Popular music

Popular music is music that many people enjoy. It is shared with large groups through the music industry. Unlike art music, which needs special training to understand, popular music can be enjoyed and even performed by anyone, even without much musical training. It is a kind of popular art that reaches wide audiences, often through recordings.

The term "popular music" first appeared in the 1880s in the United States, especially around a place called Tin Pan Alley. While people sometimes use "pop music" and "popular music" as if they mean the same thing, they are different. Popular music is a general word for many kinds of music that lots of people like, while pop music is just one type within popular music.

Popular music songs usually have simple, easy-to-sing melodies and repeat parts like the verse and chorus many times. From the 1960s to the mid-2000s, people mainly listened to music in collections called albums.

Today, music can easily travel from one place to another because songs are digital files. This has helped popular music spread around the world. For example, in Africa, Indonesia, and the Middle East, local music styles mix with Western pop music to create exciting new sounds.

Definition

Popular music is music that many people enjoy. It is shared widely through radio, TV, and the internet. Unlike classical music, which people often learn from written scores, popular music is usually discovered by listening to it. It can appeal to many different kinds of listeners and is often sold in stores and online.

Scholars have tried to define popular music in many ways. Some say it is music made by large companies and bought by the public. Others think it reflects the values and ideas of the time it is created. Popular music can also give people a way to express themselves and connect with others.

Form of Western popular music

Main article: Song structure

Popular music songs often have parts like verses, choruses, and bridges. The verse and chorus are the main parts. The verse has the same tune but different words each time, and the chorus repeats a special tune and line. Some songs may also have an introduction or a coda, but these are not always needed.

In many pop songs, you’ll find a bridge that connects the verse and chorus. Sometimes songs include a solo section, especially in rock or blues styles, where a single instrument, like a guitar or harmonica, plays a melodic line. One popular structure is the thirty-two-bar form, which uses four sections, each usually eight measures long, creating a pattern of two verses, a bridge, and a final verse.

History

Main article: Music industry

See also: Album era

Popular music started to grow in the late 1700s and early 1800s, especially in North America and Europe. At that time, sheet music was very important. People could buy sheet music for songs and play them at home, often on pianos. This let many people enjoy music together.

As time passed, new ways to share music appeared. In the early 1900s, devices like player pianos and gramophones made it easier for people to hear popular songs. Radio started in the 1920s, which helped everyone listen to the same songs at the same time. Later, television also showed popular music on variety shows. These changes made it easier for everyone, no matter where they lived or how much money they had, to enjoy popular music.

Popular genres of music

There are many different types, or genres, of music around the world—over 300! Pop music is often the most popular. In places like the United States, rock, rap, hip-hop, blues, and R&B have also been very popular for a long time.

The popularity of music genres changes a lot over the years. New trends or big events can affect this. For example, classical music was very popular in the 19th and 20th centuries, but not as much today. In the 1980s in America, rock music was very popular, but later pop music became more popular. Since the early 2000s, pop music has often been number one on charts, but since 2017, R&B and hip-hop have taken the lead.

Changes

Since the 1960s, popular music has changed in sound, length, and style. Songs have become slower, with the average beats per minute dropping from 116 in the 1960s to 100 in the 2000s. Back then, most songs were about three minutes long to fit on records. Today, many top songs are a bit longer, around 3 minutes and 30 seconds.

These changes happened because of new technologies like CDs and streaming. They let songs be any length. Artists now focus more on current events and different topics, making music for many tastes around the world.

Global perspective

Main articles: African popular music, Music of Indonesia

Popular music around the world comes in many forms, each with its own story. In places outside of the West, these styles are often called world music. This term groups many different kinds of music together, making them seem new and exciting to people in Western countries. Today, new technology helps music travel from cities to villages and back again, creating a mix of old and new sounds.

In Africa, popular music often grows from traditional styles. For example, Maskanda music is well-loved in South Africa. Music has also been used to share important messages. Today, many young Africans use hip-hop to talk about their lives and ideas, connecting with both their own cultures and the world.

In Indonesia, popular music often mixes Western styles with local traditions. Dangdut is one such mix, combining different sounds to create something new that many people enjoy. In China, young people listen to many kinds of music, from local Chinese songs to music from around the world, thanks to changes in technology and culture.