RSSMusic Genre
May 31
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What is music genre ?
A 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. Genre is a common concept that has great commercial and aesthetic importance, but it also continues to frustrate fans, artists, composers, and critics who don’t want to be pigeonholed, for instance. There is always disagreement about the definition of a genre, and it is impossible to list all genre categories in existence. For further examination of these general issues, see Negus 1999 and Holt 2007
There are several 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).
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”. Others state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.
A music genre (or sub-genre) could be defined by the techniques, the styles, the context and the themes (content, spirit). Also, geographical origin is sometimes used to define the music genre, though a single geographical category will normally include a wide variety of sub-genres.