Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

bluegrass music

(Encyclopedia)bluegrass music: see country and western music. ...

Balinese music

(Encyclopedia)Balinese music represents, to a large extent, a survival of the pre-Islamic music of Java. It was taken to Bali by Hindu Javanese in the 15th cent. and uses the tonal systems of Javanese music, of whi...

African music

(Encyclopedia)African music, the music of the indigenous peoples of Africa. Sub-Saharan African music has as its distinguishing feature a rhythmic complexity common to no other region. Polyrhythmic counterpoint, wh...

rap music

(Encyclopedia)rap music or hip-hop, African-American popular music style that originated in the mid-to-late ‘70s, which incorporates DJing, MCing, dance, and fashion. See studies by M. Costello and D....

rock music

(Encyclopedia)rock music, type of music originating in the United States in the mid-1950s and increasingly popular throughout much of the world. A turning point in rock music occurred in the mid-1970s in the ...

serial music

(Encyclopedia)serial music, the body of compositions whose fundamental syntactical reference is a particular ordering (called series or row) of the twelve pitch classes—C, C#, D, D#, E, F, F#, G, G#, A, A#, B—t...

program music

(Encyclopedia)program music Instrumental music of the 19th and 20th cent. that endeavors to arouse mental pictures or ideas in the thoughts of the listener—to tell a story, depict a scene, or impel a mood. Mousso...

Roussel, Albert

(Encyclopedia)Roussel, Albert älbĕrˈ ro͞osĕlˈ [key], 1869–1937, French composer, studied with Vincent D'Indy. His early works show the influence of impressionism. With the symphonic poem Pour une fête de p...

Falla, Manuel de

(Encyclopedia)Falla, Manuel de mänwĕlˈ dā fäˈlyä [key], 1876–1946, Spanish composer; pupil of Felipe Pedrell. In Paris from 1907 to 1914, he met Debussy, Dukas, and Ravel, and was to some extent influenced...

Delius, Frederick

(Encyclopedia)Delius, Frederick dēlˈyəs [key], 1862–1934, English composer, of German parentage. Influenced by Grieg, Delius combined romanticism and impressionism in his music, which is characterized by rathe...