Music Evolution: Lyrics vs. Composition

This essay examines the evolution of music appreciation, arguing that contemporary music prioritizes lyrics over traditional compositional elements. It contrasts romantic-era compositions with modern music, highlighting the influence of lyrics on societal cultures. The essay suggests that while older music focused on conveying meaning and emotions, modern music often reflects personal experiences and trends, leading to shorter lifespans of popularity. It concludes by acknowledging the evolving tastes of younger generations and how composers adapt their work to meet these demands.

Issues and Topics in music 3

Table of Contents
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................3
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Main Body
INTRODUCTION
The music of 19th century has led to the disturbance in the society. Democratic ideals and
music revolution and fluctuations changes the daily lives of individuals in UK. The scuffle
between the 19th and 20th century music is root cause of disputes from the Napoleon war to
American civil war. Moreover, the basic lives of musicians and composer are affected by the
changes in society. Besides, the rise of musical education and performances is accessed by the
generation of middle class. Hence, the essay will enhance the effects of both the type of music
that is romanticism and modernism.
The developing generation is replacing the natural world of romanticism, Romantic
music of 19th century is based on a life of a common man which stressed the emotional status
whereas the modern music of 20th century is based new opportunities and the fluctuation in the
world affecting human life. In contrast, Romanticism and modernism is offering various
opportunities and assisting musicians in earning their livelihood. There are several people
changing the mentality which is leading towards various musical reforms like, poems, rapping,
slow, emotional, and large scale symphonic. Besides, there are so many music composers like
Richard Wagner, Hector Berlioz and many more who have continuously pushed the innovation
in musical industry. Henceforth, there are various musical instruments used by the composers to
add different melodies in the songs according to the lyrics which captivate the mind of listeners.
Therefore, musical instruments like banjo, guitar, harp and concertina plays a major role in
adding lives to songs. Further, Piano plays major role in development in musical instruments of
UK. It remained major component in domestic life of music until it was replaced by radio and
phonograph of early 20th century.
In order to compose a song certain elements are used by Debussy, Atmosphere and
Stravinsky, Rhythm. These segments are used variably in composition of the music of two
different time periods. There are seven elements of music and the important among them are
explained below- Rhythm- It is the time element in music. It is created with the help of various parameters
such as tempo, syncopation, beat and meter. In context to the musics of old time for
example- Rhythm in song “Clair de lune” which was based on romanticism kept the

duration of a sound more, the speed of beat is kept low in this song. Further, the meters
that were generally used in this music is 2/4. In contrary to this, music of present time for
example- “The rite of spring”, has short duration rhythms with high beat speed and
generally have 3/4 or 4/4 meters.
 Dynamics: It is the loudness or quietness of the music. In Italian music style these
dynamics are categorised into six parts-
◦ pianissimo- very quiet
◦ piano- quiet
◦ mezzo-piano- moderately quiet
◦ mezzo-forte- moderately loud
◦ forte- loud
◦ fortissimo- very loud
Different generations have different music dynamics. For example- A famous love song
from 30s “Body and soul” the dynamics used were piano and pianissimo whereas Ed Sheran's
present time song “Shape of you'' has forte and fortissimo dynamics. Melody- It is that element of music which deals with the horizontal presentation of the
pitch. There are two different types of melodies depending upon the highness and
lowness of a music sound and they are- Conjunct and Disjunct. Conjunct is smooth and
easy in playing. In contrary to this, disjunct is disjointedly ragged or jumpy. This
element faced high variance with the generation. The gap of this segment can be
understand with the help of 90s song “Golloiwog's cake-walk” which is based on
conjunct melody and is soft in hearing. In contrary to this early 20th century song
“Petrushka” is difficult to sing and play.
 Harmony- It is an art of combining pitches into chords. It is further categorised into two
parts dissonance and consonance. Dissonance is a harsh-sounding harmonic combination
whereas consonance is a smooth-sounding harmonic collection. The music that was
composed earlier 90s were harmonic combination of smooth-sounds. In contrary to this,

new songs are based on dissonance. One can distinguish between them by listening “
"The girl with the flaxen hair” by Claude Debussy and “Firebird” of Starvinksy.
With the help of the above stated examples using different songs of different generation, the
ideas of romanticism and modernism cane be reflected and generated. Firstly, the difference in
the melodies of the late 90s and early 20s songs are considerable. They have varied a lot with
just short span of time. They can be observe even by a single thorough listening (Nakano, Yoshii
and Goto, 2016). The soft melodies represent the romanticism in the music whereas the
difficulties states the modernism in the music. Further, dynamics of the old music denotes the
romanticism by quiet playing of instruments, in contrary to this modernism can be seen in the
loud use of instruments in new generation. Similarly, the tempo, beat and meter elements of
rhythms are used softly with long duration of time in songs of 90s whereas these elements are
kept high with short span of notes in songs of 20th century. The difference between the sounds
of these two types of music also varied widely and measurable.
These songs are liked depending upon the different interest of people in field of music. It
is important to compose both the romanticism and modernism in music as persons' have
antithetic choices and thus, their demands from music are different (Kanwal and et.al., 2016.).
Moreover, in order to maintain these two types of music some continuity and discontinuities are
made. The 90s songs which were more focused on romanticism includes soft and catchy lyrics
which are still used by the lyricist as these lyrics are easy to learn and understand by people. The
quiet dynamics are used by many music composers as some songs requires them in generation of
their low pitch. In addition, this, 2/4 meters are also running in present time to create a song
based on soft nodes. In contrary to this, there are some elements which are discontinues in music
of early 20s. For instance- The long duration of the sounds are evacuated between this time gap
in the music, as this time makes a person to feel boredom in listening song. Further, pianissimo
type of dynamics is also discontinued in the current songs (Weber, 2016). The perfect example
of the duo of both the composer is Ed Sheeran's " Closer". There are both low and high beats,
quiet and loud dynamics and conjunct and disjunct melody.
Similarities between Debussy and Stravinsky
It is true that creativeness plays a vital role in music composition but these composers are
exceptions when it comes to composition of music. Music by Debussy defines the virtual
connection between late romanticism and early modernism. Music culture of Debussy is inspired

by the symbolism. Moreover, Stravinsky came as a rebel and shocked the audiences as the music
established the different criteria of modernism. Stravinsky is a true innovator of music who
created music technically by connecting two aspects of rhythm and harmony. The first between
Debussy and Stravinsky was in 1910, in fact Debussy attended modernism concert of Stravinsky
overnight.
Hence, taking about the musical examples of late 19th century and early 20th century,
there is a big difference in composing of music. Besides, after all the examples it is clear that the
modern music of the generation is affecting the cultures of society. These days in modernism
musical generation it is like that, the musicians who can captive the mind of young generation
with lyrics and music become the musical stars. Moreover, the young superstars of 20th century
need to come up with new lyrics every time but talking about romanticism music of late 19th
century, it can be seen that the people love to hear those songs as the melody of those songs
never last. According to the reviews and facts about the romanticism and modernism music it is
examined a vast difference in mentality of listeners in UK. Henceforth, technological
advancement also plays a major role in differentiating music of 19th and 20th century. It can be
seen from development that music make difference in the emotional and physical status of
individuals. For instance, taking about the songs of both the centuries like “ The girl with the
flaxen hair” songs have differentiated lyrics in which the one is affecting the cultures of society
and the other one is just heard by listeners to calm their emotions. Henceforth, the essay stated
example of the duo of romanticism and modernism is Firebird of by Stravinsky 20th century
which comprises both low and high beats, quiet and loud dynamics and conjunct and disjunct
melody is also appreciated by the people but not for a very long time but for a limited time span.
Basically, the argument can be placed that the old romantic songs of late 19th century are
composed with some meaning and sense but these days songs are just the feelings of individuals
personal life with the lyrics which are affecting the cultures of society.
Form the above essay, it can be concluded that, in present developed era music is valued
with the lyrics instead of the elements involved in the composition of music. Moreover, the
romantic on which were composed have the effect on emotions of the individuals and also
people of young generation also prefer listening those songs but the essay summarized that the
modern music is increasing every day but do not last very long time. Besides, changes in the
mentality of upcoming generation rise the need to different type of music which was not

normally heard in early centuries. Therefore, the music composers, in order to fulfil the taste and
preferences of listeners, make changes in their composition so that they can get higher
popularity.

REFERENCES
Kanwal, S. and et.al., 2016. Preferences of Musical Elements in Ringtone Selection: A Survey
Study in University of Sargodha. International Journal of Asian Social Science.6(12).
pp.713-718.
Nakano, T., Yoshii, K. and Goto, M., 2016. Musical similarity and commonness estimation
based on probabilistic generative models of musical elements. International Journal of
Semantic Computing.10(01). pp.27-52.
Islam, A. and Zelenkovska, Š. L., 2016. Musical Elements in the Performing Approach: Sonatina
in C for Two Pianos from a Macedonian Contemporary Composer. Muzikoloski Zbornik
(Musicological Annual).52(1).
Clark, S., 2016. Schubert's Lieder and the Philosophy of Early German Romanticism by Lisa
Feuerzeig. Fontes Artis Musicae.63(4). pp.319-321.
Fay, B., 2016. Absolute Music: The History of an Idea by Mark Evan Bonds.German Studies
Review.39(2). pp.373-376.
Weber, R., 2016. ‘New Efforts with Old Means’: Cross-cultural Symbiosis in the Works of
Grieg and Grainger. Musicology Australia.38(1). pp.29-45.