What is PoP music ?

2009-02-11T22:49:00.000-08:00

Pop music is a music genre that features a noticeable rhythmic element, melodies and hooks, a mainstream style, and conventional structure.

The term "pop music" was first used in 1926 in the sense of "having popular appeal" (see Popular music), but since the 1950s it has been used in the sense of a musical genre, originally characterized as a lighter alternative to rock and roll.^[1]^[2]

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[edit] Style

The standard format of pop music is the song, customarily less than five minutes in duration, with instrumentation that can range from an orchestra to a lone singer. Pop songs are generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and traditional structure. Common variants are the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse.^[3] Lyrics in pop music are frequently about love, relationships and life experiences. The primary objectives of the pop music genre are audience enjoyment and commercial success.^[4] This of course does not imply that those goals are achieved by every song in this genre.^[5]

[edit] History

Some musicologists trace the origins of pop music to 1679, when Alessandro Scarlatti composed his first opera, or even earlier, when Francesco Provenzale coined the musical language that Scarlatti popularized: light, lively and catchy.^{[citation needed]} They placed the emphasis on arias, clearly separated from the "recitativo", and grounded the arias on a strong sense of rhythm and melody. The song "Slide, Kelly, Slide", released by Edison Studios in 1894, is sometimes credited as the first "pop hit" record.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References and notes

^ "Online Etymology Dictionary: pop" (html). http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=pop. Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ "Allmusic genres: pop" (html). http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:283. Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ "Allmusic genres: pop" (html). http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:283. Retrieved on 2007-12-01.
^ Hill, D. (1986). Designer Boys and Material Girls: Manufacturing the 80's Pop Dream. Blandford Press. "Pop implies a very different set of values to rock. Pop makes no bones about being a mainstream. It accepts and embraces the requirement to be instantly pleasing and to make a pretty picture of itself. Rock, on the other hand, has liked to think it was somehow more profound, non-conformist, self-directed and intelligentyahoo.com."
^ "United Kingdom Broadcasting Act 1990 — Part III, chapter I, article 85, point 6" (html). http://www.england-legislation.hmso.gov.uk/acts/acts1990/ukpga_19900042_en_9. Retrieved on 2007-12-01. "Pop music includes rock music and other kinds of modern popular music which are characterised by a strong rhythmic element and a reliance on electronic amplification for their performance (whether or not, in the case of any particular piece of rock or other such music, the music in question enjoys a current popularity as measured by the number of recordings sold)"

[edit] See also

[edit] Bibliography

Adorno, Theodor W (1942) "On Popular Music". Institute of Social Research.
Bell, John L. The Singing Thing: A Case for Congregational Song. GIA Publications, 2000. ISBN 1579991009
Billboard Genre Index
Frith, Simon; Will Straw; John Street (eds). The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock. Cambridge University Press, 2001. ISBN 0521556600
Johnson, Julian. Who Needs Classical Music?: Cultural Choice and Musical Value. Oxford University Press, 2002. ISBN 0195146816
Pleasants, Henry (1969) "Serious Music and All That Jazz". Simon & Schuster.
Roxon, Lillian (1969) "Rock Encyclopedia". Grosset & Dunlap.
Gillet, Charlie (1970) "The Sound of the City. The Rise of Rock and Roll." Outerbridge & Dienstfrey.
Middleton, Richard (1990) "Studying Popular Music". Open University Press.
Bindas, Kenneth J (1992) "America's Musical Pulse: Popular Music in Twentieth-Century Society". Praeger.
Clarke, Donald (1995) "The Rise and Fall of Popular Music". St Martin's Press. http://www.musicweb.uk.net/RiseandFall/index.htm]
Lonergan, David F. Hit Records, 1950-1975. Scarecrow Press, 2004. ISBN 0-8108-5129-6
Negus, Keith. Music Genres and Corporate Cultures Routledge, 1999. ISBN 041517399X
Maultsby, Portia K (1996) "Intra- and International Identities in American Popular Music." Trading Culture.
Official UK Charts Company information pack
Dolfsma, Wilfred (1999) "Valuing Pop Music: Institutions, Values and Economics". Eburon.
Shuker, Roy. Popular Music: The Key Concepts. Routledge, (2 edition) 2002. ISBN 0415284252
Starr, Larry & Waterman, Christopher (2002) "American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MTV". Oxford University Press.
Frith, Simon (2004) "Popular Music: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies". Routledge.
Dolfsma, Wilfred. (2004) "Institutional Economics and the Formation of Preferences: The Advent of Pop Music". Edward Elgar Publishing

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