Musical Genres and Styles

Exercise One (in class)

You are in charge of a CD

department in a music store. You
must decide whether the following
selections go in-the

Classical section
The Popular section
the International section

Official Music Industry

Genres and Categories
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

African
Blues
Caribbean
Children's
Classical
Country
Electronic
Folk/Traditional
Jazz

* Latin
*
* March
*
* Middle Eastern *
* Military
*
* Musicals
* New Age
* Novelty
* R&B and Soul
* Rap and Hip-Hop
* Reggae

Rock/Pop
Theme Music
World Fusion
Religious/
Devotional

Pop Categories
* Country
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*

Alternative
Christian
Classic Rock
Disco
Doo Wop
Gothic
Indie
Industrial

* Lounge
* Metal
* New Wave/Synthpop
* Oldies
* Progressive
* Punk and Hardcore
* Rockabilly
* Ska
* Surf Rock

How do we decide
which category to use?

Intention or Use
1. Entertainment (read money making)
All

categories of Pop music

Musicals
Movie

sound tracks

Intention or Use

2. Listening/Performing
Classical
Jazz
Fusion
Opera
Musicals

Intention or Use

3. Inspiration/Therapy/Motivation
Religious
Marches/Disco
New Age
4. Storytelling
Folk music
Childrens songs

Intention or Use

5. Artistic expression
Any music that mainly serves that
purpose Composed music
Outsider music
Fringe music

How do we decide?

Instrumentation
Orchestra/Band/Choir
Combos
Folk

Instruments

Electronic

How do we decide?

Rhythm/ Style
2

beat, 4 beat, 3 beat

Simple
Swing

vs. complex

vs. straight

Volume
Harmony--

simple vs. complex

How do we decide?

How music was created

Oral Tradition
Written by ear
Passed on by
ear
No rules except
custom

Paper Tradition
Written down as
composed
Passed on through
written music
Written according to
rules but often
experimental

A few examples

Oral Tradition
Folk

music, Rock, Blues, Rap (some),

Country, Alternative, Pop (some),
Childrens songs, Gospel (some), New Age

Written Tradition
Classical,

Jazz, Movie scores, Opera, Video

Games, Musicals, Muzak, some Rock, Pop,
Rap, and Gospel.

International Music

Most International Music is Oral with some

exceptions

IM sometimes has the same conventions as

Western music but most often not

Intention is usually the most important

aspect of IM--e.g., work songs; music for
rituals, celebration, and storytelling; a very
small percentage is for entertainment.

A Final Word

These categories are not hard and

fast. Some music falls into several
categories and some can even
change categories over time.

There are two other categories that

we also need to think about-professional and amateur.

A Final Word

All of these categories were

developed for the convenience of
the music industry

In other words, they are made

up.