Modern Music

There are loads of ways people can make music, and every part of the world has different ways of doing it, using different sounds. These sounds will also be different at different times throughout history. Check out more information on this in Did You Know?. Can you think of different kinds of music that might have been popular when, say, your grandparents were teenagers? How does it differ to the music that you like? What do you think is the difference between the music you like and the music your grandparents like?

It may be a lot to do with technology and how much it has advanced recently. Really early musical instruments are very different from the ones we use now. Synthesizers and computers can make all sorts of electronic sounds that would never have been achieved by musicians before.

Some might argue that 'modern' music isn't actually 'music' at all, and that more 'classical' styles are what really defines music. What do you think music actually is?

You could say that music is sounds that have been arranged over a certain amount of time. You could add that music is something that has beauty, and that you need to be a good musician for it to sound any good! Does modern music fit this description, do you think?! With the technology at our fingertips, perhaps it requires less skill to create beautiful sounds. What do you think?