mUsiC tOwN

Hot Flashes:::CHIMAIRA On Liquid Metal Today At 5PM

2009-04-30T15:15:00.000-07:00

Mark Hunter and Jim LaMarca from Cleveland bruisers CHIMAIRA visit the Liquid Metal studios with host Jose Mangin for a raw audio gathering session full of new music and select cuts from Mark and Jim's favorite metal acts.

The show will be on at 5 PM (ET) today (April 22nd) on Sirius 27/XM 42.

Listen to new tracks from Chimaira's fifth studio album The Infection, out in stores now, plus get an update on their current tour as part of the Music As A Weapon festival, Mark and Jim side projects, and how they celebrate Earth Day everyday.

Repeat broadcasts:

Wednesday, April 22nd at 8 PM (ET)
Friday, April 24th at 4 PM (ET)
Saturday, April 25th at 2 PM (ET)
Sunday April 26th at 10 PM (ET)

Chimaira on the Music As A Weapon Tour (with DISTURBED, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE, and LACUNA COIL):

April
22 - East Rutherford, NJ - Izod Center
24 - Fayetteville, NC - Crown Coliseum
25 - Reading, PA - Sovereign Center
26 - Richmond, VA - The National* (with Killswitch Engage and Lacuna Coil)
27 - Glens Falls, NY - Glens Falls Civic Center
28 - Pittsburgh, PA - Petersen Center
30 - Battle Creek, MI - Kellogg Arena

May
1 - Ft. Wayne, IN - Piere's* (with Killswitch Engage and Lacuna Coil)
2 - Detroit, MI - Cobo Arena
3 - Cleveland, OH - The Wolstein Center @ Cleveland State
5 - Columbus, OH - Value City Arena
6 - Peoria, IL - Peoria Civic Center
8 - Minneapolis, MN - Target Center
9 - Des Moines, IA - Veteran's Memorial Auditorium
10 - Madison, WI - Alliant Energy Center
11 - Sioux Falls, SD - Ramkota Exhibit Hall* (with Killswitch Engage and Lacuna Coil)
12 - Lacrosse, WI - Lacrosse Center
13 - Evansville, IN - Roberts Stadium
15 - Council Bluffs, IA - Mid America Center
16 - Chicago, IL - Charter One Pavilion
17- Green Bay, WI - Resch Center

Chimaira off-dates*

Does hair length affect Metallica's songwriting?

2009-04-28T17:27:00.000-07:00

The members of Metallica have changed their hair style with each passing album, sometimes chopping off a good foot of hair between album cycles. Since I had a lot of free time on my hands this weekend, I decided to plot the bands average hair length on a graph and compare it to the average critics review score. From the bands early days with near glam metal hair to it's shortened cuts in the 90's, it appears that Metallica's hair has expressed it's music throughout the years.

Looking at the results, it would be a safe bet to figure out their hair length while writing/recording and see if it will be an album worth picking up.

ROB ZOMBIE Approached For 'Heavy Metal' - Apr. 8, 2009

2009-04-28T17:15:00.000-07:00

ShockTillYouDrop.com reports that Rob Zombie was approached byDavid Fincher and Kevin Eastman to direct a segment of their proposed revival of the animated anthology "Heavy Metal", doing "something that could fuse his story with his music." Having some experience in animation with the still-unreleased "The Haunted World of El Superbeasto" and directing a segment in MTV's "Beavis and Butthead" film, Zombie was interested, but hasn't heard anything since first being approached.

In late February, Rob Zombie began shooting his sequel to "Halloween", tentatively titled "H2". The follow-up to the rocker-turned-director's 2007 hit remake of the horror classic is due out at the end of August.

"H2" is shooting in Georgia.

Zombie said in one recent interview that the new film will focus less on serial killer Michael Myers and more on his sister, Laurie, played byScout Taylor-Compton.

As for Zombie's next studio album, he recently completed recording for it and plans to issue the disc in either late summer or early fall, according toHardDrive Radio.

Candlelight Announces CIII Label Tour 2009, Featuring Absu, Glorior Belli, Averse Sefira, and Sothis

2009-04-28T17:01:00.000-07:00

Candlelight Records has announced its third label packaged tour for North America. Set to kick off on June 6, CIII will feature the talents of US black metal legends Absu, with support coming from France’s Glorior Belli, Austin-based Averse Sefira and Los Angeles-based Sothis. The tour will visit 22 cities throughout the US and Canada beginning in San Marcos, California and wrapping up in Dallas, Texas on June 29. Tickets for all shows are currently on sale exclusively at Enterthevault.com. Tickets will go on sale through all local and online ticket agencies starting March 5.

Absu’s self-titled new album hits stores nationwide February 24. Currently featured on the cover of Metal Maniacs, the album is the first to offer new material from the highly regarded metal band in nearly eight years. This will be the band’s first large-scale tour since their tour alongside Enslaved in 1997.

France’s Glorior Belli make their first trip to North America as they participate on CIII. Their sophomore record, "Manifesting the Raging Beast," was released in 2007 via Southern Lord Records. The band now, signed to Candlelight, will begin recording of their label debut, titled "Meet Us at the Southern Sign," this month with hopes to see it released during the tour.

Averse Sefira joins CIII continuing to support their latest album, "Advent Parallax." Their participation on the tour is their third national tour in two years having previously toured with labelmates 1349 in 2007 and with friends Immolation in early 2008.

Sothis released their debut, "De Oppresso Liber," on September 2. Mixed by Andy LaRocque (King Diamond), the record has enjoyed growing and consistent sales since release. This will be the band’s first national tour.

CIII follows the success of Candlelight’s previous label tours – the first in 2005 featuring Entombed, Crowbar, Pro-Pain & The Mighty Nimbus, and second in 2007 featuring Enslaved, Dark Funeral and then newcomers Abigail Williams. The label, maintaining offices in Philadelphia and London, continues to grow since launching American operations in 2001. Candlelight is distributed throughout the US exclusively via Caroline Distribution, EMI Music for Canada and Plastichead Music for the rest of the world.

Confirmed dates for the CIII 2009 tour are as follows:

6/06/2009 Jumping Turtle - San Marcos, CA
6/07/2009 House of Blues - W. Hollywood, CA
6/08/2009 Thee Parkside - San Francisco, CA
6/09/2009 Hawthorne Theatre - Portland, OR
6/10/2009 El Corazon - Seattle, WA
6/12/2009 The Underground - Calgary, AB
6/13/2009 The Exchange - Regina SK
6/14/2009 Royal Albert Arms - Winnipeg, MT
6/15/2009 Station 4 - St. Paul, MN
6/16/2009 The Pearl Room - Mokena, IL
6/17/2009 Peabody’s - Cleveland, OH
6/18/2009 Wreck Room - Toronto, ON
6/19/2009 Petit Campus - Montreal, QC
6/20/2009 Penny Arcade - Rochester, NY
6/21/2009 BB Kings Blues Club - New York, NY
6/22/2009 Jaxx - W. Springfield, VA
6/23/2009 Volume 11 - Raleigh, NC
6/24/2009 The Muse - Nashville, TN
6/25/2009 The Masquerade - Atlanta, GA
6/26/2009 The Garage - St. Petersburg, FL
6/27/2009 Culture Room - Ft. Lauderdale, FL
6/29/2009 Firewater - Dallas, TX

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"Severed Ways" is Black Metal Incarnate"

2009-04-27T12:20:00.000-07:00

Director Tony Stone's first feature "Severed Ways: The Norse Discovery of America" is, on its surface, a story about two Vikings marauding their way through the forests of the New World 485 years before Columbus did. But more than that, "Severed Ways" bears the spirit of black metal, crafted into an audacious movie between the hammer of an HD camera and the anvil of Stone's wild musings.

For the uninitiated, black metal is an angry, dark and tortured subgenre of heavy metal known mainly for the controversy it's inspired. Church burnings, murder, Satanism, Nazism -- these are the shadows it casts from its origins in Norway. These horrors aren't just hyperbole on the part of detractors, but they don't illuminate the ideological movement from which the musical genre has sprung either. At its heart, black metal is a reaction to Judeo-Christian society from a people whose cultural roots reach deep into an earthy, mythic past. The music, like the film, is a raw exploration of Norse mythology and a rejection of modern Western culture.

Black metal is an angry, dark and tortured subgenre of heavy metal known mainly for the controversy it's inspired.

Geographically, Scandinavia and Norway in particular were isolated from Christian influence longer than the rest of Europe. Christendom took its continental hold when Constantine made it the state religion of Rome in the 4th century, but the Norse, not part of the Roman Empire, were kept in the dark (or spared from it, depending on your vantage point). For centuries longer, they retained their distinct brand of "paganism," and it still shows today.

Black metal is "made by people whose ancestors were Vikings, angry that their culture's been watered down," Stone said when I had the chance to raise the issue with him over the phone. "What's depicted 1000 years ago in the film is still happening today in Norway," he added, in reference to a conflict that erupts between the Norse duo and Christian monks they stumble upon between gorging on wild salmon and defecating on camera. Anti-Christian sentiment in Norway is very real. Those churches, which stood where there were once shrines to Odin, didn't burn themselves.

Burzum is probably the most notorious artist in the genre. Widely featured in "Severed Ways," he was actually convicted of arson in connection with several church burnings, along with the murder of another Norwegian musician. Of course, that's the extreme end of the spectrum, and not all black metal is violent, nor are a majority of its players. The heavier stuff on the soundtrack of "Severed Ways" may perturb the suspension of disbelief for some, but it does link the Vikings and their modern descendants to "the raw power of nature, its primitive screams," as Stone puts it. For all their dissonant brutality, the Vikings are in rhythm with nature, not dissimilar from Native Americans whose realm they intrude upon.

There's a calm and ambient strain of the genre, too, which is employed liberally in the film, along with Brian Eno and instrumental Krautrock band Popol Vuh, who scored several Werner Herzog films, a similarity that shouldn't go unnoticed. Most of the soundtrack is in this vein and serves to enhance what Stone refers to as "the daunting isolation" of the characters. Without much dialogue, the music also helps develop them, as if they aren't colorful enough hacking their way through the trees, butchering animals and being raped (one of the Vikings, played by Stone himself, gets drugged and molested by a hot native woman).

The Dark Ages describes the tumultuous period after the fall of the Roman Empire, named for its lack of progress and an absence of surviving written work coinciding with social chaos during which Christianity continued to spread. Though it is out of fashion as an academic term, it is useful here to illustrate the historical background of the film, which imagines the twilight hours of the Vikings' culture, before it was broken by a new Christian age, before their "severed ways." The Norse discovery of America did occur several centuries before Columbus, a fact indisputably supported by archeology, but not widely taught in our institutions. Part of the film was shot on location at Leifsbudir in Newfoundland. Renamed L'Anse aux Meadows by the French, it is a small Norse settlement excavated in the 1960s and proof of the title's premise.

Black metal is a battle cry, mostly of Northern Europeans, who seek the return to a pre-Christian ideology. It's also a "modern backlash against American corporate consumerism... of greedy self interest," Stone opines. Though perverse at its edges, it's easy to nod along with these days. It might make you wonder where we'd be if the pagan Norse, the first Europeans to settle America, had endured.

Kings Of Black Metal Festival Confirms 2009 Bands

2009-04-27T11:52:00.000-07:00

The 2009 Kings of Black Metal Festival will take place in Hessen, Germany on April 18th. Pre-sale tickets are available here. The bands confirmed for the festival are as follows:

Mayhem
Dark Funeral
Taake
Lord Belial
Mathyr
Hellsaw
Nifelheim
Necros Christos
Watain ( with special pyro show! )

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SLS Production Deploys JBL VerTec For Dubai Desert Rock Festival..!

2009-04-26T18:44:00.000-07:00

SLS Production of Dubai recently provided concert sound reinforcement services for Dubai Desert Rock Festival 2009, the 10th year for the concert series, with the sound reinforcement system featuring an extensive range of JBL Professional VerTec line array models.

Dubai Desert Rock Festival 2009 took place at the Dubai Festival City, with this year’s show placing an emphasis on heavy metal acts. Performers included Motorhead, Nervecell, Arch Enemy, Opeth, Chimaira and August Burns Red. Additional performers included Hatred from Germany and Scarab from Egypt, both of whom won entry by winning the “United We Rock” and “United We Rock/Middle East Edition,” respectively. This year’s event drew a crowd of more than 7,000 fans.

The main PA system featured left-right line array hangs, with each side including 12 JBL VT4889 full-size line array elements, three VT4887A compact line array elements and six VT4880 full-size arrayable subwoofers.

For additional low-end support, SLS deployed two ground stacks in front of the stage, each containing 12 VT4880A ultra-long excursion, dual 18-inch arrayable subwoofers. Two arrays of two VT4888 midsize line array elements provided in-fill coverage, with eight VT4888 loudspeakers providing out-fill coverage.

Additional arrays of VT4887 loudspeakers were used for side fills. Crown Macro-Tech amplifiers powered the system.

SLS Production has provided sound reinforcement for the Dubai Desert Rock Festival for the past several years “We first added VerTec to our inventory eight years ago and we have had no regrets about that decision,” said Girish Yerunkar, Sales Manager for SLS Production. “We have gradually expanded our rental stock and today we have the largest rental sound system in the entire Gulf region and can cater to concerts of 350,000 people, maximum.”

For more information on SLS Production, go to www.slspro.net

JBL Professional Website

S.O.B.'s is a first rate music venue and club with Sean Paul visiting Sunday night.

2009-04-21T14:09:00.000-07:00

With the sheer number of hot spots and fun times offered in New York City there's truly only a few places that stand out in my mind as a true must see.

SOB's is located at 204 Varick street on the southernmost edge of the West Village and just blocks from Tribeca.

SOB's always attracts some of the largest names in Hip Hop, Soul, Reggae, Salsa, Latin Alternative, Dance and International music. (Its a first rate dance club too). The name stands for Sounds of Brazil. A country known for getting it cracking. (Not the name I'll call you when you knock over my drink.)

I never hear people leave out of there complaining about the lack of fun they had. I doubt they will anytime soon. It looks good, the sound system is great and its just sizeable enough without being small or massive. Heck it even gets a shout out on a song or two. (Check the last song on Kanye's "Graduation" album , second verse)

Anyway what makes you want to go to SOB's this weekend? he big headliner this weekend happens on Sunday Night. Dancehall superstar Sean Paul is gracing the club for a huge evening of DanceHall/Hip Hop/Reggae. The doors open at 7:00 and the show starts at 9:00. Admission is $28 in advance and a $33 at the door. I think thats very reasonable to get a nice intimate setting with a artist of Sean's caliber.

For Saturday night there is a Sol-Ascension Global Soul Dance Party hosted by Manchild Black going on at the club. That party always brings that upbeat dance crowd out. (I swear they live to dance) If you like soulful house and dance music, freestyle and club dancing this is certainly worth going to. The doors don't open to midnight and probably won't close to well after 4. The price is usually $10-20.

So there you have it. Two good shows. Check out the website www.sobs.com. Even if these aren't your type of music and events there's always something that comes up that will likely make you want to visit SOB's. (B-Real of Cypress Hill will be there this Wednesday.)

Snoop Dogg Donates to Nation of Islam

2009-04-20T19:05:00.000-07:00

Wonder how Snoop Dogg spends his weekends? Well his activities this past Sunday may come as a surprise!

Snoop spent the day at the Nation of Islam’s annual Savior’s Day Convention, and even donated $1000 to the organization! Who knew he was so religious?

Snoop praised the leader of the event, Minister Louis Farrakhan, and said as the “leader of the hip-hop community” he will always seek him out. He also said he was committed to sharing the information he learned with fellow hip-hop artists. Yeah, we’re sure that’s high on their lists!

Snoop told reporters, "When you get a speech from Minister Farrakhan it's about a mirror, it's about looking at yourself. It's about seeing yourself and what you can do to better the situation ... We're doing a lot of wrongs among ourselves that need correcting."

So the question is, is Snoop converting to become a member of the Nation of Islam? You may be surprised to hear that he’s already a member!

Snoop says, "I'm an advocate for peace. I've been in the peace movement ever since I've been making music. My whole thing is not about really trying to push my thing on you. It's just about the way I live, and I live how I'm supposed to live as far as doing what's right and representing what's right. That's why I was here today."

Maybe the theme yesterday was all about hip-hop, because Snoop was the only artist there. Doug E. Fresh also attended the convention, and T.I. even appeared via video to tell the followers that education is the key to success.

Kind of odd coming from someone who is heading off to prison in a couple weeks, but his message was pretty solid.

Snoop Dogg,Three Doors Down and Hinder will headline Ancient City Crawfish Boil

2009-04-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

t's called a crawfish festival, the Ancient City Crawfish Boil to be exact, but it's turned into a concert, a major two-day concert. The first-year festival takes place May 8-9 in St. Augustine. Here's the musical lineup:

l Friday, May 8: K'Naan, Corey Smith, Flyleaf, G. Love and Snoop Dogg.

l Saturday, May 9: Sean Fisher and the Jukebox Gypsies, Presidents of the USA, Saving Abel, Candlebox, Hinder and 3 Doors Down.

Tickets, which go on sale at 10 a.m. March 28, and are $29.50 per day and $49.50 for both days. VIP tickets, which include free crawfish, private restrooms and beverage stations and a private, raised viewing deck are $75 per day or $140 for both.

The festival will also feature 20,000 pounds of crawfish shipped in from Louisiana, but to come in and purchase the crawfish, you have to buy a ticket.

Snoop Dogg, once the prototype gangsta rapper of the '90s, has evolved into an all-around star and TV personality. 3 Doors Down, a mainstream rock band from Mississippi, has seen its last two albums both go to No. 1 on the Billboard charts. Post-grunge Hinder has also its last two albums land in the Top 10.

Ryan Dettra, general manager of the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and St. Johns County Fairgrounds, said he expects 8,000-10,000 people each day.

The event will be held at Francis Field, near downtown St. Augustine, and is being put on by the St. John's County Cultural Events Division, Red Mountain Entertainment and Blue Deuce Entertainment. Go to www.ancientcitycrawfishboil.com for more details.

LINKIN PARK - story behind the name

2009-04-12T13:22:00.000-07:00

Do u know the real story behind the name "LINKIN PARK"?....i think most of us do...but for the people who dont know, i am posting this....plz read........ In 1996, rapper Mike Shinoda and guitarist Brad Delson graduated from Agoura High School in the Los Angeles suburb of Agoura Hills, California. Upon graduation, they formed a side band with their friend, drummer Rob Bourdon, under the moniker "SuperXero". Previously, Delson and Bourdon were in a band together for about a year called Relative Degree. Delson had also been part of a band called The Pri cks The three members of SuperXero played archaic forms of their music together while at college. Delson attended the University of California, Los Angeles. Shinoda went to the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. While at UCLA, Delson met bassist Dave Farrell. Delson and Farrell were roommates and often practiced and played together. Previously, Farrell used to play in a band called Tasty Snax with Mark Fiore, who later changed their name to "The Snax". Fiore later became Linkin Park's cinematographer. While at the Art Center College of Design, Shinoda met Joe Hahn. Farrell and Hahn later joined SuperXero, and the name was shortened to "Xero". The five men were later joined by lead vocalist Mark Wakefield and, together, they recorded their first, self-titled demo tape. The tape was sent out to various record labels but it was never considered and the band was never signed. Shortly thereafter, Wakefield left the band and became a manager for Taproot. Wakefield left, Shinoda began auditioning for a new vocalist and at the same time Delson began interning for a Warner Bros. Records A&R representative named Jeff Blue as part of his communications degree. Blue alerted Delson and Shinoda to Chester Bennington, a young vocalist from Phoenix, Arizona who was looking to join another band, after being the vocalist for Grey Daze (formerly known as Sean Dowdell and His Friends) from 1993 to 1997. Shinoda and Delson sent Bennington a tape containing instrumentation for a song and he recorded vocals for it. He then called Shinoda and played the song over the phone. This was the start of things to come as the band was instantly impressed by the vocal abilities of Bennington and it did not take long to realize the advantages of his voice and his ability to mould it to be both soft and thought-provoking as well as hard and attention-grabbing. Once Bennington had joined the group, they attempted to have the band signed. Unfortunately, the name was already taken by a 70s and 80s band from Australia so they changed their name to Hybrid Theory and the band's line-up solidified — almost. Farrell temporarily left the band due to previous commitments with The Snax/Tasty Snax and, as such, wasn't able to record bass for their first, self-titled EP. Instead, Delson and a bassist named Kyle Christner played bass. Released in mid-1999, only one thousand copies of Hybrid Theory EP were pressed. Several copies were sent to various record labels, including Warner Bros. Records. The rest of the copies were given to early members of the band's newly formed street team. Farrell was temporarily replaced by Scott Koziol. Scott appears in the video for "One Step Closer" from the Hybrid Theory album. The band was subsequently signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1999 thanks to Blue. However, they were forced to change their name again due to a trademark issue with a British electronic group called Hybrid.[citation needed] There were several suggestions for the bands new name, including Clear, Probing Lagers, Ten P.M. Stocker (an inside joke for the band since they were always recording and practicing material late at night). When the band was creating Hybrid Theory they used to park their cars outside and there was a time limit, 1 am, until which they could park. As Bennington said, "We've probably spent more money on parking tickets than Warner Bros. makes annually!"Bennington eventually suggested the use of the name "Lincoln Park" because he would drive by it in Santa Monica, California (now known as Christine Reed Park). He drove past the park on his way to the recording studio every day when the band was recording demos for its debut album. Bennington thought that since there are Lincoln Parks all over the country, the band would be recognized as a local band no matter where they went. He also liked the name because it had no meaning, allowing the music to describe itself. The group bore the name Lincoln Park for a few months, but when they decided to register a domain name, they found that "lincolnpark.com" was already taken. Because the band couldn't afford to purchase it, they simply changed the spelling from "Lincoln" to "Linkin" and purchased the domain name "linkinpark.com".

Eminem`s Mom Speaks Up; Calls Him A Liar

2009-04-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Eminem has been branded a liar by his mother. Debbie Nelson claims the image her son - real name Marshall Mathers -painted of her being a bad parent addicted to medication, living off welfare and neglectful of her youngest child is wholly untrue.

In her new memoir My Son Marshall, My Son Eminem, Debbie says: "At first I went along with it for Marshall`s sake - if I made one mistake as a mother, it was giving in to my eldest son`s every whim."

Debbie added the pair were very close when he was a child, and claims he told her he negatively portrayed her because "the fouler he was, the more the audience loved him."

She explains: "He never knew his father and I did all I could to make up for it. I wasn`t happy when he made up a whole new life for himself - what mother wants to be known as a pill-popping alcoholic who lives on welfare?"

"To tell the truth, I was heartbroken. The lies started coming thick and fast - and not just from Marshall. I think he`s forgotten the good times we had, and this book is my way of setting the record straight."

Eminem has attacked his mother in a number of songs, including his first hit single "My Name Is" which included the scathing line: "99 per cent of my life I was lied to/ I just found out my mom does more dope than I do."

50 Cent Laughs Off Eminem Weigh-Gain Stories

2009-04-10T12:12:00.000-07:00

50 Cent says don`t believe the hype about his pal, Eminem, allegedly gaining weight.

"Em is in shape right now," 50 Cent tells MTV News. "He looks good. I seen him in Detroit. He`s gonna look real good when you see him return."

Stories about Eminem`s health and physique have been circulating for months. The Detroit-based rapper (real name Marshall Mathers) has been virtually absent from the music scene for the last year.

In January, Eminem was hospitalized with pneumonia, and a report claimed that his weight had ballooned more than 200 lbs.

But 50 Cent says his old friend is doing fine. "The last time I seen him we played basketball together," he told MTV. "He had a knee injury, so we chilled for a little bit."

Eminem Confirmed For Nelson Mandela`s Birthday Concert

2009-04-10T12:03:00.000-07:00

Controversial rapper Eminem is reportedly set to headline Nelson Mandela`s 90th birthday celebrations in London this summer. The star is alleged to be making his musical comeback at the charity concert at the capital`s Hyde Park on June 27th in celebration of the former president of South Africa, after spending four days in hospital in December suffering from heart problems arising from a bout of pneumonia.

Queen rockers Brian May and Roger Taylor, Annie Lennox and British rockers Keane are among the acts who have already signed up for the gig, while U2, the Spice Girls and Paul McCartney have also been approached to take part in the celebrations. And it was guitarist May who convinced the rapper to take part in the historical concert.

A source tells British newspaper The Sun, "We`re amazed to have Eminem on board. We wanted some of the greatest artists from recent times and Eminem was on the list. Brian (May) contacted Eminem`s management on the off-chance and never expected him to go for it. It`s going to be explosive stuff and it`s certainly a big stage to make his comeback."

50 Cent In Stallone Movie

2009-04-08T13:22:00.000-07:00

50 Cent will star in the new Sylvester Stallone movie, The Expendables. 50 (real name Curtis Jackson) replaces Forest Whitaker (The Last King Of Scotland) in the film. According to Ain't It Cool News, a month-long delay forced Whitaker to abandon the film, since he had prior commitments. The film also stars Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler), Jason Statham (Snatch) and Jet Li (Romeo Must Die). Stallone is directing the film, which is in pre-production and is schedule to be released to theatres in 2010. 50 Cent's casting has drawn a lot of criticism, but he said one high-profile star (Ben Kingsley) had already been replaced by someone else (Eric Roberts) and people should hold their tongues. "The anger of the casting of 50 Cent is understandable, but not fair," Stallone wrote to Ain't It Cool News. "A player is only as good as his coach. "If a man can communicate in one medium, he can communicate in another if his strengths are brought out and he has the support of well-wishers. So, trust me, the change of Forest Whitaker to 50 Cent a.k.a. Curtis Jackson is a good one." 50 Cent will release Before I Self Destruct in June and, in an Eminem-style move, will also release another album this year. He's also scheduled to tour with Fall Out Boy later this year, and he's already giving the dates completely unnecessary hype. "This will be a major moment in music history," 50 Cent said in a statement to MTV News. "Joining forces with Fall Out Boy, one of the most dynamic rock bands in the industry, will be an exciting and historic event for rock and hip-hop." 'Cause, you know, rock and rap have never been combined before, or anything like that.

You can see 50 Cent here:

March 27 Fairfield, CT @ Sacred Heart University April 5 Irvine, CA @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre (Bamboozle Left festival) April 14 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium w/Fall Out Boy April 17 Grand Prairie, TX @ Noka Theater w/Fall Out Boy April 18 Houston, TX @ The Showgrounds at Sam Houston Race Park w/Fall Out Boy April 24 Charlotte, NC @ Bojangles Coliseum April 25 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion May 9 Rochester, NY @ Gordon Field House at Rochester Institute Of Technology

Studio album by Jay-Z >>> The Blueprint³ <<<

2009-04-06T17:16:00.000-07:00

The Blueprint³ is the eleventh studio album by American rapper Jay-Z, set to be released in September 2009 on Def Jam Recordings.^[1] According to Jay-Z, the album will be his last studio release for the Def Jam label before beginning recording under his record label Live Nation.^[2] Hip hop artist Kanye West, who served as the album's co-producer, stated in an interview that it would be released in February 2009, although the record was not actually released then.^[3] The true release date is still unknown.

Background

The initial hype over The Blueprint³ came when DJ Clue released a mixtape song called "Ain't I", produced by Timbaland. In the intro, Clue said, "Off that Blueprint 3 baby!" However, a spokesperson for Jay-Z said that the song was an older, unreleased Jay-Z song and that the recording of Blueprint 3 had not yet started.^[4] No news of a new studio album surfaced until Jay-Z stated in an interview that he will be working on The Blueprint³.^[5] Production will be handled by hip hop artist Kanye West among others, with Jaym's executive producer. The album is the third installment in the The Blueprint series,^[6] preceded by the critically acclaimed The Blueprint (2001) and the follow-up The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse (2002).^[7]

Timbaland originally said he was producing the whole album; however, Kanye West flew to Germany to meet Jay-Z and gave him a CD containing approximately 15 beats. West later flew to Hawaii where Jay-Z was working and from there they finished most of the album.^[8] The collaboration was later confirmed on August 6, 2008 by Kanye West and Jay-Z onstage during the former's Glow in the Dark Tour.^[9] Jay-Z was called onto the stage by West to perform "Jockin' JAY-Z" along with West. On August 22, 2008, the song "Swagga Like Us" was leaked onto the Internet. A music video for the song is confirmed to be shot in the near future. Although rapper T.I. revealed that the song would be featured on his album, Paper Trail, Jay-Z assured it will be included in The Blueprint 3.^[10] The song has been confirmed as the album's first single and was released as a digital download on September 6, 2008.^[11] On November 5, 2008, Jay-Z previewed a clip of the song "History", in honor of Barack Obama's presidential victory, on the Hot 97 radio station in New York during the Angie Martinez Show.^[12] The following day, the station premiered the full song, exclusively.^[13]

On January 22, 2009, Jay-Z announced that he is still working on the album, aiming for it to be perfect, stating "I wanna make it beyond and above. I'm gonna take my time with it. I don't have any quotas, and that's a good thing. It may be too freeing. It's a good thing and a bad thing. You know, I think I need some restrictions".^[14]

....5 Things You Should Know About Akon.... The R&B singer got his act together in jail, owns a diamond mine, inspires fan frenzy in Senegal, and more

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By Margeaux Watson

Alianue Thiam, the 27-year-old Senegalese-American R&B singer/producer known as Akon, has three hit singles, two platinum albums, and a Grammy nomination for ''Smack That,'' his collaboration with Eminem. Seems he's come a long way from writing songs in a jail cell.

1. Serving three years in prison for grand theft auto changed his life.
''That's what created everything you're hearing today — from my attitude to my music. All of this happened when I got locked up — and woke up.'' In fact, his debut CD, 2004's Trouble, contains several songs that he wrote while incarcerated.

2. If Eminem does a new album, Akon may be on it.
''Nobody expected Em to come back out on a cameo outside of his own camp. But I flew to Detroit to work with him [on 2006's Eminem Presents: The Re-Up]. In the midst of it, we created 'Smack That.' Plus, I did another song for his next album — if he decides to come out with one. He has records on standby just in case.''

3. Jazz percussionist Mor Thiam is his dad.
''My pops performed with everybody from Freddie Hubbard to James Brown. Jazz was something he did out of love — it don't pay, especially back then.''

4. Two years ago, Akon acquired a diamond mine in South Africa.
That's where most of his bling comes from — including ''all that I'm wearing at the moment'' — but he demurs when pressed for details. ''It's real complicated,'' he says. ''You can just know that I own it.''

5. When he was 7, his family emigrated to the U.S. from Senegal, where he's now bigger than the Beatles.
''Yo, it's crazy. It seems like that kind of mania don't even exist no more. It was definitely an honor to go back and receive that kind of welcome. It encourages me to work harder. They look at me like, 'He's one of us. If he made it, I can probably make it too.'''

Influences

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During her pre-teenage to teenage years, Furtado embraced many musical genres, listening heavily to mainstream R&B, hip hop, alternative hip hop, drum and bass, trip hop, world music (including Portuguese fado, Brazilian bossa nova and Indian music), and a variety of others.^[29] Her influences have included Jeff Buckley, Portishead, Janet Jackson, Oasis, Caetano Veloso, Esthero, Amalia Rodrigues, Björk, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Cornershop, TLC, Mary J. Blige, Digable Planets, De La Soul, Radiohead, Madonna, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Verve, U2, Enya and Beck.^[29]^[4]

Furtado's music has also been influenced by her current residence, Toronto, which she calls "the most multicultural city in the entire world" and a place where she "can be any culture". Regarding Toronto's cultural diversity, she has said that she did not have to wait for the Internet revolution to learn about world music; she began listening to it at the age of five and continues to discover new genres.

“

I always know there's a new genre left to discover. For me, it's like a metaphor for life. I feel like if you can get down with any style of music, you can get down with any style of person. So it's fun for me—I get to expose my fans to different vibes and they, in turn, open their minds too. I'm always undergoing mind-opening.

”

2009-present: Upcoming albums

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On December 31, 2008 El Diario La Prensa posted an article that Furtado is planning on recording songs in English and Spanish for her upcoming album and that it is "expected to launch between May and August".^[25]

Furtado will be making a guest appearance on Flo Rida's new album, R.O.O.T.S., which is due to come out on March 31, 2009. the track titled "Jump" was produced by Timbaland, and is track number 2 in the album. It is currently unknown whether this will be released as a single or not.^[26] Furtado has also made a guest appearance on Divine Brown's Love Chronicles, co-writting and singing on the background of the song "Sunglasses".

In early March, a song called "Gotta Know" leaked in the internet and was said to be Nelly's. As response, on March 4, 2009 Furtado stated on her MySpace blog that the song is not hers and that she is recording two new albums: one in Spanish, and the other in Portuguese.^[27]

2006–2008: Loose

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Furtado's third album, Loose, was released in June 2006. She named it after the spontaneous, creative decisions she made while creating the album.^[11]^[12] Some have labeled her a "sellout" for seemingly abandoning her folk and rock roots in favour of hip hop and R&B, while others have accused her of attempting to "sex up" her music and appearance to sell more records.^[13]^[14] In this album, primarily produced by Timbaland, Furtado experiments with sounds from R&B, hip hop, and 1980s music.^[15] Furtado herself describes the album's sound as punk-hop, described as "modern, poppy, spooky" and as having "a mysterious, after-midnight vibe... extremely visceral".^[11] She attributed the youthful sound of the album to the presence of her two-year-old daughter.^[15] The album received generally positive reviews from critics,^[16] with some citing the "revitalising" effect of Timbaland on Furtado's music,^[17]^[18] and others calling it "slick, smart and surprising".^[19]

Loose has become the most successful album of Furtado's career so far, as it reached number one not only in Canada and the United States, but also several countries worldwide. The album produced her first number-one hit in the United States, "Promiscuous", as well as her first number-one hit in the United Kingdom, "Maneater". The single "Say It Right" eventually became Furtado's most successful song worldwide, due to its huge success in Europe and in the United States, where it became her second number-one hit. "All Good Things (Come to an End)" became her most successful song in Europe, topping single charts in numerous countries there.

On February 16, 2007, Furtado embarked on the "Get Loose Tour". She returned in March 2007 to her hometown of Victoria to perform a concert at the Save-On Foods Memorial Centre. In honour of her visit, local leaders officially proclaimed March 21, 2007, the first day of spring, as Nelly Furtado Day.^[20] After the tour, she released her first live DVD/CD named Loose the Concert.^[21] On April 1, 2007, Furtado was a performer at and host of the 2007 Juno Awards in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She won all five awards for which she was nominated, including Album of the Year and Single of the Year. She also appeared on stage at the Concert for Diana at Wembley Stadium in London on July 1, 2007, where she performed "Say It Right", "Maneater", and "I'm like a Bird".

In 2007, Furtado and Justin Timberlake were featured on Timbaland's single "Give It to Me",^[22] which became her third number-one single in the U.S. and second in the UK. In late 2008, Furtado collaborated with James Morrison on a song called "Broken Strings" for his album "Songs for You, Truths for Me". The single was released on December 8^[23] and peaked at #2 on the UK Singles Chart in early January.

In 2007, Furtado leaked plans to Flare regarding a song she was set to duet for Kylie Minogue's return. However, the song was not featured on her album X but Minogue says the aforementioned song "is still outstanding" and has plans to pursue it. She said "I am looking forward to getting in the studio and doing it because I know Nelly and I would have a great time together".^[24]

2003–2005: Folklore

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Furtado's second album, Folklore, was released in November 2003. The final track on the album, "Childhood Dreams", was dedicated to her daughter, Nevis. The album includes the single "Força" (meaning "strength" or "carry on" in Portuguese), the official anthem of the 2004 European Football Championship. Furtado performed this song in Lisbon at the championship's final, in which the Portugal national team played.^[8] The lead single is "Powerless (Say What You Want)" and the second single is the ballad "Try". The album was not as successful as her debut, partly due to the album's less "poppy" sound,^[9] as well as underpromotion from her label DreamWorks Records. DreamWorks had just been sold to Universal Music Group. In 2005, DreamWorks Records, along with many of its artists including Furtado, was absorbed into Geffen Records.

"Powerless (Say What You Want)" was later remixed, featuring Colombian rocker Juanes, who had previously worked with Furtado on his track "Fotografía" ("Photograph"). The two would collaborate again on "Te Busqué" ("I Found You"), a single from Furtado's 2006 album Loose.^[10]

2000–2002: Whoa, Nelly!

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Furtado continued the collaboration with Eaton and West, who co-produced her debut album, Whoa, Nelly! which was released in October 2000.

Following the release of the album, Furtado headlined the "Burn in the Spotlight Tour" and also appeared on Moby's Area:One tour.

The album was an international success, supported by three international singles: "I'm like a Bird", "Turn off the Light", and "...On the Radio (Remember the Days)". It received four Grammy Award nominations in 2002, and her debut single won for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. Furtado's work was also critically acclaimed for her innovative mixture of various genres and sounds. Slant Magazine called the album "a delightful and refreshing antidote to the army of 'pop princesses' and rap-metal bands that had taken over popular music at the turn of the millennium".^[5]

The sound of the album was strongly influenced by musicians who had traversed cultures and "the challenge of making heartfelt, emotional music that's upbeat and hopeful".^[6] According to Maclean's magazine, Whoa, Nelly! had sold five million copies worldwide as of August 2006.^[7]

The song "Scared of You" has portions of the song in Portuguese, while "Onde Estás" is entirely in Portuguese, reflecting Furtado's Portuguese heritage. The International Release of "Whoa Nelly" featured fellow Canadian Esthero on the song titled "I Feel You".

In 2002, Furtado appeared on the song "Thin Line", on underground hip hop group Jurassic 5's album Power in Numbers. The same year, Furtado provided her vocals to the Paul Oakenfold's song "The Harder They Come" from the album "Bunkka" and also made the song " These words are my own".She also had a collaboration with Colombian artist Juanes, in the song "Fotografia" where she showed her diversity of yet another language.

Musical career

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The first musicians Furtado interacted with were underground rappers and DJs.^[1] During a visit to Toronto the summer after eleventh grade, Furtado met Tallis Newkirk, member of the hip hop group Plains of Fascination. She contributed vocals to their 1996 album, Join the Ranks, on the track "Waitin' 4 the Streets".^[2] After graduating from Mount Douglas Secondary School in 1996, she moved to Toronto. The following year, she formed Nelstar, a trip hop duo with Newkirk. Ultimately, Furtado felt the trip-hop style of the duo was "too segregated" and believed it did not represent her personality or allow her to showcase her vocal ability.^[2] She left the group and planned to move back home.

Before moving, however, she performed at the 1997 Honey Jam, an "all-female urban" talent show.^[2]^[3] Her performance attracted the attention of The Philosopher Kings singer Gerald Eaton (aka Jarvis Church), who then approached her to write with him. He and fellow Kings member Brian West helped Furtado produce a demo. She left Toronto, but returned again to record more material with Eaton and West. The material recorded during these sessions led to her 1999 record deal with DreamWorks Records.^[4] Furtado's first single, "Party's Just Begun (Again)", was released that year on the Brokedown Palace: Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.

Nelly Furtado

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Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer of Portuguese (São Miguel Island) ancestry. She is a singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. She has sold over 15 million albums worldwide and currently resides in Toronto.

Furtado came to fame in 2000 with the release of her debut album Whoa, Nelly!, which featured her breakthrough Grammy Award-winning single "I'm like a Bird".

After becoming a mother and releasing the less commercially successful Folklore (2003), she returned to prominence in 2006 with the release of Loose and its hit singles "Promiscuous", "Maneater", "All Good Things (Come to an End)", and "Say It Right".

Furtado is known for experimenting with different instruments, sounds, genres, vocal styles and languages. This diversity has been influenced by her wide-ranging musical taste and her interest in different cultures

Classical music era

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Main article: Classical period (music)

The music of the Classical period is characterized by homophonic texture, or an obvious melody with accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable, allowing composers at the time to actually replace singer(s) as the focus of the music. Instrumental music therefore quickly replaced opera and other sung forms (such as oratorio) as the favorite of the musical audience and the epitome of great composition. This is not to say that opera disappeared. Indeed, during the classical period, several composers began producing operas for the general public, in their native languages (previous operas were generally in Italian).

Along with the gradual displacement of the voice in favor of stronger, clearer melodies, counterpoint also typically became a decorative flourish, often used near the end of a work or for a single movement. In its stead, simple patterns, such as arpeggios and, in piano music, Alberti bass (an accompaniment with a repeated pattern typically in the left hand) were used to liven the movement of the piece without creating a confusing additional voice. The now popular instrumental music was dominated by several well-defined forms: the sonata, the symphony, and the concerto, though none of these forms were specifically defined or taught at the time as they are now in the field of music theory. All three derive from sonata form, which is used to refer both to the overlying form of an entire work and the structure of a single movement. Sonata form matured during the Classical era to become the primary form of instrumental compositions throughout the 19th century.

The early Classical period was ushered in by the Mannheim School, which included such composers as Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, Carl Stamitz, and Christian Cannabich. It exerted a profound influence on Joseph Haydn and, through him, on all subsequent European music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the central figure of the Classical period, and his phenomenal and varied output in all genres defines our perception of the period. Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert were transitional composers, leading into the Romantic period, with their expansion of existing genres, forms, and even functions of music.

Baroque music

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Main article: Baroque music

Instrumental music became dominant in the Baroque, and most major music forms were defined. Counterpoint was one of the major forces in both the instrumental and the vocal music of the period. Although a strong religious musical tradition continued, secular music came to the fore with the development of the sonata, the concerto, and the concerto grosso.

Much Baroque music was designed for improvisation, with a figured bass provided by the composer for the performer to flesh out and ornament. The keyboard, particularly the harpsichord, was a dominant instrument, and the beginnings of well temperament opened up the possibilities of playing in all keys and of modulation.

Much Baroque music featured a basso continuo consisting of a keyboard, either harpsichord or organ (sometimes a lute instead), and a bass instrument, such as a viola da gamba or bassoon. The three outstanding composers of the period were Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, and Antonio Vivaldi, but a host of other composers, some with huge output, were active in the period.

Renaissance Music

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Main article: Renaissance music

The beginning of the Renaissance in music is not as clearly marked as the beginning of the Renaissance in the other arts, and unlike the Renaissance in the other arts, it did not begin in Italy, but in northern Europe, specifically in the area currently comprising central and northern France, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The style of the Burgundian composers, as the first generation of the Franco-Flemish school is known, was at first a reaction against the excessive complexity and mannered style of the late 14th century ars subtilior, and contained clear, singable melody and balanced polyphony in all voices. The most famous composers of the Burgundian school in the mid-15th century are Guillaume Dufay, Gilles Binchois, and Antoine Busnois.

By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers from the Low Countries and adjacent areas began to overspread Europe, moving especially into Italy where they were employed by the papal chapel and the aristocratic patrons of the arts, such as the Medici, the Este family in Ferrara, and the Sforza family in Milan. They carried their style with them: smooth polyphony which could be adapted for sacred or secular use as appropriate. Principal forms of sacred musical composition at the time were the mass, the motet, and the laude; secular forms included the chanson, the frottola, and later the madrigal.

The invention of printing had an immense influence on the dissemination of musical styles, and along with the movement of the Franco-Flemish musicians throughout Europe, contributed to the establishment of the first truly international style in European music since the unification of Gregorian chant under Charlemagne seven hundred years before. Composers of the middle generation of the Franco-Flemish school included Johannes Ockeghem, who wrote music in a contrapuntally complex style, with varied texture and an elaborate use of canonical devices; Jacob Obrecht, one of the most famous composers of masses in the last decades of the 15th century; and Josquin Desprez, probably the most famous composer in Europe before Palestrina, and who during the 16th century was renowned as one of the greatest artists in any form.

Music in the generation after Josquin explored increasing complexity of counterpoint; possibly the most extreme expression of this tendency is in the music of Nicolas Gombert, whose contrapuntal complexities influenced early instrumental music, such as the canzona and the ricercar, ultimately culminating in Baroque fugal forms.

By the middle of the 16th century, the international style began to break down, and several highly diverse stylistic trends became evident: a trend towards simplicity in sacred music, as directed by the Counter-Reformation Council of Trent, and as exemplified in the austere perfection of the music of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina; a trend towards complexity and chromaticism in the madrigal, which reached its extreme expression in the avant-garde style of the Ferrara School of Luzzaschi, and the late century madrigalist Carlo Gesualdo; and the grandiose, sonorous music of the Venetian school, which took advantage of the architecture of the Basilica San Marco di Venezia to create a music of antiphonal contrasts. The music of the Venetian school can be seen on the cusp of the Renaissance and the Baroque eras, and included the development of orchestration, ornamented instrumental parts, and continuo bass parts, all of which occurred within a span of several decades around 1600. Famous composers in Venice included the Gabrielis, Andrea and Giovanni, as well as Claudio Monteverdi, one of the most significant innovators at the end of the era.

Most parts of Europe had active, and well-differentiated, musical traditions by late in the century. In England, composers such as Thomas Tallis and William Byrd wrote sacred music in a style similar to that written on the continent, while an active group of home-grown madrigalists adapted the Italian form for English tastes: famous composers included Thomas Morley, John Wilbye and Thomas Weelkes. Spain developed instrumental and vocal styles of its own, with Tomás Luis de Victoria writing refined music similar to that of Palestrina, and numerous other composers writing for a new instrument called the guitar. Germany cultivated polyphonic forms built on the Protestant chorales, which replaced the Roman Catholic Gregorian Chant as a basis for sacred music, and imported wholesale the style of the Venetian school (the appearance of which defined the start of the Baroque era there). In addition, German composers wrote enormous amounts of organ music, establishing the basis for the later spectacular flowering of the Baroque organ style which culminated in the work of J.S. Bach. France developed a unique style of musical diction known as musique mesurée, used in secular chansons, with composers such as Guillaume Costeley and Claude Le Jeune prominent in the movement.

One of the most revolutionary movements in the era took place in Florence in the 1570s and 1580s, with the work of the Florentine Camerata, who ironically had a reactionary intent: dissatisfied with what they saw as contemporary musical depravities, their goal was to restore the music of the ancient Greeks. Chief among them were Vincenzo Galilei, the father of the astronomer, and Giulio Caccini. The fruits of their labors was a declamatory melodic singing style known as monody, and a corresponding dramatic form consisting of staged, acted monody: a form known today as opera. The first operas, written around 1600, also define the end of the Renaissance and the beginning of the Baroque eras.

Music prior to 1600 was modal rather than tonal. Several theoretical developments late in the 16th century, such as the writings on scales on modes by Gioseffo Zarlino and Franchinus Gaffurius, led directly to the development of common practice tonality. The major and minor scales began to predominate over the old church modes, a feature which was at first most obvious at cadential points in compositions, but gradually became pervasive. Music after 1600, beginning with the tonal music of the Baroque era, is often referred to as belonging to the common practice period.

Western Art Music

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Medieval music

Main article: Medieval music

While musical life was undoubtedly rich in the early Medieval era, as attested by artistic depictions of instruments, writings about music, and other records, the only repertory of music which has survived from before 800 to the present day is the plainsong liturgical music of the Roman Catholic Church, the largest part of which is called Gregorian chant. Pope Gregory I, who gave his name to the musical repertory and may himself have been a composer, is usually claimed to be the originator of the musical portion of the liturgy in its present form, though the sources giving details on his contribution date from more than a hundred years after his death. Many scholars believe that his reputation has been exaggerated by legend. Most of the chant repertory was composed anonymously in the centuries between the time of Gregory and Charlemagne.

During the 9th century several important developments took place. First, there was a major effort by the Church to unify the many chant traditions, and suppress many of them in favor of the Gregorian liturgy. Second, the earliest polyphonic music was sung, a form of parallel singing known as organum. Third, and of greatest significance for music history, notation was reinvented after a lapse of about five hundred years, though it would be several more centuries before a system of pitch and rhythm notation evolved having the precision and flexibility that modern musicians take for granted.

Several schools of polyphony flourished in the period after 1100: the St. Martial school of organum, the music of which was often characterized by a swiftly moving part over a single sustained line; the Notre Dame school of polyphony, which included the composers Léonin and Pérotin, and which produced the first music for more than two parts around 1200; the musical melting-pot of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, a pilgrimage destination and site where musicians from many traditions came together in the late Middle Ages, the music of whom survives in the Codex Calixtinus; and the English school, the music of which survives in the Worchester Fragments and the Old Hall Manuscript. Alongside these schools of sacred music a vibrant tradition of secular song developed, as exemplified in the music of the troubadours, trouvères and Minnesänger. Much of the later secular music of the early Renaissance evolved from the forms, ideas, and the musical aesthetic of the troubadours, courtly poets and itinerant musicians, whose culture was largely exterminated during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century.

Forms of sacred music which developed during the late 13th century included the motet, conductus, discant, and clausulae. One unusual development was the Geisslerlieder, the music of wandering bands of flagellants during two periods: the middle of the 13th century (until they were suppressed by the Church); and the period during and immediately following the Black Death, around 1350, when their activities were vividly recorded and well-documented with notated music. Their music mixed folk song styles with penitential or apocalyptic texts. The 14th century in European music history is dominated by the style of the ars nova, which by convention is grouped with the medieval era in music, even though it had much in common with early Renaissance ideals and aesthetics. Much of the surviving music of the time is secular, and tends to use the formes fixes: the ballade, the virelai, the lai, the rondeau, which correspond to poetic forms of the same names. Most pieces in these forms are for one to three voices, likely with instrumental accompaniment: famous composers include Guillaume de Machaut and Francesco Landini.

Music history eras

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Prehistoric music

Main article: Prehistoric music

Prehistoric music, once more commonly called primitive music, is the name given to all music produced in preliterate cultures (prehistory), beginning somewhere in very late geological history. Traditional Native American and Australian Aboriginal music could be called prehistoric, but the term is commonly used to refer to the music in Europe before the development of writing there. It is more common to call the "prehistoric" music of non-European continents – especially that which still survives – folk, indigenous, or traditional music.

Ancient music

Main article: Ancient music

The prehistoric era is considered to have ended with the development of writing, and with it, by definition, prehistoric music. "Ancient music" is the name given to the music that followed. The "oldest known song" was written in cuneiform, dating to 4,000 years ago from Ur. It was deciphered by Prof. Anne Draffkorn Kilmer (University of Calif. at Berkeley), and was demonstrated to be composed in harmonies of thirds, like ancient gymel (Kilmer, Crocker, Brown, Sounds from Silence, 1976, Bit Enki, Berkeley, Calif., LCC 76-16729), and also was written using a Pythagorean tuning of the diatonic scale.

Double pipes, such as used by the ancient Greeks, and ancient bagpipes, as well as a review of ancient drawings on vases and walls, etc., and ancient writings (such as in Aristotle, Problems, Book XIX.12) which described musical techniques of the time, indicate polyphony. One pipe in the aulos pairs (double flutes) likely served as a drone or "keynote," while the other played melodic passages. Instruments, such as the seven holed flute and various types of stringed instruments have been recovered from the Indus valley civilization archaeological sites.^[2]

Indian classical music (marga) can be found from the scriptures of the Hindu tradition, the Vedas. Samaveda, one of the four vedas describes music at length. The history of musical development in Iran [Persia] Persian music, dates back to the prehistoric era. The great legendary king, Jamshid, is credited with the invention of music. Music in Iran can be traced back to the days of the Elamite Empire (2,500-644 B.C). Fragmentary documents from various periods of the country's history establish that the ancient Persians possessed an elaborate musical culture. The Sassanian period (A.D. 226-651), in particular, has left us ample evidence pointing to the existence of a lively musical life in Persia. The names of some important musicians such as Barbod, Nakissa and Ramtin, and titles of some of their works have survived.

The term Early music era may also refer to contemporary but traditional or folk music, including Asian music, Persian music, music of India, Jewish music, Greek music, Roman music, the music of Mesopotamia, the music of Egypt, and Muslim music.

Early music

Main article: Early music

Early music is a general term used to describe music in the European classical tradition from after the fall of the Roman Empire, in 476 CE, until the end of the Baroque era in the middle of the 18th century. Music within this enormous span of time was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions within a wide geographic area; many of the cultural groups out of which medieval Europe developed already had musical traditions, about which little is known. What unified these cultures in the Middle Ages was the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as the focal point for musical development for the first thousand years of this period. Very little non-Christian music from this period survived, due to its suppression by the Church and the absence of music notation; however, folk music of modern Europe probably has roots at least as far back as the Middle Ages.

Sociology

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Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert. Musical performances take different forms in different cultures and socioeconomic milieus. In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a "high culture" and "low culture." "High culture" types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies, concertos, and solo works, and are typically heard in formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats.

Other types of music—including, but not limited to, jazz, blues, soul, and country—are often performed in bars, nightclubs, and theatres, where the audience may be able to drink, dance, and express themselves by cheering. Until the later 20th century, the division between "high" and "low" musical forms was widely accepted as a valid distinction that separated out better quality, more advanced "art music" from the popular styles of music heard in bars and dance halls.

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, musicologists studying this perceived divide between "high" and "low" musical genres argued that this distinction is not based on the musical value or quality of the different types of music.^{[citation needed]} Rather, they argued that this distinction was based largely on the socioeconomics standing or social class of the performers or audience of the different types of music.^{[citation needed]} For example, whereas the audience for Classical symphony concerts typically have above-average incomes, the audience for a rap concert in an inner-city area may have below-average incomes. Even though the performers, audience, or venue where non-"art" music is performed may have a lower socioeconomic status, the music that is performed, such as blues, rap, punk, funk, or ska may be very complex and sophisticated.

When composers introduce styles of music which break with convention, there can be a strong resistance from academic music experts and popular culture. Late-period Beethoven string quartets, Stravinsky ballet scores, serialism, bebop-era jazz, hip hop, punk rock, and electronica have all been considered non-music by some critics when they were first introduced.^{[citation needed]} Such themes are examined in the sociology of music. The sociological study of music, sometimes called sociomusicology, is often pursued in departments of sociology, media studies, or music, and is closely related to the field of ethnomusicology.

Music Cognition

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The field of music cognition involves the study of many aspects of music including how it is processed by listeners. Rather than accepting the standard practices of analyzing, composing, and performing music as a given, much research in music cognition seeks instead to uncover the mental processes that underlie these practices. Also, research in the field seeks to uncover commonalities between the musical traditions of disparate cultures and possible cognitive "constraints" that limit these musical systems. Questions regarding musical innateness, and emotional responses to music are also major areas of research in the field.

Deaf people can experience music by feeling the vibrations in their body, a process which can be enhanced if the individual holds a resonant, hollow object. A well-known deaf musician is the composer Ludwig van Beethoven, who composed many famous works even after he had completely lost his hearing. Recent examples of deaf musicians include Evelyn Glennie, a highly acclaimed percussionist who has been deaf since age twelve, and Chris Buck, a virtuoso violinist who has lost his hearing. This is relevant because it indicates that music is a deeper cognitive process than unexamined phrases such as, "pleasing to the ear" would suggest. Much research in music cognition seeks to uncover these complex mental processes involved in listening to music, which may seem intuitively simple, yet are vastly intricate and complex.

Music theory

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Music theory encompasses the nature and mechanics of music. It often involves identifying patterns that govern composers' techniques. In a more detailed sense, music theory (in the western system) also distills and analyzes the elements of music—rhythm, harmony (harmonic function), melody, structure, and texture. People who study these properties are known as music theorists.

Improvisation

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Musical improvisation is the creation of spontaneous music. Improvisation is often considered an act of instantaneous composition by performers, where compositional techniques are employed with or without preparation. Improvisation is a major part of some types of music, such as blues, jazz, and jazz fusion, in which instrumental performers improvise solos and melody lines. In the Western art music tradition, improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque era and during the Classical era; solo performers and singers would improvise virtuoso cadenzas during concerts. However, in the 20th and 21st century, improvisation played a smaller role in Western Art music.

Musical notation

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Notation is the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music is notated, along with instructions on how to perform the music. The study of how to read notation involves music theory, harmony, the study of performance practice, and in some cases an understanding of historical performance methods. Written notation varies with style and period of music. In Western Art music, the most common types of written notation are scores, which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece, and parts, which are the music notation for the individual performers or singers. In popular music, jazz, and blues, the standard musical notation is the lead sheet, which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and structure of the music. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz "big bands."

In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tablature (often abbreviated as "tab"), which indicates the location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tabulature was also used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute, a stringed, fretted instrument. Notated music is produced as sheet music. To perform music from notation requires an understanding of both the rhythmic and pitch elements embodied in the symbols and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or a genre.

Musical composition

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Composition" is often classed as the creation and recording of music via a medium by which others can interpret it (i.e. paper or sound). Many cultures use at least part of the concept of preconceiving musical material, or composition, as held in western classical music. Even when music is notated precisely, there are still many decisions that a performer has to make. The process of a performer deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers' interpretations of the same music can vary widely. Composers and song writers who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others or folk music. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and a given place is referred to as performance practice, where as interpretation is generally used to mean either individual choices of a performer, or an aspect of music which is not clear, and therefore has a "standard" interpretation.

In some musical genres, such as jazz and blues, even more freedom is given to the performer to engage in improvisation on a basic melodic, harmonic, or rhythmic framework. The greatest latitude is given to the performer in a style of performing called free improvisation, which is material that is spontaneously "thought of" (imagined) while being performed, not preconceived. Improvised music usually follows stylistic or genre conventions and even "fully composed" includes some freely chosen material. Composition does not always mean the use of notation, or the known sole authorship of one individual. Music can also be determined by describing a "process" which may create musical sounds; examples of this range from wind chimes, through computer programs which select sounds. Music which contains elements selected by chance is called Aleatoric music, and is associated with such composers as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutosławski.

Music can be composed for repeated performance or it can be improvised: composed on the spot. The music can be performed entirely from memory, from a written system of musical notation, or some combination of both. Study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition is broad enough to include spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African drummers such as the Ewe drummers.

What is important in understanding the composition of a piece is singling out its elements. An understanding of music's formal elements can be helpful in deciphering exactly how a piece is constructed. A universal element of music is how sounds occur in time, which is referred to as the rhythm of a piece of music. When a piece appears to have a changing time-feel, it is considered to be in rubato time, an Italian expression that indicates that the tempo of the piece changes to suit the expressive intent of the performer. Even random placement of random sounds, which occurs in musical montage, occurs within some kind of time, and thus employs time as a musical element.

Production

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Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Amateur musicians compose and perform music for their own pleasure, and they do not derive their income from music. Professional musicians are employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed forces, churches and synagogues, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production companies, and music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings.

There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles and orchestras. In some cases, amateur musicians attain a professional level of competence, and they are able to perform in professional performance settings. A distinction is often made between music performed for the benefit of a live audience and music that is performed for the purpose of being recorded and distributed through the music retail system or the broadcasting system. However, there are also many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is recorded and distributed (or broadcast).

Ornamentation

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The detail included explicitly in the music notation varies between genres and historical periods. In general, art music notation from the 17th through the 19th century required performers to have a great deal of contextual knowledge about performing styles. For example, in the 17th and 18th century, music notated for solo performers typically indicated a simple, unornamented melody. However, it was expected that performers would know how to add stylistically-appropriate ornaments such as trills and turns. In the 19th century, art music for solo performers may give a general instruction such as to perform the music expressively, without describing in detail how the performer should do this. It was expected that the performer would know how to use tempo changes, accentuation, and pauses (among other devices) to obtain this "expressive" performance style. In the 20th century, art music notation often became more explicit and used a range of markings and annotations to indicate to performers how they should play or sing the piece.

In popular music and jazz, music notation almost always indicates only the basic framework of the melody, harmony, or performance approach; musicians and singers are expected to know the performance conventions and styles associated with specific genres and pieces. For example, the "lead sheet" for a jazz tune may only indicate the melody and the chord changes. The performers in the jazz ensemble are expected to know how to "flesh out" this basic structure by adding ornaments, improvised music, and chordal accompaniment.

Aural tradition

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Many types of music, such as traditional blues and folk music were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down orally, or aurally (by ear). When the composer of music is no longer known, this music is often classified as "traditional". Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those which demand improvisation or modification to the music. A culture's history may also be passed by ear through song.

Performance

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Performance is the physical expression of music. Often, a musical work is performed once its structure and instrumentation are satisfactory to its creators; however, as it gets performed, it can evolve and change. A performance can either be rehearsed or improvised. Improvisation is a musical idea created without premeditation, while rehearsal is vigorous repetition of an idea until it has achieved cohesion. Musicians will sometimes add improvisation to a well-rehearsed idea to create a unique performance.

Many cultures include strong traditions of solo and performance, such as in Indian classical music, and in the Western Art music tradition. Other cultures, such as in Bali, include strong traditions of group performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance may range from improvised solo playing for one's enjoyment to highly planned and organised performance rituals such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, music festivals or music competitions. Chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than symphonic works.

Non-Western Classical traditions

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Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.^[12] The Indus Valley civilization has sculptures which show dance^[13] and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harrappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.^[14] The Rigveda has elements of present Indian music, with a musical notation to denote the metre and the mode of chanting.^[15] Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based around a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas. Carnatic music is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are a lot of songs emphasising love and other social issues. Hindustani music was also influenced by the Persian performance practices of the Afghan Mughals.

Asian music covers the music cultures of Arabia, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Chinese classical music, the traditional art or court music of China, has a history stretching over around three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5+7 = 12) as does European-influenced music. Persian music is the music of Persia and Persian language countries: musiqi, the science and art of music, and muzik, the sound and performance of music (Sakata 1983). See also: Music of Iran, Music of Afghanistan, Music of Tajikistan, Music of Uzbekistan).

The music of Greece was a major part of ancient Greek theater. In Ancient Greece, mixed-gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration and spiritual reasons. Instruments included the double-reed aulos and the plucked string instrument, the lyre, especially the special kind called a kithara. Music was an important part of education in ancient Greece, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created a flowering of development; Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes, eventually became the basis for Western religious music and classical music. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music.

Western cultures

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During the Medieval music era (500-1400), the only European repertory which has survived from before about 800 is the monophonic liturgical plainsong of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant. Alongside these traditions of sacred and church music there existed a vibrant tradition of secular song. From the Renaissance music era (1400-1600), much of the surviving music of 14th century Europe is secular. By the middle of the 15th century, composers and singers used a smooth polyphony for sacred musical compositions. The introduction of commercial printing helped to disseminate musical styles more quickly and across a larger area.

The era of Baroque music (1600-1750) began when the first operas were written and when contrapuntal music became prevalent. German Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as choirs, pipe organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. During the Baroque period, several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto.^[8] The music of the Classical period (1750-1800) is characterized by homophonic texture, often featuring a prominent melody with accompaniment. These new melodies tended to be almost voice-like and singable. The now popular instrumental music was dominated by further evolution of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata, and the concerto, with the addition of the new form, the symphony. Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are among the central figures of the Classical period.

In 1800, the Romantic era (1800-1890s) in music developed, with Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert as transitional composers who introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. During this era, existing genres, forms, and functions of music were developed, and the emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over technique and tradition. In Beethoven's case, motifs (developed organically) came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit. The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and in the role of concerts as part of urban society. Later Romantic composers created complex and often much longer musical works. They used more complex chords and used more dissonance to create dramatic tension. With 20th century music, there was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music. The focus of art music was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th century art music.

Jazz evolved and became a significant genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music did the same. Jazz is an American musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. The style's West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note.^[9] From its early development until the present, jazz has also incorporated music from 19th and 20th century American popular music.^[10] Jazz has, from its early 20th century inception, spawned a variety of subgenres, ranging from New Orleans Dixieland (1910s) to 1970s and 1980s-era jazz-rock fusion.

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed in the 1960s from 1950s rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, and country music. The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section of electric bass guitar, drums, and keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, digital synthesizers. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."^[11] In the late 1960s and early 1970s, rock music branched out into different subgenres, ranging from blues rock and jazz-rock fusion to heavy metal and punk rock, as well as the more classical influenced genre of progressive rock.

Music (disambiguation).

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Music is an art form whose medium is sound organized in time. Common elements of music are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. The word derives from Greek μουσική (mousike), "(art) of the Muses".^[1]

The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music vary according to culture and social context. Music ranges from strictly organized compositions (and their recreation in performance), through improvisational music to aleatoric forms. Music can be divided into genres and subgenres, although the dividing lines and relationships between music genres are often subtle, sometimes open to individual interpretation, and occasionally controversial. Within "the arts", music may be classified as a performing art, a fine art, and auditory art.

To people in many cultures, music is inextricably intertwined into their way of life. Greek philosophers and ancient Indians defined music as tones ordered horizontally as melodies and vertically as harmonies. Common sayings such as "the harmony of the spheres" and "it is music to my ears" point to the notion that music is often ordered and pleasant to listen to. However, 20th-century composer John Cage thought that any sound can be music, saying, for example, "There is no noise, only sound."^[2] According to musicologist Jean-Jacques Nattiez, "the border between music and noise is always culturally defined—which implies that, even within a single society, this border does not always pass through the same place; in short, there is rarely a consensus.… By all accounts there is no single and intercultural universal concept defining what music might be, except that it is 'sound through time'."[3

The Basics of Making Electronica/Dance Music

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What You Need to Know to Begin Producing
1. Drums. Drum beats provide the heart and soul of any track you hear out on the dance floor. Creating a strong drum beat that cuts through the rest of your mix will make your song much easier to dance to and much more
appealing to those listening to it. Boost the EQ of your drums around 80-160 hz to make your kick drum have
more bass and power. Boost the EQ of your drums from 2500-6000 hz to make your snares have a little more 'snap' to them. It has also become much more common to add distortion to your drums to make them dirtier and harsher sounding.

Not only the specific sounds of your drums, but the ways in which you arrange your drum sounds will have a huge impact on a track as well. Drum breakdowns and build-ups are important components of a song and songs with especially exciting drum breaks and builds will get large crowds fired up.

2. Bass. Most hard clubbing tracks (and note I say 'most' and not 'all') are built around a strong bass sound, be it a synthesizer (the industry norm) or a sample or some other type of instrument. A melodically intriguing or 'catchy' bass line within your track can carry it straight to the top. Think of the Benny Benassi song 'Satisfaction', nearly everyone instantly recognizes the bass line on that track and it is a simple 8 beat loop. Just goes to show the power of simplicity.

Adding distortion and sidechaining a compressor to a bass line are two ways you can make your bass really jump, but in the long run it never hurts to have a super catchy melody.

3. Vocals. Not all Dance tracks (very few actually) have sampled or recorded vocals, but one glance at any music chart will show that those tracks with memorable vocals tend to be more successful and are easier to market to a wider crowd. Just something to consider.

Music Therapy

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Research has shown that music has a profound effect on your body and psyche. In fact, there’s a growing field of health care known as Music Therapy, which uses music to heal. Those who practice music therapy are finding a benefit in using music to help cancer patients, children with ADD, and others, and even hospitals are beginning to use music and music therapy to help with pain management, to help ward off depression, to promote movement, to calm patients, to ease muscle tension, and for many other benefits that music and music therapy can bring. This is not surprising, as music affects the body and mind in many powerful ways. The following are some of effects of music, which help to explain the effectiveness of music therapy:

Invention OF Music

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Lucretius ascribes its invention to the whistling of the winds in hollow reeds. Franckinus, to the various sounds produced by the hammers of Tubal-Cain; Boutique and others to the singing of birds; and Zarlino to the sound of water. It is however agreed that music was first reduced to rules by Jubal, 1800 B. C. The flute and harmony or concord in music was invented by Hyagnis, 1506. Vocal choruses of men are first mentioned 56 B. C. The first six musical notes are said to have been invented by Guy Aretino, a Benedictine monk of Arezzo, about 1025. The notes of present use were perfected in 1338. Musical pitch was settled in France in 1859. Pythagoras maintained that the motion of the twelve spheres must produce delightful sounds inaudible to mortal ears, which he called the music of the spheres. Saint Cecilia, a Roman lady, is said to have excelled so eminently in music, that an angel was enticed from the celestial regions by the fascinating charms of her melody; this hyperbolical tradition has been deemed sufficient authority to make her the patroness of music. She died in the third century.

Exclusion of popular music

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According to Richard Middleton, the strongest criticism of (historical) musicology has been that it by and large ignores popular music. Though musicological study of popular music has vastly increased in quantity recently, Middleton's assertion in 1990-- that most major "works of musicology, theoretical or historical, act as though popular music did not exist" -- holds true. Academic and conservatory training typically only peripherally addresses this broad spectrum of musics, and many (historical) musicologists who are "both contemptuous and condescending are looking for types of production, musical form, and listening which they associate with a different kind of music...'classical music'...and they generally find popular music lacking"

He cites three main aspects of this problem (p.104-6). The terminology of historical musicology is "slanted by the needs and history of a particular music ('classical music')." He acknowledges that "there is a rich vocabulary for certain areas [harmony, tonality, certain part-writing and forms], important in musicology's typical corpus"; yet he points out that there is "an impoverished vocabulary for other areas [rhythm, pitch nuance and gradation, and timbre], which are less well developed" in Classical music. Middleton argues that a number of "terms are ideologically loaded" in that "they always involve selective, and often unconsciously formulated, conceptions of what music is."

As well, he claims that historical musicology uses "a methodology slanted by the characteristics of notation," 'notational centricity' (Tagg 1979, p.28-32). As a result "musicological methods tend to foreground those musical parameters which can be easily notated" such as pitch relationships or the relationship between words and music. On the other hand, historical musicology tends to "neglect or have difficulty with parameters which are not easily notated", such as tone colour or non-Western rhythms. In addition, he claims that the "notation-centric training" of Western music schools "induces particular forms of listening, and these then tend to be applied to all sorts of music, appropriately or not". As a result, Western music students trained in historical musicology may listen to a funk or latin song that is very rhythmically complex, but then dismiss it as a low-level musical work because it has a very simple melody and only uses two or three chords.

Notational centricity also encourages "reification: the score comes to be seen as 'the music', or perhaps the music in an ideal form." As such, music that does not use a written score, such as jazz, blues, or folk, can become demoted to a lower level of status. As well, historical musicology has "an ideology slanted by the origins and development of a particular body of music and its aesthetic...It arose at a specific moment, in a specific context - nineteenth-century Europe, especially Germany - and in close association with that movement in the musical practice of the period which was codifying the very repertory then taken by musicology as the centre of its attention." These terminological, methodological, and ideological problems affect even works symphathetic to popular music. However, it is not "that musicology cannot understand popular music, or that students of popular music should abandon musicology" (p.104).

Critiques

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Exclusion of disciplines and musics

In its most narrow definition, historical musicology is the music history of Western culture. Such a definition arbitrarily excludes disciplines other than history, cultures other than Western, and forms of music other than "classical" ("art", "serious", "high culture") or notated ("artificial") - implying that the omitted disciplines, cultures, and musical styles/genres are somehow inferior. A somewhat broader definition incorporating all musical humanities is still problematic, because it arbitrarily excludes the relevant (natural) sciences (acoustics, psychology, physiology, neurosciences, information and computer sciences, empirical sociology and aesthetics) as well as musical practice.

Within historical musicology, scholars have been reluctant to adopt postmodern and critical approaches that are common elsewhere in the humanities. According to Susan McClary (2000, p.1285) the discipline of "music lags behind the other arts; it picks up ideas from other media just when they have become outmoded." Only in the 1990s did historical musicologists, preceded by feminist musicologists in the late 1980s, begin to address issues such as gender, sexualities, bodies, emotions, and subjectivities which dominated the humanities for twenty years before (ibid, p.10). In McClary's words (1991, p.5), "It almost seems that musicology managed miraculously to pass directly from pre- to postfeminism without ever having to change - or even examine - its ways." Furthermore, in their discussion on musicology and rock music, Susan McClary and Robert Walser also address a key struggle within the discipline: how musicology has often "dismisse[d] questions of socio-musical interaction out of hand, that part of classical music's greatness is ascribed to its autonomy from society." (1988, p. 283)

History Before 1800

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History

Before 1800

The first studies of Western musical history date back to the middle of the 18th century. G.B. Martini published a three volume history titled Storia della musica (History of Music) between 1757 and 1781. Martin Gerbert published a two volume history of sacred music titled De cantu de musica sacra in 1774. Gerbert followed this work with a three volume work Scriptores ecclesiastici de musica sacra containing significant writings on sacred music from the third century AD onwards in 1784.

1800-1950

Ludwig van Beethoven's manuscript sketch for Piano Sonata No. 28, Movement IV, Geschwind, doch nicht zu sehr und mit Entschlossenheit (Allegro), in his own handwriting. The piece was completed in 1816.

In the twentieth century, the work of Johannes Wolf and others developed studies in Medieval music and early Renaissance music. Wolf's writings on the history of musical notation are considered to be particularly notable by musicologists. Historical musicology has played a critical role in renewed interest in Baroque music as well as medieval and Renaissance music. In particular, the authentic performance movement owes much to historical musicological scholarship. Towards the middle of the twentieth century, musicology (and its largest subfield of historical musicology) expanded significantly as a field of study. Concurrently the number of musicological and music journals increased to create further outlets for the publication of research. The domination of German language scholarship ebbed as significant journals sprang up throughout the West, especially America.

History OF Music

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The field of music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is the highly diverse of the broader discipline of musicology that studies the composition, performance, reception, and criticism of music over time. Historical studies of music are for example concerned with a composer's life and works, the developments of styles and genres (such as baroque concertos), the social function of music for a particular group of people (such as music at the court), or the modes of performance at a particular place and time (such as the performance forces of Johann Sebastian Bach's choir in Leipzig).

In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of any type or genre of music (e.g., the history of Indian music or the history of rock). In practice, these research topics are nearly always categorized as part of ethnomusicology or cultural studies, whether or not they are ethnographically based.

The methods of music history include source studies (esp. manuscript studies), paleography, philology (especially textual criticism), style criticism, historiography (the choice of historical method), musical analysis, and iconography. The application of musical analysis to further these goals is often a part of music history, though pure analysis or the development of new tools of music analysis is more likely to be seen in the field of music theory. (For a more detailed discussion of the methods see the section on "Research in Music History" below) Some of the intellectual products of music historians include editions of musical works, biography of composers and other musicians, studies of the relationship between words and music, and the reflections upon the place of music in society.