Music school

A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger institution), conservatory o conservatoire. Instruction includes training in the performance of musical instruments, singing, musical composition, conducting, musicianship, as well as academic and research fields such as musicology, music history and music theory.

Music instruction can be provided within the compulsory general education system, or within specialized children's music schools such as the Purcell School. Elementary-school children can access music instruction also in after-school institutions such as music academies or music schools. In Venezuela El Sistema of youth orchestras provides free after-school instrumental instruction through music schools called núcleos. The term “music school” can be also applied to institutions of higher education under names such as school of music, such as the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University; music academy, like the Sibelius Academy; music faculty as the Don Wright Faculty of Music of the University of Western Ontario; college of music, characterized by the Royal College of Music and the Berklee College of Music; music department, like the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley; or the term conservatory, exemplified by the Conservatoire de Paris. In other parts of Europe, the equivalents of higher school of music or university of music may be used, such as the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln (Cologne University of Music).

USC Thornton School of Music

The University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, founded in 1884 and dedicated in 1999, is one of the premier music schools in the United States. Founded only four years after the University of Southern California itself, the Thornton School is the oldest continually operating arts institution in Southern California. The School is located in the heart of the USC University Park Campus, south of downtown Los Angeles.

The school gets its name in honor of a $25 million gift by Flora L. Thornton in 1999. At the time, this was the largest donation to a school of music in the United States. In 2006, she donated an additional $5 million to support the facility needs of the school.

The USC Thornton School is noted for quality programs such as orchestral studies, opera, jazz, early music, composition, Film Scoring and Music Industry. Rolling Stone magazine named the music school as one of the top-five in the country.

A diverse school of music, Thornton is one of the few highly regarded music schools in the United States to offer a degree program in early music. Students of baroque, renaissance and medieval music (vocal or instrumental) may enroll in a specialized degree program in early music.

Popular music

The term popular music belongs to a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed orally, or to smaller, local audiences. The original application of the term is to music of the 1880s Tin Pan Alley period in the United States. Although popular music sometimes is known as "pop music", the two terms are not interchangeable. Popular music is a generic term for music of all ages that appeals to popular tastes, whereas pop music usually refers to a specific musical genre within popular music. The song structure of popular music commonly involves the verse, chorus or refrain, and bridge as the different sections within a piece. With digital access to music, some popular music forms have become global, while others are have wide appeal within the culture of origin. Through hybridity, or mixture across musical genres, new popular music forms are able to be manufactured to reflect the ideals of a global culture. The examples of the African continent, Indonesia, and the Middle East explain how hybridity can develop into new forms of popular music.

USC

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Thornton

Thornton may refer to:

People

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United Kingdom

United States