Friday, April 10, 2009

Classical Music

Sit back, relax, take out a book, and turn on some classical music. What if suddenly you were blown back, your ears blown apart by incredibly loud, obnoxiously unrhythmic screaming of some Canadian screamo band? Believe it or not, that was classical music that you were just listening to.

What is classical music? Wikipedia defines it as "a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 9th century to present times." Let's pick that apart. Classical music must have Western roots. Classical music must be from the 9th century onwards. But wait a minute; don't the China and India both have music that is accepted as classical music? China, already have a well established musical culture as early as the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BC – 256 BC)? Unless I'm mistaken, Chinese music is certainly not Western; and this music is over 2000 years older than Western music from the 9th century. India too, had classical music as early as one Millenia BCE. The oldest set of rules regarding Indian Classical music can be found in Narada's Sangita Makarandha treatise from 1100 BC. So both of these examples are accepted as "Classical Music" and both are before the 9th Century, and not in Europe. We can agree that this example can be trashed.

After much searching, I found a definition that fits my point of view: Classical music is a "traditional genre of music conforming to an established form and appealing to critical interest and developed musical taste". This definition seems to apply to all that we consider classical music and more! Not only are Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and Seitz included but also modern composers like John Williams, country/western singers, and classical Native American dances! But by the definition, it is not the composer or the singer that makes the music classical, but the aggregate of the musical community, popular interest, and all together, anyone who listens to it. Therefore, bathroom singing, humming, and drunken wailing are disqualified. However, Native American dances are traditional, they conform to an established form, and are developed. Country Western music is arguably traditional, it has remained somewhat unchanged, and appeal to critical interest, so therefor it is also classical music. Ancient Indian and Chinese music also falls under this definition of classical music.

So when you turned on that classical music, perhaps you were listening to classical music. After all, screamo music is somewhat traditional, evolving from the hardcore punk genre, and has been around for almost 20 years. It does conform to set standards, never falling under a certain volume, and though not as developed as most accepted classical music, is developed nonetheless. After all, just as beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, "classical music" may be classical to some and a jumble of incoherent screaming to others. What's your take on this?

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