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A brief history of western music defined

Many of you may have seen the cdza video “An Abridged History of Western Music in 16 Genres | cdza Opus No. 7” (below) that went viral this summer. (cdza, founded by Joe Sabia, Michael Thurber, and Matt McCorkle, create musical video experiments.) To complement this lively celebration of the history of western music, from ragtime to reggae and baroque to bluegrass, we thought about how we can put this music into words. Here’s a quick list of definitions, drawn from the latest edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Music, to help lead you through each genre.

Gregorian chant: Solo and unison plainsong choral chants associated with Pope Gregory I which became the fundamental music of the Roman Catholic Church.

Baroque: [Fr.] Bizarre. Term applied to the ornate architecture of German and Austria during the 17th and 18th centuries and borrowed to describe comparable music developments from about 1600 to the deaths of Bach and Handel in mid-18th century.

Classical: Music composition roughly between 1750 and 1830 (i.e. post-Baroque and pre-Romantic), which covers the development of the classical symphony and concerto; music of an orderly nature, with qualities of clarity and balance, and emphasising formal beauty rather than emotional expression.

March: (marche [Fr.], Marsch [Ger.], Marcia [It.]) Form of music to accompany the orderly progress of large group of people, especially soldiers; one of earliest known music forms.

Ragtime: Early precursor of jazz. Instrumental style, highly syncopated, with the piano forte predominant (though a few rags had words and were sung). Among the leading exponents of the piano forte rag were Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, and J. P. Johnson, with the cornettists Buddy Bolden and King Oliver.

Jazz: A term, which came into general use circa 1913–15, for a type of music that developed in the Southern States of USA in the late 19th century and came into prominence at the turn of the century in New Orleans, chiefly (but not exclusively) among black musicians.

Soul: Genre of African-American popular music. Soul music combines the emotive, embellished singing style of gospel with the rhythmic drive of rhythm and blues.

Blues: Slow jazz song of lamentation, generally for an unhappy love affair. Usually in groups of 12 bars, each stanza being three lines covering four bars of music.

Motown: American record label, founded in 1960. Name derives from its home town of Detroit (‘the motor town’). A blend of African-American pop and soul, combining dense arrangements (often featuring brass or string), emotionally direct lyrics, and songs based on prominent hooks or grooves, epitomized by such artists as the Four Tops, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder.

Reggae: Style of Jamaican popular music; also used generically for all popular music of that country. Originated in combination of calypso, ska, and rhythm and blues. Its characteristic rhythm, a 4/4 shuffle with accented offbeats derived from ska, was codified in recordings of the late 1960s.

Bluegrass: Genre of country music that originated in rural south eastern USA in 1940s as combination of dance, entertainment, and religious folk music. Name comes from Bill Monroe’s ‘Blue Grass Boys’ group who pioneered the genre.

Disco: Genre of dance music especially popular in the late 1970s. It is generally characterized by soulful vocals, Latin percussion instruments, rich orchestra, frequent use of synthesizers, and bass drum accents on every beat.

Punk: Genre of popular music and wider cultural movement with which it was associated. Originated in America around 1975 with bands such as the Ramones and Television, who looked to the simplicity of 1960s garage rock to restore spirit of rebellion and a DIY spirit to rock and roll.

Heavy metal: Genre of rock music. First applied to style of rock featuring guitar distortion, heavy bass and drums, and virtuoso solos developed, after Jimi Hendrix, by groups such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin.

Rap: Highly rhythmicized, semi-spoken vocal style originating in African-American music in late 1970s.

House: Genre of electronic dance music. Originated in Chicago clubs in the early 1980s, particularly through DJ and producer Frankie Knuckles, achieving mainstream popularity by the end of that decade.

Dubstep: A form of dance music, typically instrumental, characterized by a sparse, syncopated rhythm and a strong bassline.

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  1. […] If you want a taste of the dictionary’s contents, check out this Brief History of Western Music, from Gregorian chant to House. Share this:FacebookTwitterEmailPrintMoreDiggStumbleUponRedditLike […]

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