POP

POP MUSIC

Stylistic origins: Traditional pop, rhythm and blues,rock and roll, jazz, folk, doo-wop,dance, classical, popular music.

Cultural origins:  1950s, United States.

Typical instruments: Vocals, synthesizer, drum machine,sequencer, sampler, guitar, drums,bass guitar, keyboards, piano and occasional use of various otherinstruments.

Subgenres:  Baroque pop • Bubblegum pop • Christian pop •Dance-pop • Europop • Operatic pop • Power pop •Soundtrack • Sophisti-pop • Synthpop • Space age pop • Sunshine pop • Traditional pop • Teen pop,

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of "popular") is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular (and can include any style).

As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.

So-called "pure pop" music, such as power pop, features all these elements, using electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth.

 Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal.

David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as "a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, and folk musics". Although pop music is often seen as oriented towards the singles charts it is not the sum of all chart music, which has always contained songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs, while pop music as a genre is usually seen as existing and developing separately. Thus "pop music" may be used to describe a distinct genre, aimed at a youth market, often characterized as a softer alternative torock and roll.

Throughout its development, pop music has absorbed influences from most other genres of popular music. Early pop music drew on the sentimental ballad for its form, gained its use of vocal harmonies from gospel and soul music, instrumentation from jazz,country, and rock music, orchestration from classical music, tempo from dance music, backing from electronic music, rhythmic elements from hip-hop music, and has recently appropriated spoken passages from rap.

Musicologists often identify the following characteristics as typical of the pop music genre:

·        - an aim of appealing to a general audience, rather than to a particular sub-culture or ideology

·       -  an emphasis on craftsmanship rather than formal "artistic" qualities

·        - an emphasis on recording, production, and technology, over live performance

·        - a tendency to reflect existing trends rather than progressive developments

·        - much pop music is intended to encourage dancing, or it uses dance-oriented beats or       rhythms

The main medium of pop music is the song, often between two and a half and three and a half minutes in length, generally marked by a consistent and noticeable rhythmic element, a mainstream style and a simple traditional structure. Common variants include the verse-chorus form and the thirty-two-bar form, with a focus on melodies and catchy hooks, and a chorus that contrasts melodically, rhythmically and harmonically with the verse. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment. The lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions.