‘Popular music’ is a term that currently and historically has relied on varied interpretation to function. It is difficult to present a fixed definition of the term due to the problematic research methods/approaches coming from a variety of backgrounds that have allowed us to arrive at this point. The lack of consensus in the academic realm surrounding exactly what encompasses popular music and whether or not it should be a discipline of it’s own, alongside problematic relational studies has blurred the academic lines of popular music studies. This lack of agreement has also potentially influenced media scepticism and pushed a narrative that has hindered the term ‘popular music’ from a non-academic angle. The Centre The following will investigate and exhibit other potential perspectives surrounding the definition of the term popular music and highlights important historical events and figures to the development of this area of study. The growing acknowledgement of the sociological aspect of music since the unsteady, textual beginning of Popular Music Studies has been a positive development in academia, however, whether a definition should be in terms of social characteristics, aesthetics or both is yet to be generally agreed-upon and requires further academic discussion.
A Historical Perspective
As an academic focus, popular music studies has always been under dispute. In the 1960’s at the beginning of popular music studies, much of the research focussed on the textual aspect of music. Lyrical analysis was initially popular amongst English Literature academics, and classical musicians would often draw comparisons between popular music of the time and the music of famous composers such as Handel and Beethoven. The focus here was on musical analysis, harmony, chords, orchestration, performance technique/skill, etc. Cloonan states, ‘popular music was thus initially judged by how far it fitted into a Western canon’, as From this point of view, the focus when studying popular music, should be on the social aspect, ‘the social penetrates, produces or contextualizes music.’ (Prior, 2011) Questions surrounding the masses, how they interact with popular music and what makes it popular are at the forefront of sociological research in relation to this topic, determining and/or hypothesising the social forces behind the popularity of genres, songs, trends and more. Thus begs the question, should the term popular music be defined in relation to mass interaction and possibly even social forces? The word ‘popular’ alone is tied with sociology. In the Oxford dictionary, the word ‘popular’ when relating to ‘cultural activities or products’ is defined as ‘intended for or suited to the taste, understanding, or means of the general public rather than specialists or intellectuals.’, which could potentially relate to music as a cultural activity or product, however, this definition is very casual and lacks acknowledgement for the forces behind popular music and leaves many open ended questions, i.e. geographical location, points of origin, accessibility, etc. This definition cannot function effectively in the academic realm as it allows space for ignorance. It can be (and has historically been) interpreted from a
The aim of this market research was to gather enough information to present Southside Promotions with recommendations on marketing strategies and also to show them my findings for them to make marketing decisions based on what they feel will be successful. I aimed to find out useful and important information such as information on the target populations current clubbing experiences, this was done as primary research through a questionnaire sent out to people in the target market. Other information…
role does popular music play in the lives of young people in the context of their education?’ The two readings that I shall be looking at is ‘Creating Race: The Role of Taste in Youth’s Production of Identities’ by Nadine E Dolby and Lucy Green’s chapter on ‘ideology’. Introduction In my essay I will argue how the global and local concept of popular music is used as a means for young people to construct their identity. I shall discuss how informal learning pedagogies concerning popular music can engage…
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Illegal Music Downloading Illegal music downloading is very popular all around the the world, there are millions of sites that provide the opportunity to illegally download music just with the access of internet. Illegal music downloading is like robbery in most peoples eyes because the fact that it’s illegal and supposedly the music industry is losing money, but what some people don’t realize is in fact this can raise the popularity in the music/artist/album. Regardless illegal music downloading…
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been many fashion trends that have come and gone. There have been the flappers of the 1920’s with their black mesh stockings and feathered hats, to the 1970’s with their bell-bottom jeans, and fluffy, eccentric hair dues. Fashion is defined as “A popular way of dressing during a particular time or among a particular group of people.” Fashion goes hand and hand with romance and glamour, but more recently, people have beginning to ask “Where has the romance gone”? In this paper I will discuss romance…
