Pop Music - History and Facts Revealed (music history lessons)
By Sayid Aksa
One genre that appeals to most everyone is pop music owing to its light and catchy qualities. Pop music is so aptly called because it is a categorization that is largely based on the popularity of a song. There is no clear and distinct parameters to classify a song as pop music. For the most part, its popularity should translate to records sold and radio air times.
Pop music is a combination of various styles influenced by the evolving music forms. The development of pop music is one that is progressive, rolling over from generation to generation to snowball into its current form. As this is so, pop music has taken so many forms through each decade to reflect the musical preference of a particular generation.
Rich Vocals
During the 50s, popular tunes were those that were vocally rich with a string accompaniment and a vocal chorus back up. Country music and American folk music were great hits along with variations of standard formats. Great American songbook classics, crooners and big band singers adopted other musical techniques to give their music a modern twist. The listening public lapped these enhancements up and caused songs like Mack the Knife and Singing the Blues to top the charts. In contrast to these classics, rock and roll likewise rocked the American music industry with fast and infectious beats of Rock Around the Clock, Heartbreak Hotel, and Tutti Fruitti. These tunes not only rocked the airwaves, they also rocked the dance floors.
All in the Band
The next decade brought in what is called as the novelty song characterized by humorous lyric combined with melodies that are simple yet catchy (i.e. Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, California Girls, and Good Vibrations). Worthy of note is the fact that the vocal harmonies and lyrics of these songs revolved around Californias surf, girls and cars. Thus the label Surf pop. Other popular music during the sixties were youth-oriented band music in up-tempo beat, I Want to Hold Your Hand,Cant Buy Me Love, Downtown, and To Sir With Love.” African American music likewise joined the popular music scene with its doo-wop style that gives prominence to melodic sounds and vocal harmonies. Rhythm and blues as well as Motown soul music were also chart-toppers during this period.
Cacophony of Sounds
From the 1970s to the present, pop music is as diverse as they come. A slowdown in musical tempo was seen in the early seventies when folk-based artists took center stage. Popular during these times were songs written by the singers themselves. Tempos picked up again towards in the second half of the decade when disco-dancing became a favorite pastime among the youth. Dance tunes Play That Funky Music, Staying Alive, and YMCA dominated the airwaves and the disco scene.
The 1980s and 1990s music scene was composed of music soundtracks, international hits, rock and roll, and pop icon duets. Another music development in this decade is the advent of charity records where artists put their talents together to raise funds for a cause. Particularly characteristic of the last two decades are the prevalence of songs by female artists like Mariah Carrey, Celine Dion, and pop icon Madonna. The new millennium kept with soulful ballads, hip hop pieces and dance tracks. Movie soundtracks remained chart-toppers.
Pop music is a genre that will always be around. People will always listen to music and music labels and radio stations will continue to track what songs people are listening to. For as long as people are playing and listening to music, there will always be a chart-topper.
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Sayid Aksa is the author of http://musicmars.com
You can watch best pop music videos and other cool music videos from various genres on his site.
Is There Such Thing As Free Legal Music Search?
By Ed Murray
There are lots of free music search engine tools out there, but you still have to be careful to choose the right one. Although some of the leading music search engines appear free at first, these sites can be are littered with adware and all sorts of spyware that infest your computer and eventually you may end up paying a very high price for your ‘free’ music.
These spyware and collect all kinds of data on the users of the computers they infect like surfing habits, sites visited, users keystrokes and even installing software without users knowing. If a new browser pops open by itself on your computer with some tacky ad on it, then you probably been infected by adware and you should run your anti-virus.
One of the top music search engines have been known to infect up to 80% of computers that use its search function and all sorts of valuable data can be collected once infected. This data could even end up with the trial lawyers as a means to prosecute users for illegal downloads, as has happened in the past. So a good firewall is necessary and knowing what sites are safe should be foremost if you want to surf for free music downloads in the net.
So, what are the advantages of music search engines? Firstly, they offer you the opportunity of simply listening online to any song you like without having to download music. Also, you don’t need to know the exact title of the song to find the song youre looking for. One site we came across during our research is clipniche.com which is a commercial MP3 and a powerful music search engine solution that allows website owners to put the script on their site. This site has a sophisticated search script that found every song title, artist or album we searched for. The site has a free demo page that allows anyone unlimited use of the search tool and allows the user to stream or download the music and no adware or spyware detected.
So, is it legal? The answer will always be clouded by the music industry, but there is not illegal to use sites like clipniche for listening to music. The problem may be if you start distributing the music downloaded from these sites, but even that is debatable. I found it much easier to simply listen to the streaming music without downloading, so there are no legal issues or loopholes whatsoever. You should really be more worried about the harm you may do to your computer by visiting the wrong sites. The music industry is coming to the realization that music search engines are actually good for their sales as users will always want a real copy of the music they really like without fear of buying something they are unfamiliar with.
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Getting Communities Unite Through The Community Theatre
By MIKE SELVON
Community theatre is basically a theatre that is run by a particular community. Community theatres usually perform a variety of theatrical productions, ranging from dance theatre, to musical theatre to children’s theatre. For the most part, participants in community theatres are amateur actors and performers, although sometimes professionals participate as well. Over all, the existence of community theatres around the world is a fun way to get communities working together.
Now, most theatres around the world are community theatres. The definition of community theatre is a theatre that puts on shows that will entertain or benefit the community. In the 1880s, “little theatre” was started in Europe so that poorer people could see theatrical productions without having to travel far or pay a lot.
In 1910, this idea traveled to the United States, yet these little theatres were more of an anti-Broadway movement. Most theatre productions of that time were part of “The Syndicate,” which was a company that basically owned all the theatres under it and shunned anyone who wasn’t a part of it.
This way the owners of the Syndicate could make more money. It was nearly impossible to have a functioning theatre company outside of the Syndicate. However, during this time people began to fight against the commercialization of theatre arts, so the Syndicate did not last long.
In the early years, community theatres were even funded by the government, but when shows became too political, government funding was stopped. Community theatres of today are a little different than the old “little theatres,” as most simply want to infuse a little culture into the lives of the local citizens. In many cases, these theatres are run by colleges and their theatre departments. These productions are often free of charge, or charge very little money to pay for costumes and other incidental expenses.
Many also encourage the participation of children and other young people to let them develop theatrical skills, as well as to keep them busy so that they do not choose to get into trouble. Theatre is seen as a wholesome activity for young people to be involved with, and the fact that a production takes a lot of hard work and dedication is good as well.
It is always exciting to learn the history of something you are interested in. Learning the history of community theatre is exciting as well, as they are definitely an innovative and exciting way to get community members working together. Additionally, for those who aspire to become professional actors and to one day secure a part in a national theatre production, it is an exciting venue to learn and develop theatrical skills.
Enrich your knowledge further about the community theatre from Mike Selvon portal. We appreciate your feedback at our ballet audition blog where a free gift awaits you.
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