Contrast and Comparison between a Classical and Rock Song

Music comprises of vocal or instrumental or both sounds combined in a way that produces beauty of form, harmony, and expression of emotions. Music is increasing popular in modern life with the amount of music available in personal archives increasing every day. The large amounts of information pose a challenge, especially with the management of the data
. Although music classification is not a clear concept, music is classifiable into two broad categories: popular and classical music. Each of the categories could further be classified into smaller categories. For example, popular music can further be classified into pop, rock, and jazz. Some of the characteristics used to discriminate different types of music include music structure, melody, tempo, rhythm, and chord. These characteristics make it is possible to differentiate classical and popular music. For example, this paper considers the musical features of Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement belonging to the classical category and the song Hey Jude by the Beatles. Similarities and differences between the two songs reveal way each belongs to a different category but enjoy considerable success as a work of art.
Background
Rock music is a fusion of black and white traditional music in the southern United States. The genre has elements of country, soul, jazz, and folk. Common elements in rock include the use of the 12-bar blue chord that relies on dominant, subdominant chords, and tonic for composition. The genre also relies heavily on the second and fourth backbeats. Classical music refers to music rooted in western traditional music and encompasses a period roughly from 11th century to date. Classical music is essentially enlightened, natural, and simple. The purpose of adopting simpler, natural, slow moving harmony is to make the music easier for the public to appreciate and understand. Despite the simplicity, the music maintains tonal harmony, which emphasizes melody and bass line (Classical music 19). A major influence on the development of rock is the instrumental setup of jazz bands during the Second World War. During the Second World War, bands were forced to downsize to ensure survival. Technological inventions of the 20th century also played a key role in the evolution of rock. Inventions such as an electric guitar, amplifier, and microphone enabled rock music to develop into the high volume genre that is so recognizable today. A key feature of classical music, such as Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement is melody that is short and clearly defined with two or more contrasting themes. This music also has a regular, well-defined rhythm; homophonic texture; and a four-section symphony orchestra that comprises of woodwind, percussion, strings, and brass (Covach 66).
Similarities
Classical and rock music are different branches of the same art form. It is impossible to say which one is better; it simply boils down to a matter of taste. There are great artists in both genres. Outstanding examples include Mozart in classical music and the Beatles in rock music. The most obvious similarity between Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement and the Beatles Hey Jude is the song structure. Both have the binary form II: A II: B II: A. hey Jude by the Beatles is one of the most popular songs in the genres, which follows a 4/4 meter rhythm foundation that is unsyncopated. Mozart achieves this same effect in his Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement by dynamically varying the volume. The Beatles uses a range of harmonies that range from arpeggio to fourth to fifth and cacophonous harmonic successions while Mozart achieves this by using homophonic texture, which is possible because the melody line and other notes in the music are inline (Classical music 21).
The rhythm in Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement has great flexibility with differing rhythmic patterns, which is a whole mark of most rock music including the Beatles Hey Jude. The rhythmic diversity in both songs is accompanied by pauses, changes between long and short notes, and syncopation. Bothe the musical pieces are of unusual length, however, this is more common in classical music than in rock music. The Beatles achieve this unusual length in this song by adopting a common characteristic of classical music. The song hey Jude comprises of a hymn-like song combined with a mantra-like jam along a simple chord progression (Covach 70). This makes both pieces of music unique because they comprise of simple elements that produce extraordinary quality that makes that all time favorites for most music lovers.
Considering the jam section of the Beatles music and Mozarts message and emotion in the tune, both seem to point in a thematic direction that results in spiritual enlightenment. Writing songs with a thematic message embedded seem to be a preoccupation of both the Beatles and Mozart. Bothe music plays in the key of F-major in a time of 4/4. A quality that make the Beatles song similar to Mozarts symphony makes it quite different from other songs in contemporary music. The music follows an unorthodox nature that relies on the subtleness of texture to relay meaning and induce emotions in the listeners. This is similar to the nature of classical music such as Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement. The music lacks lyrics, therefore, utilize the qualities of the beat to communicate a message and induce emotions in the listeners (Classical music 9).
Harmony in both songs is of a purely diatonic nature (F-major), with the F7 chord being the only significant chromatic difference during a shift. Most of the chords are in root positions with harmonic rhythms changing per unit of measure, especially the C chord, which creates a slow almost subliminal syncopation. Both melodies make use of appoggiaturas and "escape" notes, with a Bach-like walking bass-line in some sections of the pieces. However, the bass-line follows the root chord with every change. Part of the of middle to high pitch sounds in both Mozarts symphony number 30 in D 1st movement and the Beatles Hey Jude feature an oscillating chordal style. Both songs fade out slowly as they end after a prolonged time of playing, which is over seven minutes for both songs (Classical music 13).
Differences
Classical pieces, such as Mozarts Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement are more diverse and complex that most of the rock music including the Beatles Hey Jude. When overlaid on a graphical representation, the Beatles song contains more similarities to Mozarts symphony that vice versa, which suggests that contemporary music such as Hey Jude borrows elements in classical pieces, such as Symphony number 30 in D 1st movement (covach 75). A general difference between Mozarts Symphony and the Beatles Hey Jude is that the symphony contains more measurable elements. This is because an entire orchestra performs the song with many instruments. The most defining instrument in Mozarts song is the violin. The violin plays in unison with other instruments from the string family, such as the cello, viola, and harp. Instruments in the woodwind family that form part of the orchestra include the clarinet. The clarinet is particularly remarkable because of its ability to facilitate the development of unique sound and tone quality. The French horn is also an integral part of the orchestra that has as many qualities as the clarinet. In addition, part of the brass family and an important part of the orchestra is the trombone (Classical music 19).
The Beatles Hey Jude plays with fundamentally different instruments from Mozart. A major contributing factor is invention of electricity. When Mozart wrote the symphony number 30 in D 1st movement the only technology available that facilitated the production of music is using soundboards or lungpower. The instruments used to make music were limited by this two means that were the only methods of producing audible music. The Beatles had the benefit of using electricity and the electric guitar in this song. The instruments used by the Beatles to produce the song Hey Jude depend on electricity to make the sound audible. This is possible because of the invention of the amplifier during the early 50s (Covach 61).
Another fundamental difference between Mozarts Symphony numbers 30 in D 1st movement and the Beatles Hey Jude is the use of lyrics to communicate the musics intended message and to convey emotions. The Beatles have use lyrics, which adapted to the musics tune to convey message and emotion whereas Mozart uses only instruments to produce music that conveys a message and stimulates an emotion in the listener. Mozarts symphony requires a considerable number of people with varying skills to perform the music (Covach 68). Each of the individual who forms part of the performing team has a specific role to play and only plays one role or instrument. In the Beatles music, they are only for members in the group. Each member in the group plays multi roles. While they all write songs, Paul McCartney, a member of the group, wrote this particular song, Hey Jude. He writes the song to comfort his friends son who is going through his parents divorce.
From its inception, Mozarts symphony is part of the music genre, classical music that was a reserve of the rich for many years. Mozart lived and composed his music in a period when the music was reserved for the wealthy in the society. Mozart is one of the few exceptions of the time because his quit his job of performing for a rich archbishop to perform in public theaters. The Beatles performed this song in an age where contemporary music dominated every corner of the globe. Music using electronic devices was accessible to almost everyone who wanted to listen to it. Because of these differences, Mozarts symphony number 30 in D 1st movement did not enjoy as much public acceptance as the Beatles song Hey Jude did when they performed it for the public (Classical music 15).
Conclusion
The Beatles Hey Jude is a song belonging to the rock genre of music. Melodies in this genre, including Hey Jude are popular with many of todays young generation. The dominate fans of the music are predominantly white males from the middle class. Classical music including the contribution of revolutionary composers, such as Mozart changed the history of music forever. Mozart wrote and performed many of his symphonies including the Symphony numbers 30 in D 1st movement for the public. This shift from an exclusive wealthy audience to a general audience availed the listening pleasure to the masses and created music as an industry.


 Works cited
Classical music. Unit 5, Classical Period (1750-1820), 2013. Web. 14 April 2014
Covach, John. Form in rock music: a primer, In engaging music: Essays in music analysis, ed. Deboran Stein, Oxford: Oxford university press, 1996.