Song

Song

A song is a musical composition intended to be vocally performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) along with rhythm and the accompaniment of musical instruments. The lyrics (words) of songs are typically of a poetic, rhyming nature, although they may be religious verses or free prose.

A song may be for a solo singer, a lead singer supported by background singers, a duet, trio, or larger ensemble involving more voices singing in harmony, although the term is generally not used for large classical music vocal forms including opera and oratorio, which use terms such as aria and recitative instead.

History

Songs have been written in all cultures and are often the distinctive art of a culture. The Ancient Greek epic poetry, for example, was set to a tonal structure. Poems from the Tang dynasty are played regularly on China's national radio in the 21st century. The tradition of love songs exists in most cultures. The troubadour song of medieval Europe is associated with courtly love, and the minnesinger tradition of love lyrics in Early Middle German.

Types of song

There are many types of songs: songs that are sung on stage (theatre songs), songs that are sung in church (hymns), songs for dancing, and songs for marching. Songs can be broadly divided into many different forms and types, depending on the criteria used.

See also

• Music
• Lyrics
• Melody
• Harmony
• Rhythm

External links

• Song Meanings and Facts

Song Resources
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