A thoughtful, relevant account of our current musical culture, Music Trends of the 21st Century is a must read for anyone who enjoys music. Anna Brake unveils today's musical literacy rate by comparing recent tendencies to the techniques that spawned electronic music, glimpsing into music lessons and classrooms, and observing pop's relation to other genres. This book is chock full of information about how the advancements in technology from the turn of the millennium have impacted composers, songwriters, performers, artists, and audiences/fans, why music should be flourishing in the digital age, and easy and effective ways to get more music in your own life and the lives of others. No matter what your level of musical knowledge, Music Trends of the 21st Century will expand your musical perspective.

The state of contemporary music is dizzyingly diverse in terms of style, media, traditions, and techniques. How have trends in music developed over the past decades? Music Composition in the 21st Century is a guide for composers and students that helps them navigate the often daunting complexity and abundance of resources and influences that confront them as they work to achieve a personal expression. From pop to classical, the book speaks to the creative ways that new composers mix and synthesize music, creating a music that exists along a more continuous spectrum rather than in a series of siloed practices. It pays special attention to a series of critical issues that have surfaced in recent years, including harmony, the influence of minimalism, the impact of technology, strategies of "openness," sound art, collaboration, and improvisation. Robert Carl identifies an emerging common practice that allows creators to make more informed aesthetic and technical decisions and also fosters an inherently positive approach to new methods.

Existing books on the analysis of popular music focus on theory and methodology, and normally discuss parts of songs briefly as examples. The impression often given is that songs are being chosen simply to illuminate and exemplify a theoretical position. In this book the obverse is true: songs take centre stage and are given priority. The authors analyse and interpret them intensively from a variety of theoretical positions that illuminate the song. Thus, methods and theories have to prove their use value in the face of a heterogeneous, contemporary repertoire. The book brings together researchers from very different cultural backgrounds and encourages them to compare their different hearings and to discuss the ways in which they make sense of specific songs. All songs analysed are from the new millennium, most of them not older than three years. Because the most widely popular styles are too often ignored by academics, this book aims to shed light on how million sellers work musically. Therefore, it encompasses a broad palette, highlighting mainstream pop (Lady Gaga, Ke$ha, Lucenzo, Amy McDonald), but also accounting for critically acclaimed ’indie’ styles (Fleet Foxes, Death Cab for Cutie, PJ Harvey), R&B (Destiny’s Child, Janelle Monae), popular hard rock (Kings of Leon, Rammstein), and current electronic music (Andrés, Björk). By concentrating on 13 well-known songs, this book offers some model analyses that can very easily be studied at home or used in seminars and classrooms for students of popular music at all academic levels.

Music is an expression of feelings of the soul conveyed through the medium of sound. But not all sounds are music. It might be said that only an organised sound or series of sounds can be called music. Thus, music is connected to the eternal and constant flow and order of the universe, to the laws and rhythms of nature. It can also be said that musical order is comparable to the natural order of the universe. There are laws of a certain nature in the natural sciences and likewise in music there are structures and procedures, or even rules, that should be followed to produce beautiful music. The International Conference "Innovations for 21st Century Music Education and Research" provided a timely opportunity to take stock of the latest developments in music education and brought together educators, researchers and members of the broader community in a welcoming forum in which they were able to express theoretical and practical views, concepts, research results and principles to help support the further development of music education.

Essays by a prominent contemporary composer explore a current trend in classical music away from atonal characteristics and toward more traditional forms. Topics include cultural identity, musical meaning, and the aesthetics of beauty.

Examines trends that can reshape society and offers an understanding of the dynamics to prepare future leaders.