Theodor W. Adorno, 1941

 

Adorno identifies the difference between popular music and serious music.

The key points that I have found in readings are:

Adorno notes that historical analysis is one possible method that can achieve the clarification that occurs in music production and of the roots of the two main spheres.

“The whole structure of popular music is standardized, even where the attempt is made to circumvent standardization.”

“Popular music is "pre-digested" in a way strongly resembling the fad of "digests" of prmted Material.”

“Standardization of popular music has been considered in structural  terms--that is, as an inherent quality without explicit reference to the process  of production or to the underlying causes for standardization.”

“The attitude of the audiences toward the natural language is  reinforced by standardized production, which institutionalizes desiderata which  originally might have come from the public.”

"The chief difference between  a popular song and a standard, or serious, song like 'Mandalay,' 'Sylvia,' or  'Trees,' is that the melody and the Iyric of a popular number are constructed  within a definite pattern or structural form, whereas the poem, or Iyric, of a  standard number has no structural confinements, and the music is free to  interpret”

I think that the 'serious' music is more strong in terms of its poetry  so rather than saying that classical music is far more cultured and for the upper classes, we can say that its more for can be consumed by people who are serious and anybody can be serious within any class.

        

The key pints that I have found in the reading the article in the link of the website:

The reading is about is an important first step in the consideration of the role of popular music within a society.

“Adorno's belief that classical music was a superior form of human expression”.

According to him most important is the belief that the music industry imposes a high level of standardization on the music it produces.

“
Popular music is standardized to a point that it is “predigested” – the audience has already heard it. Therefore, it requires no intellectual effort to listen to it. It does not challenge the intellect to push itself. The music is simply accepted as is.”

“The “decay” of popular music is attributed to several things, such as its link with the larger culture industry such as the fashion industry”.

“The most important aspect of the article is the discussion of “standardization”.”

“Adorno argues that in a work of art music, “every detail gets is concrete meaning from the total course, and this totality in turn receives it from the living interrelation of details that oppose and continue one another, pass into each other, and recur”.”

“Popular music has its meaning “imposed” by the form itself, imposed from the outside, the social.”

Reference Link:

http://www.grebel.uwaterloo.ca/swood/Readings/Adorno%20Popular%20music.htm