This is the 21st century, and we are evolving every day. We are carrying every old activity and presenting them with the blend of the present era. Here we will talk about Music, yes the only thing that can play a vital role, acting as a mood controller or enhancer for every individual, across the whole world.
Music is simply a set of vibrations and their combination. Scientifically, music is considered to be the appropriate dopamine hormone enhancer. And this hormone plays an important role in controlling behavioral, cognitive and emotional functioning. The combinations of sound from vibrations have enough power to actually swing our moods from happiness, sadness, anger, excitement, and many or all other sentiments. And the same sentiment or feeling is also maintained in every particular musical piece. The origin of such sound was primarily analyzed from bird callings, horse trampling, cricket chirpings, footsteps, train wheels, horns, and other such natural influences.
Music is like all other subjects and possesses various chapters, which are also called to be the music of different eras. The root of all music is our only existing 12 variants of the frequency. Often people mistake music by 7 primary notes, whereas actually there are 12 prominent notes and innumerable micro notes.
Aryabhatta is commonly known as the man who has introduced new forms of mathematics and laid his mind in the science of astronomy. Whereas, he is the same theorist who has invented the musical frequency range by 16.35 Hz to 7902.13 Hz and 440 Hz being calculated as the standard music frequency.
We consider the 7 primary notes as Do – Re – Mi – Fa – So – La – Ti – Do. There are many songs across the globe made out of these notes. Many sole instrumental pieces of music as well. All these pieces vary from one another by their distinctive essence of note combination. Guido D’Arezzo was a Medieval Era music theorist, and he is the one who has introduced staff notation. Also, the above mentioned mnemonic system was invented by this brilliant theorist only. So Guido plays an important role in the theoretical study of music. This study is actually the backbone of this fast-spreading music education in every corner of the world.
The Components of Music:
Notes: The individual sound of each vibration is considered as one-note.
Scales: The fixed passage of notes beginning and ending with the same note, to introduce variety in sentiments of musical calling, is called scale.
Modes: There are 7 modes in western music namely Ionian, Dorian, Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, Aeolian, and Locrian. Whereas, in Indian music, there are plenty of modes and they are called “Raaga”.
Arpeggios: When notes are played in a chosen pattern, rapidly, it is called Arpeggio. This is often used as an introduction, interlude, or backing part of any track.
Rhythms: Rhythm is a primary component in music. Without rhythm the whole concept of steady music is unavailable. From every corner of the world, different kind of rhythms has been introduced namely, Rock, Pop, Soul, Shuffle, Bossa Nova, Country, Reggae, Calypso, and many more by the time.
Tunes: Using a variety of notes, combinations of scales, implementation of modes, tricks of arpeggio and power of the rhythm makes a tune. A tune is an ultimate outcome, the reason why we learn and execute music.
Different Genres of Music:
Western Classical Music
People like Mozart from the 18th Century, L.V. Beethoven and Chopin from the 19th Century, are all the masterpieces of the subject – Music. They have composed a variety of beautiful orchestra music that has kept on enthralling the listeners all across the globe. The genre of music these maestros have brought to us is called Western Classical Music.
This type of music is taught and also preached in various Academic and Art specified Institutes. And these days boards like Trinity College London, London College of Music, Victoria College of Music & Drama and some others are very actively spreading this knowledge of music in the procedure that any layman can follow to become a well-versed musician, with the freedom to choose their preferred subjects.
Blues:
Robert Johnson from the 20th Century is a renowned Blues Singer-Songwriter Guitarist, followed by:
- Muddy Waters as a singer-songwriter-guitarist
- B.B. King as a singer-songwriter-guitarist
- John Lee Hooker as a singer-songwriter-guitarist
- Etta James as a singer
- Sonny Boy Williamson II as a singer-songwriter harmonica player
- T-Bone Walker as a singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist which includes guitar, banjo, ukulele, mandolin, violin, and piano
- Little Walter as a singer-songwriter and harmonica player
- Freddie King as a singer-songwriter
And some others have really taken the Blues to another dimension with the increasing craze for this particular type of music over various other genres. And that too across the world.
Blues is an all American folk music stream, also, technically the basic of Jazz music genre. It primarily revolves around the 1st, 4th and 5th degrees of the musical arrangements. With time and evolution, a lot of variants to this progression was brought in use. In the later part of the 20th Century, musicians like Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, John Mayer, et. al. have blended their respective styles and influences in this vastly accepted genre called Blues. And overall this style of music is a must-learn and play, as it is easy to play yet difficult to present.
[Western music also includes genres like Rhythm & Blues, Jazz, Rock, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Pop, Country, Hip Hop, and some others.]
Rhythm & Blues
Great stars like Bo Diddly, Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder have composed songs with a slighter different approach than Blues. They kept the impact of Rhythm in the backbeat on 3rd count. This combination of Blues music and stunning rhythm variation cheered many hearts in America and other corners of the world.
Jazz
This genre is considered to be the most difficult genre to study and execute. Whereas this genre is a later version of our very popular Blues style, it is said that there is hundred percent scope to improvise in this style, with the varied combinations of scales, modes, and selection of notes. Popular artists like Luis Daniel Armstrong and Miles Davis has introduced the instrument Trumpet in this genre as a solo powerhouse and gave us many hits in their time. Composers like Charlie Parker and John Coltrane has taken their saxophone to express their musical deliveries, by the hands of Jazz style. Buddy Rich, Art BLacky, Tony Williams are the pillars of jazz drumming, and they are true maestros formed under the Jazz music. Billy Holiday, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and others like them have given their voice to enrich the Jazz music genre and created various tracks that are evergreen.
Rock
This is the most vastly spread genre of music, where most of the musicians have shown their singing talent with varieties of skilled instrument players. Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, The Who, David Bowie, Guns n’ Roses, and many other eminent musicians ruled the later part of the 20th century with their rock influence.
Flamenco
By the time western music was spreading like fire in the forest through every means of communication and advertisement, the root of the middle eastern gypsy music was wandering around Andalusian – in a part of Spain, Indian and Romany culture. This musical genre we are talking about is the Flamenco. The essence of this style is very graceful and powerful and often presented with guitar, vocal, kajon, and a group of solo dancers.
Andalusia is also known for the origin where Spanish guitars are made, and thus flamenco music revolves around the taste of precise guitar playing. Among the flamenco Guitar players Paco De Lucia, Carlos Montoya, Al De Miola, Paco Pena and some others made the house of Flamenco music brighter than ever before. The ornamentation of this genre sounds amazingly sweet and soothing with the accompaniment of flutes. Though, this style of music is not very commonly known, true music enthusiasts keep their vocabulary filled with Flamenco.
Arabian Music
Before coming to the Eastern taste of music, let us conclude the Middle Eastern vocabulary of music with the most enchanting combination of music, Arabian music. The sound based on the harmonic minor and melodic minor is the heart of the MiddleEastern music world. Umm Kuthlum, Amr Diab, Elissa, Abdel Halim Hafez, and some others have given all their skills to make this style of music prominent among the global charts.
Indian Classical Music
Now, we will talk about the most diverse style of music that is Indian Classical music, which has endless variant just like the country itself. Indian music has many layers and innumerable modes, making it so different and unique. Follower or performer of Indian Classical music is found in every part of the world.
Eminent musicians have practiced this form of music and presented the Indian root music around the world.
- Pandit Ravi Shankar is the maestro in his instrument that is Sitar and he is especially renowned for the commercial appreciation he has acquired by his initiative of orchestral presentation.
- Zakir Hussain has sprayed his bit of Tabla playing among the heart of all music lovers following the pathway of his father, Ustad Allah Rakha.
- Ali Akbar Khan is the pioneer of Sarod playing, his beautiful expressions are unavoidable and keep ringing in your ear even after the concerts are over.
- Amjad Ali Khan is also another renowned Sarod player.
- Pandit Bhimsen Joshi has mastered the art of singing for a long to represent the Indian classical music with his powerful, rangeless vocal.
- Shivkumar Sharma is the legend in his instrument, which is also not so common among musicians, Santoor. Shivkumar has accompanied almost all the legendary musicians in this genre of Indian classical music.
Folk Music
Another musical hemisphere revolves around all regional or traditional sound, which is termed as Folk Music. This style of music is mostly enhanced with casual experiments, like rhythm and notes, and their presentation. The following are some of the many folk genres that emerged from different origins.
- Bluegrass is an Irish Folk genre which is most commonly presented with Vocal, Banjo, Accordion and Percussion.
- Reggae is a Jamaican Folk genre which is performed with electronic keyboards, horn sections, acoustic drums and percussion, along with the vocals.
- Soukous is a Congo Basin Folk dance music, which keeps its uniqueness in the rapid melodious playing, that leaves no listener in the ground.
- Bihu is an Assamese Folk dance music that is very well renowned all around the country in India.
- Baul is the Folk delicacy of the Bengali culture, which is as sweet as the Bengali Rosogolla.
Fusion Music
Last but not least, all sorts of music genres are tactically blended to compose new aura in the listeners’ ears – we call it the Fusion genre of Music. It is well spread by legendary guitar players such as Pat Methany, John McLaughlin, and trumpet stars like that of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie et. al.
Mahavishnu Orchestra is also a major part of this genre, with a line up of John McLaughlin on guitars, Jean-Luc Ponty on violins, Billy Cobham on drums, Jan Hammer on the keyboard, Gayle Moran on the keyboard, Rick Liard on bass, Danny Gottlieb on drums. They were a group of fine musicians.
Frank Zappa, Herbie Hancock, Carlos Santana, Marcus Miller, Jaco Pastorius, Jeff Beck, and many more contributed their piece of fusion to this beautiful world of music.
India had also produced a group of marvellous musicians, named Shakti. In this fusion house resided legendary Zakir Hussain on tabla, maestro John McLaughlin on guitars, Lakshminarayana Shankar on his firing violin, Ramnath Raghavan on the Mrindangam, Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram on Ghatam, Uppalapu Srinivas on mandolin, along with Shankar Mahadevan on vocals – it was the biggest fusion group ever.
Each and every kind of music has an equal contribution to our day-to-day activities and real-life experiences. Be it a wedding, heartbreak, romance, confusion, dilemma, stress or anxiety, music has always been a way out to pass all our mood.
The ultimate release is in these vibrations. Do acknowledge all sorts of music to find your soulful choice. Music is a mood enhancer, songs that are made based on any music, enhances your knowledge and view points. So, music is a very useful component of human life. Music exists in nature itself, so no one is barred to be a part of it. Come together to listen, compose, and cheer your life with Music.
