At 6:30 PM -0500 1/14/07, Andrew Stiller wrote:
Well, OK. To me, classical, folk, and popular designate the three main strands of music in any civilization (i.e., a society w. cities). Folk music is the music of the countryside, popular music is that of the mass of city dwellers, and classical music is the music of the intelligentsia. Typically, folk music is performed by amateurs and has no identified composers. Popular music is performed by professionals, whose training however is usually sketchy, and who are percieved as the creators of the music. Classical music is performed by highly trained professionals who display other features associated w. learnéd professions such as a gatekeeping ritual, a specialized jargon, and so on.
I'll certainly accept that as a well phrased working definition. I wonder, though, when the separation between country folk and town (rather than city) folk might have happened historically. Could we be looking at the start of the "Early Modern" period (a term which music historians generally don't use), following the devastating plagues of the 14th century that carried away a third of the population of Europe and decimated the aristocratic ruling class, and caused cities to become enormously more important than they had been in the feudal period of huge land grants and country estates?
John -- John & Susie Howell Virginia Tech Department of Music Blacksburg, Virginia, U.S.A 24061-0240 Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034 (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
