An Introduction to Music
Music is the craft of arranging sounds in harmony to form a melody through the components of rhythm, melody, harmony, and tone. It is among the most universal artistic expressions of all human cultures. Music is a broad term that includes a wide variety of expressive artistic forms such as spoken word, music, dance, spectacle, and architecture. In recent years music has grown as one of the many human rights issues that become international news. The growing media focus on the freedom of expression in the arts has drawn attention to issues of censorship and restrictions on music.
One major type of music that has transcended borders across cultures is instrumental music. Instrumental music often is intended to have a simple melody with minimal mechanical accompaniment. Common types of instrumental music include music for stringed instruments such as cello, mandolin, sitar, trumpet, and upright bass; folk or traditional music; and non-instrumental popular music. Examples of popular instrumental pieces include Handel’s “Water Music,” which are a harp piece for stringed instruments and piano, Handel’s “arium,” which is a suite of synthesized sounds, and John Coltrane’s classic “Trane.”
Another important type of musical instrument is classical music, which is a written genre of music spanning centuries. The earliest known example of this is Beethoven’s” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” though this date is debated among experts. Early works by assorted geniuses are often ascribed to various influential composers, including William Blake (Classical Music), Alexander Borodin (Russian Popular Music), and Ludwig Van Beethoven (Austrianonic Musical Instrument). Other early works attributed to different writers include Handel’s “Eulogy for dolls,” which was written to praise the life of Portrait of Jesus Christ, and William Shakespeare’s” Romeo and Juliet.”