• Avoidance of blues cliché so common of American rock bands-chord sequences aren't anything like the 12-bar sequence.
• Chords sequences are deceptively simple but with an added twist by adding an unexpected chord, or breakdown etc. Blur Boys & Girls verse uses 2 chords a semitone apart.
• Guitar solos are less important than in American rock.
• Use of driving guitar rhythms-Beginning sequence of Wonderwall Oasis.
• The major bands of Britpop grew their main influences from the great British bands of the 1960s and the indie bands of the 1980s. Blur influenced the The Kinks, Oasis byThe Beatles.
• source: http://ist-music.wikispaces.com/The+Main+Features+of+Britpop
• British Accents 

• emphasis on British youth lives, cultures, and musical heritages (All music)
• http://www.allmusic.com/style/britpop-ma0000002480

• Oasis - Wonderwall; Don't Look Back in Anger; Champane Supernova; She's Electric
• Blur - Song 2; End of A Century

• Hard rock is strongly influenced by blues music the most frequently used scale in hard rock is the pentatonic, which is a typical blues scale. Unlike traditional rock and roll (which takes elements of the "old" blues), hard rock incorporates elements of "British blues", a style of blues played with more modern instruments such as electric guitars, drums, keyboards and electric bass. A notable departure from traditional blues forms is that hard rock is seldom restricted to the I, IV, and V chords prevalent in twelve or sixteen bar blues, but includes other chords, typically major chords rooted on tones of the minor scale. The term "hard rock" is often applied to many styles of rock music, their only common feature being that they deviate from pop rock, though this is generally incorrect. Two such examples are punk rock and grunge. Punk rock uses a faster tempo, less melody, fewer riffs (often using power chords), more aggression and anti-establishment lyrics.
• http://www.spirit-of-metal.com/liste_groupe-indexStyle-Hard_Rock-l-en.html
• Pentatonic
  “British Blues”, modern instruments
  Seldom restricted to I, IV and V chords
  Includes major chords rooted in tones of the minor scale
  Electric guitar, bass, and drums
  Lead guitarist: solos, riffs, fills, alternate picking, sweep picking, tapping à maximize the speed ofsolo and riff
  Roots in psychedelic rock and garage
  Heavy use of distorted guitars, bass guitar, and drums
  Subset: grunge & punk
  Exemplify melodic and harmonic lines
• www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Hard_rock 

-         Reflected the views and moods of the younger generation
-         Anti-war and civil rights movements in the 1960s
-         Civil disobedience 
-         Accelerated use of drugs and alcohol   
www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Hard_rock 

• Led Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven; Whole Lotta Love
• Guns N' Roses - Don't Cry; Patience; Civil War; November Rain

-         A bebop tune, however,, would simply consist of a statement of the head, or main theme, extended solos over the head’s harmonic structure, and then one final statement of the head. It was common for bebop musicians to compose new, complex melodies over well-known chord progressions-         expanded the palette of musical devices from which to choose while improvising

-         The birth of bebop coincided with World War II. The war adversely affected many aspects of the entertainment world:

·    The draft removed tens of thousands of American men from swing jazz's ballroom scene, as well as from the bands.

·    Gas and rubber shortages curtailed road trips — the means by which many bands made their livings.

·    Midnight curfews shut down clubs and ballrooms during their prime hours.

·    An amusement tax as high as 20 percent in some cities raised the cost of operating venues.

·    Racism made it tough for black musicians to tour; they had to stay in separate hotels, eat in different restaurants, and were excluded from performing at various venues.

·    From 1942 to 1944, the recording ban removed new records as an important source of a big band's income and exposure.


The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) instigated the recording ban in a dispute over royalties. The ban applied only to instrumental music. The AFM ordered its members not to record until major recording companies met demands that royalties be paid not only for the sale of records but also for use of the music by radio stations and on jukeboxes. The process took two years before all the big recording labels met the demands and recording resumed. Unfortunately, this lapse meant that most of bebop's important early performances were never caught on tape.


Some big bands did survive, however. For instance, Count Basie and Duke Ellington kept their bands going through the '40s, '50s, and '60s. But for every band that managed to keep going, several broke up. Even the King of Swing, Benny Goodman, redirected his energies to performing in small groups instead of leading a big band. Eventually, too, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, and other leaders found ways to bebop with their big bands.

-         For some black musicians, bebop became a statement of black identity, at a time when the civil rights movement was beginning. The NAACP organized its Legal Defense and Education Fund in 1939. Richard Wright's 1940 novel Native Son gave a bleak account of conditions for blacks in America. In 1941, Bernard Rustin, who later organized the March on Washington, launched a New York branch of the Congress on Racial Equality. In the past, white musicians appropriated the best ideas from black New Orleans and Chicago jazz. White swing bands including Benny Goodman's enjoyed commercial success with music that included many ideas and players taken from African-American big bands. Black bandleader and arranger Fletcher Henderson even became Goodman's arranger. As the black beboppers staked new ground, they risked rejection by their public, peers, and critics to make music so fast and technically demanding that it was difficult to understand and nearly impossible to copy. Compared with the sweet, melodic sounds of big band swing, bebop had little commercial potential
-         (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/bebops-birth-into-the-jazz-scene.html)

• John Coltrane - Spiritual; Resolution
• Charlie Parker - Koko; Confirmation; Now's the Time; All the Things You Are
• Dizzy Gillespie - Salt Peanuts;
• Dexter Gordon - Blue Bossa; Cheese Cake

1. Harmony

• the harmony derives to a great extent from American standards
• Harmonically, bossa nova was an extension and further development of the “Great American Songbook” approach, at a time when the general public in the U.S. was beginning to lose sight of the musical world of Gershwin, Kern, and Porter. 

• Melodies in major-key tunes often emphasize the major seventh and major ninth scale degrees over tonic maj7 or maj9 chords.

• Melodic rhythms sometimes make use of the patterns of samba instruments.
• tamborim patterns
• Bossa nova bass patterns suggest the surdo (low drum) part in a samba group.
• Drum set parts are also understated. Constant eighth notes on the high hat or ride cymbal suggest the pandeiro or the shaker part in a samba ensemble; the cross-stick on the snare plays a simple clave pattern or tamborim pattern. In a purist approach, a bossa nova drummer would play in a more reserved fashion than a typical American jazz drummer.
• The samba influence may be more or less pronounced, depending on the performer and the song.
• http://www.jazzstandards.com/theory/bossa-nova.htm

1. Bossa Nova was a natural outgrowth of urban modernization and resulting class-stratified patterns of cultural production. The music emerged in the small clubs and apartments of the beachfront districts of Rio’s south zone. The very character of Bossa Nova—intimate, soft, controlled—corresponds to the enclosed physical space in which it grew. Bossa Nova was made by and for middle-class citizens. In his sociological analysis, Tinhorão mistakenly identifies Bossa Nova’s use of altered chords as an emulation of the North American jazz idiom. In a sarcastic response, Jobim pointed out that flat fives and sharp nines are not the exclusive domain of jazz composers, that Bach also used them. Furthermore, given its various stylistic parameters, Bossa Nova cannot be simplified as the crossing of samba and jazz, itself a fluid musical concept. That Brazilian musicians had contact with jazz is undeniable, but the results of this contact are purely Brazilian, a unique synthesis of rhythmic, harmonic, melodic, and performance-bound qualities.

2. In Brazil, the ascendance of Bossa Nova coincided with growing nationalism and activism. In the early sixties, popular music became increasingly identified with a surge in political activity and socio-economic awareness. Dissatisfied with the apolitical, inconsequential and frequently banal discourse of mainstream Bossa Nova, songwriters began to expand their perspectives and express social concerns of local and national import. Composition of protest and topical songs gave rise to a trend known as "the content line" in opposition to the original "formal line." As the ideology of national liberation and populism spread, there was heightened emphasis on the social function of song, on message-oriented art integrated in a process of transformation.

3. Popular music, like all sectors of Brazilian society, was affected by the right wing coup of l964. Authoritarian rule sharpened sociopolitical awareness and motivated further protest in song. Despite stricter application of censorship laws, some forms of dissent were still tolerated, and social discourse in song was widespread by 1965. Committed artists began to gain larger followings, aided by the expansion of the music industry, which could service diverse interests. Protest through musical messages was but one symptom of general discontent with the military regime.  

The word baroque comes from the Italian word barocco meaning bizarre. However, when describing the music of the Baroque period, a better definition might be exuberant.

The Baroque period lasted from about 1600 to 1750. The death of J.S. Bach, the Baroque’s greatest composer, marks the end of the period. 

Some of the characteristics of the Baroque are as follows: 

The Basso Continuo (Figured Bass): Figured Bass is a sort of musical shorthand that provides a framework for playing the bass line of the piece. The bass parts were usually played by the string bass along with either the harpsichord or the organ, which also played an improvised chord part. While most of the orchestra played parts that were written out note-by-note, the basso continuo was simply sketched out in a Figured Bass notation. 

One mood throughout the entire piece: This is called the Doctrine of Affections. Composers in the Baroque period attempted to communicate pure emotion in their music. There was nothing autobiographical in their compositions, meaning that a composer never tried to write a “happy” song because he was happy that day. Rather, they were trying to write music that perfectly expressed the range of human emotions. 

Important String sections: During the Medieval period, the human voice was the predominate instrument and nearly all music was written for voice. Gregorian chants had no accompaniment. The motets and madrigals of this period had some accompaniment, usually an organ or harpsichord. However, Baroque composers began giving greater attention to the violin, viola, cello and string bass and wrote many pieces that brought these instruments to the forefront of the orchestra. 

Modes were replaced by the Major/Minor key system: Medieval music was written in modes that did not allow for changes from one mode to another. If a song started in Mode 1, it ended in Mode 1 with no possible way to shift to Mode 2. With the invention of the Major and Minor key system, it became possible for composers to modulate from one key to another related key. 

Many different forms are used (e.g. Binary, Fugue): Chants, motets and madrigals were written in a single form and allowed for very little variations. Baroque music was a time of experimentation and expansion. Composers began writing pieces in many forms, most of which followed some kind of fast-slow-fast format. Binary music was two forms, fast and slow. Fugues were complex and complicated variations on a single melody that build organically from that single melody into rich and varied musical tapestries. 

Many types of music, e.g. The Chorale, Opera, the Dance Suite: Prior to the Baroque period, most music was written exclusively for use in religious services. Some these pieces, the masses, were formed in such a way to allow for very little experimentation or variation. As the Baroque progressed, musicians began writing more and more religious music for use in services other than the mass. Secular music, pieces written either for royalty and the courts or for the general public, became popular during the Baroque period. Baroque composers wrote thousands of pieces for both sacred and secular use. 

Energetic rhythms (Exuberance), long melodies, many ornaments, contrasts (especially dynamics, but also in timbres): The music of the Medieval period; chants, motets and madrigals, was mostly slow and fairly uniform in style and mood. The voice still dominated as the main instrument, with a few harpsichords and organs thrown in as accompaniment. That changed dramatically in the Baroque as composers began experimenting with new rhythmic structures, long complicated melodies, trills and other musical ornaments and a wide variety of contrasts, both dynamically (volume) and in the timbre, or texture, of the music.
https://wikis.engrade.com/lamkinmuap

In addition to producing the earliest European music familiar to most of us, including Pachelbel’s Canon and Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, the baroque era also greatly expanded our horizons. The acceptance of Copernicus’s 16th century theory that the planets didn’t revolve around the earth made the universe a much larger place, while Galileo’s work helped us get better acquainted with the cosmos. Advances in technology such as the invention of the telescope made what was believed to be finite seem infinite. Great thinkers like Descartes, Hobbes, Spinoza and Locke tackled the big questions of existence. Geniuses like Rubens, Rembrandt and Shakespeare offered unique perspectives through their art. European nations grew more and more involved with foreign trade and colonization, bringing us into direct contact with parts of the globe that were previously unfamiliar. And the growth of a new middle class breathed life into an artistic culture long dependent on the whims of church and court.
http://www.baroque.org/baroque/whatis