Research on Classical Music

Classical music is a broad term that usually refers to mainstream music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period frpm aproximently the 9th centry to the present day. The central norms of this tradition became codified between 1550 and 1900, which is known as the common pratice period.

European music is largely distinguished from many other non-European and popular musical forms by its system of staff notation, in usesince about the 16th century. Western staff notation is used by composers to prescribe to performer the pitch, speed, meter, individual rhythms and ad libitum ornamentation, that are frequently heard in non-European art musi (compare Indian classical music and Japanese traditional music) and popular music.

The public taste for and appreciation of formal music of this type waned in the late 1900s in the United States and United Kingdom in particular. certainly this period has seen classical music falling well behind the immense commercial success of popular music, in the opinion of some, although the number of CDs sold is not indicative of the popularitly of classical music.

The term "classical music" did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to "canonize" the period from Johann Sebastian Bach to Beethoven as a golden age. The earlist reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836. Many writers feel that "classical" is an inappropriate term for mainstream and avant-garde music written since the latter part of the 19th century, hence the common usage of apostrophes as a short-hand for "so-called".