Various Music genres and styles. While classical music ruled the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the twentieth century saw the emergence of many more styles of music.
Introduction to Music Genres
Music is an art form that uses sound (generated through instruments and vocals) to arouse emotional experiences in humans.
These instruments (and vocals) can be used in different ways to create a unique listening experience.
Music has also evolved over the years in several ways.
The beats, rhythms, tempo and lyrics of songs have changed a lot due to various factors. More music instruments and sound are now available to composers, recording technology has improved. Then there’s the influence of other cultures and various other factors.
A music genre is a classification system using which music can be categorized into different styles depending on the distinctive elements.
The best-known types of music (styles or genres) are: Blues Music, Classical Music, Country Music, Electronic Music, Jazz Music, Latin Music, Metal Music, Pop Music, Punk Music, Rap Music, Reggae Music, R&B Music, Rock Music.
How Music has Changed Over the Years
Billboard, considered by many to be the bible of the Music Industry, has several top charts, such as the well-known Top 40, Hot 100 and Billboard 200, as well as individual category charts, which it has been using since 1940 to measure the success of artists.
A lot of artists get a feeling of having “made it” depending on the gold and platinum records that are awarded depending on how high their song climbs the various charts.
A few of the factors that are considered when determining the charts include Airplay, Social media and streaming and Album sales. The way Billboard’s Top 100 chart is tabulated has also changed over time.
Read: ‘Billboard’ Magazine’s Hot 100 Reflects Music Industry Shifts
Going through the top songs, from 1958 – 2016, you can easily see how music changed over the years.
How Music Evolved: Billboard’s Hot 100, 1958 – 2016
Electronic Music Genres: Various Types
There are many who think that electronic music is one genre, however there are several sub-genres within, each with a distinctive sound and characteristics (even though they all use synthesizers and other electronic means to generate the sounds).
Electronic music is music that you create by using using electronic devices, synthesizers, electronic instruments and/or other digital music technologies. Electronic music is also loosely referred to as techno, EDM and related styles of music.
This genre of music is the outcome of decades of technical development and only in recent times has reached a stage where it is considered a part of the legitimate music sphere. For long it has been criticized by many, but today there’s a huge following for this genre of music, and irrespective of whether people condemn it or approve it, the fact is that you can no longer ignore it.
In terms of the sound produced, more and more producers are moving away from using electro-mechanical devices such as organs and electric guitars, to using pure electronic sound producing equipment such as synthesizers using computer.
A typical electronic music composition will make use of drum machines, samples, synthesizers and effects processors!
Genres Within Electronic Music
If you understand electronic music well, I’m sure you would be tired of hearing people calling electronic music “techno”. For many, all forms of electronic music is techno; but the fact is that techno is different from genres such as trance, house & hardcore.
Few genres in which usually an electronic musician works include the following:
Ambient, Jungle, Break Beat, Chip-tune, Disco, Down tempo, Drum and Bass, Electro, Electronica, Electronic rock, Eurodance, Hardcore/Hard Dance, House, Industrial, Post-Disco, Progressive, Techno, Trance, and UK Garage.
Here are some of the main categories/genres of electronic music:
- Disco: Quite popular in the 1970s, this style uses loud vocals repeated over a rhythmic instrumentation pattern.
- Techno: Probably the most famous genre of electronic music today, techno emerged in the 1980s as a dance music that has since been divided into many more sub-categories, all with different characteristics.
- House: House music is a hybrid of disco and soul music.
- Trance: Intense music based on repeated synthesized phrases and the repeated build up and falling down of the melody.
- Electronica: Electronica is used both as foreground and background music, but it has some sub-genres that are now considered dance music as well.
- Progressive: Progressive music incorporates some elements of House music, but it also has a different song structure. There are no verses, only a build up, climax and end.
- Industrial: Defined as an aggressive form of music, modern industrial is often combined with other more traditional musical genres, like ‘industrial rock’ or ‘industrial metal’.
- UK Garage: Started in the United Kingdom and a descendant of House music, UK Garage features percussive rhythms and kick drums in its distinctive sound.
- Hardcore: This music is defined by its rapid beat patterns and the lack of a tonal center in its notes.
- Breakbeat: This music is identified by its use of a 4/4 drum pattern.
- Drum and Bass: This is a version of dance music that his characterized by fast breakbeats accompanied by a heavy bass line.
- Ambient Music: This music is characterized by sounds that are created to evoke an image or effect when the music is heard.
- Downtempo: This music is similar in calmness to ambient music, but usually is accompanied by a hypnotic beat.
- Electro: This music is characterized by its use of specific synthesizers and sampling of funk beats.
- Eurodance: With heavy influences from several electronic genres, today’s Eurodance music is typically a mix of trance and techno with heavy vocals included.
How to Play Rock Piano – Tips & Tricks
Learn How to play Rock Piano with style. Learn the rhythmic and harmonic concepts to be able to play in this style of music. How to play Rock Piano?… Do you envy those rock guitarists running around on the stage?… Running around may not be that easy if you are on the keyboards; Read Post…
How to Play Blues Piano – The 12 Bar Blues
Learn How to play Blues Piano – Get an overview of this musical style. Once you know the basics of playing the piano, perhaps the next step would be to try to familiarize yourself with the various styles of music, which you can play on the Piano. And what better than learning to play Blues piano Read Post…
How to Play Classical Piano
How to Play Classical Piano – Learn From The Masters Classical Piano still forms the basis of all music learning, and as far as the music is concerned it still continues to be used as the soundtrack for most of the movies. You may already be having some preconceived notions about classical music, Read Post…
How to Play Jazz Piano – Improvisations Galore
Learn How to play Jazz Piano – Get an overview of this musical style, learn to improvise and play jazz on piano! Are you looking for some direction on how to proceed…? Want to know how to improvise… substitute chords…? Don’t worry, help is at hand! Lot of people like Jazz piano because of the Read Post…
Useful Links
Here’s more on types of music, its history, definition, genre and artists.
Which Are the Most Popular Genres of Music?
So which genre of music do you think is the most popular in the US? Is it R&B / Hip-Hop, EDM, Pop, Rock, Classical? Well, if you said ‘Rock’, then your answer is almost correct, at least going by a recent finding.
A recent poll conducted on telephone during the period January 10-14, 2018 by CBS News has revealed that Country and Rock are America’s favorite music genres (Country was at the top followed by Rock).
According to the CBS poll:
- Men have a slight preference for rock, while women prefer country and pop music.
- While white Americans prefer country and rock as their top two choices, African Americans prefer R&B or soul, followed by jazz, and then rap or hip hop.
The report took into account the total amount of music consumption (including physical and downloaded albums, downloaded tracks, and streams) and came out with their findings.
As per an earlier 2015 Nielsen Year End Music Report, Rock was the most popular genre. If you’re a big fan of Classical music, you’re definitely not going to like this – Classical music was at the bottom (almost) of the heap.
- Rock – 24.5%
- R&B/Hip-Hop – 18.2%
- Pop – 15.7%
- Country – 8.5%
- Latin – 4.5%
- Dance/EDM – 3.4%
- Christian – 2.8%
- Holiday/Seasonal – 1.7%
- Classical – 1.3%
- Childrens – 1.1%
So the next time you read music news or listen to the radio, resist yourself from making any assumptions about the music scene. The problem with those assumptions is that they could be wrong. The press might be portraying ‘Rock’ as a genre that’s headed south-wards, but the genre still continues to rock and out-performs other music genres.
Source: Record/producer Bobby Owsinski on his blog music3point0.blogspot.in/
EDM with Pop is Music of the World Today
Electronic dance music is a broad range of percussive electronic music, produced largely for nightclubs, raves, and festivals. Read more on industry news, artist interviews, free music downloads, curated playlists, trending charts, and more.
If you have been closely listening to the current chart-busters, you would agree that electronic dance music (EDM as most call it) smoothly mixed with pop music, is becoming the current background music of our lives.
If you want your music to sound hip, it better have this combination.
The most surprising thing is that the electric guitar, which has been the staple of modern music for the last so many decades, is missing in the equation.
- Background soundtrack on cruise ships is entirely EDM-based
- Most cruise ships don’t have a guitar player in the bands
- Almost every shop nowadays play a modern version of disco with lots of synthesizers, effects and female vocalists
- (no guitar or probably the synthesizer is playing it pretty low in the mix).
If you have been on a a holiday lately, did you notice anything of that sort?
I’m sure you have, which probably indicates that there’s a change in the music trend (probably a bit too fast). Not long back guitar-based sounds of metal, punk or grunge seemed to be all the rage.
This is just an observation and I’m not making any judgment here, and probably I even presented only a tiny bit of evidence, but when almost all the places start playing EDM-laced pop music in the background, you know that things in music have changed.
Also Read: Here’s how to create your own beats / music.
Change is Indeed Healthy
And its not that I’m complaining; change is indeed healthy. And most of the time, trends usually move like a pendulum from one side to the other, then back again; It’s neither good nor bad, it just is.
Something similar happened in the 80’s, when every shop and mall in Paris, Munich, London and Geneva, would only belt out Van Halen, The Clash and The Romantics. That was truly the music of the world at the time. And it seems, EDM/Pop is the music of the world now, with the electric guitar staying away.
The Cycles in Music Trends
So all those who have always dreamt of playing the guitar, should you be worried? Should you skip your guitar lessons & learn how to make beats instead? Well, you need to remember that trends to change; the music of today might not be the music of tomorrow (remember I mentioned about the pendulum).
Also, learning to play a musical instrument, be it the piano or the guitar, will always serve you well. There are a lot of people out there who value music played on instruments, especially considering the fact that EDM has resulted in an ever-swelling sea of musicians.
Besides, the electric guitar may be dead in music today, but it could rise from the musical ashes of tomorrow. The world is already seeing a severe resurgence of the ukelele.
Music goes in cycles anyway; so synths today, acoustic instruments tomorrow!
Experts Say EDM Still Has Room For Growth, Despite Predictions
Talking about cycles, after a robust growth for a few years, EDM did hit a low patch.
Here’s a bit of a background.
Electronic dance music (EDM) grew at an impressive growth rate for three years (and everybody went gung-ho over this genre of music) before it hit a lackluster year (making the industry think that it was doom and gloom again).
This may not be music to the ears of most trained musicians, but many see good growth prospects for Electronic Dance Music (EDM).
Experts now are again optimist about EDM, because the genre is growing at a significant rate outside of the US (China, Vietnam, Philippines, Cuba, South America), and feel that it is one profitable area of the music business.
Most of the Money in EDM Coming from Live Events?
Not really! Besides events, song streams and downloads have also added significant percentage to the overall revenues.
What’s different about EDM compared to other Genres?
Here are some of the reasons for the optimism concerning EDM (compared to other genres of music):
- Electronic dance music is one of the most transportable genres; there’s no language barrier between countries. This is because the music is mostly instrumental (with little vocals, but lyrics doesn’t play a big part in the song).
- Because its more transportable, once the genre stagnates in major developed countries, growth can still happen in smaller and upcoming markets.
- The same trend was observed with American jazz music in the 1950s and 60s
World Music: Various Traditional Music from Around the World
Take a look at how the different types of music sound in various parts of the world.
If you own an electronic/arranger keyboard or are into music production, you already may have some idea about the various styles of music that exist.
But if you take into consideration world music, there’s a lot to be explored, considering that the music in almost every country has its own unique/traditional sound.
Caribbean & South American Music
South (Latin) America has a wide diversity of musical genres, styles, instruments, and performance practices (South America is home to many Spanish-speaking countries).
South American traditional instruments include Guiro, Bongos, Claves, Maracas, Cencerros.
Europe
Although every country in Europe has its own folk music and its own style, the various traditions also have much in common; in some ways, European folk music can also be considered as a single corpus of musical style.
Accordion, the hurdy-gurdy, the violin, several kind of flutes and harps, the lutes and guitars, the bagpipes, are all common instruments found in Western Classical Music and several European Popular/Folk Music genres.
Asia
Music in Asian varies from in different parts of the continent – Western Asia, Central Asia, South-East Asia. For instance, music in Iraq, India, China, Mangolia is going to sound different. Music in Asia is dominated by a well-integrated, highly cultivated style which is characteristic of the whole area.
Music in China, Japan, and the Koreas may sound similar. So will the music in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka. Music in the Arab countries will have their own peculiar sound/scale.
Africa
Ghana Music
Ghana is a paradise for fans of both traditional drumming, tropical highlife dance music and modern hiplife. Mustapha Tettey Addy is one of the country’s most prominent traditional drummers.
South African music
The music of South Africa is as diverse as the nation’s population. But much of the music of its greatest stars (like Miriam Makeba or Lucky Dube) is influenced by the struggles in former appartheid.
Congolese Music
The dance music from both Kinshasa and Brazzaville is for fun-loving people! Stars like Koffi Olomide have brought N’dombolo, tcha tcho and other dance music genres to world-wide fame.
Guinea Music
Thanks to former President Sekou Touré, traditional music is still very popular in Guinea. The country can boast of many famous Masters of the djembe drum, like Bolokada Conde or Mamady Keita.
Ivorian music
Despite wars and trials, Ivorians are sweet and fun-loving people. Both unrestrained coupé décalé dancing and socio-critical lyrics by artists like Dobet Gnahore or Alpha Blondy are part of their identity.
Mali Music
Mali seems to be an inexhaustible source of brilliant neo-traditional music with an exotic touch. Salif Keita or Amadou and Mariam are just two examples of the many famous artists in the country.
Morocco Music
Although Morocco lies in the African continent, the music from countries above the Sahara desert isn’t really considered “African”. Visit www.everything-moroccan.com for infos.
Naija Music (Nigeria)
Traditional music, fuji and highlife are the most remarkable genres in Naija. Fela Anikulapo Kuti or P-Square are some of the artists that the whole world has noticed.
Senegal music
This small country has produced big stars like Akon, Baaba Maal and Youssou N’Dour. It is famous for the popular music style called mbalax, which is based on traditional sabar drum rhythms.
Tanzania Music
Tanzania’s urban youth music called Bongo Flava is influenced by Congolese styles, hip hop, R&B, pop and other modern genres from Africa and the West.
Zimbabwe Africa Music
Zimbabwe is known for its centuries-old Shona tradition of the African thumb piano named mbira. Chimurenga is based on these mbira rhythms and now a very popular African music genre.
KeytarHQ editorial team includes musicians who write and review products for pianists, keyboardists, guitarists & other musicians. KeytarHQ is the best online resource for information on keyboards, pianos, synths, keytars, guitars and music gear for musicians of all abilities, ages and interests.
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