Essay
the development of musical styles (A level essay)
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this essay is an example of a typical A-level CIE music section C response, providing an in-depth analysis of the development of musical styles.
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How do musical styles develop?This essay aims to discuss how musical styles have developed over time,
due to various aspects such as political pressures, technological
developments, and the diversity of notation forms in various cultures.
While I would like to argue that historical events over time have had a
large impact on musical development, it should be acknowledged that
they have had little to no effect on genres such as South Indian Carnatic
music, where the style of learning and teaching has remained similar
since its founding in the 13th century. However, various points in time such
as the aftermath of the Bolshevik revolution played a vital part in
transforming the music of Russian composers, due to the strict ideologies
of the Communist party. Overall, I would like to argue that while time and
notation have had a major impact on the development of various music
styles, I believe that technology has had the biggest effect, due to
transformative innovations such as internet-based streaming and digital
recording software, allowing for a greater consumption, acknowledgement
and in turn synthesis of various genres.
Firstly, I would like to discuss the ways in which societal circumstances
have developed musical styles. The political events in 19th / 20th century
America allowed for a mingling of various musical genres, such as blues,
due to formerly enslaved African Americans taking inspiration from
hymns, ragtime and minstrel show music while working on Southern
plantations. Although a variety of genres contributed to the creation of
jazz, blues was perhaps the most prominent, as it was the first music to
emphasize improvisation as well as containing unique harmonic
coloration, becoming an integral part of jazz vocabulary. Blues music
continued to influence other genres such as pop and R&B, songs such as ‘I
still haven’t found what I’m looking for’ by U2 are built upon a 12 bar
blues progression, a sequence originally used by jazz artists such as
Charlie Parker in ‘blues for Alice’. Other artists such as Pink Floyd have
written albums based on the themes of conflict and morality, as seen in
their album “The dark side of the moon”. Pink Floyd’s influence can be felt
in styles such as psychedelic space rock and early progressive rock, two
genres which heavily influenced following pop artists such as Tame Impala
and Radiohead.
As much as various points in time have influenced the development of
music, I believe technology has played the biggest part in doing so. The
invention of vinyl records meant a wide range of music from a variety of
cultures could be stored and listened to years later. Electronic artists such
as four tet have sampled pieces from genres such as Carnatic music,
found by crate digging in vinyl stores, as seen in his album
‘morning/evening’. Another example of his music taking influences from
world music can be seen in his song ‘parallel 6’, as it uses samples from
polyrhythmic drum patterns typically found in West African music.
Similarly, artists such as Bonobo and Marhaba have fused elements of
world music with their own, an example of which being Bonobo’s ‘Sirius’,
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