European music is largely distinguished from many other non-European and popular musical forms by its system of staff notation, in use since about the 16th century.[2] Western staff notation is used by composers to prescribe to the performer the pitch, speed, meter, individual rhythms and exact execution of a piece of music. This leaves less room for practices, such as improvisation and ad libitum ornamentation, that are frequently heard in non-European art music (compare Indian classical music and Japanese traditional music) and popular music.[3][4][5]
The public taste for and appreciation of formal music of this type waned in the late 1900s in the United States and United Kingdom in particular.[6] Certainly this period has seen classical music falling well behind the immense commercial success of popular music, in the opinion of some[who?], although the number of CDs sold is not indicative of the popularity of classical music.[7]
The term "classical music" did not appear until the early 19th century, in an attempt to "canonize" the period from Johann Sebastian Bach to Beethoven as a golden age.[8] The earliest reference to "classical music" recorded by the Oxford English Dictionary is from about 1836.[9][10] Many writers feel that "classical" is an inappropriate term for mainstream and avant-garde music written since the latter part of the 19th century; hence the common usage of scare quotes.[11]