流行Pop

流行音乐,是指那些结构短小、内容通俗、形式活泼、情感真挚,并被广大群众所喜爱,广泛传唱或欣赏,流行一时的甚至流传后世的器乐曲和歌曲。

这些乐曲和歌曲,植根于大众生活的丰厚土壤之中。因此,又有“大众音乐”之称。“流行音乐”。从字面上看,包含两层意思:第一,它必须是音乐(这说的是事物的属性问题);第二,它必须具有“可传递性”(就是流行的特点)。只有具备了这两个方面的基本要求,亦即“是音乐”和“广为传递性”。那么,才能称得上是“广义上”的“流行音乐”。

具体而言,流行音乐是与传统的“严肃音乐”的一个“相对概念”,请注意我的措辞,是“相对”。换句话说:他们之间的界限在实际中其实并不那么明显。就像我们现实中的“白天与黑夜”一样,不同的时刻,不同的国家,所处的“黑”与“白”都是不同的(也就是“时空的相对论”——因为音乐本身也是时空的东西)。

比如浪漫派作曲家李斯特的《爱之梦》就是传统的古典音乐,但是你能说它不流行吗?所以,古典音乐也可以流行,流行音乐在特定的历史环境下,和人民认可度的前提下也可以成为“古典”也可以成为“流行”。所谓流行音乐,准确的概念应为商品音乐,即以赢利为主要目的创作的音乐。它的市场性是主要的,艺术性是次要的。

“商品音乐”这一概念比任何一个概念都科学、合理、准确。单从字面上看,“通俗”指易解易懂,“流行”指广为流传,这样看来象《义勇军进行曲》、《歌唱祖国》、《东方红》《南泥湾》等歌曲也可以称为通俗歌曲或流行歌曲。这些歌曲都虽然通俗易懂、流传很广。但是,这些歌曲是决不能称为商品歌曲的,因为它们决不是以赢利为主要目的创作的。从这一点也可以看出“商品音乐”这一概念是科学、合理、准确的。流行音乐起源于美国的爵士音乐。20世纪初,美国出现了一种由多民族文化汇集而成的爵士音乐。这种新兴音乐,以它独特的演奏(演唱)方式,刷新了听众的耳目,轰动了全美国,又很快传遍西欧各国。

Pop music (a term that originally derives from an abbreviation of “popular”) is a genre of popular music which originated in its modern form in the 1950s, deriving from rock and roll. The terms popular music and pop music are often used interchangeably, even though the former is a description of music which is popular (and can include any style).

As a genre, pop music is very eclectic, often borrowing elements from other styles including urban, dance, rock, Latin and country; nonetheless, there are core elements which define pop. Such include generally short-to-medium length songs, written in a basic format (often the verse-chorus structure), as well as the common employment of repeated choruses, melodic tunes, and catchy hooks.

So-called “pure pop” music, such as power pop, features all these elements, using electric guitars, drums and bass for instrumentation; in the case of such music, the main goal is usually that of being pleasurable to listen to, rather than having much artistic depth. Pop music is generally thought of as a genre which is commercially recorded and desires to have a mass audience appeal.

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