Classifying Music: A Complex Art

[Avichal]

How do you classify music? Music is so complex that it seems impossible to categorize it but still there are so many genres.

Here are a few common:-
-Rock
-Pop
-Classical
-Rap
-Hip-hop

Some classify based on the instrument used, some based on how you sing but I don't understand others.
For e.g.:- What is the difference between alternative rock, electronic rock and rock?
If you see Wikipedia, there are thousands of types. How? It's remarkable that so many classifications of music exist.

 

[Pythagorean]

-Good
-Bad
-Polka

 

[lisab]

-Good
-Bad
-Polka

:thumbs:

 

[Evo]

Underground
Alternative
Indie

 

[WannabeNewton]

Led Zeppelin
Everything else

 

[Evo]

Led Zeppelin
Everything else

 

[dlgoff]

Ambient
Lounge
Easy-listening
Elevator

 

[lisab]

Ambient
Lounge
Easy-listening
Elevator

...ambient music...

I know what you mean but still

 

[kuva]

- epic music
- trance
- progressive house
- chillstep/dupstep

 

[turbo]

How about blues? It is playing in my home every day.
R&B is another big one.

 

[edward]

How about folk music, especially from the 1960's.

 

[Curious3141]

Metal is one of those things that defies sub-classification. Not because it's inherently hard to define sub-genres, it's simply that boneheaded metalheads will defy any classification you attempt to place a particular band into. This applies both to bands that said boneheads love and (profess to) hate.

 

[WannabeNewton]

Stevie Wonder

 

[Pythagorean]

-flamenco
-Russian gypsy
-jazz is one of those things that I don't really care for alone, but when you augment any other style with it, it's like a melodic upgrade.

 

[Charmar]

Metal is one of those things that defies sub-classification. Not because it's inherently hard to define sub-genres, it's simply that boneheaded metalheads will defy any classification you attempt to place a particular band into. This applies both to bands that said boneheads love and (profess to) hate.

I've met more than a couple techno fans that are the same way, I'd bet one could find many examples for other broad genres.

As a punk fan, I love some Dead Kennedys and Minor Threat but then someone goes and calls Blink182 punk and I want to protest.

 

[Adyssa]

I could sub-classify techno to death, but I prefer to just call what I mainly listen to 'techno'. It isn't techno by most peoples interpretation of the genre, but I know what I mean, my friends know what I mean, and it takes too long to tell anyone else :P

Genres are .. useful I think, but only in certain situations. If I want a blues CD then I might as well break out the blues genre and simplify the search, but there's plenty of great music out there that's half this and half that, not quite this but not really that, a bit old, a bit new, kind of folksy and traditional but hang on, there's a drum machine in there somewhere. At some point, the genres are a hindrance.

 

[Pythagorean]

Broad genres that are great for starting arguments: rock, jazz, metal, techno, dubstep, classical, R&B, rap/hiphop.

 

[Enigman]

K-Pop, Anime, Classical, Baroque, contemporary classical, rap, crap.

 

[Avichal]

I want to understand how people classify music.
Let's take jazz, rock and pop for example - What is the difference? How do you tell which is which? All seem similar.

 

[Adyssa]

Jazz is interesting, rock is fun, pop's got no soul. :P

 

[Jonathan Scott]

I listen to the UK "Classic FM" radio station a lot. They include recent film music scores as classical music, and they often only tell you what the music was after it finishes.

I frequently hear things which have no real musical substance at all, with trivially repetitive or clumsy harmony, mostly based on repeating patterns or just an "atmosphere". It can sound pleasant in small doses, but it's like the sugar topping on something without the something and rapidly becomes boring. In the vast majority of such cases, it turns out to be recent film music.

On that basis, I've divided up recent film music (since the 1970s) into two categories, with very few exceptions:

Film music by John Williams (such as Star Wars and Harry Potter)
Bad film music

 

[Pythagorean]

I want to understand how people classify music.
Let's take jazz, rock and pop for example - What is the difference? How do you tell which is which? All seem similar.

Just my slightly under-infomred 2-cents, but:

Jazz uses a lot of augmented chords and chromatic scales, lots of 6th, 7th, 9th, and 13th chords. Improvisation is emphasized. Lots of different time signatures involved. Often associated with eclectic and unique characters.

Rock is usually 4/4, generally I-IV-V strcuture (using chord substitutions sometimes) and often not as colorful (sticking to pentatotnic and major scales and little or no augmented chords). Often associated with rebellion and individuality and anti-authoritarian views.

Pop isn't much different than rock in structure. Some would even classify rock as pop. Modern pop music makes more use of drum n' bass and electronica, and auto-tuning. Sexuality and partying lifestyle are typical imagery associated with pop.