Music to date

Classical music written today sounds very different from the music we have heard before. Composers don’t write tunes like they used to, and it can be hard to listen to.

Here is a clip of some modern music, written by a man called John Tavener. It is a piece for a choir. It has no real tune, and sounds quite sad and serious. In fact, it sounds like the Gregorian chant written hundreds of years ago which we heard before. So maybe one day in the future composers will again write like Bach, Mozart and Beethoven used to!

We have only looked at classical music. Nowadays, there are lots of different styles, for example jazz. Jazz is similar to classical music in that musicians have to be very skilful to play it. Here is a song called ‘Georgia on my Mind, played by the great jazz trumpeter Louis Armstrong. After he has played the tune, he starts to sing it, too!

Jazz music is quite similar to classical music, but it sounds very different. Players can make bits up as they go along, and don’t always have to play what they see on the page. This is called ‘improvising’.

There is lots of improvising in pop music as well. Here is a band called Dire Straits. The guitarist is not playing the tune with music. He is just making up little bits here and there as he goes along, to make it sound natural.