“Good music” can be defined in many ways. However, good music can be whatever can get people singing along with bringing people together as a whole. One piece of music that really fits this category is Bob Marley’s “One Love / People Get Ready”. This song talks about people getting together as one, signifying “one love”. Marley and this song stem from a reggae genre of music in Jamaica. What makes this song interesting is that Marley composes multiple people to sing this song. As he is the main and lead singer, there are times (such as the chorus) where people come together and sing the main melody, which gives it a very heterophonic feel. The tone of the music was also very upbeat, giving that sense of popular music to spread to other people. This song can connect to music and political expression because within this song Marley conveys a deeper message. Bob Marley is also known widely for his connection and influence on politics and movements across the world worldwide with his song reaching national stardom. With the influence Marley has, he was able to get his message across to multiple nations.

Hinduism is one of the world’s oldest religions, up there with buddhism and judaism. This religion stems from the Indian subcontinent, spreading its tradition to other parts of the world, such as today in the United states which now recognizes diwali (a hindu holiday) as a nationwide holiday. The music that stems from hinduism has a lot to do with their beliefs and worship. This religion tends to have beliefs of blessing a new car, a new house, to having a “maticoor” in which families come together to celebrate the unification of two individuals.

Here is an example of a Maticoor night song at a Maticoor ceremony. These songs don’t usually stick to our music elements vocab, however, if you listen closely you can hear the melody of the harmonium. The woman vocalizing also plays a big factor into the music, in which she gives way for the tempo to get faster as she can sing faster with the melody. The harmonium is also pretty constant throughout the entire song. These songs can serve a religious purpose because they are mainly made for these religious or celebratory ceremonies (such as Maticoor). Another Hindu tradition is the mehndi night, which may also have its own set of musical genres for that specific tradition. The songs help them resonate with what tradition they are doing.

Michael Jackson isn’t a name we all have not heard of already. Being the king of Pop to this day even after his death. There are people out there who aren’t Jackson fans, yet they know some of the lyrics to songs like Thriller, Bad, Smooth Criminal, etc (to put into perspective how much people know him). In 1993, Jackson was the one who performed at the super bowl, performing songs like Black and white, Smooth Criminal, Jam, and everyone’s favorite, Heal the world. I personally am a huge Jackson fan, so when I saw this concert for the first time, I got absolute goosebumps. Seeing his 2 beautiful entrances, then to him performing all the songs and lastly bringing a bunch of children on stage to csing Heal the World, a song about advocating for a better world for children. Within the concert, Jackson had a different outfit after his Jam performance. After Jam, Jacksons took off his golden like blazer to fit into the setting of the rest of the concert. Also, Jackson is widely known for his famous dance moves like the spins and moonwalks, so you best believe he added the most choreography in all his songs (Except heal the world because he wanted to get his message across more). Not only that, but Jackson also has a couple of backup dancers, who really didn’t do much because Jackson was stealing the shows. This concert was a big one to remember because at the end, a whole bunch of people in the audience started running up to the stage screaming at the top of their lungs. 

Compared to our concerts, we acknowledge that this is a public concert. One where the audience and performers are clearly separated from the performers. However, this is also a commercial concert where people are paying for super bowl tickets with Jackson getting a cut. After all, the biggest performer at the time was Jackson, combining that with the ever so known super bowl, giving us an overflowed stadium. Also this was a live performance by dancers and singers, meaning there was no orchestra to be heard or play to be performed. This was an authentic, very big concert.

In “100 years Ago Today, ‘The Rite of Spring’ incited a riot in a Paris Theater”, our author talks about the infamous riot that took place in 1913 in a theater during a ballet composed by Igor Stvinsky. The author says how researchers are not sure what exactly was behind it, like social warfare or a contemporary movement. Toward the middle of the ballet, the author states how people in the audience were catcalling so loud, that the ballets couldn’t hear the orchestra. Therefore, the composer exchanged words with those who were catcalling from the stage and that sparked an argument. Soon after, about 40 people were escorted out, which caused somewhat of a brutal scene. After all of that, the ballet continued to the end.

However, according to “Did Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring incite a riot at its premiere?”, there is a ton of doubt and speculation about the riot, especially when they reveal that the riot never happened. The article states how there was never a riot, but just an exchange of words over aristocrats and critics because the critics did not admire how the aristocrats viewed the derogatory performance about racism. As stated, “The disrespectful behavior of the aristocrats appalled the critics, musicians, and music lovers, so they responded by complaining and insulting the aristocrats”. The text explains how the verbal arguments went down, but no fight let alone a riot. The text also states, “Despite these verbal assaults, the earliest accounts of that night do not mention any physical fights, much less a riot. Levitz cites several sources from the immediate aftermath of the premiere that compared the atmosphere to that of a contentious debate in Parliament or a criminal court trial—confrontational and impassioned, but not physically violent”. This goes to show that the feeling of suspense in the theater was compared to those of a courtroom. It was all just a verbal argumentation that went down, also, another play went on to play after that which the author says “ …the evening’s entertainment continued with another ballet, Carl Maria von Weber’s Le Spectre de la rose, also choreographed by Nijinsky. That wouldn’t seem possible if the altercation was as destructive as it’s been construed”. As you can see, the author explains how another ballet would not have happened if 40 people were ejected plus a riot. 

When I first heard this ballet for myself, I thought it was very harsh to the ear with a very different style of choreography. I also quickly realized why everyone says this piece goes against all elements of music. However, I still believe this could be passed on as music for it has elements of instruments and it can be danced to. Is it the most pleasant form of music however? I don’t think so. Finally, if I was in that audience i would have most likely been slightly irritated by the music, but I would have sat there and kept my mouth shut, waiting for the next performance.

We all know who michael jackson is, but we may not know that he stemmed from the Jackson 5 before reaching his popular stardom we know him for as today. When Michael Jackson was a child, he performed “ABC” alongside the Jackson 5 in 1970 by being the lead singer and introduced this song on live television. Another performance by the same song comes from a show named “Glee” on netflix. This show is about how a new musical group in high school rose to fame by performing various famously known songs, “ABC” by The Jackson 5 being one of them. They performed “ABC” by The Jackson 5 because it is a known song so they use that to their advantage against their competitors. 

In the song, the song represents how love between one another can be calm and easy, referencing it as easy as spelling ABC or 123. Throughout the song, we have an upbeat, happy song, but we can feel the romance sprinkled into the song. First performed in 1970, we hear many key differences in the song to other performances today besides quality improvement over 40 years. Throughout the decades, the tempo of the song has remained the same, steady and upbeat. Glee’s performance of “ABC” has many similarities to the original version, from the scale to even how they form the song using the Verse-Chorus form. However, Glees performance had many more performers and so everyone sang a small part of the song, there was no main singer as for they all were singing along the lyrics together. Also, Glee performed the song in front of an audience full of people plus their competition, therefore they had to make the song get people jumping up with their choreography performance, which the Jackson 5 did not originally do. Also, in 1970, the Jackson 5 was introducing their song to the world, so they wanted to make it sound as appealing as it could be. The circumstances of the performance made the song different to which era it was heard in.

Throughout time, we’ve seen and learnt about how music technology has developed over the centuries from the rise of instruments to the rise of the phonograph. Today, our most utilized piece of music tech is streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple music, Youtube, Soundcloud etc). If you listen to music on your private time, then its safe to say we all use some type of streaming platform to accomplish our goal of listening to music. By having a countless number of songs on your device, WITHOUT taking up your personal storage, services like Spotify (my favorite platform) are able to deliver any song that comes to mind. Though, Spotify was originally known as a music streaming platform, today we see other purposes come about like podcasts or talk shows. Personally, I tend to prefer Spotify for official music because Soundcloud and Youtube sometimes have multiple recordings of the same song and some aren’t the best quality. However, I do use Soundcloud for unreleased music (Unreleased music is never on Spotify because Spotify needs official licensing from every record label for every song.

Spotify changed the way artists get their music out as well ass how we intake music. Famous singers from before Spotify’s time, such as Elvish Presly, Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Bob Marley, etc are all easy to listen to on Spotify by the tap of a button. This helped the younger gen (Gen Z) get familiar with some old time artists, while retired artists found a way to keep restreaming their music and keep a sustainable income.

Here’s of an example of a song from 1977 that is famously known today through the use of our streaming platforms.

Michael Jackson is dubbed as the “King of Pop”. Jackson started young in the music industry, joining the Jackson 5 at just 8 years old, rising to fame with his very own single “Ben” in 1972. He is widely known for his impact on popular music, with his signature dance moves, songs for protests and justice, his philanthropy and with most boomers growing up watching Michael rise to fame. My mother, who was born in ‘67, is the reason I am a Michael Jackson fan today. Having grown up in Jacksons era, she introduced me to all his hits and educated me about his legacy. One of those songs in particular being “Beat it” by M. Jackson in 1987, is one example of the popstars best songs. With the constant rhythm being accompanied by the intense tempo, this song can quickly get stuck in your head. All of this contributes to the musically inclined part of the song where Jackson gets to the first Chorus, you hear a higher pitch with more intensity of music. Michael wrote most of his songs, therefore he had control of his lyricism and texture. Using Homophony, Michael was able to combine the fast paced rhythm with multiple instruments to follow his lyricism. If you listen closely, there is an acoustic guitar and a drum set being played at a constant beat contributing most of that catchy rhythm we keep hearing. Today, we don’t hear much of this song anymore because being a part of pop and being released in 1987, it is often forgotten. However, this remains to be one of Jackson’s most publicized songs to date mainly due to his appeal to his rhythms and beats in the song. 

(0:10-0:24) Drums sets the beat of the song. 

(0:25) We’re introduced to our catchy rhythm.

(1:06) First Chorus.

(2:35) We now hear the most musically inclined part where our drums are still there keeping the constant rhythm, but now a guitar is having a solo to keep up with the fast tempo so Michael can then start singing again.

The Renaissance era  was not only a change for humanity, but for music culture as well. This era consisted primarily of the change and accomplishments of art, literature, music, nature, and our own human philosophy overall. This historical era fascinates me the most because this was the start of modern day music, what we hear today was developed and built off the renaissance era. Though we had medieval times before our Renaissance era, the Renaissance is where you start hearing modern musical components and tones such as soprano, Tenor, Bass, echo, etc. Today, we recognize these sounds as played by instruments such as the trumpet, the trombones, the alto, and other instruments. After hearing “The Glory of Giovanni Gabrieli”, by Giovanni Gabreli, you can distinguish this as the earliest of what our modern music consists of today. 

I must say, this is what I expected when I started listening to his music mainly because I know this era of orchestras, bands, groups coming together with instruments in general, all produce a harmonic yet rhythmic music meant for an audience to indulge in (from this era specifically). During this era, music was meant to express emotion through the people producing the music as well the people cheering to the music as entertainment.