h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

3 Hours Ago

Classical music, or what has more recently been termed "Western Art Music" (as a reaction against the
common term for it in order to clarify it's role in society) differs from folk, or "pop" music principally in the
degree of control the composer has over the work. While this can lead to considerable confusion, particularily
if you consider some post-minimalist graphic scores based on improvisation, there is despite this a clear
boundary between "pop" and "classical" music which many, such as the violinist [find] have tried
unsuccessfully to transcend. While material it seems can travel freely between the two, whether it is a
classical or pop piece is largely dependant on the piece's social status. In a sense then, the very definition
"classical music" is more a state of mind.

The history of Western Art Music can be described as a slow process of completely removing the boundaries
set up in medieval europe. People often describe it in periods. There is only one set boundary though, and it
must be stressed that music, in parrallel with all other art forms, was and is still now in a constant process of
gradual change.

The Origins (before 1600ish)

The earliest records of western music speak of a priest, [find name]. His idea was to direct the inflections of
religious chant. He would bang his staff on the floor to indicate when to say syllables and the fingers on his
hand to indicate which pitch to sing. The five fingers were used as a basis for what is now the common
notational system, Although as a contrast, the notation for the lute used 10 ledger lines to denote 10 strings,
and the notes themselves indicated by a fret mark. Music was typically modal at the time, and was notated
with "inflections" instead of accidentals - simple indications to sing a little flater or sharper than usual.

The Reinaissance

Very few works remain of the Reinaissance composers. The most interesting of those we have are Machaut,
[find names]

Hmmm.. do I sense an upcoming entry here?

Personally I prefer classical music rather than 'modern' - maybe because it's mostly quite logical - you can almost hum the melody ahead of the record you're listening to, because what comes next makes sense, so to speak..

Kristina, I find your view highly questionable, however as it is likely that you know next to nothing about modern music, I shall give you a chance to at least understand my viewpoint on the topic.
Firstly, yes, I am writing a entry to replace the arrogant, ill-informed and somewhat undetailed entry that is "A brief history of western music".
As to modern music. I think you'll find that it is quite the opposite. The main reason one can "hum along" to "Classical" (if that is what you would like to call everything before the modern "era") is that we have been culturally brainwashed to do so. Most of it, especially that which may be played by such stations as 'classic FM' is based round the simple tonic-dominant relationships, and so limited to a finite number of fairly logical chord progressions based on the nature of partials, or harmonics. We grow up expecting such progressions, as for one the most simple are present in "pop" music. Hearing such progressions and cadences over and over again logically has it's effect.
When you boil "classical" music down though, it is based on tension and resolve, which in turn is based on consonance and dissonance. a "consonant" interval is one such as a major third (e.g. from C to E), a perfect fourth (e.g. from C to F), a perfect fifth (e.g. from C to G) and an octave. these are based on the nature and promenance of partials, which are naturally ocuring constituents of any given naturaly produced note. a dissonant interval is basically anything else. When you hvae a dissonant interval, say a minor 7th (e.g. C to Bflat) "tension" is created, as the dissonant note will want to gravitate to a more consonant one (I say dissonant note - that's assuming that you have a tonal center - a central pitch around which all things want to reslove - in this case the note "C"). A is more consonant than Bflat so the music is forced down. This is basically how most classical music works.
Now. Modern music. There are various strains of modern music, and I shall assume that you mean serialism, or for that matter, atonality. At the cusp of the romantic era, Wagner wrote an opera called "Tristan and Isolde" in the prelude of which occured a certain chord we call the "Tristan chord" - the point of the chord was that it is dissonant and it resolves onto exactly the same chord. Hence we are in a state of constant tension and the chord never resolves. Therefore arguably there is no central pitch on which to resolve (this is not true in fact, however Wagner did manage to retain a state of constant tension). Then camse Schoenberg, who in his book "Harmonielehrer" he teaches how you can write pieces using ever chord in the scale once, and that this abollishes the need for a tonal center. From that he boiled it down to his "12 note row" - so long as ever note in the octave was used exactly the same amount of times, the piece would be "atonal". The interesting thing about atonality is that as there is no central pitch onto which everything resolves, one can no longer call any note specifically dissonant. Harmonically they are detached. Therefore dissonance is "ruled out" - it takes a back seat.
From there the logical progression was to apply the same technique to dynamics, rhythm etc. and out came the serial technique.
As you see it's all perfectly logical. It all ended though in 1960ish when total serilism came to a head. Now post modernists deal with the implications of the serial technique based on a tonal center, however we are still no longer tonal. You have to really listen to like modern music - not be afraid of something which in the wrong context sounds dissonant. Break out of your cultural brainwashing!

Edd