Song
From ArticleWorld
A song is a short musical composition created for the human voice that contains lyrics. The term is also used to describe the musical composition itself but the specialists consider this a disambiguation. The song is composed for one or more singers and the words it contains make up a structure similar to that of a poem with rhymes, although in some cases it can lack them. These musical compositions are categorized differently based on the criteria that is used. Usually there are three types of songs:
- art songs
- popular songs
- folk songs
Art songs
Art songs are usually composed for the European upper class. In most cases, it features the accompaniment of a piano but other ensembles such as a string quartet can replace it. The art song is considered the most distinctive form of musical composition developed in the romantic music era. Mostly written as a duet, they were composed for performances given in a small environment. The biggest influence on the art song’s development stands in romantic poetry. The music was written as accompaniment and the words that were sung were, in most cases, those of the particular poems that inspired it.
Popular songs
A popular song can be defined as a song type between the art song and the folk song. A band usually accompanies it and its members work together on the composition. The words are written by one person, in most cases by the lead singer. Nowadays popular songs are known simply as pop songs. They have a standard structure that is usually respected:
- Introduction
- Verse 1
- Chorus
- Verse 2
- Chorus
- Instrumental Bridge
- Chorus (repeated more than once)
Several musical genres respect this structure. This includes hip-hop, rap, rock, heavy metal and so on. Rhymes will also appear in the lyrics although not always.
Folk Songs
A folk song is a song that has an unknown author and that is usually transmitted orally. Most countries have different folk music because of the cultural influence that was the inspiration behind it. Some art songs transform in folk songs because the name of the author is forgotten and the spreading of the song begins to be an oral one with no written elements.