Music genre
music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music. It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are often used in an undifferentiated way.
Music can be divided into many genres in many different ways. Due to the different purposes behind them and the different points of view from which they are made, these classifications are often arbitrary and controversial and closely related genres often overlap. Many do not believe that generic classification of music is possible in any logically consistent way, and also argue that doing so sets limitations and boundaries that hinder the development of music. While no one doubts that it is possible to note similarities between musical pieces, there are often exceptions and caveats associated.
There are several academic approaches to genre. In his book Form in Tonal Music, Douglass M. Green lists the madrigal, the motet, the canzona, the ricercar, and the dance as examples of genres (from the Renaissance period).
The Essay on Music Genre 2
We take sounds and create the music we hear every day. Our development on music is effected by people around us. We take the context of songs and relate it back to our own lives. People dislike certain types of music because they can’t relate or enjoy the sound. Although music affects us all differently, all melodies have a similar meaning. Everyone’s choice of music is greatly affected by ...
According to Green, “Beethoven’s Op. 61 and Mendelssohn’s Op. 64 are identical in genre – both are violin concertos – but different in form. 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.”[1] Some treat the terms genre and style as the same, and state that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or “basic musical language”.[2] Others state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.[3] A music genre (or sub-genre) could be defined by the techniques, the styles, the context and the themes (content, spirit).
Also, geographical origin sometimes is used to define the music genre, though a single geographical category will normally include a wide variety of sub-genres.
Kembrew McLeod, in an essay entitled “Genres, Subgenres, Sub-Subgenres and More”,[4] suggested that in electronic music, “the naming of new subgenres can be linked to a variety of influences, such as the rapidly evolving nature of the music, accelerated consumer culture, and the synergy created by record company marketing strategies and music magazine hype. The appropriation of the musics of minorities by straight, middle and upper-middle-class Whites in the United States and Great Britain plays a part, and the rapid and ongoing naming process within electronic/dance music subcultures acts as a gate-keeping mechanism, as well.”
