Music
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Music is a sometimes-pleasant, organized series of sounds.
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[edit] Elements of music
There are a few principal elements usually, but not always, used in creating music:
- Rhythm consists of making the sounds in such a way that they emphasize a (usually fairly short) interval of time. Some music consists of nothing more than rhythmic elements.
- Melody is achieved through the use of (usually different) tones played over a period of time.
- Harmony is the use of two or more tones played at the same time.
- Silence can be just as important as sound in music — in fact, John Cage famously wrote 4'33", which is composed entirely of "rests", or silence[1]. Beethoven famously used "space" in some of his compositions.
- Language: Some forms of music include sometimes-poetic words, which are called "lyrics".
- Texture: Generally speaking, texture is the way the music "feels" based on the number and character of instruments (including the human voice) used in a piece. As a rudimentary example, a version of a work played on an acoustic guitar will have a different texture than the same piece played on, say, a piano.
[edit] Genres of music
Music is broadly and finely referred to by genre and sub-genre. While the major divisions are moderately clear, the subdivisions can result in virtually every piece ever composed or performed being its own sub-sub-sub-sub-genre. Keeping that in mind, and also that various forms of music often "borrow" elements and styles from each other, usually Western music is divided into:
- Classical
- Jazz
- Blues
- Folk
- Pop
- Shit your parents hate
[edit] Abuse of music as torture
Music, that is hopefully offensive to the victims and usually played very loudly, has been used as an assault technique (see Waco), and as an "enhanced interrogation technique" (see Guantanamo Bay).
Playing loud music in one's room to piss off one's parents is not quite in this category.
After the U.S. invasion of Panama, the target of the invasion, strongman Manuel Noriega, sought asylum in the Vatican diplomatic mission represented by Monsignor Jose S. Laboa. To induce Noriega's surrender, U.S. forces played loud music outside the embassy. [2]
[edit] Music in politics
[edit] Censorship
In the 1980's in the United States, the PMRC was formed to attempt a labeling system so parents could ascertain whether or not the music their children were listening to was age-appropriate (or at least free of nasty words).
Frank Zappa, the founder and leader of the rock band Mothers of Invention, testified against censorship of music at a hearing before the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, United States Senate, on September 19, 1985. Zappa said, "While the wife of the Secretary of the Treasury recites "Gonna drive my love inside you" and Senator Gore's wife talks about "Bondage!" and "oral sex at gunpoint" on the CBS Evening News, people in high places work on a tax bill that is so ridiculous, the only way to sneak it through is to keep the public's mind on something else: 'Porn rock'...The establishment of a rating system, voluntary or otherwise, opens the door to an endless parade of Moral Quality Control Programs based on "Things Certain Christians Don't Like". What if the next bunch of Washington Wives demands a large yellow "J" on all material written or performed by Jews, in order to save helpless children from exposure to concealed Zionist doctrine?" [3]
Much as with having one's movie "R"-rated, the warning labels rapidly became less a warning than a sought-after imprimatur of being "edgy", or at least swearing a lot.
Many pieces of popular music exist in two versions - one, as the "artist" intended, usually on what used to be called the "LP" or "album", and a second, sanitized version intended for radio airplay. The classic example of this was Steve Miller Band's Jet Airliner, where the "nasty" version said "funky shit goin' down in the city", while the radio market single was dubbed to say "funky kicks goin' down in the city".
In modern times, it is often the case that a large retailer like Wal*Mart will only stock the "sanitized" version of a CD (or DVD).
[edit] Activism
Since ancient times, and most recently with the explosion of "socially conscious" folk and rock in the 1960s and similarly-themed rap and hip hop in the 1980s, people have used (usually with their lyrics) music to protest the current political order, or some specific issue. Whether the revolution was ever achieved is not known for sure, however, one thing we do know is that it will not be televised!
Beethoven famously renamed a symphony when Napoleon pissed him off by declaring himself emperor.
[edit] Music as an underground communication channel
Underclasses have often made use of music and carefully "coded" lyrics to maintain solidarity against their oppressors. A prime example would be the development of Gospel during the slave-era United States.
Other, less obvious examples are the use of sly lyrical references to "obscene" acts that get past the censors of the day ("One eyed jack peeping in a seafood store" comes to mind, as does "What do you see when you turn out the light/I can't tell you but I know it's mine").
