Knowledge about musical melodies develops gradually from birth to adulthood. By the age of five, most children can recognize out-of-key notes in a given melody, and eight-year-olds can distinguish harmonics in Western-type melodic sequences. Adults in the Western world typically have difficulty remember melodies that do not follow the rules...
Michael Jackson, born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana, was one of the world's most successful recording artists (Jones and Brown, 2005, p. 14). Jackson first found fame as a young child, when he performed with his older brothers in the musical group, The Jackson Five, but he went on to...
Leonardo Jimenez, more commonly known as Flaco Jimenez and born in San Antonio, Texas in 1939, is an accordionist specializing in Conjunto, Norteno, and Tejano music. Like his father Santiago Jimenez, Sr. who began performing at a young age, Flaco started at seven years old. Claimed by Mark Deming of...
No matter what genre one prefers, music is a part of daily life that invigorates, shapes mood, reflects the reality, and builds new worlds. In the abundance of genres, rap and pop seem to be completely non-similar as they are based on different concepts, have differing structure, etc. However, being...
IntroductionIt is interesting to explore how Rock & Roll has evolved over the years, and how society itself interprets it in changing ways. In the early days of the genre, Rock was largely based on rebellion against traditional music and a sound that was fast, loud, and strong in guitar...
Black Flag’s 1984 album My War has an ambiguous and controversial status in the history of American rock music, punk and hardcore more specifically. At the time of its release “punk audiences hated it” (Margolis, 2012), Black Flag alienating their core group of listeners. This is arguably because the album...
The song Corcovado, by Stan Getz and Astrud Gillberto, begins with a light piano and sound of an upright bass before the vocal track begins. The intro is minimal, with a thin texture best characterized by an airiness that extends throughout the song. The thin texture places emphasis on each...
The instruments at the beginning of the song include a guitar, drums and trombones. These instruments are combined in such a way that it actually sounds like a train coming down the track. The thick texture of the instruments as they are laid one over another helps to develop the...
Bobby McFerrin attempted to demonstrate how certain music elements can be common for numerous people on the level of collective subconscious. The music demonstration of the pentatonic scale immediately proved that all people in the room were perfectly familiar with it and knew the notes at times before McFerrin voiced...
