A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.[1] It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.[2][failed verification] Recently, academics have argued that categorizing music by genre is inaccurate and outdated.[3]
Music is an art form and cultural activity whose medium is sound organized in time. General definitions of music include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these elements. Music is performed with a vast range of instruments and vocal techniques ranging from singing to rapping; there are solely instrumental pieces, solely vocal pieces and pieces that combine singing and instruments. The word derives from Greek μουσική . See glossary of musical terminology.
In music, Form refers to the structure of a musical composition or performance. In "Worlds of Music", Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a piece of music, such as "the arrangement of musical units of rhythm, melody, and or/ harmony that show repetition or variation, the arrangement of the instruments, or the way a symphonic piece is orchestrated", among other factors.
Music can be divided into different genres in many different ways. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some genres may overlap. There are even varying academic definitions of the term genre itself. In his book Form in Tonal Music, Douglass M. Green distinguishes between genre and form. He lists madrigal, motet, canzona, ricercar, and dance as examples of genres from the Renaissance period. To further clarify the meaning of genre, Green writes, "Beethoven's Op. 61 and Mendelssohn's Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511, and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317 are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form."[4] Some, like Peter van der Merwe, treat the terms genre and style as the same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language."[5] Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.[6] A music genre or subgenre may also be defined by the musical techniques, the style, the cultural context, and the content and spirit of the themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of subgenres. Timothy Laurie argues that since the early 1980s, "genre has graduated from being a subset of popular music studies to being an almost ubiquitous framework for constituting and evaluating musical research objects".[7]
Genre is any form or type of communication in any mode with socially-agreed-upon conventions developed over time. Genre is most popularly known as a category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria, yet genres can be aesthetic, rhetorical, communicative, or functional. Genres form by conventions that change over time as cultures invent new genres and discontinue the use of old ones. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions. Stand-alone texts, works, or pieces of communication may have individual styles, but genres are amalgams of these texts based on agreed-upon or socially inferred conventions. Some genres may have rigid, strictly adhered-to guidelines, while others may show great flexibility.
In western music, a motet is a mainly vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from the late medieval era to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margaret Bent, "a piece of music in several parts with words" is as precise a definition of the motet as will serve from the 13th to the late 16th century and beyond. The late 13th-century theorist Johannes de Grocheo believed that the motet was "not to be celebrated in the presence of common people, because they do not notice its subtlety, nor are they delighted in hearing it, but in the presence of the educated and of those who are seeking out subtleties in the arts".
The canzona is an instrumental musical form of the 16th and 17th centuries that developed from the Netherlandish chanson. It differed from the similar forms of ricercare and fantasia in its livelier, markedly rhythmic material and separation into distinct sections.
Among the criteria often used to classify musical genres are the trichotomy of art, popular, and traditional musics.
Alternatively, music can be divided on three variables: arousal, valence, and depth.[3] Arousal reflects the energy level of the music; valence reflects the scale from sad to happy emotions, and depth reflects the level of emotional depth in the music.[3] These three variables help explain why many people like similar songs from different traditionally segregated genres.[3]
Musicologists have sometimes classified music according to a trichotomic distinction such as Philip Tagg's "axiomatic triangle consisting of 'folk', 'art' and 'popular' musics".[8] He explains that each of these three is distinguishable from the others according to certain criteria.[8]
Art music primarily includes classical traditions, including both contemporary and historical classical music forms. Art music exists in many parts of the world. It emphasizes formal styles that invite technical and detailed deconstruction[9] and criticism, and demand focused attention from the listener. In Western practice, art music is considered primarily a written musical tradition,[10] preserved in some form of music notation rather than being transmitted orally, by rote, or in recordings, as popular and traditional music usually are.[10][11] Historically, most western art music has been written down using the standard forms of music notation that evolved in Europe, beginning well before the Renaissance and reaching its maturity in the Romantic period. The identity of a "work" or "piece" of art music is usually defined by the notated version rather than by a particular performance, and is primarily associated with the composer rather than the performer (though composers may leave performers with some opportunity for interpretation or improvisation). This is so particularly in the case of western classical music. Art music may include certain forms of jazz, though some feel that jazz is primarily a form of popular music. The 1960s saw a wave of avant-garde experimentation in free jazz, represented by artists such as Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp and Don Cherry[12]. And avant-garde rock artists such as Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, and The Residents released art music albums.
Contemporary classical music is a relative term that refers to music of the "present day", the definition of which continually changes over time. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included serial music, electronic music, experimental music, and minimalist music. Newer forms of music include spectral music, and post-minimalism.
Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols.
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional or "folk" music. Art music was historically disseminated through the performances of written music, although since the beginning of the recording industry, it is also disseminated through recordings. Traditional music forms such as early blues songs or hymns were passed along orally, or to smaller, local audiences.
Popular music is any musical style accessible to the general public and disseminated by the mass media. Musicologist and popular music specialist Philip Tagg defined the notion in the light of sociocultural and economical aspects:
Mass media refers to a diverse array of media technologies that reach a large audience via mass communication. The technologies through which this communication takes place include a variety of outlets.
Popular music, unlike art music, is (1) conceived for mass distribution to large and often socioculturally heterogeneous groups of listeners, (2) stored and distributed in non-written form, (3) only possible in an industrial monetary economy where it becomes a commodity and (4) in capitalist societies, subject to the laws of 'free' enterprise... it should ideally sell as much as possible.[8]
Popular music is found on most commercial and public service radio stations, in most commercial music retailers and department stores, and in movie and television soundtracks. It is noted on the Billboard charts and, in addition to singer-songwriters and composers, it involves music producers more than other genres do.
The distinction between classical and popular music has sometimes been blurred in marginal areas[13] such as minimalist music and light classics. Background music for films/movies often draws on both traditions. In this respect, music is like fiction, which likewise draws a distinction between literary fiction and popular fiction that is not always precise.
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music that originated as "rock and roll" in the United States in the early 1950s, and developed into a range of different styles in the 1960s and later, particularly in the United Kingdom and in the United States.
Country music, also known as country and western (or simply country), and hillbilly music, is a genre of popular music that originated in the southern United States in the early 1920s.
Hip Hop music, also referred to as hip hop or rap music, is a genre of music that was started in the United States, specifically the South Bronx in the New York City, New York, by African-American youth from the inner-cities during the 1970s. It can be broadly defined as a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping,[15] a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted.[16] Hip hop music derives from the hip hop culture itself, including four key elements, those being emceeing(MCing)/rapping, Disc jockeying (DJing) with turntablism, break dancing and graffiti art.
Religious music (also sacred music) is music performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. Gospel, spiritual, Christian music are religious music.
Button accordion: German instrument used in several different cultures
Traditional and Folk music are very similar categories. Although the traditional music is a very broad category and can include several different genres, it is widely accepted that traditional music encompasses folk music.[17] According to the ICTM (International Council for Traditional Music), traditional music are songs and tunes which have been performed over a long period of time (usually several generations).[18]
The Folk music genre is classified as the music that is orally passed from one generation to another. Usually the artist is unknown, and there are several different versions of the same song.[19] The genre is transmitted by singing, listening and dancing to popular songs. This type of communication allows culture to transmit the styles (pitches and cadences) as well as the context it was developed.[20]
Some of the main aspects about culturally transmitting folk songs, its about the period of history it was created and the social class in which was developed.[21] Some examples of the Folk Genre can be seen in the Folk music of England and Turkish Folk music. English folk music was developed since the medieval period and it has transmitted from that time until today. Similarly, the Turkish Folk music relates to all the civilizations that once passed thorough Turkey, therefore being a world-reference since the tensions between East-West during the Early Modern Period.
Traditional Folk music usually refers to songs composed in the 20th century, which tends to be written as universal truths and big issues of the time it was composed.[22] Great names such as Bob Dylan, Peter Paul and Mary, James Taylor, and Leonard Cohen transformed the Folk music on what it is known today. Some newer composers, such as Ed Sheeran (Pop Folk), and The Lumineers (American Folk) are both newer examples of Contemporary Folk music, which has been recorded and adapted to the new way of listening to music (online) on the contrary of the traditional way of orally transmitting music.[23]
Each country in the world, in some cases each region, district and community has its own Folk Music style. The different sub-divisions of Folk genre is developed by each place cultural identity and history.[24] Because the music is developed in different places, a lot of the instruments are characteristic to its location and population, but some of them are similar everywhere, some examples are: Button or Piano Accordion, different types of flutes or trumpets, Banjo, and Ukulele. Both French and Scottish folk music uses related instruments such as the Fiddle, the harp and variations of bagpipes.[25][26]
Automatic categorization
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Automatic methods of musical similarity detection, based on data mining and co-occurrence analysis, have been developed in order to classify music titles for electronic music distribution.[27]
New genres can arise by the development of new forms and styles of music and also simply by creating a new categorization. Although it is conceivable to create a musical style with no relation to existing genres, new styles usually appear under the influence of preexisting genres. The genealogy of musical genres expresses, often in the form of a written chart, the way in which new genres have developed under the influence of older ones. If two or more existing genres influence the emergence of a new one, a fusion between them can be said to have taken place. The proliferation of popular music in the 20th century has led to over 1,200 definable sub-genres of music.[28]
Metallica performing at the O2 Arena, March 28th 2009John Scofield at the stage of Energimølla. The concert was part of Kongsberg Jazzfestival and took place on 06 July 2017
Social influences on music selection
Since music has become more easily accessible (Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, etc.), more people have begun listening to a broader and wider range of music styles.[29] In addition, social identity also plays a large role in music preference. Personality is a key contributor for music selection. Someone who considers themselves to be a "rebel" will tend to choose heavier music styles like Heavy Metal or Hard Rock, while someone who considers themselves to be more "relaxed" or "laid back" will tend to choose lighter music styles like Jazz or Classical music.[29] There are five main factors that exist that underlie music preferences that are genre-free, and reflect emotional/affective responses.[30] These five factors are:
A Mellow factor consisting of smooth and relaxing styles (Jazz, Classical, etc.).
An Urban factor defined largely by rhythmic and percussive music (Rap, Hip-Hop, Funk, etc.).
An Intensity factor that is defined by forceful, loud, and energetic music (Rock, Metal, etc.).
A campestral factor which refers to singer-songwriter genres and country.[30]
Individual and situational influences
Gender
Studies have shown that while women prefer more treble oriented music, men prefer to listen to bass heavy music. This is sometimes paired with borderline and antisocial personalities.[31]
Age
Age is another strong factor that contributes to musical preference. Evidence is available that shows that music preference can change as one gets older.[32] A Canadian study showed that adolescents show greater interest in pop music artists while adults and the elderly population prefer classic genres such as Rock, Opera, and Jazz.[33]
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid-1950s. The terms "popular music" and "pop music" are often used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular and includes many diverse styles. "Pop" and "rock" were roughly synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they became increasingly differentiated from each other.
The music of the United States reflects the country's pluri-ethnic population through a diverse array of styles. It is a mixture of music influenced by West African, Irish, Scottish and mainland European cultures among others. The country's most internationally renowned genres are jazz, blues, country, bluegrass, rock, rhythm and blues, soul, ragtime, hip hop, barbershop, pop, experimental, techno, house, dance, Boogaloo, and salsa. American music is heard around the world. Since the beginning of the 20th century, some forms of American popular music have gained a near global audience.
The music of Finland can be roughly divided into categories of folk music, classical and contemporary art music, and contemporary popular music.
Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.
Art music is music that implies advanced structural and theoretical considerations or a written musical tradition. The terms "serious" or "cultivated" are frequently used in relation to music in order to present a contrast with ordinary, everyday music. At the beginning of the 20th century art music was divided into "serious music" and "light music".
Music of Kazakhstan refers to a wide range of musical styles and genres deriving from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is home to the Kazakh State Kurmangazy Orchestra of Folk Instruments, the Kazakh State Philharmonic Orchestra, the Kazakh National Opera and the Kazakh State Chamber Orchestra. The folk instrument orchestra was named after Kurmangazy Sagyrbayuly, a well-known composer and dombra player from the 19th century.
Azerbaijani music is the musical tradition of the Azerbaijani people from Azerbaijan Republic. It builds on folk traditions that reach back nearly 1,000 years. For centuries, Azerbaijani music has evolved under the badge of monody, producing rhythmically diverse melodies. Music from Azerbaijan has a branch mode system, where chromatisation of major and minor scales is of great importance.
The Music of South Korea has evolved over the course of the decades since the end of the Korean War, and has its roots in the music of the Korean people, who have inhabited the Korean peninsula for over a millennium. Contemporary South Korean music can be divided into three different main categories: Traditional Korean folk music, popular music, or K-pop, and Western-influenced non-popular music.
African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans. Their origins are in musical forms that arose out of the historical condition of slavery that characterized the lives of African Americans prior to the American Civil War.
Botswana is an African country made up of different ethnic groups, although the Batswana are the majority of the population. Music is a large part of Botswana culture, and includes popular and folk forms. Botswana church choirs are common nationwide. Music education is an essential component of the Botswana educational system, and children of all ages are taught traditional songs and dances.
Celtic fusion is any modern music which incorporates influences considered "Celtic", or Celtic music which incorporates modern music. It is a syncretic musical tradition which borrows freely from the perceived "Celtic" musical traditions of all the Celtic nations, as well as from all styles of popular music, it is thus sometimes associated with the Pan-Celtic movement. Celtic fusion may or may not include authentic traditional music from any one tradition under the Celtic umbrella, but its common characteristic is the inspiration by Celtic identity.
The expression Italian popular music refers to the musical output which is not usually considered academic or Classical music but rather have its roots in the popular traditions, and it may be defined in two ways: it can either be defined in terms of the current geographical location of the Italian Republic with the exceptions of the Germanic South Tyrol and the eastern portion of Friuli Venezia Giulia; alternatively it can be defined as the music produced by all those people who consider themselves as Italians and openly or implicitly refer to this belief. Both these two definitions are very loose: due to the complex political history of the Italian Peninsula and the different independent political states, cultural and linguistic traditions which sprang within them, it is rather difficult to define what may be considered to be truly Italian. Since before the formation of a unified educational system and the spread of information through the radio and the press during the twenties, all the different cultural and linguistic groups within the country were independent from one another, and a unified Italian Country was still only a political or ideological concept far from the daily life.
References
↑ Samson, Jim. "Genre". In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. Accessed March 4, 2012.
1 2 3 Tagg, Philip. "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice". Popular Music 2 (1982): 41.
↑ Siron, Jacques. "Musique Savante (Serious Music)". Dictionnaire des mots de la musique (Paris: Outre Mesure): 242.
1 2 Arnold, Denis: "Art Music, Art Song", in The New Oxford Companion to Music, Volume 1: A-J (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1983): 111.
↑ Tagg, Philip. "Analysing Popular Music: Theory, Method and Practice". Popular Music 2 (1982): 37–67, here 41–42.
↑ Arnold, Denis (1983): "Art Music, Art Song", in The New Oxford Companion to Music, Volume 1: A-J, Oxford University Press, p. 111, ISBN0-19-311316-3.
↑ Albrecht, Joshua; Shanahan, Daniel (February 1, 2019). "Examining the Effect of Oral Transmission on Folksongs". Music Perception: An Interdisciplinary Journal. 36 (3): 273–288. doi:10.1525/mp.2019.36.3.273. ISSN0730-7829.
↑ "Folk music". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
↑ McCown, William; Keiser, Ross; Mulhearn, Shea; Williamson, David (October 1997). "The role of personality and gender in preference for exaggerated bass in music". Personality and Individual Differences. 23 (4): 543–547. doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(97)00085-8.
↑ Bonneville-Roussy, Arielle; Rentfrow, Peter J.; Xu, Man K.; Potter, Jeff (2013). "Music through the ages: Trends in musical engagement and preferences from adolescence through middle adulthood". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 105 (4): 703–717. doi:10.1037/a0033770. PMID23895269.
↑ Schwartz, Kelly; Fouts; Gregory (2003). "Music preferences, personality style, and developmental issues of adolescents". Journal of Youth and Adolescence. 32 (3): 205–213. doi:10.1023/a:1022547520656.
Further reading
Holt, Fabian (2007). Genre in Popular Music. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
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