CHAPTERfi12 Style and Function of Music in Society
OUTLINE
I. Music Serves Dif fer ent Functions in Dif fer ent Socie ties
A. Genres: categories of repertoire
1. sacred music: religious purposes
2. secular music: outside religious context,
entertainment
B. Genre vs. form
1. genre: suggests character and function (e.g.,
song, symphony)
2. form: internal structure of a work
3. medium: specific group that performs a work
4. title: indicates genre and key
a. cata loguing systems, (e.g., opus number)
b. titles may be descriptive
C. Oral transmission: music preservation without
written notation
D. Listening Guides (LGs) focus: Western art music,
“classical”
1. music of Eu ro pean and Euro– American society
2. notated, cultivated
E. Vernacular music: “popu lar,” “traditional”
II. The Concept of Style
A. Style: distinctive features of any artwork
1. individualized treatment of musical ele ments
a. indicates creator’s personal manner of
expression
2. Western music: melody– oriented with under lying
harmonies
3. music of other cultures: foreign to Western ears
a. based on dif fer ent musical systems
III. Musical Styles in History
A. Historical periods: distinct stylistic characteristics
1. style of a period: total language of all its
artists
2. po liti cal, economic, religious, and philosophical
forces
B. Generally accepted style periods:
1. Middle Ages (400–1450)
a. Early Christian (400–600)
b. Gregorian chant (600–850)
c. Development of polyphony (850–1150)
d. Gothic (1150–1450)
2. Renaissance (1450–1600)
3. Baroque (1600–1750)
4. Classical (1750–1825)
5. Romantic (1820–1900)
6. Post- Romantic and Impressionist (1890–1915)
7. Twentieth century and beyond
OVERVIEW
This chapter introduces the concepts of genre and style as
ways to identify and categorize musical pieces.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. To understand the concept of genre as a musical category
that defines the overall character of a musical work as
well as its function
2. To understand the concept of style as the characteristic
way a piece of music is presented
3. To gain familiarity with the broad spectrum of musical
styles in history
Style and Function of Music in Society | 33
Modern era: Berg: Wozzeck, Act III, scene 4
Postmodern era: The Twentieth Century and Beyond:
Reich: Electric Counterpoint, III
2. Musical genre is a category that defines the overall char–
acter of a musical work as well as its function (e.g.,
TEACHING CHALLENGES
Students may have difficulty differentiating form, style, and
genre. It will help to emphasize genre as (literally) a “generic”
YOUR TURN TO EXPLORE
Below are links to four video clips featuring music being used
in a variety of social contexts. Describe the role of music in
fer ent kinds of social contexts? Compare and contrast these
experiences to those given below.
music provides a sound background for the acrobatic
and choreographic movements of the fighters.
music, this festival seems also to have a kind of educa–
tional purpose, celebrating and recognizing this par-
ticularly respected musical tradition of south India.
LECTURE SUGGESTIONS
1. Display to the class a list of the following musical
genres: orchestral song, piano sonata, string quartet,
symphony, violin concerto, opera, and march. Then
play a brief example of each, asking the class in
cal genres whose identities may not be so easy to
identify as the previous genres (cantata, madrigal,
oratorio, fugue, etc.).
2. To illustrate the concepts of genre and style as distinct
yet related, play two pieces in the same musical genre
comparing the musical ele ments of the two excerpts.
Have each group report its findings to the class as a
whole. As the groups report, make notes on the board
about the groups’ observations, and emphasize that these
responses are attempts to define the dif fer ent styles and
stylistic eras of two pieces that share the same musical
ASSIGNMENT SUGGESTIONS
don’t worry about using musical terms that we haven’t
covered in class. The idea is to begin developing a pro-
Baroque era: J. S. Bach: Contrapunctus I, from The Art
of Fugue
Classical era: Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik, I
34 | Chapterfi12
4 . https:// www . youtube . com / watch ? v = krJW2qMVv4M
Model response: Here the music is accompanying a
investigation, as an interrogation technique at
detainee prisons in Af ghan i stan, Iraq, and the U.S.