Saturday, September 29, 2007

Music

The development of music among humans occurred against the backdrop of natural sounds. It was possibly influenced by birdsong and the sounds other animals use to communicate. Some evolutionary biologists have theorized that the ability to recognize sounds not created by humans as "musical" provides a selective .Man has been learning from Nature now a days too.

About this Blog:

This blog is all related with the world of Music.Music is made for change in the Day-to-Day life.
Music may make you cry;
may make you excited;
may make you relieved;
may make you angry;
may make you feel fresh.
It has all sorts of Profits and Losses.This blog has been created to discuss only about Music.

History of Music:

Music is known to have started from the very 1st human being.Music is found in every known culture, past and present, varying wildly between times and places. Scientists now believe that modern humans emerged from Africa 160,000 years ago. Around 50,000 years ago these humans began to disperse from Africa reaching all the habitable continents. Since all peoples of the world including the most isolated tribal groups, have a form of music, scientists conclude that music must have been present in the ancestral population prior to the dispersal of humans around the world. Consequently music must have been in existence for at least 50,000 years and the first music must have been invented in Africa and then evolved to become a fundamental constituent of human life

Friday, September 28, 2007

Classical Music:

Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of art, ecclesiastical and concert music. A music is classical if it includes some of the following features: a learned tradition, support from the church or government, or greater cultural capital. Classical music is also described as complex, lasting, transcendent, and abstract.In many cultures a classical tradition coexisted with traditional or popular music, occasionally for thousands of years, and with different levels of mutual borrowing with the parallel tradition.India and China have contributed a lot in the world of classical music.

Musical Instruments:

Voice, that is, the human voice, is an instrument in its own right. A singer generates sounds when airflow from the lungs sets the vocal cords into oscillation. The fundamental frequency is controlled by the tension of the vocal cords and the tone quality by the formation of the vocal tract; a wide range of sounds can be created.

A steel string acoustic guitarString instruments generate a sound when the string is plucked, strummed, slapped, etc. The frequency of the wave generated (and therefore the note produced) usually depends on the length of the vibrating portion of the string, its linear density (mass per unit length of string), the tension of each string and the point at which the string is excited; the tone quality varies with the construction of the resonating cavity. Examples: guitars, violins and sitars. Electric string instruments generate sound by a pickup placed under strings. The electric guitar and the electric bass are the most famous examples, but there is a wide variety of new instruments, because the electro-magnetic amplification generates new possibilities. Other Examples: 3rd bridge overtone koto, electric baritone, electric cymbalom.Percussion instruments create sound when struck. The shape and material of the part of the instrument to be struck and the shape of the resonating cavity, if any, determine the sound of the instrument. Examples: drums, bells and cymbals.Friction instruments are any instrument that use friction to create sound. For example the Glass harmonica.Lamellophones create a sound by the plucking of lamellas made from different materials (metal, raphia etc.). These Instruments are tunable, so they do not belong to the idiophones. An example is the Mbira.

Wind instruments generate a sound when a column of air is made to vibrate inside them. The frequency of the wave generated is related to the length of the column of air and the shape of the instrument, while the tone quality of the sound generated is affected by the construction of the instrument and method of tone production. The group is typically subdivided into :Woodwind instruments, such as the clarinet, oboe and flute,Brass instruments, such as the trumpet, trombone and French horn.
Water instruments generate pressure waves by oscillation, turbulence, or similar distrubance in water. Water instruments are like woodwind instruments in some ways, except that the operative fluid (liquid) is for the most part incompressible fluid, as compared with wind (air) which is highly compressible). Water instruments are called hydraulophones and work best underwater, but are often designed so that they can be heard in a surrounding air medium even though they are typically water-filled or operate in-part underwater.