Musical genres (complete list). List of musical genres, directions and styles Name of songs by genre

There are a great variety of musical genres and directions. If you start listing the genres of music, the list will be simply endless, since dozens of new musical trends appear on the borders of different styles from year to year. This is due to the development of musical technologies, new developments in the field of sound production, sound production, but first of all, with the need of people for a unique sound, with a thirst for new emotions and sensations. Be that as it may, there are four broad musical directions that, in one way or another, gave rise to all other styles. There are also no clear boundaries between them, and yet the production of a musical product, the content of the songs and the structure of the arrangements differ markedly. So what are the genres of vocal music, at least the main ones?

Pop

Pop music is not only a direction, but also a whole mass culture. The song is the only form that is acceptable for the pop genre.

The key points in creating a pop-composition are the presence of the simplest and most memorable melody, the construction on the principle of a verse-chorus, and the rhythm and human voice are brought to the fore in the sound. The purpose for which pop music is created is purely entertainment. A pop-style performer cannot do without a show ballet, production numbers and, of course, expensive video clips.

Pop music is a commercial product, so it constantly changes in sound depending on the style that is at the peak of popularity. For example, when jazz was in favor in the US, artists like Frank Sinatra became popular. And in France, chanson has always been in honor, so Mireille Mathieu, Patricia Kaas are a kind of French pop icons. When there was a wave of popularity of rock music, pop artists widely used guitar riffs in their compositions (Michael Jackson), then there was an era of mixing pop and disco (Madonna, Abba), pop and hip-hop (Beastie Boys), etc.

Modern world stars (Madonna, Britney Spears, Beyonce, Lady Gaga) picked up the wave of rhythm and blues and develop it in their work.

Rock

The palm in rock music is given to the electric guitar, and the highlight of the song, as a rule, is the expressive solo of the guitarist. The rhythm section is weighted, and the musical pattern is often complicated. Not only powerful vocals are welcome, but also mastery of the technique of splitting, screaming, growling and all kinds of growls.

Rock is a sphere of experiments, expression of one's own thoughts, sometimes - revolutionary judgments. The problems of the texts are quite broad: the social, political and religious structure of society, personal problems and experiences. It is difficult to imagine a rock artist without his own group, since performances are carried out only live.

The most common rock music genres - list and examples:

• rock and roll (Elvis Presley, The Beatles);
• instrumental rock (Joe Satriani, Frank Zappa);
• hard rock (Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple);
• glam rock (Aerosmith, Queen);
• punk rock (Sex Pistols, Green Day);
• metal (Iron Maiden, Korn, Deftones);
• (Nirvana, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 3 Doors Down) etc.

Jazz

Describing modern genres of music, it would be worth starting the list with jazz, since it had a huge impact on the development of other areas, including pop and rock. Jazz is music based on African motifs brought to the United States from West Africa by black slaves. Over the century of its existence, the direction has changed significantly, but what is unchanged is the passion for improvisation, free rhythm and widespread use. Jazz legends are: Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and others.

Electronic

The 21st century is the era of electronics, and the electronic direction in music today occupies one of the leading positions. Here, bets are made not on live instruments, but on electronic synthesizers and computer sound emulators.

Here are the most popular and in-demand electronic music genres, a list of which will give you a general idea:

• house (David Guetta, Benny Benassi);
• techno (Adam Beyer, Juan Atkins);
• dubstep (Skrillex, Skream);
• trance (Paul van Dyk, Armin van Buuren), etc.

Musicians are not interested in sticking to the framework of style, so the ratio of performers and styles is always rather relative. Genres of music, the list of which is not exhausted by the above areas, have recently tended to lose their characteristic features: performers mix musical genres, there is always a place in music for amazing discoveries and unique finds, and the listener is interested every time to get acquainted with the next musical novelties.

In the beginning there was a beat... Before any music there was a rhythm. Our distant ancestor millions of years ago beat a stump with a stick - and enjoyed it. Quite aesthetic, no less refined than the one experienced by our contemporary, sitting in an easy chair at the conservatory. There was no talk about any music, and even more so about the styles of music, at that time. They say that our predecessors did not even have abstract thinking that would help them call sounds and vibrations music, and even divide it into styles ... Time has passed. A lot of time has passed ... And now, from an impulsive and unstructured knock on a stump, music was born. Which of the readers of the Subculture Portal has heard of such a wonderful style of music as Azerbaijani jazz? Surprised?? And he is!

Well, let's get to the exotic. In the meantime, our experts are ready to tell you about such performers of music styles as punk rock, metal in all its versatility, rap and trap (whatever that means) and djent (the product of intercourse between man and machine). If yesterday you heard the term "cyber-core" from someone, know that you were deceived. There is no such style! But it may very well be that on the pages of the "Subculture Portal" you will find a story about him. And right now, the experts of the "Subculture Portal" are digging up information about such outlandish performers of music genres as witchhouse and electroclash especially for you ...
Check out our Music Styles List section and find out what your friends don't know! Shine your scales!

Music is an integral part of most people's lives. Musical works are listened to in all corners of our planet, even in the most remote ones. Despite the huge popularity and importance of this art direction, many people do not think about what kind of styles and genres of music. This article discusses the TOP 10 musical directions that have not lost their popularity to this day.

Due to the variety of different genres, many of you are wondering: What styles of music are there? We tried to answer your question and organize the main styles of music into a separate list, which, according to experts, will always be popular despite many years.

1 Pop music

2 Rock

3 Hip-hop

4 RAP

5 R&B

6

7 Instrumental music

8 folk music

9 Electro

10 Trance Music

Truly talented and brilliant musicians never stick to a certain framework or style. Moreover, due to the rapid development of the styles of modern mass music, these frameworks do not have pronounced boundaries.

But still, people involved in music professionally, and just music lovers, need to understand the variety of musical styles, especially if they are dealing with the modern music industry.

So, before answering the question of what styles there are in modern music, it is necessary to decide what a musical style is. I would like to immediately warn against confusion between the concepts of style and genre. Genre (from the French word genre - genus) in music has a broad concept that defines any type of work. Style is connected with the language itself, with the way the musician expresses himself. The most basic and widely used styles of modern music are discussed below.

folk music

The term for this type of music (folk music English) became widely known at the end of the last century, to define folk music in various cultures of the world. Naturally, the species itself originated much earlier and is one of the first in music. In turn, three main genres can be traced in it: instrumental, song and dance.

Blues

As a musical style, it originated in the 19th century, and acquired a wide one already at the beginning of the next. It is a mixture of several styles of music from African American culture such as "work song", "spirituals" and "cholera". The blues had a great influence on the emergence of other musical styles, in particular pop music, jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and a number of others.

Jazz

Jazz, based on the blues, is characterized by great incendiary and improvisation. The main feature of this style is polyrhythm based on syncopated rhythm. Jazz is an elitist music that developed thanks to the mastery of new models of rhythm and harmony by musicians. Some genres of jazz can be attributed to the professional-academic direction. For example, cool jazz, bebop.

Rock'n'roll

In the middle of the 20th century, rock and roll appeared in the United States. This style combines an incredible mixture of a huge, and at first glance, incompatible number of genres. A distinctive feature of rock'n'roll is a clear rhythm and frankly uninhibited performance. The boundaries of rock'n'roll expanded significantly, due to which rock music appeared - an absolutely independent, new style.

Rock music

Rock in English means to swing, which can be attributed to the characteristic of this style. There are a huge number of directions in rock music, ranging from pop rock, brit rock, which can be attributed to lighter options. And ending with heavy and aggressive: death metal (death metal), thrash metal (thrash metal), hardcore (hardcore) and many others. Also, certain genres of rock music are inherently associated with subcultural phenomena: hippies, punks, goths, metalheads and others.

Electronic music

This type of music combines works created with the help of electronic technologies and instruments, mainly specialized computer programs and synthesizers. Established in the second half of the 20th century and combines a wide range of different genres, subgenres and styles. The music of composers using modern computer technologies belongs to academic electronics.

Hip-hop

In 1979, a new style of music was born in the United States in the African-American environment - hip-hop. Two elements - rap (clearly rhymed rhythmic recitative) and the rhythm set by the DJ (basically and bass lines) - are the basis of the genre. Hip-hop, like many of the styles listed above, also has a huge number of genres and sub-genres.

All these styles of modern mass music are very popular. We may not have named any individual subspecies, but basically we have opened the question of what styles are there in modern music. All of the above is the basis, the core, and exactly what modern composers and musicians start from when creating their works. Thanks to this basis and the mixing of existing musical styles, completely new directions appear, but nevertheless, it is quite possible to trace the origins in them.

Last but not least, check out this amazing video of B.B. King, the king of the blues, plays Blues Boys Tune on guitar:

We are surrounded by millions of sounds - the chirping of birds, the sound of water, the howling of the wind. Merging into a single tandem, they form a unique melody, irresistible and bewitching. That is why a person, evolving and becoming more intelligent, began to imitate sounds - improvising and creating something unique and new. In this article, we have collected into a single list styles of music, both existing since the formation of society, and emerging from oblivion in recent decades.

1. Folk simplicity and wisdom

There are more than 1000 different nationalities all over the world, where each has its own culture, mentality and traditions. And if we consider each tribe or group of people separately, we can see how they all radically differ in musical instruments, songs and dances.

Folk music primarily reflects the very essence and character of people. She talks about what they cared about, pleased, drove into melancholy. Someone sings about the wind, a girl, the steppe and galloping horses, while someone, on the contrary, talks about forests, swallows and hot bread. That is why folklore opens the list of styles of music. The description of this branch proves that it is an integral part of our society. Folk music influenced the formation of new styles that are so popular today.

2. Inspiring classic

Another style of music from the list is classical. The first compositions began to appear hundreds of years ago, but they are still loved today. Unlike folklore, classical music is thoughtful, spiritual and inspiring melodies.

There is no place for jokes and ingenuous melodies. The classics are much more important and valuable than the mere folklore of each tribe. Such music is truly a masterpiece and unique.

Scientists have proven that classical music is able to calm the mind, tune in to work and activate areas of the brain responsible for learning and creativity. You don't have to be a professional musician to recognize Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata or Bizet's Carmen. Mozart, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Chopin, Schubert - this is just a small part of the names that gave us magnificent works that are considered the cultural heritage of the world.

3. Spirituality

We have included spiritual melody in the list of music styles because it has been developed since antiquity and continues to exist to this day. For example, in Christianity, this direction is accompanied by choral singing, and sometimes the inclusion of wind and string instruments. The same can be found among Catholics who enjoy temple music created on the organ.

In the East, percussion and mouth musical instruments are used to create a spiritual melody. As a rule, each nation has its own music. The list of styles is therefore endless, but we will move on to the penetrating and soulful blues.

4. Deep blues

Essentially, the blues is an offshoot that arose from the popularity of jazz.

In our list of music styles with examples, we called the blues deep, because they are more lyrical, melodic, touching and soulful compositions. With such music, you want to lean back in your chair, relax, dim the lights in the room and just think about the meaning of life.

As a rule, the blues is an ideal tandem, formed as a result of the rallying of such musical instruments as the piano (piano, grand piano), guitar, drums, cello and saxophone.

5. Jazz energy

If we carefully study the modern list of styles of music, we will find jazz in the general list.

Jazz really gives energy, because it often reflects the state of mind of a person. If you listen, you will notice that any melody contains an uneven, free rhythm. Sometimes jazz was created literally on the go, and for this style of music we can thank African American folklore, which also gave the world thoughtful blues.

Examples of jazz musicians: Frank Sinatra, Guy Buddy, James Brown and others.

6. Pop culture

Pop culture is famous for releasing popular music. In other words, these are the compositions that everyone around loves. They often have a simple motive and far from deep text.

A distinctive feature of pop music is the presence of several verses and the same chorus. This style does not have to be sad and lyrical. Often the output music is club, dance, relaxing and energetic.

Pop music can be heard everywhere, from music TV channels to radio and mobile phone ringtones.

7. Loud and extravagant rock

Let's take a look at the list of rock music styles. Today, several people who are called "rockers" may prefer completely different and dissimilar compositions:

• Rock'n'roll. Many will not believe, but people most often dance to this music. At the same time, the style itself will soon turn 70 years old! You probably know Elvis Presley or The Beatles.
• Metal. This is a heavier rock played with electric guitars. In such compositions, one can often find obscene words, harsh slogans and cries, a daring and defiant motive. Such music is born or was born into the world by such bands as Metallica, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden and others.
• Rap rock. This style speaks for itself, as musicians most often just read the lyrics in the song. This style is the most popular, as it unites fans of two directions at once. For example, rap-rock songs can be found at Linkin Park. Hollywood Undead, Limp Bizkit.

8. Fearless hip-hop

Hip-hop can be both a dance, a lifestyle and a genre of music. As a rule, this branch originates in each culture and proceeds differently. While some enjoy a light funk, singing together about love and the beautiful world, others, on the contrary, rebel and call to rise up against the world system.

Wherever you go, hip-hop will surround you everywhere. Look into the ghettos, or areas located in the periphery of the city, then get acquainted with gangsta rap. And if you want to hear a combination of rock and hip-hop, then you will have to go to a concert where musicians like Insane Clown Posse sing gothic, mystical and terrifying horrorcore.

9 Robot Life

We bring to your attention a list of styles of electronic music, which appeared almost half a century ago. But first, some facts:

Electronic music itself began to gain its popularity closer to 2010. Now all the compositions are the most loved by fans from all over the world, they can be heard at concerts, parties, in cars and headphones.

The most popular styles of electronic music are dubstep, techno, trance, house and, as mentioned above, drum and bass. Branches also began to appear - minimal, psychedelic, harddance, ambient. All styles have one thing in common - the process of creating a melody using the famous drum machine.

But each branch differs in bit speed, loudness and dynamism, the use or absence of any words and phrases, the addition of an instrumental and the presence of structure, rhythm, tempo.