality corresponds to the occurrence of constant activity patterns in cortical maps.

The regularities of time, pitch and repetition in music cause the cortical maps responding to music to become divided up into active and inactive zones, where the division remains constant for all or part of a tune.

Constant activity patterns in the speaker's brain are echoed by similar constant activity patterns in the listener's brain.

Occurrence of constant activity patterns in the speaker's brain represents information about the internal mental state of the speaker. One consequence of the perception by the listener of constant activity patterns in the speaker's brain is a reinforcement of the listener's emotional reaction to what the speaker is saying. This accounts for the emotional effect of music.

Music

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For other uses, see Music (disambiguation).
Performing arts
Major forms

Dance · Music · Opera · Theatre · Circus Arts
Minor forms

Magic · Puppetry
Genres

Drama · Tragedy · Comedy · Tragicomedy · Romance · Satire · Epic · Lyric

Music is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses".[1]

The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance), through improvisational music to aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts", music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art, and auditory art.

To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. Greek philosophers and ancient Indian philosophers defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."[2] According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.... By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be, except that it is 'sound through time'."[3]


History
Main article: History of music
Prehistoric eras

Ancient music can only be imagined by scholars, based on findings from a range of paleolithic sites, such as bones in which lateral holes have been pierced: these are usually identified as flutes,[4] blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. Instruments, such as the seven-holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the Indus Valley Civilization archaeological sites.[5] India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world—references to Indian classical music (marga) can be found in the ancient scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas.[6] The earliest and largest collection of prehistoric musical instruments was found in China and dates back to between 7000 and 6600 BC.[7]
Biblical period

Main article: History of music in the biblical period
"David with his harp" Paris Psalter,
c. 960, Constantinople

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account of Laban's interview with Jacob (Gen. 31:27). After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of Israel sang their song of deliverance (Ex. 15). But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated. It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets (1 Sam. 10:5; 19:19-24; 2 Kings 3:15; 1 Chr. 25:6). There now arose also a class of professional singers (2 Sam. 19:35; Eccl. 2:8). Solomon's Temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed (2 Sam. 6:5; 1 Chr. 15; 16; 23;5; 25:1-6). In private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews (Eccl. 2:8; Amos 6:4-6; Isa. 5:11, 12; 24:8, 9; Ps. 137; Jer. 48:33; Luke 15:25).[8]

Music and theatre scholars studying the history and anthropology of Semitic and early Judeo-Christian culture, have also discovered common links between theatrical and musical activity in the classical cultures of the Hebrews with those of the later cultures of the Greeks and Romans. The common area of performance is found in a "social phenomenon called litany," a form of prayer consisting of a series of invocations or supplications. The Journal of Religion and Theatre notes that among the earliest forms of litany, "Hebrew litany was accompanied by a rich musical tradition:"[9]

"While Genesis 4.21 identifies Jubal as the “father of all such as handle the harp and pipe,” the Pentateuch is nearly silent about the practice and instruction of music in the early life of Israel. Then, in I Samuel 10 and the texts which follow, a curious thing happens. “One finds in the biblical text,” writes Alfred Sendrey, “a sudden and unexplained upsurge of large choirs and orchestras, consisting of thoroughly organized and trained musical groups, which would be virtually inconceivable without lengthy, methodical preparation.” This has led some scholars to believe that the prophet Samuel was the patriarch of a school which taught not only prophets and holy men, but also sacred-rite musicians. This public music school, perhaps the earliest in recorded history, was not restricted to a priestly class--which is how the shepherd boy David appears on the scene as a minstrel to King Saul."[9]

Antiquity

Music was an important part of cultural and social life in Ancient Greece: mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual ceremonies; musicians and singers had a prominent role in ancient Greek theater.[10] In the 9th century, the Arab scholar al-Farabi wrote a book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqi al-Kabir ("Great Book of Music"). He played and invented a variety of musical instruments and devised the Arab tone system of pitch organisation, which is still used in Arabic music.[11]
Western cultures

During the Medieval music era (500-1400), the only European repertory which has survived from before about 800 is the monophonic liturgical plainsong of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant. Alongside these traditions of sacred and church music there existed a vibrant tradition of secular song. Examples of composers from this period are Léonin, Pérotin and Guillaume de Machaut. From the Renaissance music era (1400-1600), much of the surviving music of 14th century Europe is secular. By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers used a smooth polyphony for sacred musical compositions. The introduction of commercial printing helped to disseminate musical styles more quickly and across a larger area. Prominent composers from this era are Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thomas Morley and Orlande de Lassus.
Allegory of Music, by Filippino Lippi

The era of Baroque music (1600-1750) began when the first operas were written and when contrapuntal music became prevalent. German Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as choirs, pipe organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. During the Baroque period, several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto.[12] Composers from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel and Georg Philipp Telemann. The music of the Classical period (1750-1800) is characterized by homophonic texture, often featuring a prominent melody with accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable. The now popular instrumental music was dominated by further evolution of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata, and the concerto, with the addition of the new form, the symphony. Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are among the central figures of the Classical period.

In 1800, the Romantic era (1800-1890s) in music developed, with Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert as transitional composers who introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. During this era, existing genres, forms, and functions of music were developed, and the emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over technique and tradition. In Beethoven's case, motifs (developed organically) came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and in the role of concerts as part of urban society. Later Romantic composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and Gustav Mahler created complex and often much longer musical works. They used more complex chords and used more dissonance to create dramatic tension.
Non-Western Classical traditions

Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.[13] The Indus Valley civilization has sculptures which show dance[14] and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harrappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.[15] The Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.[16] Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based around a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas. Carnatic music is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are a lot of songs emphasising love and other social issues. Hindustani music was also influenced by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals.

Asian music covers the music cultures of Arabia, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Chinese classical music, the traditional art or court music of China, has a history stretching over around three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5+7 = 12) as does European-influenced music. Persian music is the music of Persia and Persian language countries: musiqi, the science and art of music, and muzik, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983). See also: Music of Iran, Music of Afghanistan, Music of Tajikistan, Music of Uzbekistan).

The music of Greece was a major part of ancient Greek theater. In Ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music was an important part of education in ancient Greece, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of development; Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes, eventually became the basis for Western religious music and classical music. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.
20th century music

With 20th century music, there was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music. The focus of art music was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th century art music.

Jazz evolved and became a significant genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music did the same. Jazz is an American musical art form which 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.[17] From its early development until the present, jazz has also incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music.[18] Jazz has, from its early 20th century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, ranging from New Orleans Dixieland (1910s) to 1970s and 1980s-era jazz-rock fusion.

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed in the 1960s from 1950s rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, and country music. The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, digital synthesizers. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."[19] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock music branched out into different subgenres, ranging from blues rock and jazz-rock fusion to heavy metal and punk rock, as well as the more classical influenced genre of progressive rock.
Performance
Main article: Performance
Chinese Naxi musicians

Performance is the physical expression of music. Often, a musical work is performed once its structure and instrumentation are satisfactory to its creators; however, as it gets performed, it can evolve and change. A performance can either be rehearsed or improvised. Improvisation is a musical idea created without premeditation, while rehearsal is vigorous repetition of an idea until it has achieved cohesion. Musicians will sometimes add improvisation to a well-rehearsed idea to create a unique performance.

Many cultures include strong traditions of solo and performance, 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 for one's enjoyment to highly planned and organised performance rituals such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, music festivals or music competitions. Chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than symphonic works.
Aural tradition

Many types of music, such as traditional blues and folk music were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down orally, or aurally (by ear). When the composer of music is no longer known, this music is often classified as "traditional". Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those which demand improvisation or modification to the music. A culture's history may also be passed by ear through song.
Ornamentation
Main article: Ornament (music)

The detail included explicitly in the music notation varies between genres and historical periods. In general, art music notation from the 17th through the 19th century required performers to have a great deal of contextual knowledge about performing styles. For example, in the 17th and 18th century, music notated for solo performers typically indicated a simple, unornamented melody. However, it was expected that performers would know how to add stylistically-appropriate ornaments such as trills and turns. In the 19th century, art music for solo performers may give a general instruction such as to perform the music expressively, without describing in detail how the performer should do this. It was expected that the performer would know how to use tempo changes, accentuation, and pauses (among other devices) to obtain this "expressive" performance style. In the 20th century, art music notation often became more explicit and used a range of markings and annotations to indicate to performers how they should play or sing the piece.

In popular music and jazz, music notation almost always indicates only the basic framework of the melody, harmony, or performance approach; musicians and singers are expected to know the performance conventions and styles associated with specific genres and pieces. For example, the "lead sheet" for a jazz tune may only indicate the melody and the chord changes. The performers in the jazz ensemble are expected to know how to "flesh out" this basic structure by adding ornaments, improvised music, and chordal accompaniment.
Production
Main article: Music production

Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own pleasure, and they do not derive their income from music. Professional musicians are employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed forces, churches and synagogues, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production companies, and music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers, seeking contracts and engagements in 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 and orchestras. In some cases, amateur musicians attain a professional level of competence, and they are able to perform in professional performance settings. A distinction is often made between music performed for the benefit of a live audience and music that is performed for the purpose of being 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 recorded and distributed (or broadcast).
Composition
Main article: Musical composition
An old songbook showing a composition

"Composition" is often classed as the creation and recording of music via a medium by which others can interpret it (i.e. paper or sound). Many cultures use at least part of the concept of preconceiving musical material, or composition, as held in western classical music. Even when music is notated precisely, there are still many decisions that a performer has to make. The process of a performer deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers' interpretations of the same music can vary widely. Composers and song writers who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others or folk music. 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 either individual choices of a performer, or an aspect of music which is not clear, and therefore has a "standard" interpretation.

In some musical genres, such as jazz and blues, even more freedom is given to the performer to engage in improvisation on a basic melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic framework. The greatest latitude is given to the performer in a style of performing called free improvisation, which is material that is spontaneously "thought of" (imagined) while being performed, not preconceived. Improvised music usually follows stylistic or genre conventions and even "fully composed" includes some freely chosen material. Composition does not always mean the use of notation, or the known sole authorship of one individual. Music can also be determined by describing a "process" which may create musical sounds; examples of this range from wind chimes, through computer programs which select sounds. Music which contains elements selected by chance is called Aleatoric music, and is associated with such composers as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutosławski.

Music can be composed for repeated performance or it can be improvised: composed on the spot. The music can be performed entirely from memory, from a written system of musical notation, or some combination of both. Study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition is broad enough to include spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African drummers such as the Ewe drummers.

What is important in understanding the composition of a piece is singling out its elements. An understanding of music's formal elements can be helpful in deciphering exactly how a piece is constructed. A universal element of music is how sounds occur in time, which is referred to as the rhythm of a piece of music. When a piece appears to have a changing time-feel, it is considered to be in rubato time, an Italian expression that indicates that the tempo of the piece changes to suit the expressive intent of the performer. Even random placement of random sounds, which occurs in musical montage, occurs within some kind of time, and thus employs time as a musical element.
Notation
Main article: Musical notation

Notation is the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music is notated, along with instructions on how to perform the music. The study of how to read notation involves music theory, harmony, the study of performance practice, and in some cases an understanding of historical performance methods. Written notation varies with style and period of 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, 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. 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 the location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tabulature was also used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute, a stringed, fretted instrument. Notated music is produced as sheet music. To perform music from notation requires an understanding of both the rhythmic and pitch elements embodied in the symbols and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or a genre.
Improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creation of spontaneous music. Improvisation is often considered an act of instantaneous composition by performers, where compositional techniques are employed 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 and melody lines. In the Western art music tradition, improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque era and during the Classical era; solo performers and singers would improvise virtuoso cadenzas during concerts. However, in the 20th and 21st century, improvisation played a smaller role in Western Art music.
Theory
Main article: Music theory

Music theory encompasses the nature and mechanics of music. It often involves identifying patterns that govern composers' techniques. In a more detailed sense, music theory (in the western system) also distills and analyzes the elements of music—rhythm, harmony (harmonic function), melody, structure, and texture. People who study these properties are known as music theorists.
Cognition
Further information: Hearing (sense) and Psychoacoustics
A chamber music group consisting of stringed instrument players, a flautist, and a harpsichordist perform in Salzburg

The field of music cognition involves the study of many aspects of music including how it is processed by listeners. Rather than accepting the standard practices of analyzing, composing, and performing music as a given, much research in music cognition seeks instead to uncover the mental processes that underlie these practices. Also, research in the field seeks to uncover commonalities between the musical traditions of disparate cultures and possible cognitive "constraints" that limit these musical systems. Questions regarding musical innateness, and emotional responses to music are also major areas of research in the field.

Deaf people can experience music by feeling the vibrations in their body, a process which can be enhanced if the individual holds a resonant, hollow object. A well-known deaf musician is the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed many famous works even after he had completely lost his hearing. Recent examples of deaf musicians include Evelyn Glennie, a highly acclaimed percussionist who has been deaf since age twelve, and Chris Buck, a virtuoso violinist who has lost his hearing. This is relevant because it indicates that music is a deeper cognitive process than unexamined phrases such as, "pleasing to the ear" would suggest. Much research in music cognition seeks to uncover these complex mental processes involved in listening to music, which may seem intuitively simple, yet are vastly intricate and complex.
Sociology
This Song Dynasty (960–1279) painting, entitled the "Night Revels of Han Xizai", shows Chinese musicians entertaining guests at a party in a 10th century household.

Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert. Musical performances take different forms in different cultures and socioeconomic milieus. In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a "high culture" and "low culture." "High culture" types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies, concertos, and solo works, and are typically heard in formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats.

Other types of music—including, but not limited to, jazz, blues, soul, and country—are often performed in bars, nightclubs, and theatres, where the audience may be able to drink, dance, and express themselves by cheering. Until the later 20th century, the division between "high" and "low" musical forms was widely accepted as a valid distinction that separated out better quality, more advanced "art music" from the popular styles of music heard in bars and dance halls.

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, musicologists studying this perceived divide between "high" and "low" musical genres argued that this distinction is not based on the musical value or quality of the different types of music.[citation needed] Rather, they argued that this distinction was based largely on the socioeconomics standing or social class of the performers or audience of the different types of music.[citation needed] For example, whereas the audience for Classical symphony concerts typically have above-average incomes, the audience for a rap concert in an inner-city area may have below-average incomes. Even though the performers, audience, or venue where non-"art" music is performed may have a lower socioeconomic status, the music that is performed, such as blues, rap, punk, funk, or ska may be very complex and sophisticated.

When composers introduce styles of music which break with convention, there can be a strong resistance from academic music experts and popular culture. Late-period Beethoven string quartets, Stravinsky ballet scores, serialism, bebop-era jazz, hip hop, punk rock, and electronica have all been considered non-music by some critics when they were first introduced.[citation needed] Such themes are examined in the sociology of music. The sociological study of music, sometimes called sociomusicology, is often pursued in departments of sociology, media studies, or music, and is closely related to the field of ethnomusicology.
Media and technology
Further information: Computer music
Music 01754.jpg

The music that composers make can be heard through several media; the most traditional way is to hear it live, in the presence, or as one of the musicians. Live music can also be broadcast over the radio, television or the Internet. Some musical styles focus on producing a sound for a performance, while others focus on producing a recording which mixes together sounds which were never played "live". Recording, even of styles which are essentially live, often uses the ability to edit and splice to produce recordings which are considered better than the actual performance.

As talking pictures emerged in the early 20th century, with their prerecorded musical tracks, an increasing number of moviehouse orchestra musicians found themselves out of work.[20] During the 1920s live musical performances by orchestras, pianists, and theater organists were common at first-run theaters.[21] With the coming of the talking motion pictures, those featured performances were largely eliminated. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) took out newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. One 1929 ad that appeared in the Pittsburgh Press features an image of a can labeled "Canned Music / Big Noise Brand / Guaranteed to Produce No Intellectual or Emotional Reaction Whatever"[22]

Since legislation introduced to help protect performers, composers, publishers and producers, including the Audio Home Recording Act of 1992 in the United States, and the 1979 revised Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in the United Kingdom, recordings and live performances have also become more accessible through computers, devices and Internet in a form that is commonly known as Music-On-Demand.

In many cultures, there is less distinction between performing and listening to music, since virtually everyone is involved in some sort of musical activity, often communal. In industrialized countries, listening to music through a recorded form, such as sound recording or watching a music video, became more common than experiencing live performance, roughly in the middle of the 20th century.

Sometimes, live performances incorporate prerecorded sounds. For example, a disc jockey uses disc records for scratching, and some 20th century works have a solo for an instrument or voice that is performed along with music that is prerecorded onto a tape. Computers and many keyboards can be programmed to produce and play Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music. Audiences can also become performers by participating in karaoke, an activity of Japanese origin which centres around a device that plays voice-eliminated versions of well-known songs. Most karaoke machines also have video screens that show lyrics to songs being performed; performers can follow the lyrics as they sing over the instrumental tracks.
Internet

The advent of the Internet has transformed the experience of music, partly through the increased ease of access to music and the increased choice. Chris Anderson, in his book The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More, suggests that while the economic model of supply and demand describes scarcity, the Internet retail model is based on abundance. Digital storage costs are low, so a company can afford to make its whole inventory available online, giving customers as much choice as possible. It has thus become economically viable to offer products that very few people are interested in. Consumers' growing awareness of their increased choice results in a closer association between listening tastes and social identity, and the creation of thousands of niche markets.[23]

Another effect of the Internet arises with online communities like YouTube and MySpace. MySpace has made social networking with other musicians easier, and greatly facilitates the distribution of one's music. YouTube also has a large community of both amateur and professional musicians who post videos and comments.[citation needed] Professional musicians also use YouTube as a free publisher of promotional material. YouTube users, for example, no longer only download and listen to MP3s, but also actively create their own. According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, in their book Wikinomics, there has been a shift from a traditional consumer role to what they call a "prosumer" role, a consumer who both creates and consumes. Manifestations of this in music include the production of mashes, remixes, and music videos by fans.[24]
Business
Main article: Music industry

The music industry refers to the business industry connected with the creation and sale of music. It consists of record companies, labels and publishers that distribute recorded music products internationally and that often control the rights to those products. Some music labels are "independent," while others are subsidiaries of larger corporate entities or international media groups. In the 2000s, the increasing popularity of listening to music as digital music files on MP3 players, iPods, or computers, and of trading music on file sharing sites or buying it online in the form of digital files had a major impact on the traditional music business. Many smaller independent CD stores went out of business as music buyers decreased their purchases of CDs, and many labels had lower CD sales. Some companies did well with the change to a digital format, though, such as Apple's iTunes, an online store which sells digital files of songs over the Internet.
Education
Non-professional
Main article: Music education

The incorporation of music training from preschool to post secondary education is common in North America and Europe. Involvement in music is thought to teach basic skills such as concentration, counting, listening, and cooperation while also promoting understanding of language, improving the ability to recall information, and creating an environment more conducive to learning in other areas.[25] In elementary schools, children often learn to play instruments such as the recorder, sing in small choirs, and learn about the history of Western art music. In secondary schools students may have the opportunity to perform some type of musical ensembles, such as choirs, marching bands, concert bands, jazz bands, or orchestras, and in some school systems, music classes may be available. Some students also take private music lessons with a teacher. Amateur musicians typically take lessons to learn musical rudiments and beginner- to intermediate-level musical techniques.

At the university level, students in most arts and humanities programs can receive credit for taking music courses, which typically take the form of an overview course on the history of music, or a music appreciation course that focuses on listening to music and learning about different musical styles. In addition, most North American and European universities have some type of musical ensembles that non-music students are able to participate in, such as choirs, marching bands, or orchestras. The study of Western art music is increasingly common outside of North America and Europe, such as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, or the classical music programs that are available in Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China. At the same time, Western universities and colleges are widening their curriculum to include music of non-Western cultures, such as the music of Africa or Bali (e.g. Gamelan music).
Academia

Musicology is the study of the subject of music. The earliest definitions defined three sub-disciplines: systematic musicology, historical musicology, and comparative musicology or ethnomusicology. In contemporary scholarship, one is more likely to encounter a division of the discipline into music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology. Research in musicology has often been enriched by cross-disciplinary work, for example in the field of psychoacoustics. The study of music of non-western cultures, and the cultural study of music, is called ethnomusicology.

Graduates of undergraduate music programs can go on to further study in music graduate programs. Graduate degrees include the Master of Music, the Master of Arts, the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) (e.g., in musicology or music theory), and more recently, the Doctor of Musical Arts, or DMA. The Master of Music degree, which takes one to two years to complete, is typically awarded to students studying the performance of an instrument, education, voice or composition. The Master of Arts degree, which takes one to two years to complete and often requires a thesis, is typically awarded to students studying musicology, music history, or music theory. Undergraduate university degrees in music, including the Bachelor of Music, the Bachelor of Music Education, and the Bachelor of Arts (with a major in music) typically take three to five years to complete. These degrees provide students with a grounding in music theory and music history, and many students also study an instrument or learn singing technique as part of their program.

The PhD, which is required for students who want to work as university professors in musicology, music history, or music theory, takes three to five years of study after the Master's degree, during which time the student will complete advanced courses and undertake research for a dissertation. The DMAis a relatively new degree that was created to provide a credential for professional performers or composers that want to work as university professors in musical performance or composition. The DMA takes three to five years after a Master's degree, and includes advanced courses, projects, and performances. In Medieval times, the study of music was one of the Quadrivium of the seven Liberal Arts and considered vital to higher learning. Within the quantitative Quadrivium, music, or more accurately harmonics, was the study of rational proportions.

Zoomusicology is the study of the music of non-human animals, or the musical aspects of sounds produced by non-human animals. As George Herzog (1941) asked, "do animals have music?" François-Bernard Mâche's Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion (1983), a study of "ornitho-musicology" using a technique of Nicolas Ruwet's Language, musique, poésie (1972) paradigmatic segmentation analysis, shows that bird songs are organised according to a repetition-transformation principle. Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990), argues that "in the last analysis, it is a human being who decides what is and is not musical, even when the sound is not of human origin. If we acknowledge that sound is not organised and conceptualised (that is, made to form music) merely by its producer, but by the mind that perceives it, then music is uniquely human."

Music theory is the study of music, generally in a highly technical manner outside of other disciplines. More broadly it refers to any study of music, usually related in some form with compositional concerns, and may include mathematics, physics, and anthropology. What is most commonly taught in beginning music theory classes are guidelines to write in the style of the common practice period, or tonal music. Theory, even that which studies music of the common practice period, may take many other forms. Musical set theory is the application of mathematical set theory to music, first applied to atonal music. Speculative music theory, contrasted with analytic music theory, is devoted to the analysis and synthesis of music materials, for example tuning systems, generally as preparation for composition.
Ethnomusicology
Main article: Ethnomusicology

In the West, much of the history of music that is taught deals with the Western civilization's art music. The history of music in other cultures ("world music" or the field of "ethnomusicology") is also taught in Western universities. This includes the documented classical traditions of Asian countries outside the influence of Western Europe, as well as the folk or indigenous music of various other cultures. Popular styles of music varied widely from culture to culture, and from period to period. Different cultures emphasised different instruments, or techniques, or uses for music. Music has been used not only for entertainment, for ceremonies, and for practical and artistic communication, but also for propaganda in totalitarian countries.

There is a host of music classifications, many of which are caught up in the argument over the definition of music. Among the largest of these is the division between classical music (or "art" music), and popular music (or commercial music - including rock and roll, country music, and pop music). Some genres do not fit neatly into one of these "big two" classifications, (such as folk music, world music, or jazz music).

As world cultures have come into greater contact, their indigenous musical styles have often merged into new styles. For example, the United States bluegrass style contains elements from Anglo-Irish, Scottish, Irish, German and African instrumental and vocal traditions, which were able to fuse in the United States' multi-ethnic society. Genres of music are determined as much by tradition and presentation as by the actual music. Some works, like George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, are claimed by both jazz and classical music, while Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story are claimed by both opera and the Broadway musical tradition. Many current music festivals celebrate a particular musical genre.

Indian music, for example, is one of the oldest and longest living types of music, and is still widely heard and performed in South Asia, as well as internationally (especially since the 1960s). Indian music has mainly three forms of classical music, Hindustani, Carnatic, and Dhrupad styles. It has also a large repertoire of styles, which involve only percussion music such as the talavadya performances famous in South India.
Music therapy
Main article: Music therapy

Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which the therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health. In some instances, the client's needs are addressed directly through music; in others they are addressed through the relationships that develop between the client and therapist. Music therapy is used with individuals of all ages and with a variety of conditions, including: psychiatric disorders, medical problems, physical handicaps, sensory impairments, developmental disabilities, substance abuse, communication disorders, interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to: improve learning, build self-esteem, reduce stress, support physical exercise, and facilitate a host of other health-related activities.

One of the earliest mentions of Music Therapy was in Al-Farabi's (c. 872 - 950) treatise Meanings of the Intellect which described the therapeutic effects of music on the soul.[26] Music has long been used to help people deal with their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy argued that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.[27] He noted that music has an "excellent power ...to expel many other diseases" and he called it "a sovereign remedy against despair and melancholy". He pointed out that in Antiquity, Canus, a Rhodian fiddler, used music to "make a melancholy man merry, ...a lover more enamoured, a religious man more devout." [28][29][30] In November 2006, Dr. Michael J. Crawford[31] and his colleagues also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.[32] In the Ottoman Empire, mental illnesses were treated with music.[33]