secular music
Not church hymns
Secular music is music not connected to religious worship or spiritual practice.
The term appears most often in contexts where sacred and non-sacred traditions are being distinguished: The choir performs both sacred and secular music.
In historical discussions, secular music refers to songs about earthly matters—love, war, politics—rather than devotional themes.
- madrigalUnaccompanied Renaissance choral composition
- dance floorSpace designated for movement
- chansonFrench vocal composition
- entertainmentAgreeable diversion of attention
- balladNarrative poem or song
troubadour · pop · radio hit · vaudeville · cabaret · profane · protest songs · drinking song · honky tonk · folk song · work songs · campfire songs · rock · jazz age · Renaissance · hip-hop · minstrelsy · sea shanties
- choral musicchoral works, choral arrangements, choral arrangement, choir arrangements, choral songs
- choral termscantata, oratorio, mass, requiem, anthem
- Early MusicGregorian chant, motet, troubadours, plainchant, madrigals
- Renaissance musicmadrigal, motet, polyphony, lute, consort
- secularizationsecularization, dechristianization, disaffiliation, church closures, church-state separation
- Baroque MusicBach, Vivaldi, Handel, harpsichord, Vivaldi Four Seasons
secular musicsacred music
Compositions for worship
religious music · hymns · worship music · devotional music · spiritual music
secular musicchurch music
Songs for worship services
ritual music · vespers · matins · requiems