serious music
1
6.5
- noun
:
música clásica
- A white critic in New York wrote, after an evening of Cook's songs, "I am told that Mr. Cook declares that the next score he writes shall begin with ten minutes of serious music."
- a composer of serious music
But if you're a serious music person and you're a runner, these aren't for you.
- But if you're a serious music person and you're a runner, these aren't for you.
Examples
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He aspired to become a composer of serious music.
Academic text (2001) -
Virgil Thomson countered that despite commercial success, jazz can be a very serious music (U.S. Department of State, 2 Dec. 1964).
Academic text (2015) -
But in general, the Europeans were more interested in hearing serious music.
Blog text (20) -
Most students simply aren't exposed to serious music.
Academic text (1992) -
I love serious music.
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Bieber's newest album, "Believe," is a step away from his heartthrob status and in the direction of serious music.
Blog text (18) -
In comparison with students who heard only "serious" music in class, the students who listened to both serious and popular music had significantly higher scores on a test of listening skill.
Academic text (1990) -
But if you're a serious music person and you're a runner, these aren't for you.
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At the annual meeting of the National Association of Schools of Music held in 1996 in Dallas, Texas, composer Libby Larsen expressed concern for the shrinking "serious music" audience, suggesting that we may be living in a period of cultural and musical change as profound as that of the mid-eighteenth century.
Academic text (1999) -
Many people appreciate serious music for its complexity and emotional depth.
Synonyms
62
2.9
Music that is formal and often played by orchestras, mainly from Europe since the 1700s
1
3.9
Formal European music from the 18th and 19th centuries
Antonyms
How Formal
Surface Forms
Morphology
A B1 learner who knows 'serious' (requiring intellectual effort) and 'music' can infer that 'serious music' refers to music that demands attentive or critical listening rather than light entertainment, so the basic meaning is compositionally derivable. However, the conventional association with a specific tradition/genre (e.g. classical or 'art' music) is a cultural/disciplinary extension that may not be fully predictable from the words alone, making the phrase only partially transparent.
Etymology
Serious music started as a way to separate light, fun songs from music meant to make people sit quietly and think. Because people listened closely in formal concert halls, serious music came to mean 'classical' or music for 'careful listening'.