MUSIC (All About It)

 MUSIC

What is Music?

According to many definitions, music is the process of combining form, harmony, melody, rhythm, and other expressive elements with sound. [1] [2] [3] Though it is a component of all human communities and a cultural universal, the precise definitions of music differ significantly around the globe[4]. [5] Although experts concur that a few distinct aspects characterize music, there is disagreement about how each element should be described. [6] Although the subject itself crosses over into academic fields, criticism, philosophy, and psychology,[7] the production of music is often split into three categories: musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance. A wide variety of instruments, including the human voice, may be used to play or improvise musical compositions.

A performance or composition may be somewhat improvised in certain musical settings. For instance, in Hindustani classical music, the musician uses recognizable melodies and follows a loosely defined pattern while playing impromptu. In modal jazz, the musicians may alternate between leading and following while exchanging a different set of notes. There may be absolutely no structure in a free jazz setting, with each musician performing at their own discretion. Music may be purposefully written such that it cannot be performed, or it can be electronically combined with numerous other performances. In addition to being heard intentionally as part of the score or soundtrack of a movie, TV program, opera, or video game, music is also performed in both public and private spaces, is the focus of events like festivals, rock concerts, and symphony performances, and is sometimes heard unintentionally. The main purpose of an MP3 player or CD player, as well as a standard feature of radios and smartphones, is to play music.

In social gatherings, religious events, rites of passage, festivals, and cultural activities, music often plays an important part. Songwriters, performers, sound engineers, producers, tour managers, and distributors of musical instruments, gear, and sheet music are all part of the music business. Music critics, music journalists, music experts, and amateurs alike review and critique compositions, performances, and recordings.

Terminology and Etymology

In the 1630s, the term "music" as we know it today first appeared.

1.       The term "(art) of the Muses" is a translation of the Ancient Greek mousiké (techn)—(v), which is where the Latin term comes from.

2.       In ancient Greek mythology, there were nine goddesses known as the Muses who oversaw the humanities and sciences.

3.       It is descended from a lengthy line of consecutive forebears, including the Latin msica, the Old French music, and the mid-13th century Old English "musike."

4.       The oldest Western poets, Homer and Hesiod.

5.       Included them in their stories. Over time, they were connected with music in particular.

6.       Polyhymnia eventually took a more dominant position than the other muses over music.

7.       Other European names, such as the Italian musica, German musik, Dutch muziek, Norwegian musikk, Polish muzyka, and Russian muzka, are likely loanwords from the Latin word musica, which was also the source of the Spanish msica and French musique via spelling and grammatical adaptation.

8.       The word "music" is often used in the contemporary Western world to refer to a wide range of genres, styles, and traditions.

 

9.       Because they lacked terms that precisely suited the Western perspective, languages like contemporary Indonesian (Musik) and Shona (musakazo) recently acquired words that express this universal sense.

10.   Neither Japan nor China in East Asia has a single word that broadly describes the music, yet they often see music in this way in terms of culture.

11.   Yue, which has a character in common with the term le, which means joy, and originally included all the arts until its meaning was condensed, is the closest word in Chinese to the English "music."

12.   Although it is impossible to generalize about all of Africa due to its diversity, musicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia has stressed how closely related dance and speech are to African music.

13.   Some African tribes, including the Tiv people of Nigeria and the Songye people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, have strong and expansive ideas about "music," yet their native tongues lack an equivalent term. Other words that are frequently translated as "music" frequently have more precise cultural connotations. For example, the Hindi word for music, sangita, correctly refers to art music.

14.   while words for music in many Indigenous languages of the Americas often refer specifically to songs but also describe instrumental music.

15.   While khandan refers to vocal and spontaneous music, the Arabic term musiqi may be used to describe all types of music. It is often used to describe instrumental and metric music.

ORIGINS OF MUSIC

There are several conflicting hypotheses that attempt to explain the beginnings of music,

1.      Charles Darwin's 1871 idea, which has since gained a lot of traction, claimed that music emerged as a kind of sexual selection, maybe via mating calls.

2.      It is sometimes disputed to what degree they will ever be understood.

3.      There is debate about whether music evolved before, after, or concurrently with language, despite the fact that many academics emphasize a connection between the origins of music and language.

4.      The question of whether music was an intended outcome of natural selection or an unintended consequence of evolution is a comparable subject of debate.

5.      Although many academics in the 21st century have extended and pushed the idea, Darwin's original viewpoint has received harsh criticism for its contradictions with other sexual selection techniques

6.      Other hypotheses contend that music developed to help with work organization, enhance long-distance communication, facilitate divine communication, promote communal togetherness, or serve as a deterrent against predators.

7.      The sole evidence for prehistoric music comes from paleolithic archeological sites. Flutes, which are often found in bones with lateral holes punched, are believed to have been blown at one end like the Japanese shakuhachi. [Reference required] The age of the Divje Babe flute, a musical instrument carved from a cave bear femur, is estimated to be at least 40,000 years old. However, it is debatable whether the Divje Babe flute is indeed a musical instrument or an animal-made artefact.

8.      The archaeological sites of the Indus Valley civilization have yielded instruments like the seven-holed flute and different kinds of stringed instruments, such as the Ravanahatha.

9.      India has one of the oldest musical traditions in the world; the Vedas, the earliest Hindu writings, have allusions to Indian classical music (marga).

10.  Between 7000 and 6600 BCE, the oldest and greatest collection of ancient musical instruments was discovered in China.

MYTHOLOGY

Music of Egypt and Music of Greece

1.      The Predynastic era has the oldest material and representational evidence of Egyptian musical instruments, but the Old Kingdom, when harps, flutes, and double clarinets were performed, is when this evidence is most solidly established.

2.      The Middle Kingdom introduced lyres, lutes, and percussion instruments to orchestras. As they do in Egypt today, cymbals

3.      Commonly accompanied music and dancing. The traditional Sufi dhikr rituals, which are a part of Egyptian folk music, are the most similar forms of modern music to ancient Egyptian music in terms of characteristics, rhythms, and instruments.

4.      The earliest known notated piece of music is the "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal," which was discovered on clay tablets from about 1400 BCE.

5.      In reality, one of the principal things taught to kids in ancient Greece, music was a significant aspect of social and cultural life. Education in music was thought to be crucial for a person's soul development. Greek theater had a lot of musicians and singers, and those who studied music were regarded as nobility and in perfect harmony (as can be read in the Republic, Plato). Mixed-gender choruses are done for fun, festivities, and religious rituals.

6.      The double-reed aulos and the lyre, specifically a unique kind known as a kithara, are examples of instruments. Boys began learning music at age six, and it was a significant component of their education. Significant musical growth resulted from Greek musical literacy. Greek musical modes, which later served as the foundation for Western classical and liturgical music, were incorporated into Greek music theory. Later, the music of Greece was altered by the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe, and the Byzantine Empire. The Seikilos epitaph is the world's earliest example of a full musical composition that includes musical notation.

7.      Aristoxenus' Harmonika Stoicheia is the first piece of music theory literature still in existence.

ASIAN CULTURES

Music of Asia

The pages on Arabia, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia all cover a large portion of the musical traditions found in Asia. Many of them have long-standing traditions.

 

One of the world's oldest musical traditions in Indian classical music.

 

1.      Indus Valley culture sculptures depict dance

2.      and vintage instruments like the seven-holed flute. Sir Mortimer Wheeler's excavations at Harappa and Mohenjo Daro led to the discovery of a variety of stringed instruments and drums. With musical notation used to indicate the meter and method of chanting, the Rigveda, ancient Hindu literature, has characteristics of contemporary Indian music.

3.      Monophonic Indian classical music, or marga, is based on a single melodic line or raga that is rhythmically arranged using talas. Ilango Adigal's Silappadhikaram explains how the tonic from an existing scale may be modal shifted to create new scales.

4.      Persian classical music and Afghan Mughals have had an effect on modern Hindi music. The bulk of the songs in the popular Carnatic music of the southern states are hymns to Hindu deities. Numerous songs emphasize love and other societal topics.

 

5.      Since the Bronze Age civilization relocated to the Indonesian archipelago in the second to third century BCE, Indonesian music has developed. Percussion instruments, particularly the kendang and gongs, are often used in Indonesian traditional music. Some of them created intricate and unusual musical instruments, such as the Sundanese angklung, the Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras, and the sasando stringed instrument from Rote Island. Gong chime, a collective word for a collection of tiny, high-pitched pot gongs, originated in Indonesia. The boss goes up on a string and is kept in a small wooden frame as gongs are typically arranged in sequence of notes. Most people are undoubtedly familiar with gamelan, a group of tuned percussion instruments from Indonesia that includes bamboo suling, gongs, spike fiddles, metallophones, and drums.

 

6.      Chinese classical music, often known as court music or traditional art in China, has a three-thousand-year history. It has its own musical tuning and pitch systems, musical instruments, styles, and musical genres. It also has its own methods of musical notation. Similar to music with European influences, Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic and has a scale with twelve notes per octave (5 + 7 = 12).

 

Western Classical Music

Early Music

The introduction of monophonic (single melodic line) chanting into Roman Catholic Church services marked the beginning of the medieval music period (476 to 1400), which took place throughout the Middle Ages. Greek culture has employed musical notation since antiquity, but in the Middle Ages, the Catholic church was the first to utilize it to record chant tunes so that they could be used for sacred music across the whole Catholic empire. The monophonic liturgical plainsong chant of the Roman Catholic Church, whose main lineage was known as Gregorian chant, is the only European Middle Ages repertoire that has been discovered in recorded form from before 800. A thriving culture of secular songs coexisted with these traditions of holy and ecclesiastical music (non-religious songs). Léonin, Pérotin, Guillaume de Machaut, and Walther von der Vogelweide are a few composers from this era.

 

From around 1400 to 1600, secular (non-religious) themes, like as courtly love, became increasingly prevalent in music. When the printing press was created in about 1450, printed sheet music became considerably more affordable and easy to manufacture in large quantities (prior to the invention of the printing press, all notated music was hand-copied). The greater accessibility of sheet music contributed to the faster and wider development of musical genres. Singers and musicians often performed for the church, courts, and communities. Churches continued to be significant patrons of music, and church choirs expanded in size. By the middle of the 15th century, composers started creating fully polyphonic holy music with the simultaneous interweaving of several melodic lines. Famous composers from this time period include Orlande de Lassus, Thomas Morley, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, and Guillaume Dufay. Kings, queens, and princes vied for the best composers as musical activity transferred from the church to the aristocratic courts. The Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France produced a number of outstanding and influential composers. The Franco-Flemish composers are referred to as them. They occupied significant roles throughout Europe, particularly in Italy. Germany, England, and Spain were among the nations with a thriving music scene.

FREQUENTLY USED PERIOD

Baroque Music

The Baroque period of music spanned the years 1600 to 1750 when the Baroque creative movement was in full bloom across Europe. During this time, music's scope and complexity increased. The earliest operas, which include dramatic solo vocal music supported by the orchestra, marked the beginning of baroque music. Polyphonic contrapuntal music, which employs several, concurrent separate melodic lines, was still significant throughout the Baroque period (counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the Medieval era). German composers of the Baroque period produced music for choirs, and keyboard instruments including the pipe organ, clavichord, and harpsichord, as well as for small ensembles made up of woodwinds, brass, and strings. The fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto are just a few of the significant musical genres that were established during this time period and persisted into following ones when they underwent additional expansion and evolution. [48] The late Baroque period featured intricate polyphony and lavish ornamentation. Johann Sebastian Bach (Cello Suites), George Frideric Handel (Messiah), Georg Philipp Telemann, and Antonio Lucio Vivaldi are notable Baroque composers (The Four Seasons).

Classicism Music

The Classical era (1730–1820) music sought to emulate what were considered to be the essential components of the philosophy and art of Ancient Greece and Rome: the principles of balance, proportion, and controlled expression. (Note: The Classical period's music should not be confused with Classical music generally, which refers to Western art music from the fifth century to the twenty-first century and includes the Classical period as one of many eras.) Compared to the Baroque music that came before it, classical music has a texture that is lighter, cleaner, and much simpler. The dominant aesthetic was homophony[49], where a strong melody and a minor chordal accompaniment element are obviously separate. The melodies of classical instrumental pieces often resembled voices and were sung. The harpsichord and pipe organ of the Baroque period were superseded by the fortepiano, the precursor of the contemporary piano, as the primary keyboard instrument, and new genres were created (though pipe organ continued to be used in sacred music, such as Masses).

Instrumental music was given priority. The sonata, concerto, and symphony—musical genres that were first established in the Baroque era—dominated this time. The trio, string quartet, serenade, and divertimento were among the other major genres. The most significant and developed form was the sonata. Despite the fact that sonatas were also written by Baroque composers, the classical style of sonata is entirely different. The sonata form served as the foundation for all of the major instrumental compositions of the Classical period, including string quartets, symphonies, and concertos. The orchestral and chamber music instruments adopted greater uniformity. Classical chamber groups employed predetermined, standardized instruments in lieu of the basso continuo group of the Baroque period, which included harpsichord, organ, lute, and a variety of bass instruments chosen at the group leader's discretion (viol, cello, theorbo, serpent, etc). (e.g., a string quartet would be performed by two violins, a viola, and a cello). Between 1750 and 1800, the continuo keyboardist or lute player's spontaneous chord playing of the Baroque period progressively disappeared.

The growth of public concerts was among the most significant developments throughout the Classical era. Even while the nobility continued to have a large influence on concert and composition financing, composers could now make a living without being employed on a long-term basis by queens or princes. The quantity and variety of orchestras increased along with the popularity of classical music. Large public performance halls must be built to accommodate the growing number of symphonic performances. Symphonic music, which includes symphonies, ballet accompanying music, and vocal/instrumental hybrid genres like opera and oratorio, gained popularity.

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Schubert are some of the most well-known composers of the Classical era. Beethoven and Schubert are also regarded as composers from the final years of the Classical period when Romanticism was beginning to emerge.

Romanticism (Romanic Music)

The Romantic movements in literature and art of the 19th century, which spanned from about 1810 to 1900, had many characteristics with Romantic music. Romanticism was a literary, artistic, and philosophical movement that placed a strong focus on emotion and individuality while also exalting the past and the natural world. Beyond the strict rules and patterns of the Classical period, romantic music evolved into more fervent, dramatic, and expressive songs and pieces. In order to portray more profound truths or human emotions, romantic artists like Wagner and Brahms tried to elevate the emotional expressiveness and strength in their music. Composers attempted to use instrumental music to convey narratives and conjure up visual or aural environments in symphonic tone poems. Some composers used patriotic orchestral music that was influenced by folk music to encourage nationalistic pride. The tradition began to lose ground in favor of music's expressive and emotional capabilities.

1.       The syncretism of investigating other creative forms in a musical context—such as literature, history (historical characters and stories), or nature itself—grew as the individuality of romantic artists increased. Many works written during this time included the topic of romantic love or yearning. The sonata form, which is employed in string quartets and symphonies, is an example of a formal structure from the classical era that was sometimes retained but enlarged and changed. Numerous times, fresh perspectives on preexisting genres, forms, and functions were investigated. Additionally, new forms were developed that were thought to be better suited for the novel topic. Opera and ballet music continued to evolve as composers experimented with new genres and topics.

2.       After 1800, a more dramatic, expressive style of music was established by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Short motifs, which naturally emerged in Beethoven's case, eventually replaced melody as the most important composing unit (an example is the distinctive four-note figure used in his Fifth Symphony). Later Romantic artists like Gustav Mahler, Anton Dvoak, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky employed increasingly odd chords and dissonance to create dramatic tension. They produced intricate and sometimes considerably lengthier musical compositions. Composers explored significant chromatic tonal changes throughout the late Romantic era, such as stretched chords and changed chords, which produced new sound "colors." The size of the orchestra dramatically increased in the late 19th century, and the industrial revolution contributed to the development of better instruments that produced a more powerful sound. Public concerts developed became a significant component of wealthy metropolitan culture. Additionally, it saw a new variety in musical theater, including operetta, musical comedies, and other genres.

20th and 21st century

Sales of sheet music, which middle-class amateur music enthusiasts would play at home on their pianos or other common instruments like violins, were one of the primary ways that new works were made known to the public in the 19th century. Sound recordings of new songs and pieces that listeners heard (either on the radio or on their record player) became the primary way to learn about new songs and pieces with 20th-century music as a result of the invention of new electric technologies such as radio broadcasting and the mass market availability of gramophone records. During the 19th century, the emphasis on sheet music restricted access to new music to the middle-class and upper-class people who could read music and who owned pianos and instruments. However, as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music, there was a significant increase in music listening. Anyone with a radio or record player could hear operas, symphonies, and big bands right in their own living room. This made it possible for folks with lesser incomes who couldn't afford opera or symphony tickets to enjoy this music. Additionally, it meant that even those who could not afford to visit these places could still hear music from various regions of the nation or possibly the whole globe. This facilitated the proliferation of musical genres.

In the 20th century, experimentation with new rhythms, genres, and sounds was the main emphasis of art music. Some composers started experimenting with darker, harsher sounds as a result of how horrifying World War I was. Composers drew inspiration for classical music from traditional musical genres including jazz and folk music. John Cage, Arnold Schoenberg, and Igor Stravinsky were important 20th-century art music composers. The acousmatic[50] and Musique concrète schools of electronic composition are two new subgenres of classical music that were made possible by the development of sound recording and music editing. Because sound recording made it possible for recordings of songs and bands to be widely disseminated, it also had a significant impact on the evolution of popular music genres. Rock music was greatly impacted by the invention of the multitrack recording method since it could do much more than just capture a band's performance. A band and their music producer might combine many layers of voice and instrument recordings using a multitrack system to develop new sounds that would be impossible to achieve live.

Over the course of the 20th century, jazz changed and developed into a significant musical genre, and in the latter part of the century, rock music did the same. A fusion of African and European musical traditions gave rise to the American musical genre known as jazz around the beginning of the 20th century among African American communities in the South of the country. The usage of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swinging note are all indications of the style's West African heritage.

1.       Rock & roll, rockabilly, blues, and country music from the 1960s gave rise to the popular music genre known as the rock in the 1950s.

2.       Rock music often features the electric or acoustic guitar and a powerful backbeat provided by a rhythm section. Saxophone and blues-style harmonica are employed as soloing instruments in addition to the guitar or keyboards. It "has three chords, a powerful, relentless back rhythm, and a captivating melody" in its "purest form." [Needs citation for quote] Drums, electric bass guitar, and rhythm guitar make up the typical rhythm section for popular music. Other keyboard instruments used by certain bands include the piano, organ, and, since the 1970s, analog synthesizers. Pop performers started employing digital synthesizers, including the DX-7 synthesizer, electronic drum machines, like the TR-808, and synth bass instruments, like the TB-303. The usage of digital audio workstations and other computerized musical gear, software, and instruments increased throughout the 1990s. In the 2020s, bedroom producers will be able to compose and record various genres of music, such as electronic dance music, in their own homes while using sampled and digital instruments and digitally manipulating the recording. Some bands in genres like nu-metal started incorporating DJs into their bands in the 1990s. DJs use a DJ mixer to alter recorded music on record players or CD players to produce new music.

3.       The creation of isomorphic keyboards and Dynamic Tonality are only two examples of how music technology innovation has persisted into the twenty-first century.

CREATION

Music Composition

The act of making a song, an instrumental piece of music, a work that combines singing and instruments, or another genre of music is referred to as "composition." In many cultures, particularly Western classical music, the process of creating also entails producing musical notation, such as a sheet music "score," which is then played by the composer or by other singers or musicians. A lead sheet, which is a basic sketch of the song that includes the melody, lyrics, and chord progression, may be created as part of the composition process in both popular and traditional music. Typically, the composer orchestrates their own compositions in classical music, however

Songwriters who write for musical theater or pop music may employ an arranger to handle the orchestration. Sometimes a songwriter would just construct the music in her head, play it or record it from memory, without using any notation at all. Jazz and popular music give influential artists' remarkable recordings the same weight that written compositions do in classical music.

 

Even when music is reasonably properly notated, as in classical music, a performer still needs to make a lot of judgments since notation does not completely define all of the aspects of music. "Interpretation" refers to the act of choosing how to perform previously created and notated music.

The tempos used as well as the playing, singing, or melodic phrasing of a piece of music can be very different depending on the performer. Just as musicians who play the music of others, composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting the songs they make. Performance practice refers to the common set of decisions and methods in use at a certain period and location, whereas interpretation typically refers to the unique decisions made by a performer. [Reference required]

A musical composition doesn't necessarily have a single composer, even if it frequently does and employs musical notation. the musical composition has more than one composer, as is common in popular music when a band works together to make a song or in the musical theater where one person writes the melodies, another the lyrics, and a third the orchestrations. In some musical genres, like the blues, a composer or songwriter may come up with new songs or compositions without ever notating them. Words, pictures, or computer programs can be used to explain or notate how a vocalist or musician should produce musical sounds in a piece of music. Examples include text compositions like Aus dem Sieben Tagen, graphic notation used in avant-garde music, and computer algorithms that choose sounds for musical works.

Aleatoric music, which heavily incorporates chance and unpredictability, is often credited to 20th-century contemporary composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutoslawski. The sound of wind chimes jingling in a breeze is a more well-known illustration of chance-based music.

The definition of composition is broad enough to include the creation of popular music, traditional music songs, and instrumental pieces, as well as spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists like Ewe drummers. However, the study of composition has traditionally been dominated by the examination of the methods and practice of Western classical music.

Performance

Performance, which happens when a song is sung or when a piano piece, electric guitar tune, symphony, drum beat, or other musical element is played by musicians, is the physical representation of music. In classical music, a composer first creates a musical composition in music notation, and after the composer is happy with the composition's structure and instrumentation, the piece is performed. The interpretation of a song or composition, however, can develop and vary as it is played. In classical music, the phrasing or speed of a piece may be progressively altered by instrumentalists, vocalists, or conductors. The performers have far more latitude in popular and traditional music to alter the structure of a song or composition.

As a result, a band can alter a cover song in both popular and traditional music genres, for example, by adding a guitar solo or an introduction.

Performance may be prepared and performed, as is typical in classical music, jazz large bands, and many popular music genres, or it may be improvised around a chord progression, as is typical in small jazz and blues ensembles. A conductor oversees the rehearsals of orchestras, concert bands, and choirs. Typically, the bandleader is in charge of jazz, blues, and rock ensembles. A practice session is a planned repeat. of a song or piece by the performers until it can be sung or played correctly and, if it is a song or piece for more than one artist until the parts are together in terms of rhythm and tuning. A musical concept, such as a melody or other musical line, is developed impromptu, frequently based on scales or previously used melodic riffs.

Solo performances (in which one singer or instrumentalist performs) have a long history in many cultures. Examples include Indian classical music and the Western art-music tradition. Group performance has a long heritage in some cultures, including Bali. Both are present in all civilizations, and Performances may be anything from spontaneous solo performances to well-planned events like modern classical concerts, religious processions, classical music festivals, or music contests. Compared to major symphonic works, chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only one or a few of each type of instrument, is frequently seen to be more personal.

Musical Improvisation

The act of creating music impromptu, frequently within (or based on) a pre-existing harmonic framework or chord sequence. The notes of the chord, different scales that are connected to each chord, chromatic ornaments, and passing tones that may or may not be chord tones are all used by improvisers. Improvisation in music can be done with or without planning. Some musical genres, including blues, jazz, and jazz fusion, heavily rely on improvisation, with instrumentalists improvising solos, melody lines, and accompaniment portions.

Improvisation was a crucial ability in the Western art music heritage during the Baroque and Classical eras. Players of the basso continuo keyboard improvised chord voicings based on figured bass notation throughout the Baroque era, much as performers improvised ornamentation. The best soloists were also anticipated to be able to improvise works like preludes. Throughout performances during the Classical era, soloists and vocalists created virtuoso cadenzas on the spot.

But when "common practice" Western art music performance was institutionalized in symphony orchestras, opera houses, and ballets during the 20th and early 21st centuries, improvisation began to play a decreasing part as music was increasingly notated in scores and sections for musicians to play. Simultaneously, a few composers of art music from the 20th and 21st centuries have begun to include improvisation more and more in their works. Improvisation is a key element of Indian classical music and a crucial performance standard.

Entertainment and the Arts

Music is created and performed for a variety of reasons, including aesthetic enjoyment, ceremonial or religious objectives, or as a commercially produced form of entertainment. Music enthusiasts would purchase sheet music for their favorite pieces and songs when music was only accessible in sheet music scores, such as during the Classical and Romantic eras, so they could play them on the piano at home. Records of well-known songs replaced sheet music as the primary medium for music fans to enjoy their favorite tunes with the invention of the phonograph. Since the introduction of personal cassette recorders in digital music and the 1980s Music enthusiasts in the 1990s had the option of creating cassettes or playlists of their favorite songs to carry around on a portable cassette player or MP3 device. Some music aficionados compile mix tapes of their favorite songs as a "self-portrait, a kind gesture, a recipe for the perfect party, and an environment comprising exclusively of what is most fervently loved," according to one writer.

Amateur musicians might create or play music for their personal enjoyment while earning money in other ways. A variety of institutions and organizations, such as the military services (in marching bands, concert bands, and pop music ensembles), religious organizations, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production firms, and music schools, employ professional musicians. Professional musicians who are looking for contracts and engagements in a variety of contexts may operate as freelancers or session musicians. Between amateur and professional musicians, there are frequently numerous connections. Beginner amateur musicians study alongside seasoned performers. Advanced amateur musicians perform with professionals in a range of ensembles, including community concert bands and community orchestras, in public settings.

Music that is performed in front of a live audience and music that is performed in a studio in order to be recorded and transmitted through the music retail system or the broadcasting system is frequently distinguished from one another. A live performance in front of an audience, however, is frequently also videotaped and made available. Both classical music and popular music genres like rock, where live performances are sometimes illegally captured, have a thriving market for live concert recordings. Live, improvisational jam sessions are preferable over studio recordings in the jam band scene.