A dulcimer is a stringed folk instrument which basically comes in two different varieties: the hammered dulcimer – which has strings stretched over a sounding board with a trapezoidal shape, generally ...

Reggae music has had a profound influence on many aspects of Western culture from fashion to popular music. Across the United Kingdom, the USA and Africa, Reggae secured a strong foothold in the ...

We could say that most indie music is alternative, but not all are indie. Let’s unpack this statement. Many alternative rock bands in the 1980s signed with independent labels, but later moved to one ...

Music is littered with vocabulary. Dictionaries of music list the numerous terms that you have the option to embed into your language if you wish. Many of these terms are Italian as that wonderful ...

Extraordinary as it may sound, there have been bagpipes in a vast array of forms for around 3,000 years. The instruments are known to have been used not only in Europe but in Asia too. These ...

If you examine Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas from the earliest (Op.2; No.1 in F minor), through to the final one, (OP.111; No.32 in C minor), it is relatively easy to appreciate the intense developmental ...

If we trace harmonic history back in time we discover that is was during Bach’s lifetime that the present system of keys and tonality was established. Before this, there were many other equally valid ...

As a musical genre, Funk has its roots firmly embedded in jazz. Funk incorporates many elements of jazz alongside soul and earlier African-American styles of music. Following on from the immense ...

Musical tradition is at times a rather odd element of this popular art. One of those traditions that still holds true for today is that of using Italian terms to instruct a performer in notated scores ...

On any instrument or with any type of voice there are indications in written music that dictate how a note should be started. These are markings in any given piece that tell the instrumentalist or ...

This article is dedicated to one of the unsung heroes of the French Baroque period of musical history. In his day, Rameau (1683-1764) was one of the most influential, well-respected, and important ...

When the world of the moving picture arrived in the early part of the 20th century, it was a revolution. What is often referred to as the silent years from around 1910 to 1927 marked a turning point ...