1. Music in our life

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Can you think of a day without music? There is music everywhere: at home, in a concert hall, in parks, at the seaside and even in the forest. People cannot live without music. They listen to music, they dance to music, they learn to play musical instruments. But what is music? Specialists explain it very well. Music isn't combination of pleasant sounds only. It is an art, which reflects life. Music reflects people's ideas and emotions. Music is also a weapon. It fights for light against darkness, for freedom against tyranny, for humanism against barbarity ("Seventh symphony" by Shostakovich, "Sixth symphony" by Tchaikovsky and so on). When speaking of different forms of music I'd like to mention first and foremost classical music. I prefer different musical genres: symphony, concerto, chamber music, vocal music, opera, and ballet. Classical music gives me delight, pleasure, partly sensual, partly intellectual. Classical music is always a complex of emotions, excitement and at the same time, love for others and a desire to do something for them. When listening to classical music I have to combine all my feelings into one and to give it name, it will be happiness. Classical music contains the powerful appeal for listeners. It addresses both our senses and intellect. We are lucky to have such a famous orchestra, which executes music by Beethoven and Mozart, Britten and Gershvin. It is famous all over the world of its original interpretations of classical music. As for me I prefer such musical pieces which are based on the theme of struggle of good against evil. Also I like quiet lyrical piano pieces by Chopin and Prokofiev which are full of enchanting melodies.

Many young people today are gravitating towards new rhythms. This explains why new pop groups are proliferating. Pop has permeated all the mass media. Pop may be said to have emerged in the mid 1950's with the arrival of rock'n'roll. About 99% of pop songs are about love. Nowadays many listeners are rejecting second-rate products, which are nothing but a rehashing of the old numbers. This explains the success achieved by many groups and some other bands of the new generation which are free of false sentiments. They are genuine. The voice of the new groups is pure and clear and they sing about the things that are important in life. A readiness to experiment, favour and sincerity are their hallmark. A simple message conveyed with a good melody has, Ibelieve, been found by the "Beatles". Some of their old songs still enjoy popularity today.

Pop music has always been influenced by other forms of music: by jazz, the blues, classical music etc. Another important influence is folk music. Folk songs are the songs composed and sung by country people. They may be hundreds of years old. Nobody knows who originally composed them. Folk music is often music for dancing. Russian and Ukrainian folk songs are very melodious. I like to listen to Russian and Ukrainian folk songs sung by outstanding singers.

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Music plays an important role in people's life. It forms people's internal world, helps correctly understand occurring events and bring up taste. Outstanding German musician Ludwig van Beethoven told: «Music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and philosophy. Famous Russian sculptor Konenkov told: «I never would become the artist, if from childhood would not grow fond music» Music expresses most beautiful and sincere feelings. It is difficult to imagine a person, who would not love music. But everyone understands the role of music by different ways: Superficial or deep and of cause different types of music: Serious and thoughtless. But it doesn't mean that serious music is good music and thoughtless - bad. Simple and thoughtless music is very popular today. It is easier to hear and understand it. Nowadays that kind of music called «POP music». It includes such styles of music as jazz, rock, rap, disco and so on. Such music is necessary to the man, it lifts mood, and also it is easily remembered.

Music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chaykovsky, Grig, Schubert, Rachmaninov - is classic music. it is necessary to learn, to understand it and it is quite accessible to everyone. It is necessary gradually to prepare itself for acquaintance to serious music. Also it is good to learn and find out some information about the composer, about his time, and maybe read literary product to which music is written. Despite of it, classical music is not less popular than POP music. Leading composers are connected to progressive public movements, life, interests and aspirations people. Each nation differs by peculiar national features.

Folk music, being improved by creative efforts of many generations of the people, reaches a high degree of art maturity. On the basis of riches of national music professional musical creativity of composers is developed. Rejection of music from advanced ideas epoch of national culture, national roots of art leads to it's to decline and degeneration. In the simplest terms music can be described as the juxtaposition of two elements that involve pitch and duration and that are usually called melody and rhythm. Millions of people like music and can't imagine their life without it. Music affects the emotions in different ways. Music arouses deep emotions and makes people think. It gives people new energy and optimism, besides music is a wonderful rest, a good way to remove from tiredness and tension, it may just clam a person make him think of some think.

People like different music. Some enjoy only formal music of the 18th century; others prefer romantic music; still others respond only to the modern music of today. There are those who enjoy none of these kinds of music, but the simple folk music of the countryside. There are no right or wrong in this - it is simply a matter of varying sensitivity of different personalities to various kinds of music. The questions, which arise, are how to teach the young people to distinguish between faddish, tasteless imitations and music of enduring quality. Of course classical music is a complicated and exclusive art but it always occupies a worthy place in musical culture. Classical music gives the listener keen delight. It appeals to our intellect. It also has an ethical effect because it changes the listener for the better. The life of a man is very different, sometimes happy, and sometimes dramatic, music gives us possibility to find new strength, to get new energy and desires. That is why each generation and every epoch have their own music to express their desires, hopes and ideals. Nowadays there are a lot of new ideas in music. We can speak about new musical technology. In less than ten years, video, compact discs and computers all became important in the pop industry. Thanks to compact discs, the quality of record sound is better than ever. Thanks to computers it is possible to play and record thousands of new sounds.