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DEFINITIONS

Robert Redfield in his work on culture theory (1973) defined the great tradition” of the reflective few as 
one which is conciously cultivated, refined and handed down in a formal learning situation 

and the “little tradition” of the largely unreflective many as 
one which keeps itself going, is taken for granted and is not put under much scrutiny or deliberate refinement and improvement.

While it should be understood that Redfield’s definition is by no means clear cut and that many gray areas exist, it is nonetheless useful to define traditional or folk music as music created within the little tradition while the great tradition may be said to encompass within its boundaries both popular music as well as classical or art music.
While it may seem a straightforward task to distinguish between folk, popular and classical or art music, the boundaries that separate each from the other are seldom clear cut. One broad definition of popular music includes
... music that is generally listened to and performable by persons with little or no musical training, that is commercially marketed and disseminated by mass media, circulating primarily by sheet music, recordings, and broadcasts, thus being reproducible upon demand (Root 1993). 

The same encyclopedia states that folk music is 
...usually disseminated noncommercially, is transmitted orally as well as aurally, is composed by individuals who remain anonymous and performed by persons who are not highly trained musical specialists, undergoes change arising from creative impulses, faulty memory, the aesthetic values of those who learn and teach it, and the influence of the styles of other musics, develops variants and exists in many forms (Nettl 1993).

Classical music is described as 
...music usually performed by trained musicians, often noncommercial and occurring where an educated, economic, political as well as musical elite exists, and is also reproducible upon demand being circulated primarily by printed music. 

At our Musical Malaysia website music commonly known as “traditional” or belonging to the little tradition as described by Redfield is termed folk music while music which is or has been consciously developed and cultivated deliberately will be classified as belonging to the great tradition.Great tradition music will be further subdivided into 3 main categories: 

Art music, which encompasses notationally transmitted music composed by specific individuals as an expression of their artistic creativity;

Classical music, which is defined here as traditional classical music developed as palace traditions such as gamelan Melayu and Nobat, conciously cultivated as a high art form but not primarily notationally transmitted; and

Popular music.

Syncretic forms occur where a change of value and form result from the blending of elements of two or more cultures.

It has already been mentioned above that it is not a straightforward task to distinguish between folk, popular and classical or art music as the boundaries that separate each from the other are seldom clear cut. Certainly, the above definitions cannot be taken as absolute as areas of overlap do occur, rather they can be seen as guidelines for categorisation of data.