Style or genre is a loosely defined type or school of music. Let see just how ‘loosely’ that definition can be.
Country Rock for instance has written music whose notes can fit other genres. The written sheet music can fit the Rock, Pop, and Broadway (as in Rock musicals) and others styles. Beethoven’s 5th symphony was made into a Rock hit in the 1970s. So what made Beethoven’s 5th a symphonic piece of music and what made the same melody and harmony a Rock hit?
What distinguishes these styles to our ears is not the written notes but the overall sound that reaches us. Lets start with the rhythm section.
The drums lay down a rock rhythm. The bass plays a funk or hard rock style.
The instruments playing/improvising the notes will distinguish the genre because they are a a rock drums, rock guitar (and/ or keyboard) and rock bass. These are the instruments of the ‘Rhythm Section.” If the
The instruments playing/improvising the notes will distinguish the genre because they are a a rock drums, rock guitar (and/ or keyboard) and rock bass. These are the instruments of the ‘Rhythm Section.” If the Rhythm Section drives a Rock feel, any listener will hear ROCK regardless of the melody and harmony (in this case pure trans-morphed BEETHOVEN.
But even more than all of these instruments in the Rhythm section, the lead singer will define the genre as – Rock – ) by cracking his/her voice and other nuances that leaves no doubt you are listening to Country (or Country-Rock).
The singer will sing raspy and H-a-r-d often shouting or even screaming (ouch – me vocal chords) for the effect defining this band as Hard Rock.
In Broadway, the same written music is dealt with usually by a large orchestra (in the case of Rock musicals) that must include a solid Rock rhythm section – bass, percussion, keyboard and lead guitar.
The lead singer, as in ID-ing all genres, wields the greatest role and ID-s the genre as Broadway because the singing is sharper, with greater treble, bordering on the nasal with great projection if lacking in the warmer quality of tone reserved for more peaceable songs in the musical. There are notable exceptions and singers will move from one genre to another but they usually make their mark in the single genre they excel at.
Listed here are twenty-one genres. There is much overlap as discussed with instrumentation and lead vocalists defining different genres even with identical scores (sheet music).
Genres can’t be put in a box and conveniently stay put without mixing a bit into other genres. What is POP to one audience, simply because it is “popular”, that is busting the charts, is Praise and Worship by changing the object of desire to the Divine. Thus what is Pop to some translates to Broadway…or to Gospel by changing the bass part and making it more pronounced often in counterpoint to the lead and back-up chorus. Here are the twenty-one genres.
The first one listed is Pop.
Now Pop (Pop music) merely means it is the style most popular now or back in the day. Pop today in the US and Pop today in South Africa are not the same. Nor is Pop in the US today the same as Pop in the US in the 1970’s.
Consider this – what is Pop(ular) in Rock on any given day in a country is different than what is Pop(ular) in R&B on the same day in that same country.
So Pop pretty much covers any and all popular genres and so is listed next to Praise and Worship since Praise and Worship is simply Pop music with religious lyrics.
The same for others: Soul is grouped with Gospel – Funk is grouped with Hip Hop. Also consider this – since Pop often includes music with a rock rhythm, there is overlap between the two – often.
However, there are differences to be noted and in order to cover the different genres here in our lessons, we will naturally point out those differences.
Here are the genres we will cover –
1 – Pop, Praise and Worship
2 – Rock, Soul, and Gospel
3 – Funk, Hip Hop and Dubstep
4 – Blues and R&B
5 – Country and Country Rock
6 – Jazz – Dixieland
7 – Jazz – Swing, Bebop and Big Bands
9 – Jazz – Fusion
10 – Jazz – Latina
11 – Salsa y Merengue
12 – Musica Latina
13 – Symphonic – and “semi-classical”
14 – Broadway – and “schtick”
15 – Performance – in ensemble
16 – Performance – as accompaniment
17 – Performance – in solos
18 – Role – as rhythmic performance
19 – Role – as harmonic performance
20 – Notation and Feel – driving the music, “on top of the beat”
21 – Notation and Feel – holding the music, “laid-back, behind the beat”
Pick the genre you wish and let’s get started.