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No matter what the media 'industry' says or does, music shall always remain a form of art. Even
when made solely for the purpose of getting rich, it still needs a source of expression. Every genre
has a build-up and then a follow-up. Every style has its high point. Today we have such a large list of
musical genres and styles, that it would be impossible for anyone to listen to every piece of music
created even in a hundred lifetimes, let alone one! And that is why we make categories: to find a
style that suits us and explore it as much as we can.
Classical Music
Ah yes, the music of the old days. The kind of music that most of us have forgotten, yet listen to
everyday. Because most of what we hear now is derived from what the great classical composers
created decades and centuries ago. We may think of classical music as what orchestras play in a
giant auditorium, wearing black clothes, with a conductor frantically waving his staff about. That's a
very base description of something that the composers dedicated their lives to. The main categories
in classical music go a little like this:
Orchestral Music
The usual grand collection of many musicians (more than eighty), grouped according to their
instrument, guided by their sheet music, years of training and practice, and the conductor. It started
in the early 17th century and evolved into the sub-categories given below.
A symphony consists of four movements (sometimes three). They usually differ from each other
through the kind of emotion they are designed to invoke.
A suite (pronounced 'sweet', French for 'a
sequence') is an arrangement of short movements, either self-composed or taken from someone
else's composition.
An overture is a piece of composition that acts as the curtain-raiser to the
opera.
A concerto is essentially made of three movements, that are created solely for the purpose of
letting the soloist instrument shine out. This is unlike a symphony, where all instruments perform in
unison.
Ballet is orchestral music that is based on dance movements. This type was created and
nurtured during the Romantic era.
Incidental music is directly related to stage music; it provides
the motion to an act. The sections are short and often repetitive.
Chamber music
This is musical work composed specifically for a smaller instrumental arrangement (smaller than an
orchestra).
Opera
The most popular type of classical music to come out of the Baroque era was the opera. It's an
orchestra set to an entire play. The composition can be created to accompany an act or display the
emotions of a character on a colorfully constructed background.
You also have two other types in this category: vocal music and solo instrumental music. Vocal music
may or may not be accompanied by instruments, while solo instrumental music is not accompanied
by anything.
Apart from the above 'types', you also have the major 'styles' of classical music: Renaissance,
Baroque, Romantic and Contemporary (or neoclassical). Each movement or era can be distinguished
honky-tonk pub life (southern pubs, the kind that would keep a mechanical bull), like Hank Williams'
'Honky-Tonkin'' and 'Honky-Tonk Women' by The Rolling Stones.
Rockabilly is basically of rock 'n'
roll and hillbilly music. It can be considered a part of both the genres. It started out in the 50s and is
popular to this day.
Outlaw country focuses on the 'outlaw' image and music of the Wild West, like
Willie Nelson's Shotgun Willie.
Alternative country is like alternative rock; it covers everything
country that isn't mainstream. It's difficult to call an artist's entire work as alternative, usually it's
only a part of their work.
R&B
R&B, which stands for Rhythm and Blues, was a name coined due to need rather than style. During
the 40s, any music created by the African-American populace was termed 'black music' or 'race
music'. The term was quite offensive and therefore, stunted the growth and popularity of the artists.
In order to make it sound more upbeat, Billboard reporter Jerry Wexler coined R&B, and the phrase
has stuck since then.
A very generalized answer to what R&B means is the vocal styles of blues music, spread over
different rhythms. These rhythms come from almost anywhere in mainstream parts of gospel, jazz,
country and rock 'n' roll. It is this rhythm that sets R&B apart from blues. This implies R&B can
encompass all the said categories, while maintaining its own style.
Funk can be considered to be a part of R&B. It includes James Brown (the creator of funk) and
Earth, Wind and Fire. The music is primarily meant to be danced to.
Contemporary R&B is music
that fits into the R&B category after the 80s.
Soul is a style generated from a heavy influence of
gospel music on blues and R&B. The style was largely created by Ray Charles.
Neo Soul is almost
like soul, except it includes influences from hip hop, rap and pop. It's basically an R&B style that
started in the late 90s.
R&B is also classified through the setlists that radio stations play, spawning
branches like urban adult contemporary and urban contemporary.
Hip Hop
The music of hip hop is just a part of the whole culture, a very big part. The music is marked by a
significant importance to the bass and the beats, with rapping as the predominant vocal art form.
Which is why rap is a part of hip hop culture and therefore, its styles are also a part of hip hop
music.
The term was coined by Keith Cowboy of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The man who is
believed to be the originator of hip hop music is DJ Kool Herc. Afrika Bambaataa, one of the artists
who created break-beating is considered the grandfather of hip hop. Then you have Russell Simmons
and Rick Rubin who founded Def Jam Records. Them, along with others like Run D.M.C. and Public
Enemy are called the pioneers of hip hop.
The music is divided into two parts, DJing and rapping, although both of them are regularly used
together. DJ Kool Herc and many others started the art of turntablism, which includes discscratching, sampling and crowd control using live audio techniques.
Hip hop has an incredible number of styles, each bringing something different to the table.You have
the evergreen freestyle rap
the popular gangsta rap
the experimental branch, Avant garde hip
hop
the rave scene's ghetto house and ghettotech
the incendiary political hip hop
the geeky
nerdcore
psychedelic
horrorcore
Christian hip hop
And the whole scene is divided into the East
All in all, Latin music is something that comes from any part of Latin America, be it Cuba or Brazil or
Argentina. Or it used to; now Latin music also includes artists from the U.S.A. and Europe that have
a Latin background or style.
The older Latin music was all about instrumentation with a more percussive feel. The vocals would
follow in and out with the instruments, but they were usually never more important than the
instruments. Here are the types of Latin music, divided mostly by the demographic that enjoys them.
Mariachi is Mexican folk music played by bands. It is the urban version of the more traditional Son
style.
Norteo is another rural Mexican genre that became popular amongst the Mexican and
American urban population. It is a type of ensemble music that uses accordions.
Tejano (aka TexMex) is a crossover style created on the borders of the U.S and Mexico. It combines mariachi and
country (sometimes also blues) and relies heavily on acoustic guitars.
Samba is dance music related
to the same dance style. It originated in Brazil, uses short key signatures and fast rhythms to set the
pace for the dance.
Duranguense is another Mexican style that is popular in both the U.S. and
Mexico. It is a derivative of Norteo.
Vallenato (which means "From the Valley") is the folk music
from the Caribbean. It uses the accordion along with traditional Colombian instruments.
Flamenco
is the most popular type of Latin music. It is also the most simple one as it uses only three things the guitar, vocals and hand-clapping. It is directly related to the flamenco dance form and the art, as
a whole, is considered Spanish national heritage.
World
World music is a catch-all term to describe any music that doesn't come into the major genres
already mentioned above. More accurately, if it's not something that doesn't fall into featured lists in
America and Britain, then it's pretty much world music. That means world music gives you the most
diverse types of music there are. And although reggae can be included in world music, it is still big
enough to get a separate space for itself.
World music is usually based on ethnic music from different parts of the globe. It isn't folk, and is
therefore credible to artists and bands. For example, The Corrs, Shakira and Enya fall into world
music. This means that world music can be just as popular as other mainstream genres, while still
including culturally individual artists and works that cater to specific audiences. Thus, categories
like j-pop (Japanese pop) and k-pop (Korean pop) are also world music.
This category will contain all the culturally rich music that isn't mainstream, like traditional Turkish
music, Inuit throat singing, Celtic music, the Indonesian gamelan, gypsy music, exotica, Enka and
Caribbean music.
New Age
New age music is a recent genre - end of the 60s - and found popularity only after the 80s. It
basically includes everything in music that is relaxing, spiritual and exploratory of the inner self. It
can include any instrument, any language and any genre as long as it fits the new age bill. Lyrics are
usually chants or derived from an inclination towards spiritual. New age seems to have common
influences from the Indian Sanskrit texts and Celtic folk music, sometimes even combining the two
(check out Chinmaya Dunster). You can choose from a variety of artists and bands like Enya, Celtic
Woman, Celtic Thunder, Mike Oldfield, Yanni, Kitaro, etc.. The primary aim of new age music is selfdevelopment through natural and healing music. The types of new age music are formed purely
according to their purpose. You get to choose from: transcendental
relaxation
cosmic
fusion
travel
meditation
gospel
healing
Regardless, new age music is the one genre where there is
absolutely no need to divide it into types. The music is supposed to be explored by experiencing it
yourself. It won't guide you to any meaning. It only helps you get to your own.
And it keeps going on and on. We usually follow a common pattern of simplicity when it comes to the
broader genres, but for anything more specific, we all have our own ideas and tastes. I believe you
need genres for the sake of being technical. Besides that, there is no division apart from personal
choices. Which is why there is in essence, only one genre. And that is music.
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-music.html