Contemporary Music: The Three Types Of Music

Music is a part of everyday life where people can hear everywhere in everything people do. Understanding music is really hard and it exists only between the performer and the listener. According to Whitman (2005), “the use of the word ‘meaning’ raises hackles for its vagueness; it’s an overloaded term that is considerably defined by personal interpretation”. Basically, music is a type of entertainment for both the listener and performer. There are three types of music which are traditional music, art music, and popular music. (Refer to Figure 1 in Appendix 1).

The first major types of music is traditional music. Traditional music is the first genre type we will be taking a look at. This type of music generally consists of singing, dancing and

There are several types of Art Music; one of them is Contemporary Music. According to Scarlett (2011), “it is composed in the classical tradition by composers of the latter half of the 20th Century”. Contemporary Music involves technological developments of the modern era while still using the rooted style in notation. Most of the instruments that have been used in contemporary music are recorded in studios. Contemporary music also related to the artistic developments in sculpture, film and particularly dance. Scarlett (2011) reported that there are several type of genre of contemporary music which are blues, country, electronic/dance, experimental, folk, funk, jazz, metal, pop, rock, roots and

When comparing popular music to both art music and traditional music, popular music is a lot more towards local audiences. The inventor of application of the term is to the music of the 1880s Tin Pan Alley period in the United States. Nowadays, popular music is also known as “Pop Music”. Pop music is a generic term for music of all ages that appeals to popular tastes, whereas it usually refers to a specific musical genre. Pop music was originated the 1950s, and was derived from rock and roll. As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nevertheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include short to medium-length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and hooks. Popular music consists of sub-genre which is rock music, Rhythm and Blues(R&B) music and hip hop music. All of the sub-genres make pop music more interests for this century. A good music have their own ‘aura’ to listeners (Benjamin, 1973). Rock music are originally from “rock and roll” music in United States and developed into range different style. Rock music traditionally built on foundation of a simple syncopated rhythms with a repetitive snare drums back beat on two and four. The sound of rock music traditionally centered on the electric guitar. Melody of rock music are