British Music

The Cultural heritage of Great Britain

The culture of the United Kingdom is influenced by the UK's history as a developed island country, a liberal democracy and a major power, its predominantly Christian religious life, and its composition of four countries—England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales—each of which has distinct customs, cultures and symbolism. The wider culture of Europe has also influenced British culture, and Humanism, Protestantism and representative democracy developed from broader Western culture.

British literature, music, cinema, art, theatre, comedy, media, television, philosophy, architecture and education are important aspects of British culture. The United Kingdom is also prominent in science and technology, producing world-leading scientists (e.g. Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin) and inventions. Sport is an important part of British culture; numerous sports originated in the country, including football. The UK has been described as a " cultural superpower", and London has been described as a world cultural capital.

The Industrial Revolution, which started in the UK, had a profound effect on the socio-economic and cultural conditions of the world. As a result of the British Empire, significant British influence can be observed in the language, law, culture and institutions of a geographically wide assortment of countries, including Australia, Canada, India, the Republic of Ireland, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, South Africa, the United States and English speaking Caribbean nations. These states are sometimes collectively known as the Anglosphere, and are among Britain's closest allies. In turn the empire also influenced British culture, particularly British cuisine.

The cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness.

British Music

Music is an essential part of Western culture. The need and appreciation for music is evident in the everyday lives of people for it is heard in movies, on television and throughout all forms of audio media. The majority of people also choose to listen to music for pleasure so it is not surprising, considering the bombardment of music one is faced with, that music can be an instrument of social influence and change. Music is a powerful form of communication. It can be personal, political, opportunistic, and can be self-expressive with therapeutic effects due to the release of emotion. The people living in the British Isles are very fond of music, and it is quite natural that concerts of the leading symphony orchestras, numerous folk groups and pop music are very popular.

Pop music is an important part of British culture, not just as an expression of Englishness, but as a indicator of the multi-cultural nature of Britain today. The Beatles first arrived on the Liverpool music scene in the early 60's creating a huge controversial craze among their fans known as Beatle Mania. But there are many different kinds of music (musical genres) that have helped shape British youth. British music has had a huge impact all over the world. The most famous music exports are of course the Beatles. Classical music in Britain is a minority interest. Not all classical musicians are well known to the general public. Despite this low profile, thousands of British people are dedicated musicians and many public libraries have well-stocked music sections. Several British orchestras, singers, opera and ballet companies and also certain annual musical events, have international reputation. In the 1960s, British artists had a great influence on the development music in the modern, for «pop» idiom. The Beatles and other British groups were responsible for several innovations, which were then adopted by popular musicians in the USA and the rest of the world. These included the writing of words and music by the performers themselves, and more active audience participation. The words of their songs also helped to liberate the pop idiom from its former limitation to the topics of love and teenage affection. Other British artists in groups such as Pink Floyd and Cream played a major part in making the musical structure of pop music.

Since the 1960s, popular music in Britain has been an enormous and profitable industry. The Beatles were awarded the honour of MBE (Member of the British Empire) for their services to British exports. Within Britain the total sales of the various kinds of musical recording are more than 200 million every year and the vast majority of them are of popular music. Many worldwide trends have come out of Britain and British «pop» artists have been active in attempting to cross the boundaries between popular music, folk music and classical music.

Early Music. Music in the British Isles, from the earliest recorded times until the Baroque and the rise of recognisably modern classical music, was a diverse and rich culture, including sacred and secular music and ranging from the popular to the elite, F.ac h of the major nations of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales retained unique forms of music and of instrumentation, but British music was highly influenced by continental developments, while British composers made an important contribution to many of the major movements in early music in Europe, including the polyphony of the Ars Nova and laid some of the foundations of later national and international classical music. Musicians from the British Isles also developed some distinctive forms of music, including Celtic chant, the Contenance Angloise, the rota, polyphonic votive antiphons and the carol in the medieval era and English madrigals, lute ayres and masques in the Renaissance era, which led particularly to English language opera developed in the early Baroque period ol the later seventeenth century.

In the sense of commercial music enjoyed by the people, British popular music can be seen to originate in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with the arrival of the broadside ballad, which were sold cheaply and in great numbers until the nineteenth century. Further technological, economic and social changes led to new forms of music in the nineteenth century, including the brass band, which produced a popular and communal form of classical music. Similarly, the Music hall sprang up to cater for the entertainment of new urban societies, adapting existing forms of music to produce popular songs and acts. In the 1930s the influence of American Jazz led to the creation of British dance bands, who provided a social and popular music that began to dominate social occasions and the radio airwaves.

Baroque music

Baroque music The Baroque era in music, between the early music of the Medieval and Renaissance periods and the development of fully fledged and formalised orchestral classical music in the second half of the eighteenth century, was characterised by more elaborate musical ornamentation, changes in musical notation, new instrumental playing techniques and the rise of new genres such as opera. Although the term Baroque is conventionally used for European music from about 1600, its full effects were not felt in Britain until after 1660, delayed by native trends and developments in music, religious and cultural differences from many European countries and the disruption to court music caused by the British Civil Wars and Interregnum. Under the restored Stuart monarchy the court became once again a centre of musical patronage, but royal interest in music tended to be less significant as the seventeenth century progressed, to be revived again under the House of Hanover. The Baroque era in British music can be seen as one of an interaction of national and international trends, sometimes absorbing continental fashions and practices and sometimes attempting, as in the creation of ballad opera, to produce an indigenous tradition. However, arguably the most significant British composer of the era, George Frideric Handel, was a naturalised German, who helped integrate British and continental music and define the future of the classical music of the United Kingdom that would be officially formed in 1801.

Folk music

Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom has its own diverse and distinctive folk music forms. In addition, there are numerous distinct and semi- distinct folk traditions brought by immigrants from Jamaica, India, the Commonwealth and other parts of the world. England has a long and diverse history of folk music dating back at least to the medieval period and including many forms of music, song and dance. Through two periods of revival from the late nineteenth century much of the tradition has been preserved and continues to be practiced. It led to the creation of a number of fusions with other forms of music that produced sub-genres such as electric folk, folk punk and folk metal and continues to thrive nationally and in regional scenes, particularly in areas such as Northumbria and Cornwall. Folk music songs deal with almost every kind of human activity. Folk music often expresses the character of ethnic and social groups and sometimes a nation. It is the music of the people. A folk song can express political or religious beliefs, tell a story or describe history, or just provide amusement. Folk music is usually learned by listening rather than by reading the notes or words. The music is shared from person to person, from place to place, and from generation to generation. Folk song sometimes change either by accident or from a purposeful alteration. Tunes are shortened or lengthened, pitches and rhythms are altered, and portions of one song may be combined with part of another. Words of a song may also change over time. Folk songs can often be classified into different types. The ballad, a song that tells a story often about real events, is one of the main types of folk song. Ballads are in stanza form, where a melody is repeated for each of several verses, and may have a refrain that is repeated several times. Another type of folk song is those that deal with a particular activity, occupation, or set of circumstances. This group includes work songs, prison songs, war songs, and the like. There are also spiritual songs, songs for children, songs about life's stages, and many songs are just for celebration, dance, and enjoyment.

Church music

In the early Middle Ages, ecclesiastical music was dominated by monophonic plainchant. The separate development of British Christianity from the direct influence of Rome until the 8th century, with its nourishing monastic culture, led to the development of a distinct form of liturgical Celtic chant, Although no notations of this music survive, later sources suggest distinctive melodic patterns. This was superseded, as elsewhere in Europe, from the llth centurv by Gregorian chant.The version of this chant linked to the liturgy as used in the Diocese of Salisbury, the Sarum Use, first recorded from the 13th century, became dominant in England. This Sarum Chant became the model for English composers until it was supplanted at the Reformation in the mid-16th century, influencing settings for masses, hymns and Magnificats. Scottish music was highly influenced by continental developments, with figures like thirteenth-century musical theorist Simon Tailler studving in Paris, before returned to Scotland where he introduced several reforms of church music. Scottish collections of music like the thirteenth-century 'Wolfenbiittel 677', which is associated with St Andrews, contain mostly French compositions, but with some distinctive local styles. The first notations of Welsh music that survived are from the 14th century, including matins, lauds and vespers for St David's Day.

British Musicians of the present times

James Morrison. His full name is James Morrison Catchpole. In 2006, his debut single “You Give Me Something” became a hit in Europe, Australia, and Japan, peaking in the top five in the UK and New Zealand. His debut album, Undiscovered, debuted at the top of the UK Albums Chart.

Robert Peter Williams (born February 13, 1974 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is a British pop singer. Originally a member of boy band Take That, he split from the group in 1995 and launched a solo career.

Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English singer- songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter. He came to prominence as the lead guitarist, backing vocalist and occasional lead vocalist of rock band Blur, and is also a critically acclaimed solo artist, having recorded seven solo albums. His artistic and musical contribution is featured on all seven of Blur's studio albums, from 1991's Leisure to 2003's Think Tank.

British bands

One of the most popular groups in the 1960s was “The Beatles”. The Beatles were an iconic rock group from Liverpool, England. They are frequently cited as the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in modern history. Currently, the Beatles are one of the two musical acts to sell more than 1 billion records, with only Elvis Presley having been able to achieve the same feat. After conquering Europe, with successful tours to Germany and Sweden, the Beatles led the mid-1960s musical “British Invasion” into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll, the group explored a great variety of musical styles including Psychedelic Rock, Experimental, Ballads, Western and Indian Classical among others. Their clothes, hairstyles and instruments made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.

The Beatles were comprised of four members in the long run: John Lennon (vocals, rhythm guitar, piano), Paul McCartney (vocals, bass guitar, piano, guitar), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals), and Ringo Starr (percussion, vocals). Lennon and McCartney were the main songwriters and singers. For years, The Beatles showed an amazing talent for writing hit after hit.

Another popular band was the Rolling Stones. By the time the Rolling Stones began calling themselves the world Greatest Rock and Roll band in the late 60s, they had already staked out an impressive claim on the title. The Stones pioneered the gritty, hard-driving blue-based rock and roll that came to definite hard rock.

The Spice Girls were a BRIT Award-winning English pop girl group formed in 1994. They consist of Victoria Beckham, Geri Halliwell, Emma Bunton, Melane Brown and Melanie Chisholm. According to the BBC, they are the best-selling girl group of all times.

They were signed to Vergin Records and released their debut single, “Wannabe” in 1996. The song spent seven weeks at the top of the UK Singles Chart, becoming number one in 31 countries and helped establish the group as an “global phenomenon”. The spice Girls have sold more than 60 million records worldwide with only three albums, landing them the title for fastest-selling girl group ever.