Beating up the classics: aspects of a compact discourse

Popular Music ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Symes
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
Recording Industry ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
Mechanical Reproduction ◽  
Extensive Analysis ◽  
The World ◽  
Integral Element

Although much has been written about the changes wrought to art in the age of mechanical reproduction, these same changes as they have impacted on music through the phenomenon of the phonograph have not received equivalent attention or, if they have, then their discussion has been restricted to particular sectors of the music industry. This failure to address an important facet of contemporary music practice derives from a continuing tendency to abstract musical questions from their context and to obscure the material contributions that technology makes to such practice (Shepherd 1977, 1991; Scott 1990). With some musics this is more apparent than others. For instance, while there has been an extensive analysis of the degree to which the recording industry has influenced and been an integral element in the development of popular music, there has not been an equivalent analysis of its influence on classical music. This is because in the case of the former the links between the two have been somewhat more dramatic. The recording industry, particularly through its links with radio and television stations, has in large measure facilitated the spread of popular music across the world as a dominant element of a globalised culture, as one of its master codes.

French classical music and Brazil: Beyond Franco-German rivalry

2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 349-356
Author(s):  
Marcos Câmara de Castro
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Belle Epoque ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Belle Époque ◽  
Cultural Choices

One of the consequences of any colonisation is the emergence in the colonies of a dominant consular class, one of whose characteristics is cultural snobbery. This snobbery is manifested mainly in cultural choices that ignore local music or include it in an ensemble of strategies to participate in an alleged metropolitan cultural universalism. In Brazil, Villa-Lobos, the Batutas orchestra or the dancer known as Duque, who all enchanted France during the belle époque and who still arouse interest all over the world, were only the tip of an iceberg of popular music. This paper aims to demonstrate how the music and writings of Debussy and Ravel can be helpful in establishing the construction of a true history of classical music in Brazil, beyond the historical Franco-German rivalry.

A contemporary cultural policy for contemporary music?

2016 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shane Homan
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Cultural Policy ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Contemporary Music ◽  
National Policy ◽  
Cultural Nationalism ◽  
Cultural Economy ◽  
Policy Documents ◽  
Cultural Sector

Creative Nation confirmed the shift by federal governments to viewing popular music as part of the Australian cultural economy, where the ‘contemporary music’ industries were expected to contribute to economic growth as much as providing a set of creative practices for musicians and audiences. In the 19 years between Creative Nation and Creative Australia, much has changed. This article examines relationships between the music industries, governments and audiences in three areas. First, it charts the funding of popular music within the broader cultural sector to illuminate the competing discourses and demands of the popular and classical music sectors in federal budgets. Second, it traces configurations of popular music and national identity as part of national policy. Third, the article explores how both national policy documents position Australian popular music amid global technological and regulatory shifts. As instruments of cultural nationalism, Creative Nation and Creative Australia are useful texts in assessing the opportunities and limits of nations in asserting coherent national strategies.

Notation and identity in contemporary popular music

Popular Music ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Stith Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
Long Term Changes ◽  
Western European ◽  
Rock N Roll

Popular music, like all manifestations of popular culture, lives on in spite of recurring criticisms that cast it as somehow inauthentic. In fact, defences against this discounting are built into popular music (for example, the Rolling Stones' classic: ‘It's only rock 'n' roll but I like it’) and built in, as well, to the identities of those who make the music a part of their lives, be they players, producers, consumers or critics. On the other hand, so-called classical music, not unlike other manifestations of Western European art culture, lives on in spite of popular music and provides the touchstone of authenticity that creates the defensive popular response. The ideas I am advancing here are intended to allow the players in this authenticity contest to be recognised as evidence of unique historical circumstances: recognised, that is, not only as stock dramatists of ethnocentrism, but as indicators of long-term changes in music cultures in all parts of the world.

Learning Old Music in a New Age of Digital Reproduction

2020 ◽  
pp. 311-324
Author(s):  
Robert O. Gjerdingen
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
New Age ◽  
Good Alternative ◽  
Recent Immigrants ◽  
The World ◽  
Digital Reproduction ◽  
Rich History

There are over four hundred genres of popular music known in North America, and many more if one includes the favourite musics of recent immigrants. Which of these should be singled out and taught to children? There is no good answer to that question. Classical European music is a good alternative, one that has a rich history and is known, at least a little, all over the world. But instead of teaching children just to reproduce what is written on a page of music, why don’t we teach them to make classical music—to improvise and compose it. The rediscovery of the lessons from the old conservatories shows us how improvisation and composition can be taught to ordinary children, leading to extraordinary results.

Reflecting surfaces: the use of elements from Indian music in popular music and jazz

Popular Music ◽  
1988 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerry Farrell
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Classical Music ◽  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
North India ◽  
Western Music ◽  
Pop Music ◽  
The World ◽  
The Sixties ◽  
Indian Music ◽  
Reflecting Surfaces

In this article I explore the manner in which elements from a non-Western music appear in pop music and jazz. The music under discussion is that of the Indian subcontinent and the classical music of North India in particular. The essay covers references to Indian music in pop, rock and jazz from the sixties to the present day but concentrates mainly on the sixties and seventies, and, in the world of pop, on the music of the Beatles. The influence of orientalism on Western music is not a recent phenomena, as Reck (1985) notes, but its appearance in pop during the sixties meant that it reached a larger audience than ever before.

scholarly journals Rendering the Popular as "Tradition": The Music of Virgilio "Pirot" Petcheller and the Panay Bukidnon Banda Music Practice in Panay Island, Philippines

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 65-81
Author(s):  
Jose Jr Rabara Taton
Keyword(s):  
Popular Music ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Musical Aesthetics ◽  
Recording Industry ◽  
Broadcast Media ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
Construction Of Identity ◽  
The One

In recent years, the popular music of Virgilio “Pirot” Petcheller had been included in the banda (ensemble) musical repertoire, practice and identity of several indigenous cultural communities in Panay Island located in Western Visayas, Philippines. Pirot’s music, particularly renderings of folk music genres, such as harana (serenade) and komposo (ballad), had been in mainstream broadcast media and were widely produced by the recording industry in the 1970s. Because of the parallels between his music and West Visayan folk practice, folk musicians categorically ascribe and recognise his music as dinuma-an (tradition and traditional) to refer to a standard folk canon with an associated pastoral imagery. Later, Pirot’s music had become emblematic of a regional folk, cultural and/or ethnic identity. This paper investigates the problematic fluidity of boundaries between traditional and popular music categories and its implications in the construction of identity in the Western Visayan context. I examine, on the one hand, how the popular music of Pirot are rendered as “tradition” notably through a discussion on musical aesthetics, lyricism and imagery and the complex socio-cultural and historical context musicians occupy. On the other hand, this paper also proffers a discussion on how this rendering or “traditionalisation” plays a role in the construction of identity among the Panay Bukidnon banda musicians. On this, I recognise the central role of cultural praxis and individual agency in the process and argue that musical categories, particularly the notion of ‘tradition’ and ‘traditional’, are self-conscious devices defined by, and are constitutive of practice.

Experiment role in the world music (based on the «The Road» album of the Ukrainian «Dakha Brakha» band)

2018 ◽  
pp. 215-227
Author(s):  
Iia Fedorova
Keyword(s):  
Folk Music ◽  
World Music ◽  
The Other ◽  
Modern Music ◽  
Musical Practice ◽  
The Road ◽  
Music Practice ◽  
The World ◽  
Binary Oppositions ◽  
Musical Practices

The main objective of this study is the substantiation of experiment as one of the key features of the world music in Ukraine. Based on the creative works of the brightest world music representatives in Ukraine, «Dakha Brakha» band, the experiment is regarded as a kind of creative setting. Methodology and scientific approaches. The methodology was based on the music practice theory by T. Cherednychenko. The author distinguishes four binary oppositions, which can describe the musical practice. According to one of these oppositions («observance of the canon or violation of the canon»), the musical practices, to which the Ukrainian musicology usually classifies the world music («folk music» and «minstrel music»), are compared with the creative work of «Dakha Brakha» band. Study findings. A lack of the setting to experiment in the musical practices of the «folk music» and «minstrel music» separates the world music musical practice from them. Therefore, the world music is a separate type of musical practice in which the experiment is crucial. The study analyzed several scientific articles of Ukrainian musicologists on the world music; examined the history of the Ukrainian «Dakha Brakha» band; presented a list of the folk songs used in the fifth album «The Road» by «Dakha Brakha» band; and showed the degree of the source transformation by musicians based on the example of the «Monk» song. The study findings can be used to form a comprehensive understanding of the world music musical practice. The further studies may be related to clarification of the other parameters of the world music musical practice, and to determination of the experiment role in creative works of the other world music representatives, both Ukrainian and foreign. The practical study value is the ability to use its key provisions in the course of modern music in higher artistic schools of Ukraine. Originality / value. So far, the Ukrainian musicology did not consider the experiment role as the key one in the world music.

Reports From the Field: Confessions of a Facebook Punk, or How Not to Do Social Media

2020 ◽  
pp. 235-244
Author(s):  
Gareth Dylan Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Popular Music ◽  
Purpose In Life ◽  
Sociology Of Music ◽  
Working Through ◽  
The World

The author is rarely certain of his purpose in life—a condition that is heightened by a busy yet reluctant level of engagement with social media. The author utilizes Facebook and Twitter to promote activity around popular music education and sociology of music education. There is considerable overlap in the author’s life between professional and personal domains, which seems amplified by social media. Facebook and Twitter provide less formal, more direct means to engage with the world than traditional modes of peer-reviewed communication among academic colleagues. Social media provide a platform for working through ideas and for addressing problems with urgency and immediacy. As such, and despite some messiness and increased levels of vulnerability and risk, the author encourages peers to engage with social media’s immediate and powerful, punk pedagogical potential.

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