Research FOR my Major Project

 Music and its genres

Taking into account that my Major Project will be about music and its genres, it goes without saying that it is important to do research about the different genres that I am going to use to inspire my digital drawings.

In music we can distinguish different categories based on various musical elements such as the use of specific instruments. For example, if the piece was being played in a certain style using orchestral instruments, then we could classify it as classical music. Similarly, if the instruments were highly distorted guitars, we would classify as rock or heavy metal. However, the instruments that are used are not enough to distinguish the genres, timing is also important. For instance, blues music uses a series of patterns and is played by a traditional live band using guitars and a drum kit. In addition, drums and bass use very fast beats per minute and are primarily electronic.

Therefore, I felt like it was important to know differences between each genre that I chose: Classical, soul, pop and Tecno.

Classical Music

Many believe that classical music was the one composed between 1750 and 1820. This period includes the work of composers as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and only a part of Ludwig van Beethoven's work. It doesn't include Johann Sebastian Bach, Claude Debussy and Piotr Tchaikovsky, though you associate all of them to classical music. However this refers to the "classical period" not the "classical music. According to the Collins Dictionary, classical music is any style of music based on long-established principles of composition and polyphony and marked by stability of form, intellectualism, and restraint.

Nocturne op.9 nº2 - Chopin

Soul Music

Soul Music has its origin in the African American community throughout the United States from the 1950’s to 1960’s and 1970’s. Is defined by searing vocal intensity, use of church-rooted call-and-response and extravagant melisma. Some think of soul as a new term for rhythm and blues, but it has also elements of gospel music and jazz.

The genre was made to express the social and political issues that were being ignored by the masses. For example, Marvin Gaye’s “Inner city blues" was a call to fix the problems of inner-city life.Aretha Franklin’s song “Respect” was used as an anthem for the women’s rights movement. Since this type of music is very emotional and has a good rythm it helped to inspire people and motivating in order to have a better society and sense of community.

I'll come running back to you - Sam Cooke

Pop music

Popular music is defined as any non-folk form that is commercially oriented and that is intended to be acquire mass popularity and be appreciated by a wide audience. Pop music is a genre of popular music that was originated during the mid 1950s in the United States of America and the United Kingdom. Pop song has about three minutes of lenght and it is generally marked by a consistent rythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure.

The term "pop music" was increasingly used as opponent of rock music from about 1967, which gave a generic significance to both of the terms. According to the musicologist Simon Frith, pop music is "not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward [...] and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative". It is, "provided from on high (by record companies, radio programmers, and concert promoters) rather than being made from below ... Pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged".

California Gurls - Katty Perry 

Rock music

Rock, also known as rock and roll, rock & roll, or rock ’n’ roll was originated in the United States in the 1950's. By the end of the 20th Century, Rock was the dominant form of popular music. It is very difficult to define what rock is, the Collins Cobuild English Dictionary suggests that “rock is a kind of music with simple tunes and a very strong beat that is played and sung, usually loudly, by a small group of people with electric guitars and drums”. However there are many exceptions to this definition.

The defining term in rock'sideology is: authenticity - the authentic expression of a performer’s feelings and the authentic representation of a social situation - which highly contrasts with the terms that define pop music - commercial, ephemeral and accessible.

My demons - Startset

This research was important to help me understand the differences between each genre and also the similarities. Since there is many variations of these genres I chose some songs to help me visualize the landscapes that I am going to do. I carefully chose these musics so that I can represent the song but specially the genre itself, even though it might be eclectic as the case of the rock or have different variations as the case of the soul.

Reference:

Britannica, Soul music [online], Available from: https://www.britannica.com/art/soul-music

Britannica, Popular music[online] Available from: https://www.britannica.com/art/popular-music

Wikipedia, Pop music [online] Available from:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music

Britannica, Rock [online] Available from:

Classicalmpr, What is classical music[online] Available from:

https://www.classicalmpr.org/story/2013/10/15/what-is-classical-music

Collins, Classical music[online] Available from: 

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/classical-music