Everything about Songs totally explained
A
song is a
musical
composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed, 'sung,' and generally feature
words (
lyrics), commonly followed by other
musical instruments (exceptions would be
acappella and
scat songs). The words of songs are typically of a
poetic,
rhyming nature, although they may be
religious verses or free
prose. The words are the lyrics.
Songs are typically for a solo,
singer, though there may also be a
duet,
trio, or more voices (works with more than one voice to a part, however, are considered
choral). Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms, depending on the criteria used. One division is between "
art songs", "
popular music songs", and "
folk songs". Other common methods of
classification are by purpose (
sacred vs
secular), by
style (
dance,
ballad,
Lieder, etc), or by time of origin (
Renaissance,
Contemporary, etc).
Colloquially,
song is sometimes used as
slang to refer to any music composition, even those without vocals. In
European classical music, jazz, brass band, popular music, and many other musical styles however, this usage is considered incorrect. "Song" should only be used to describe a composition for the human vocals. In music styles that are predominantly vocal-based, a composition without vocals is often called an
instrumental. A musical piece that may be either with or without vocals can be called a
melody, a
tune, or a
composition.
Cultural types
Art songs
Art songs are songs created for performance in their own right, or for the purposes of a European upper class, usually with
piano accompaniment, although they can also have other types of accompaniment such as an
orchestra or
string quartet, and are always
notated. Generally they've an identified
author(s) and require voice
training for acceptable performances. The
German-speaking
communities to refer to the serious
art song, whereas in German-speaking communities the word "Kunstlied" (plural: "Kunstlieder") is used to distinguish
art song from folk song ("Volkslied"). The lyrics are often written by a lyricist and the music separately by a composer. Art songs may be more
formally complicated than popular or folk songs, though many early Lieder by the likes of
Franz Schubert are in simple
strophic form. They are often important to national identity.
Art songs feature in many European cultures, including but not limited to:
Russian (romansy),
Dutch (lied),
Italian (canzoni),
French (mélodies),
Scandinavian (sånger),
Spanish (canciones). There are also highly regarded British and
American art songs in the English language. Cultures outside of Europe may have what they consider to be a classical music tradition, such as India, and thus feature art songs. The accompaniment of pieces of this period is considered as an important part of the composition. The art song of this period is often a duet in which the vocalist and accompanist share in interpretive importance. The pieces were most often written to be performed in a home setting although today the works enjoy popularity as concert pieces. The emergence of poetry during this era was much of what inspired the creation of these pieces by Brahms, Schumann, Schubert and other period composers. These composers set poems in their native language. Many works were inspired by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and
Heinrich Heine. Another method would be to write new music for each stanza to create a unique form, this was
through-composed form known in German as
durchkomponiert. A combination of both of these techniques in a single setting was called a
modified strophic form. Often romantic art songs sharing similar elements were grouped as a
song cycle. (Kamien, 217–18)
Folk songs
Folk songs are songs of often anonymous origin (or are
public domain) that are transmitted
orally. They are frequently a major aspect of national or cultural
identity. Art songs often approach the status of folk songs when people forget who the author was. Folk songs are also frequently transmitted non-orally (that is, as
sheet music), especially in the modern era. Folk songs exist in almost every, if not all, culture(s). For more on folk songs, see
Folk music.
Popular songs
Popular songs or
phonograph records and
radio, though all other
mass media that have audio capability are involved. The popularity of popular songs is inferred from commercially significant
sales of recordings,
ratings of stations and networks that play popular songs, and
ticket sales for
concerts by the recording artists. A popular song becomes a modern folk song when members of the public who learn to sing it from the recorded version teach their version to others. Popular songs may be called
pop songs for short, although pop songs or
pop music may instead be considered a more commercially popular genre of
popular music as a whole.
For a list of influential popular songs, see:
Further Information
Get more info on 'Songs'.
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