From David Held, Introduction to Critical Theory, 101, 103
For Adorno, "serious music" is usually classical, although he does say that much of what most people would place in the classical category is really just popular. "Popular music" refers to jazz, 'beat' music, film music, and anything composed purely for entertainment.
More significantly, though, serious and popular music have the following characteristics:
The Structure of Production and Composition of "Serious" and "Popular" Music | |
Serious Music | Popular Music |
| Every part/detail depends 'for its musical sense on the concrete totality and never on a mere enforcement of a musical scheme.' | Musical compositions follow familiar patterns/frameworks: they are stylized. Little originality is introduced. |
| Themes and details are highly interwoven with the whole. | Structure of the whole does not depend on details - whole is not altered by individual detail. |
| Themes are carefully developed. | Melodic structure is highly rigid and is frequently repeated. |
| Details cannot be changed without altering the whole - details almost contain/anticipate the whole. | Harmonic structure embodies a set scheme (the most primitive harmonic facts are emphasized). Complications have no effect on the structure of the work - they do not develop themes. |
| Consistency is maintained between formal structure and content (themes) | Stress is on combination of individual "effects" - on sound, colour, tone, beat, rhythm. |
| If standard schemes are employed (e.g., for dance) they still maintain a key role in the whole. | Improvisations become "normalized" (the boys can only "swing it" in a narrow framework) Details are substitutable (they "serve their function as cogs in machines). |
| Emphasizes norms of high technical competence. | Affirms conventional norms of what constitutes intelligibility in music while appearing novel and original. |
Differences between 'serious' and 'popular' music in responses encouraged/demands made upon the listener
'Serious' music
'Popular' music
To understand a piece of serious music one must experience the whole of it. The whole has little influence on reception and reaction to parts - stronger reactions to part than whole. The whole has strong impact on reaction to details. The music is standardized into easily recognizable types, whole are pre-accepted/known prior to reception. Themes and details can only be comprehended in the context of the whole. Little effort is required to follow music - audience already has models under which musical experiences can be subsumed. The sense of the music cannot be grasped by recognition alone, i.e. by identifying music with another 'identical' piece. Little emphasis on the whole as a musical event - what matters is style, rhythm (the movement of the foot on the floor) Effort and concentration are required to follow music. Leads back to familiar experiences (themes and details can be understood out of context because listener can automatically supply framework). Its aesthetic disrupts the continuum of everyday life and encourages recollection. A sense of music is grasped in recognition - leading to acceptance.
Pleasure, fun gained through listening are "transferred" to the musical object, which becomes invested with qualities that stem from mechanism of identification.
The most successful, best music is identified with the most often repeated.
Music has "soporific" effect on social consciousness.
It reinforces a sense of continuity with everyday living - while its reified structure enforces forgetfulness.
Renders 'unnecessary the process of thinking.'