MEANING

Music is an art form, and a cultural activity, whose medium is sound. General definitions of music
include common elements such as pitch, rhythm, dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and
texture. Different styles or types of music may emphasize, de-emphasize or omit some of these
elements.

Music is the art of combining and regulating sounds of varying pitch to produce compositions that
express various ideas and feelings

GENRES OF MUSIC

1. Electronic Dance Music:

Generally referred as EDM, this form of music is produced by DJs who add dozens of tones to a piece to
create unique music. You can hear them in clubs or even live, depending upon your accessibility for the
same. In the early twenties, electronic dance music was known in the form of Jamaican dub music, the
electronic music of Kraftwerk, the disco music of Giorgio Moroder, the Yellow Magic Orchestra and
many more

2. Rock Music:

Originated as “Rock & Roll” in the United States, Rock music has been rocking the world since the 1950s.
It is a form of music that started actually around string instruments, but now uses other modern
instruments too making it a little difficult to give it an accurate definition. Its loud and strong beats make
it popular among the youths. Some of the rock stars who have popularized the culture include Little
Richard, Bill Haley and Chuck Berry while rock bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors, Metallica, Nirvana and
Megadeth are the modern bands who have taken the culture by storm.

3. Jazz:

Identified with swing and blue notes, Jazz has its roots both in the West African and European culture. It
is said that Jazz is “One of America’s original art forms” and boasts a unique combination of creativity,
coactions and interactivity. Originating in the late 19th to early 20th century, Jazz has also played an
important role in introducing the world to a number of women performers like Ella Fitzgerald, Betty
Carter, Abbey Lincoln and Ethel Waters.

4. Dubstep:

The use of instruments attracting music lovers for its bass and rhythm, this falls in the electronic music
genre. People consider it to be a darker form of music, but since its birth in the late 1990s, this genre has
successfully made its place in the industry.

5. Rhythm and Blues:

Vocalists like Rihanna, Mariah Carey, Beyoncé, Usher and the legendary Michael Jackson have all made
it huge in the music industry with their love for this form of music. Originated in the 1940s, this African-
American music is a combination of hip hop, funk, dance, pop and soul focusing on themes like
relationships, sex and freedom.
6. Techno:

You may have listened to a number of techno music while clubbing, but it is Detroit techno that is
considered to be the foundation of this form of music. Unlike the days of its emergence, the use of
technology today has greatly enhanced the quality of techno style music and popularizing it among
people day by day.

7. Country Music:

Another popular genre of American music which originated in the 1920s, Country music has its roots
from American folk and western music. It is formed using simple forms of instruments ranging from
electric and steel guitars to drums and mandolin or mouth organ. Some very popular country music
singers include Shania Twain, Johnny Cash Taylor Swift and Kenny Rogers.

8. Electro:

A perfect blend of hip hop and electronic music, electro or electro-funk uses drum machine, vocoder
and talkbox helping it to distinguish itself from another similar form of music, Disco. Notable artists who
have been into this form of music include Arthur Baker, Freeez, Man Parrish and Midnight Star.

9. Indie Rock:

Falling in the genre of alternative rock music, Indie Rock originated in the 1980s and has gradually
changed the music industry. After a decade, it also gave birth to a couple of sun-genres in related styles
such as math rock, emo, noise pop, post rock and lo-fi.

10. Pop Music:

“Pop” is a term derived from “Popular” and thus Pop Music is known to be a genre of popular music.
With its roots in the rock & roll style, this form can include any form of music ranging from urban and
dance to rock, country and Latin. Instruments highly used are electric guitars, synthesizer drums as well
as bass and one can listen to this form of music by listening to songs by Britney Spears, Madonna,
Beyonce Lady Gaga and of course the “King of Pop”, Michael Jackson.

Blues

Blues developed in the 19th century and was originally played by a single performer singing with a
guitar or banjo. By the 1960s, The Blues had evolved significantly along with the instruments used (now
electric guitars, bass and drums) and made its way across the Atlantic to the UK and beyond.

A common feature of Blues music is the 12 bar blues chord structure. This starts with 4 bars on the root
note of the scale followed by two on the 4th. This is then followed by two on the root, one bar on the
5th, one bar on the 4th and another two on the root.

Classical

Encompassing a huge range of sub-genres, classical music refers broadly to most orchestral styles
between 1750 and 1820. It came as a reaction to the rules and restrictions prevalent in baroque music
which predates it.
To many people, anything pre-jazz sounds classical and may be referred to as such. Once you get inside
this genre, however, you will find whole world music and a stunning range of styles and categories.

Dance

Dance music is a far more modern genre that could also be broadly categorised as electronic music.
With roots in disco music combined with the evolution of pop music, electronic dance music took off in
the late 1980’s and early ’90’s.

It is now home to an incredibly large number of sub-genres, some of which have become popular
enough to be considered full genres in their own right.

Drum and Bass (Jungle)

A direct result of the dance music scene, drum and bass became a fully-fledged genre of its own.
Characterised by high BPM drums and heavy bass lines, it borrows heavily from other genres.

The drum and bass characteristics are significant enough for most people to be able to spot and
categorise this genre quite easily.

Easy Listening

Based more on mood rather than any particular musical traits, easy listening tends to omit vocal
performances in favour of easy-going re-workings of popular pop and rock hits.

Coming to prominence in the 1970s the genre has perhaps gone through a bit of re-brand in the form of
chill-out music.

EMO

With roots in rock, pop, heavy metal and punk, emo music has a specific goal in that it is designed to
have a particularly emotive or emotional resonance.

Characterised by expressive melodic musicianship and often confessional lyrics. It is often associated
with a particular fashion style that is also influenced by metal and punk.

#11 Funk

Funk uses a syncopated beat and heavy bass lines and distinctive grooves. It originates from African
American influences and takes cues from Soul, Jazz and R&B.

Since rising to prominence in the 1960s, it has gone on to influence almost every genre of dance music
as well as modern rock.

 Folk

Folk is a very traditional genre. Traditional folk music is orally passed down over time and often has no
author. However, modern artists can still be labelled as Folk artists with their original songs.
Storytelling is a key aspect of folk music and whilst musical styles vary across the world, this is a
consistent element.

#13 Garage

Another modern genre that has come directly from the evolution of electronic dance music, drum and
bass and soul/R&B. Heavy baselines, irregular kick drum patterns and syncopated hi-hats are all
standard characterisations for this popular style.

Grunge

Grunge music is based on rock and punk and was popularised in the 1990’s by bands like Nirvana and
Pearl Jam. Played in a traditional rock band set up with electric guitars and bass, distorted guitars the
main feature was a more anguished vocal style and perhaps a more negative outlook on life.

Hip Hop

Now an extremely broad musical category, hip hop evolved out of a cultural explosion in the United
States. Featuring vinyl records mixed on turntables and incorporating the rap genre along with heavy
bass-lines and samples, hip hop has now become extremely significant in terms of music’s cultural
influence in modern times.

Latin

Latin music refers to Latin America and the influence of the whole of South America on various styles.
This genre of music has Spanish and African roots, but was popularised in the United States in the 20th
century by Hispanic and Latino immigrants.

Latin music is very percussive and driven by energy, passion, polyrhythms and movement.

Metal

Metal, or Heavy Metal, is a sub-genre of rock music that has become a genre in its own right and
spawned countless other sub-genres. Featuring a band setup with electric guitars, bass and drums, the
distorted guitar sounds give it the ‘heavy’ non-commercialised and aggressive sound.

Fast tempos and shrieking vocals have become synonymous with the style.

Opera

A key part of the classical music tradition in the west, opera features vocal performances that make up a
specific type of musical theatre. Opera is essentially a story told to music.

The lines between opera and classical music are extremely blurred and very often the two genres
overlap.

Rap
Rap describes a style of vocal delivery. However, it can be rightly regarded as a musical genre due to its
massive popularity. Developing alongside hip-hop in the United States, rap evolved from MCs toasting
and deejaying in Jamaican dancehall music.

It has grown to incorporate increasingly complex rhyme schemes and has been appreciated in the same
regard as poetry.

REGGAE

Originating in Jamaica in the 1960s and taking the world by storm through the work of Bob Marley,
reggae is a fusion of traditional Jamaican folk music with jazz and R&B.

Offbeat rhythms and staccato chords are common musical themes, and Reggae is closely linked to
Rastafarianism and Afrocentric religion.

 Soul

Another genre that came from African American roots, soul music is an evolution from original rhythm
and blues, gospel and jazz.

Featuring hand claps, call and response singing, heavy focus on lead singers, Soul became so popular it
eventually began to splinter into other genres, like Motown.

Trance

Another offshoot of electronic dance music, trance features heavily synthesised lead lines that have to
induce a trance-like state in dancers. The euphoric nature of techno music is meant to take listeners on
a journey.

#35 World

This is a huge genre that encompasses a localised version of traditional music from all over the globe.
Each country has rhythmic and melodic nuances that set them apart.

The term World music can be used to describe all of them, but each country’s music has its own names
and even sub-genres

Ambient is a style that describes a large spectrum of music. Ambient music puts more emphasis on
actual sound than musical structure, aimed at forming a particular atmosphere or mood with the help of
conventional and unconventional instruments, sound clips, and sometimes vocal clips. Singing in
ambient music can be done, although a good deal of ambient is instrumental.

Ambient music is not limited to any particular mood or sound, but rather embraces the idea that any
mood or atmosphere can be achieved through sound alone, rather than needing to rely on music
composition or song structure. Ambient has been incorporated into a large amount of various already-
existing musical genres, due to its extremely compatible usage and versatility.
Electronic music is music which uses non-traditional electronic instrumentation and sound manipulation
technology as the primary musical backbone of a composition.

In its original form, as pioneered by avant-garde classical composers like Edgard Varèse and Karlheinz

Stockhausen, electronic music compositions were abstract noise collages created through the use of
tape loops, oscillators, sirens and field recordings. Arguably the first composer to create electronic music
using traditional rhythms and melodies was Raymond Scott.

Since the 1960s, starting with bands like Silver Apples and White Noise, electronic music has filtered into
pop music, with its commercial breakthrough arguably occurring in the 1980s with the advent
of Synthpop.

Punk
Punk is a musical genre known for its aggression, rawness and simplicity. The roots of punk can be
found in the Proto-Punk and Garage Rock of the 1960s, but it emerged fully a decade later with the
success of Punk Rock. Ever since, the genre has expanded in many directions, such as the more
extreme Hardcore Punk as well as fusions with other styles, including Electronic, Metal or Ska.

HISTORY OF MUSIC
Prehistoric music, sometimes called primitive music, covers the first cultural periods of the human
species (Homo Sapiens as well as certainly Homo Neanderthalis), particularly the Paleolithic and
Neolithic eras, from its birth to the Ancient Music era that started around 2000-3000 BC, generally
considered to coincide with the first appearance of written materials. These eras cover the birth of
human cultures comprising chants and instrumental music.

Many Prehistoric musical works and reconstructions have been done thanks to archeologists, human
paleontologists and musicologists in the new scientific domain of archeomusicology such as
archeomusical work and reconstructions by Walter Maioli and his group Art of Primitive
Sound with Luce Maioli, Tinaig Clodoré-Tissot, Patrick Kersalé, et al.

The music probably started with vocal sound experimentation and playing (basic voice playing ie.
primitive singing, shouting, crying, murmuring...) that were then structured and used for children's
lullabies, rituals, funerals, celebrations and other kinds of ceremonies. The first wind instruments and
percussion instruments appeared during the Paleolithic eras. Some of them were discovered and have
been reconstructed. They consist of: bone flutes, ivory flutes, wooden and bamboo flutes; bone
whistles like whistling phalanx; bone or wooden rhombus, also named bullroarer, a weighted aerofoil
consisting of a rectangular thin slat of bone or wood attached to a cord that is rotated vigorously
above self; primitive string instruments like musical bows; primitive percussion instruments like
wooden or bone scraper artifacts used with a wooden stick or small bone, seeds, shells, primitive
drums with recipients, and other kind of wooden or bone tools hit or knocked over different stones,
shells, bones, horns or wood pieces.

Today, the oldest instruments discovered are Hohle Fels flute fragments found in Germany, a griffon
vulture bone flute with five holes of around 35000 years old, corresponding to the Aurignacian period
of the Paleolithic era. Fragments of seven other flutes were unearthed there too, in particular one
made in mammoth ivory and  another made in swan bones with three holes. In China, the oldest one
is the Jiahu gǔdí found in 1986 in a Jiahu Neolithic tomb in central China, a bone flute ("gǔdí") dating
back to 6000 BC. In the Ukraine Paleothic rhombi made in bone and dating back to 17000 BC have
been found.

 Ancient Music
[Genre10057]
Ancient Music is a meta-genre encompassing all the musical genres coming after the Prehistoric Music
and before the Medieval music eras from ancient civilizations (Greece, Rome, Egypt, India, Persia,
China, Korea, etc. and Sumer, Akkadian, Babylonian, Assyrian, etc. in Mesopotamia), roughly before
500 A.D., following the Western Classical Music point of view with the date of the Roman Empire fall
(476 A.D.).

Ancient Music themes often dealt with polytheist religions or other mythologies. The first musical
theories and writing systems appeared separately and specifically in most of these Ancient Empires.

The music of Ancient civilizations consists of songs and complex local and typical instruments like lyre
and kithara (zither instruments), panflute or hydraulis (a water pipe organ) in Ancient Greece; Ur lyre,
reed pipe or Sumerian drums in the Mesopotamian Empires; lute and cithara (string instruments), old
tuba and cornu (wind instrument) or sistrum (percussion intrument) in the Roman Empire; barbat and
others lutes in Ancient Persia; Guqin string instruments in Ancient China; some seven-holed flutes and
first Veena string instruments like Seerkazhi in Ancient India civilizations; piri (double reed therefore
wind instrument) of Hyang-ak in the Ancient Korea.

Biblical period[edit]
Main article: History of music in the biblical period
 "David with his harp" Paris Psalter,
c. 960, Constantinople

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary, Jubal was named by the Bible as the inventor of musical
instruments. The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and
literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the Deluge, the first mention of music is in the account
of Laban's interview with Jacob. After their triumphal passage of the Red Sea, Moses and the children of
Israel sang their song of deliverance. But the period of Samuel, David, and Solomon was the golden age
of Hebrew music, as it was of Hebrew poetry. Music was now for the first time systematically cultivated.
It was an essential part of training in the schools of the prophets. There now arose also a class of
professional singers. Solomon's Temple, however, was the great school of music. In the conducting of
its services large bands of trained singers and players on instruments were constantly employed. In
private life also music seems to have held an important place among the Hebrews.

Music and theatre scholars studying the history and anthropology of Semitic and early Judeo-
Christian culture, have also discovered common links between theatrical and musical activity in the
classical cultures of the Hebrews with those of the later cultures of the Greeks and Romans. The
common area of performance is found in a "social phenomenon called litany," a form of prayer
consisting of a series of invocations or supplications. The Journal of Religion and Theatre notes that
among the earliest forms of litany, "Hebrew litany was accompanied by a rich musical tradition:"

While Genesis 4.21 identifies Jubal as the "father of all such as handle the harp and pipe",
the Pentateuch is nearly silent about the practice and instruction of music in the early life of Israel.
Then, in I Samuel 10 and the texts which follow, a curious thing happens. "One finds in the biblical text",
writes Alfred Sendrey, "a sudden and unexplained upsurge of large choirs and orchestras, consisting of
thoroughly organized and trained musical groups, which would be virtually inconceivable without
lengthy, methodical preparation." This has led some scholars to believe that the prophet Samuel was
the patriarch of a school which taught not only prophets and holy men, but also sacred-rite musicians.
This public music school, perhaps the earliest in recorded history, was not restricted to a priestly class—
which is how the shepherd boy David appears on the scene as a minstrel to King Saul.

Early music[edit]
Main article: Early music

Early music is music of the European classical tradition from after the fall of the Roman Empire, in
476 AD, until the end of the Baroque era in the middle of the 18th century.[citation needed] Music within this
enormous span of time was extremely diverse, encompassing multiple cultural traditions within a
wide geographic area; many of the cultural groups out of which medieval Europe developed already
had musical traditions, about which little is known. What unified these cultures in the Middle Ages
was the Roman Catholic Church, and its music served as the focal point for musical development for
the first thousand years of this period.
Medieval (c.1150 - c.1400)

This is the first period where we can begin to be fairly certain as to how a great deal of the music which has
survived actually sounded. The earliest written secular music dates from the 12th century troubadours (in
the form of virelais, estampies, ballades, etc.), but most notated manuscripts emanate from places of
learning usually connected with the church, and therefore inevitably have a religious basis.
Gregorian chant and plainsong which are monodic (i.e. written as one musical line) gradually developed
during the 11th to 13th centuries into organum (i.e. two or three lines moving simultaneously but
independently, therefore almost inadvertently representing the beginnings of harmony). Organum was,
however, initially rather stifled by rigid rules governing melody and rhythm, which led ultimately to the so-
called Ars Nova period of the 14th century, principally represented by the composers de Vitry, Machaut,
and Landini.

Renaissance (c.1400 - c.1600)

The fifteenth century witnessed vastly increased freedoms, most particularly in terms of what is actually
perceived as 'harmony' and 'polyphony' (the simultaneous movement of two or three interrelated parts).
Composers (although they were barely perceived as such) were still almost entirely devoted to choral
writing, and the few instrumental compositions which have survived often create the impression (in many
cases entirely accurately) of being vocal works in disguise, but minus the words.

There is obvious new delight in textural variety and contrast, so that, for example, a particular section of
text might be enhanced by a vocal part dropping out momentarily, only to return again at a special moment
of emphasis. The four most influential composers of the fifteenth century were Dunstable, Ockeghem,
Despres and Dufay.

The second half of the 16th century witnessed the beginnings of the tradition which many music lovers
readily associate with the normal feel of 'classical' music. Gradually, composers moved away from the modal
system of harmony which had predominated for over 300 years (and still sounds somewhat archaic to some
modern ears), towards the organisation of their work into major and minor scales, thereby imparting the
strong sensation of each piece having a definite tonal centre or 'key'.

This was also something of a golden period for choral composition as a seemingly endless flow of a capella
(unaccompanied) masses, motets, anthems, psalms and madrigals flowed from the pens of the masters of
the age. In addition, instrumental music came into its own for the first time, especially keyboard music in
the form of fantasias, variations, and dance movements (galliards, pavanes etc.). Composers of particular
note include Dowland, Tallis, Byrd, Gibbons, Frescobaldi, Palestrina, Victoria, Lassus, Alonso Lobo, Duarte
Lobo, Cardoso and Gesualdo.

Baroque (c.1600 - c.1750)

During the Baroque period, the foundations were laid for the following 300 or so years of musical
expression: the idea of the modern orchestra was born, along with opera (including the overture, prelude,
aria, recitative and chorus), the concerto, sonata, and modern cantata. The rather soft-grained viol string
family of the Renaissance was gradually replaced by the bolder violin, viola and cello, the harpsichord was
invented, and important advances were made in all instrumental groups.

Until about 1700, the old modes still exerted themselves from time to time by colouring certain melodic lines
or chord progressions, but from the beginning of the 18th century the modern harmonic system based upon
the major and minor scales was effectively pan-European. Choral music no longer dominated, and as
composers turned more and more to writing idiomatic instrumental works for ensembles of increasing colour
and variety, so 'classical' music (as opposed to 'popular') gradually began to work its way into the very
fabric of society, being played outdoors at dinner parties or special functions (e.g. Handel's Water Music), or
as a spectacle in the form of opera. On a purely domestic level, every wealthy lady would have a spinet to
play, and at meal-times the large and rich houses would employ musicians to play what was popularly
called Tafelmusik in Germany, of which Telemann was perhaps the most famous composer.

Of the many 17th century composers who paved the way for this popular explosion of 'classical' music, the
following were outstanding: Monteverdi, Corelli, Alessandro Scarlatti, Schutz, Buxtehude, Purcell and Lully.
Yet, the most popular composers of the period, indeed those who seem to define by their very names the
sound of Baroque music at its most colourful and sophisticated are Johann Sebastian
Bach, Handel, Telemann, Rameau, François Couperin, Domenico Scarlatti, and Vivaldi, all of them at their
creative peak during the first half of the 18th century.
Baroque music[edit]
Main article: Baroque music

Portrait of Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi in Venice, by Bernardo Strozzi, c. 1630

J.S. Bach
Toccata and Fugue

The Baroque era took place from 1600 to 1750, as the Baroque artistic style flourished across
Europe and, during this time, music expanded in its range and complexity. Baroque music began
when the first operas (dramatic solo vocal music accompanied by orchestra) were written. During the
Baroque era, polyphonic contrapuntal music, in which multiple, simultaneous independent melody
lines were used, remained important (counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the Medieval
era).[clarification needed] German, Italian, French, Dutch, Polish, Spanish, Portuguese, and English Baroque
composers wrote for small ensembles including strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as
for choirs and keyboard instruments such as pipe organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. During this
period several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were
expanded and evolved further, including the fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto.
[20]
 The late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and richly ornamented. Important composers
from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach, Arcangelo Corelli, François
Couperin, Girolamo Frescobaldi, George Frideric Handel, Jean-Baptiste Lully, Claudio
Monteverdi, Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Vivaldi.
Classical (c.1750 - c.1830)

The Baroque era witnessed the creation of a number of musical genres which would maintain a hold on
composition for years to come, yet it was the Classical period which saw the introduction of a form which
has dominated instrumental composition to the present day: sonata form. With it came the development of
the modern concerto, symphony, sonata, trio and quartet to a new peak of structural and expressive
refinement. If Baroque music is notable for its textural intricacy, then the Classical period is characterised by
a near-obsession with structural clarity.
The seeds of the Classical age were sown by a number of composers whose names are now largely forgotten
such as Schobert and Honnauer (both Germans largely active in Paris), as well as more historically
respected names, including Gluck, Boccherini and at least three of Johann Sebastian Bach's sons: Carl Phillip
Emmanuel, Wilhelm Friedmann and Johann Christian (the so-called 'London' Bach). They were
representative of a period which is variously described as rococo or galante, the former implying a gradual
move away from the artifice of the High Baroque, the latter an entirely novel style based on symmetry and
sensibility, which came to dominate the music of the latter half of the 18th century through two composers
of extraordinary significance: Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Romantic music[edit]
Main article: Romantic music

The title character from a 19th-century performance of Wagner's opera Siegfried

In the Romantic period, music became more expressive and emotional, expanding to encompass
literature, art, and philosophy. Famous early Romantic composers
include Schumann, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Bellini, Donizetti, and Berlioz. The late 19th century saw a
dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and in the role of concerts as part of urban society.
Famous composers from the second half of the century include Johann Strauss
II, Brahms, Liszt, Tchaikovsky, Verdi, and Wagner. Between 1890 and 1910, a third wave of
composers including Grieg, Dvořák, Mahler, Richard Strauss, Puccini, and Sibelius built on the work
of middle Romantic composers to create even more complex – and often much longer – musical
works. A prominent mark of late 19th century music is its nationalistic fervor, as exemplified by such
figures as Dvořák, Sibelius, and Grieg. Other prominent late-century figures include Saint-
Saëns, Fauré, Rachmaninoff, Franck, Debussy and Rimsky-Korsakov.

20th and 21st-century music[edit]

Main article: 20th-century music
The radio transformed listening habits after 1920

Music of all kinds also became increasingly portable. The 20th century saw a revolution in music
listening as the radio gained popularity worldwide and new media and technologies were developed
to record, capture, reproduce and distribute music. Music performances became increasingly visual
with the broadcast and recording of performances. [21]
20th-century music brought a new freedom and wide experimentation with new musical styles and
forms that challenged the accepted rules of music of earlier periods. [citation needed] The invention of
musical amplification and electronic instruments, especially the synthesizer, in the mid-20th century
revolutionized classical and popular music, and accelerated the development of new forms of music.
[22]

As for classical music, two fundamental schools determined the course of the century: that of Arnold
Schoenberg and that of Igor Stravinsky.[23]