February 23rd, 2013
Classical music is one kind of the art music from various style of music. On Oxford Dictionary give the meaning of classical music as serious music following long-established principles rather than a folk, jazz, or popular tradition, and even give more specifically meaning by the period of music(since the music has 6 periods; middle age, renaissance, baroque, classic, romantic and contemporary) that classical music is the music written in the European tradition during a period lasting approximately from 1750 to 1830, when forms such as the symphony, concerto, and sonata were standardized. How do we judge the classical music, and what is the musical value of classical music? I think this is the hard thing to critics about the good or bad of the things that we call it as one kind of art.
We could analyze music by their elements such as the musical form, the harmony, the rhythm, orchestration, register of that piece etc. But also the problems is everyone has different taste and also some have the same taste too such as one composer love the way dominant chord run to sub median chord and then resolve to dominant again then end with tonic chord but another one like the way to begin the phrase with sub median then dominant for two bars to extend the dominant longer (could call it as dominant prolongation) until tonic in the last bar. The question is what is the best chord progression of those two ideas? , and how do we judge what is the best chord progression? And interesting question is how do we judge that one piece copy from any other pieces? Another example is if we judge one of the phrases in symphony no.9 by Beethoven “Ode to Joy” as the best phrase that compound with many good melodies, best chord progression and orchestration and great idea to add choir to that movement but there is also a question that who judge that this phrase is the best. How do they judge? ,