Music What Makes Music Great

Music What Makes Music Great Roger Ebert said "great film is one that, every time you go back to it, you always find something new, something you missed before," and that certainly applies to a good piece of music as well. Why? Because classical music, as this class has shown, is complex, with many different themes, instruments, and melodies weaving together throughout a piece to create a complex whole.

For example, even in a relatively simple piece such as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy," there are still several different melodies or rhythms in the piece, and it is written for several different instruments to explore different harmonies and effects.

Thus, every time a person listens to a piece like this, they have the opportunity to discover new "joys" about the "Ode to Joy." Picking out a different instrument's part, and a countermelody here and there, is just one of the ways composers add diversity to their music, and with so many different instruments and musical parts, there is always something new to see.

Just as if Ebert sees depth and meaning in films, there is depth and meaning to music that cannot be fully appreciated in just one or two listenings. Ebert's criteria applies to great music because great music is more than one simple melody and chord progression. Even the "Ode to Joy" proves this, but other works indicate the complexity of the music as well as the skill of the composer. Mozart's works illustrate this quite well, and is one of the reasons they have remained so popular today.

For example, in the Symphony Number 25, the piece can be light and bouncy, and then turn complicated and gloomy. Just when you think you know where it is heading, it seems to turn in another direction. There are strings, horns and other instruments blended together, and each listening gives a different view of these many different instruments and the notes they play. Mozart's works have wonderful melodies that are "pleasant and tuneful" ("Features"), and this is one of them.

It is a great piece of music because it has depth and variety, and because it can sound different each time a person listens to it, if they listen for different things. It is complex, and that is the most important element of great music. There is more to it than meets the eye (or ear), and repeated listenings make that even more apparent. Great music also depends on great performances, and that is another reason to listen to it more than once.

Each artist interprets music a bit differently, and so, no performance will be exactly alike. This is true of all types of music, even classical. Even though the scores are the same, each musician, director, and arranger sees the work differently, and adds a bit of their own interpretation or personality into the piece. Thus, the same song sung decades ago by the Beach Boys does not sound like the same song today sung by a young rap or hip hop artist.

Do these theories apply to pop music, as well? In many aspects, yes, they do. There are certainly many songs in pop music that are complex and detailed, with different rhythms, instruments, and melodies woven throughout the songs. However, many pop tunes are too simple to fall into this category, because they are not complex vocally or musically. Not all music is written and sung by great songwriters, and not all performances are truly great. Everything has to come together perfectly to make a great piece of music.

For example, in pop music, there may be several background instruments, background vocals, a lead vocal, and even other.