¶ … Music There is an old cliche that contemporary music, especially popular music, is without lasting significance or quality. The truth is just the opposite. Contemporary music is extremely creative, and employs a wide range of styles and draws on many traditions around the world. In fact, contemporary composers and singers encompass all the known traditions and rich styles of the past, in both western and eastern cultures, in mainstream society as well as indigenous groups. Contemporary music is all music -- from string quartets like the Kronos Quartet, whose classically trained string quartet offers jagged, minimalist, modern music that has won many fans, to the seminal and groundbreaking work of popular singer/composers like Paul Simon, who in his Rhythm of the Saints album, employed African and tribal percussion. Contemporary music can be rock and roll, rap, classical, gospel, jazz, country western, or world music (music of other cultures).

So how can one evaluate contemporary music? What constitutes good or great music these days?

First, all music shares certain qualities. The timbre, or quality of tone that is distinctive to a particular voice or instrument, is important. Is it distinctive? Do voices and instruments blend with interesting harmonies that play off each other and create obvious tones as well as more subtle resonances? What is the tempo and rhythm -- is it one that makes you want to dance, to move, to hum and tap your toes, music that seems to reverberate through your body with a rhythm that is both recognizable and yet surprising, changing as the mood of the music shifts? The melody, or theme, is just as important -- a theme that one can hear, often repeating in a refrain. And finally, much contemporary music contains words -- words that tell a story,...

Often these 'poems' would not stand on their own, but when joined with melody and instrument and voice, they convey something extraordinary. And sometimes the poetry itself is worthy on its own. Lyricist, composer and singer Bob Dylan is one of the towering figures of our century, whose music not only shaped a generation many decades ago, but has just as many fans among young people today. His idiosyncratic poetry is so hypnotic that his voice -- unmusical, and yet evocative -- and even his melodies are not as important. Dylan revolutionized folk and popular music.
All great music, including contemporary music, is easily recognizable from its opening notes. Who would not recognize the beginning of Beethoven's 9th from the first few chords? Contemporary music, no matter what its style, must have the permanence of a piece of architecture seen against the sky: unique, instantly recognizable and memorable.

Music is part of the culture from which it springs. It is not simply pure, abstract, or non-referential. It offers commentary on our society and the times in which we live. Rap music, with its raucous, insistent, percussive, aggressive rhythms, replicates the cacophony and aggression of the inner city from which it arose. Rap music is a commentary on and a window into a particular culture, revealed in the songs' style, pulse, content, and delivery. It is new and stark, although it hearkens back in some ways to tribal rhythms, and African ancestry. In contrast, country music reflects on a different corner of our culture, the slow and mournful south. Country music is about story, particularly the ballad. Good contemporary music has a strong bond with its culture, has what one might call cultural strength, and a great deal of psychological weight…