The Victoria Folk Music Society, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Music Genres and Terms, with hyperlinks

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Absolute Music, AKA Abstract Music: Music that is not explicitly “about” anything; in contrast to Program Music, it is non-representational. The idea of Absolute Music developed at the end of the 18th century in the writings of authors of early German Romanticism, such as Wilhelm Heinrich Wackenroder, Ludwig Tieck and E.T.A. Hoffmann but the term was not coined until 1846 where it was first used by Richard Wagner in a programme to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

• Adult Contemporary (AC): is a category of Popular Music catered to adult demographics, including record charts and radio formats that are focused on such Music.

The exact assemblage of Adult Contemporary Music has varied based on the Popular Music trends of a specific era, but has usually encompassed songs within Genres popular among audiences that had grown out of the Styles that appeal more towards youth and young adult audiences. Adult Contemporary was originally established as a continuation of the Easy Listening and Soft Rock sounds from the 1960s and 70s, usually focusing on songs with varying degrees of Easy Listening, Pop, Soul, R&B, Quiet Storm, and Rock influence. In the 90s, Adult Contemporary began to accommodate a hotter sound more inclusive of Contemporary Pop songs, and developed Sub-Categories devoted towards specific Genres.

• Alternative Country Music, commonly abbreviated to Alt-Country, Insurgent Country, Americana, or Y’allternative: a loosely defined Subgenre of Country Music that includes acts that differ significantly in Style from mainstream Country Music, mainstream Country Rock, and Country Pop. Most frequently, the term has been used to describe certain Country Music bands and artists that are also defined as or have incorporated influences from Genres such as Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Punk Rock, Heartland Rock, Southern Rock, Progressive Country, Outlaw Country, Neotraditional Country, Texas Country, Red Dirt, Roots Rock, Indie Folk, Folk Rock, Rockabilly, Bluegrass, and Honky-Tonk.

• Alternative Music: (see Alternative Rock)
 

• Alternative Rock, AKA Alternative Music, Alt-Rock or simply Alternative: a category of Rock Music that evolved from the independent Music underground of the 1970s. Alternative Rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 90s with the likes of the Grunge Subgenre in the United States, and the Britpop and Shoegaze Subgenres in the United Kingdom and Ireland. During this period, many record labels were looking for “alternatives”, as many Corporate Rock, Hard Rock, and Glam Metal acts from the 80s were beginning to grow stale throughout the Music industry. The emergence of Generation X as a cultural force in the 90s also contributed greatly to the rise of Alternative Music.

“Alternative” refers to the Genre’s distinction from Mainstream or Commercial Rock or Pop. The term’s original meaning was broader, referring to musicians influenced by the Musical Style or independent, DIY ethos of late-1970s Punk Rock. Traditionally, Alternative Rock varied in terms of its sound, social context, and regional roots. Throughout the 80s, magazines and zines, college radio airplay, and word of mouth had increased the prominence and highlighted the diversity of Alternative Rock’s distinct Styles (and Music scenes), such as Noise Pop, Indie Rock, Grunge, and Shoegaze. In September 1988, Billboard introduced “Alternative” into their charting system to reflect the rise of the format across radio stations in the United States by stations like KROQ-FM in Los Angeles and WDRE-FM in New York City, which were playing Music from more underground, independent, and non-commercial Rock artists.

• Americana Music, AKA American Roots Music: a mixture of American Music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States of America, with particular emphasis on Music historically developed in the American South.

• Avant-Garde Music: is considered to be at the forefront of innovation in its field, with the term “avant-garde” implying a critique of existing aesthetic conventions, rejection of the status quo in favour of unique or original elements, and the idea of deliberately challenging or alienating audiences. Avant-Garde Music may be distinguished from Experimental Music by the way it adopts an extreme position within a certain tradition, whereas Experimental Music lies outside tradition.

• Avant-Garde Jazz, AKA Avant-Jazz, Experimental Jazz, or New Thing: a Style of Music and improvisation that combines Avant-Garde Art Music and composition with Jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through the late 60s. One of the earliest developments within Avant-Garde Jazz was that of Free Jazz, and the two terms were originally synonymous. Much Avant-Garde Jazz is stylistically distinct, however, in that it lacks Free Jazz’s thoroughly improvised nature and is either fully- or partially- composed.

• Avant-Funk, AKA Mutant Disco: a Music Style in which artists combine Funk or Disco rhythms with an Avant-Garde or Art Rock mentality. Its most prominent era occurred in the late 1970s and 80s among Post-Punk and No Wave acts who embraced Black Dance Music.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Bakersfield Sound: is a Subgenre of Country Music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield is defined by its influences of Rock and Roll- and Honky-Tonk-Style Country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation and backbeats. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville Sound, which was becoming popular in the late 50s. The Bakersfield Sound became one of the most popular and influential Country Genres of the 60s, initiating a revival of Honky-Tonk Music and influencing later Country Rock and Outlaw Country musicians, as well as Progressive Country.

Wynn Stewart pioneered the Bakersfield Sound, while performing artists Buck Owens and Merle Haggard became two of the most successful artists of the original Bakersfield Era while performing with the Buckaroos and the Strangers respectively.

• Ballet: a type of Performance Dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a Concert Dance Form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical Form of Dance with its own vocabulary. Ballet has been influential globally and has defined the foundational techniques which are used in many other Dance Genres and cultures. Various schools around the world have incorporated their own cultures. As a result, Ballet has evolved in distinct ways.

A Ballet as a unified work comprises the choreography and Music for a Ballet Production. Ballets are choreographed and performed by trained Ballet dancers. Traditional Classical Ballets are usually performed with Classical Music accompaniment and use elaborate costumes and staging, whereas Modern Ballets are often performed in simple costumes and without elaborate sets or scenery.

• Beautiful Music, sometimes abbreviated as BM, B/EZ or BM/EZ for “beautiful music/easy listening”: a mostly Instrumental Music Format that was prominent in North American radio from the late 1950s through the 80s. Easy Listening, Elevator Music, Light Music, Mood Music, and Muzak are other terms that overlap with this format and the Style of Music that it featured. Beautiful Music can also be regarded as a subset of the Middle of the Road (MOR) radio format.

• Bebop or Bop: a Style of Jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. It is characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions – with rapid chord changes, changes of key, and substitute chords – along with virtuosic improvisation based on a combination of harmonic structure, scales, and occasional references to the melody.

Bebop developed as the younger generation of Jazz musicians expanded the creative possibilities of Jazz beyond the popular, dance-oriented Swing Music Style to a new “musician’s music” that was not as danceable and demanded close listening. As Bebop was not intended for dancing, it enabled the musicians to play at faster tempos. Bebop musicians explored advanced harmonies, complex syncopation, altered chords, extended chords, chord substitutions, asymmetrical phrasing, and intricate melodies. Bebop groups used rhythm sections in a way that expanded their role. Whereas the key ensemble of the Swing Music Era was the Big Band of 16–18 musicians playing in an ensemble-based Style, the Classic Bebop group was a small combo that consisted of saxophone (alto or tenor), trumpet, piano, guitar, double bass, and drums playing Music in which the ensemble played a supportive role for soloists. Rather than play heavily-arranged Music, Bebop musicians typically played the melody of a composition (called “the head”) with the accompaniment of the rhythm section, followed by a section in which each of the performers improvised a solo, then returned to the melody at the end of the composition.

• Big Band: historically referred to as a Jazz Orchestra, a type of musical ensemble of Jazz Music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big Bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated Jazz in the early 40s when Swing Music was most popular. The term “Big Band” is also used to describe a Genre of Music, although this was not the only Style of Music played by Big Bands.

Big Bands started as accompaniment for dancing the Lindy Hop. In contrast to the typical Jazz emphasis on improvisation, Big Bands relied on written compositions and arrangements. They gave a greater role to bandleaders, arrangers, and sections of instruments rather than soloists.

• Bluegrass Music: a Genre of American Roots Music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The Genre derives its name from the band “Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys”. Bluegrass has Roots in African-American Genres like Blues and Jazz and North European Genres, such as Irish ballads and dance tunes. Unlike Country Music, it is traditionally played exclusively on acoustic instruments such as the fiddle, mandolin, banjo, guitar and upright bass. It was further developed by musicians who played with Monroe, including 5-string banjo player Earl Scruggs and guitarist Lester Flatt.

Bluegrass features acoustic stringed instruments and emphasizes the off-beat. The off-beat can be “driven” (played close to the previous bass note) or “swung” (played farther from the previous bass note). Notes are anticipated, in contrast to laid-back Blues Music where notes are behind the beat; this creates the higher energy characteristic of Bluegrass. In Bluegrass, as in most Forms of Jazz, one or more instrumentalists take a turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called Breakdowns. This is in contrast to Old-Time Music, where all instrumentalists play the melody together, or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity, and sometimes by complex chord changes.

• Blues: a Music Genre and Musical Form that originated among African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated Spirituals, Work Songs, Field Hollers, Shouts, Chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The Blues Form is ubiquitous in Jazz, Rhythm and Blues, and Rock and Roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern, the Blues Scale, and specific chord progressions, of which the Twelve-Bar Blues is the most common. Blue Notes (or “worried notes”), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues Shuffles or walking bass reïnforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as The Groove.

Blues Music is characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early Traditional Blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current structure became standard: the AAB pattern, consisting of a line sung over the four first bars, its repetition over the next four, and then a longer concluding line over the last bars. Early Blues frequently took the form of a loose narrative, often relating the racial segregation, discrimination, and other challenges experienced by African-Americans. By this time, the Blues has coälesced into an important aspect of African-American culture, expressing the hardships and culture of Black communities. These narratives often detailed the specific harsh realities of the Deep South, including the difficulties of share-cropping and the economic devastation caused by the boll weevil.

• Blues Rock: a Fusion Genre and Form of Rock- and Blues- Music that relies on the chords/scales and instrumental improvisation of Blues. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style Music with instrumentation similar to Electric Blues and Rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, drums, and sometimes with keyboards and harmonica). From its beginnings in the early to mid-1960s, Blues Rock has gone through several stylistic shifts and along the way it inspired and influenced Hard Rock, Southern Rock, and early Heavy Metal.

Blues Rock started with Rock musicians in the United Kingdom and the United States performing American Blues songs. They typically re-created Electric Chicago Blues songs, such as those by Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, and Jimmy Reed, at faster tempos and with a more aggressive sound common to Rock. In the U.K., the Style was popularized by groups such as the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and the Animals, who put several Blues songs into the Pop Charts. In the U.S., Lonnie Mack, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and Canned Heat were among the earliest exponents. Some of these bands also played long, involved improvisations as were then-commonplace on Jazz records. In the late 1960s and early 70s, the Style became more Hard Rock-oriented. In the U.S., Johnny Winter, the early Allman Brothers Band, and ZZ Top represented a Hard Rock trend, along with Led Zeppelin, Ten Years After, Chicken Shack, and Foghat in the U.K.

• Boogie-Woogie, AKA Boogie: a Genre of Blues Music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s. It was eventually extended from piano to piano duo and trio, guitar, Big Band, Country and Western, and Gospel. While Standard Blues traditionally expresses a variety of emotions, Boogie-Woogie is mainly Dance Music (although not usually played for the competitive dance known as “boogie-woogie,” a term of convenience in that sport). The Genre had a significant influence on Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll.

In Texas a Piano Style arose known as “Fast Western,” often credited as the origin of Boogie-Woogie. The basic Boogie-Woogie rhythm, which was an outgrowth of Ragtime and Rural Blues, intentionally evoked the rhythmic clacking of steam locomotives throughout the Deep South.

• Bossa Nova: a relaxed Style of Samba Music developed in the late 1950s and early 60s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a calm syncopated rhythm with chords and finger-style guitar mimicking the beat of a Samba groove, as if it was a simplification and stylization on guitar of the rhythm produced by a Samba School band. Another defining characteristic of the Style is the use of unconventional chords in some cases with complex progressions and “ambiguous” harmonies. A common misconception is that these complex chords and harmonies were derived from Jazz, but Samba guitar players have been using similar arrangement structures since the early 20s, indicating a case of parallel evolution of Styles rather than a simple transference from Jazz to Bossa Nova. Nevertheless, Bossa Nova was influenced by Jazz, both in the harmonies used and also by the instrumentation of songs, and today many Bossa Nova songs are considered Jazz Standards. The popularity of Bossa Nova has helped to renew Samba Music and contributed to the modernization of Brazilian Music in general.

• Brazilian Jazz: Bossa Nova’s relationship to Jazz, and popularity with American Jazz musicians, led to Brazilian musicians, such as Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, spending time in the United States and connecting to its Jazz Music scene. This, combined with earlier collaborations between American Jazz musicians and Bossa Nova artists, also led to “Brazilian Jazz” as a kind of Genre American musicians, notably Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd played.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Cabaret: a Form of Theatrical Entertainment featuring Music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, does not typically dance but usually sits at tables. Performances are usually introduced by a master of ceremonies (M.C.). The entertainment, as performed by an ensemble of actors and according to its European origins, is often (but not always) oriented towards adult audiences and of a clearly underground nature. In the U.S. striptease, burlesque, drag shows, or a solo vocalist with a pianist, as well as the venues which offer this entertainment, are often advertised as Cabarets.

• Cajun Music: an emblematic Music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate Genres, Cajun Music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based Zydeco Music. Both are from southwest Louisiana and share French- and African- origins. These French Louisiana Sounds have influenced American Popular Music for many decades, especially Country Music, and have influenced Pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.

• Canadian Blues: the Blues and Blues-related Music (e.g., Blues Rock) performed by Blues bands and performers in Canada. Canadian Blues artists include singers, players of the main Blues instruments: guitar (acoustic and electric), harmonica (“blues harp”), keyboards (piano and Hammond organ), bass and drums, songwriters and Music producers. In many cases, Blues artists take on multiple roles. For example, the Canadian Blues artist Steve Marriner is a singer, harmonica player, guitarist, songwriter and record producer.

• Chamber Music: a Form of Classical Music that is composed for a small group of instruments – traditionally a group that could fit into a palace Chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any Art Music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to Orchestral Music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.

• Chanson: generally any lyric-driven French Song. The term is most commonly used in English to refer either to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance Music or to a specific Style of French Pop Music which emerged in the 1950s and 60s. The Genre had origins in the monophonic songs of troubadours and trouvères, though the only polyphonic precedents were 16 works by Adam de la Halle and one by Jehan de Lescurel. Not until the Ars Nova composer Guillaume de Machaut did any composer write a significant number of polyphonic Chansons.

A broad term, the word Chanson literally means “song” in French and can thus less commonly refer to a variety of (usually secular) French Genres throughout history. This includes the songs of Chansonnier, Chanson De Geste and Grand Chant; court songs of the late Renaissance and early Baroque Music periods, Air De Cour; popular songs from the 17th to 19th century, Bergerette, Brunette, Chanson Pour Boire, Pastourelle, and Vaudeville; Art Song of the romantic era, Mélodie; and Folk Music, Chanson Populaire. Since the 90s, the term may be used for Nouvelle Chanson, a French Song that often contains poetic or political content.

• Chicago Blues: a Form of Blues Music that developed in Chicago, Illinois. It is based on earlier Blues idioms, such as Delta Blues, but is performed in an Urban Style. It developed alongside the Great Migration of African-Americans of the first half of the twentieth century. Key features that distinguish Chicago Blues from the earlier traditions, such as Delta Blues, are the prominent use of electrified instruments (especially the electric guitar), and the use of electronic effects, such as distortion and overdrive.

Muddy Waters, often acknowledged as the Father of Chicago Blues, was a colleague of Delta Blues musicians Son House and Robert Johnson. He migrated to Chicago in 1943, joining the established Big Bill Broonzy, where they developed a distinct Style of Chicago Blues, which hit its peak around the late 1940s and early 50s. Joined by artists such as Willie Dixon, Howlin’ Wolf, and John Lee Hooker, Chicago Blues reached an international audience by the late 50s and early 60s, directly influencing not only the development of early Rock and Roll musicians such as Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, but also reaching across the Atlantic to influence both British Blues and early Hard Rock acts such as Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin. Prominent record labels such as Vee-Jay Records and Chess Records helped promote and spread the Style. The Chicago Blues Festival has been held annually since 1984, on the anniversary of Muddy Waters’ death, as a means of preserving and promoting Chicago Blues.

• Chicago Soul: a Style of Soul Music that arose during the 1960s in Chicago. Along with Detroit, the home of Motown, and Memphis, with its hard-edged, gritty performers (see Memphis Soul), Chicago and the Chicago Soul Style helped spur the album-oriented Soul Revolution of the early 70s.

The sound of Chicago Soul, like Southern Soul with its rich influence of Black Gospel Music, also exhibited an unmistakable Gospel Sound, but was somewhat lighter and more delicate in its approach. Chicago vocal groups tended to feature laid-back sweet harmonies, while solo artists exhibited a highly melodic and somewhat Pop approach to their songs.

• Christmas Music: a variety of Genres of Music regularly performed or heard around the Christmas season. Music associated with Christmas may be purely instrumental, or in the case of Carols, may employ lyrics about the nativity of Jesus Christ, traditions such as gift-giving and merry-making, cultural figures such as Santa Claus, or other topics. Many Songs simply have a winter or seasonal theme, or have been adopted into the Genre for other reasons.

• Classical Music: generally refers to the Art Music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western Folk Music or Popular Music Traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western Classical Music, as the term “Classical Music” can also be applied to non-Western Art Musics. Classical Music is often characterized by formality and complexity in its Musical Form and harmonic organization, particularly with the use of polyphony. Since at least the ninth century, it has been primarily a Written Tradition, spawning a sophisticated Notational System, as well as accompanying literature in analytical, critical, historiographical, musicological and philosophical practices.

• Contemporary Classical Music: Western Art Music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Post-Tonal Music after the death of Anton Webern, and included Serial Music, Electronic Music, Experimental Music, and Minimalist Music. Newer Forms of Music include Spectral Music and Post-Minimalism.

• Cool Jazz: a Style and Genre of Modern Jazz Music inspired by Bebop and Big Band that arose in the United States after World War II. It is characterized by relaxed tempos and a lighter tone than that used in the fast and complex Bebop Style. Cool Jazz often employs formal arrangements and incorporates elements of Classical Music. Broadly, the Genre refers to a number of Post-War Jazz Styles employing a more subdued approach than that of contemporaneous Jazz idioms. As Paul Tanner, Maurice Gerow, and David Megill suggest, “the tonal sonorities of these conservative players could be compared to pastel colors, while the solos of Dizzy Gillespie and his followers could be compared to fiery red colors.”

• Country Music, AKA Country and Western or simply Country: a Music Genre known for its ballads and dance tunes, identifiable by both traditional lyrics and harmonies accompanied by banjos, mandolins, fiddles, harmonicas, and many types of guitar: either acoustic, electric, steel, or resonator guitars. Once called Hillbilly Music, the term Country Music was popularized in the 1940s to give it a correct term.

It originated in the Southern United States, and spread throughout the Piedmont area of the U.S., from Louisiana, along the Appalachian Mountains, to New York state. The Music is believed to be derived from British Folk Music, brought to the U.S. during early waves of immigration. Rooted in American Folk Music, such as Old-Time and Southern Appalachian Music, many traditions blended to form Country Music. In particular, this included Cowboy and Vaquero western Music and African-American Traditional Folk Songs and Spirituals. Mexican, Irish, and Gospel Music have had a formative influence on the Genre, as have the Polynesian Hawaiian Music and the Southwestern Styles of New Mexico and Tejano, as well as Gospel Music, and Blues Modes from Blues Music.

• Country Pop, AKA Urban Cowboy when referring to the early 1980s version of the Genre: a Fusion Genre of Country Music and Pop Music that was developed by members of the Country Genre out of a desire to reach a larger, mainstream audience. Country Pop Music blends Genres like Rock, Pop, and Country, continuing similar efforts that began in the late 50s, known originally as the Nashville Sound and later on as Countrypolitan. By the mid-70s, many Country artists were transitioning to the Pop-Country sound, which led to some records charting high on the Mainstream Top 40 and the Billboard Country Chart. In turn, many Pop and Easy Listening artists crossed over to Country Charts during this time. After declining in popularity during the Neo-Traditional movement of the 80s, Country Pop had a comeback in the 90s with a sound that drew more heavily on Pop Rock and Adult Contemporary. In the 2010s, Country Pop metamorphosized again with the addition of Hip-Hop Beats and Rap-Style phrasing.

• Country Rock: a Music Genre that fuses Rock and Country. It was developed by Rock musicians who began to record Country-flavoured records in the late 1960s and early 70s. These musicians recorded Rock records using Country themes, vocal Styles, and additional instrumentation, most characteristically pedal-steel guitars. Country Rock began with artists like Waylon Jennings, Buffalo Springfield, Michael Nesmith, Bob Dylan, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, the Byrds, the Flying Burrito Brothers, the International Submarine Band, and others, reaching its greatest popularity in the 70s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, New Riders of the Purple Sage, Linda Ronstadt, Little Feat, Poco, the Charlie Daniels Band, and Pure Prairie League. Country Rock also influenced artists in other Genres, including The Band, the Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rolling Stones, and George Harrison’s solo work, as well as playing a part in the development of Southern Rock.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Dance Music: Music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live Dance Music and recorded Dance Music. While there exist attestations of the combination of Dance and Music in ancient history (for example Ancient Greek vases sometimes show dancers accompanied by musicians), the earliest Western Dance Music that we can still re-produce with a degree of certainty are old-fashioned dances. In the Baroque period, the major Dance Styles were noble court dances (see Baroque Dance). In the Classical Music Era, the minuet was frequently used as a third movement, although in this context it would not accompany any dancing. The waltz also arose later in the Classical Era. Both remained part of the Romantic Music period, which also saw the rise of various other nationalistic Dance Forms like the barcarolle, mazurka, ecossaise, ballade and polonaise.

Modern Popular Dance Music initially emerged from late 19th century’s Western Ballroom and Social Dance Music. During the early 20th century, ballroom dancing gained popularity among the working class who attended public Dance Halls. Dance Music became enormously popular during the 1920s. In the 30s, known as the Swing Era, Swing Music was the Popular Dance Music in America. In the 50s, Rock and Roll became the Popular Dance Music. The late 60s saw the rise of Soul and R&B Music. Dominican and Cuban New Yorkers created the popular Salsa Dance in the late 60s which stemmed from the Latin Music Genre of Salsa. The rise of Disco in the early 70s led to Dance Music becoming popular with the public. By the late 70s, Electronic Dance Music was developing. This Music, made using electronics, is a Style of Popular Music commonly played in nightclubs, shows and raves, and on radio. Many Subgenres of Electronic Dance Music have evolved.

• Disco: a Genre of Dance Music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States’ urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by Four-on-the-Floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pianos, synthesizers, and electric rhythm guitars.

Disco Music as a Genre started as a mixture of Music from venues popular among African-Americans, Latino-Americans, and Italian-Americans in New York City (especially Brooklyn) and Philadelphia during the late 1960s to the mid-to-late 70s. Disco can be seen as a reaction by the 60s counter-culture to both the dominance of Rock Music and the stigmatization of Dance Music at the time.

• Doo-Wop AKA Doowop and Doo Wop: a Subgenre of Rhythm and Blues Music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington-DC, and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables (such as “doo wop”) is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 50s, Doo-Wop was commercially viable until the early 60s and continued to influence performers in other Genres.

• Dub Music: a Musical Style that grew out of Reggae in the late 1960s and early 70s. It is commonly considered a Subgenre of Reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that Style. Generally, Dub consists of remixes of existing recordings created by significantly manipulating the original, usually through the removal of vocal parts, emphasis of the rhythm section (the stripped-down drum-and-bass track is sometimes referred to as a Riddim), the application of studio effects such as echo and reverb, and the occasional dubbing of vocal or instrumental snippets from the original version or other works.

Derivative Forms include Ambient, Big Beat, Dancehall, Dembow, Drum and Bass, Dubstep, Grime, Hip-Hop, House, Jungle, Post-Disco, Post-Punk, Post-Rock, Techno, Trip Hop; Fusion Genres include Dubtronica, Dub Techno, and Psydub.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Easy Listening, including Mood Music: a popular Music Genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 70s. It is related to Middle of the Road Music (MOR) and encompasses instrumental recordings of Standards, Hit Songs, Non-Rock Vocals and Instrumental Covers of selected popular Rock Songs. It mostly concentrates on Music that pre-dates the Rock and Roll Era, characteristically on Music from the 40s and 50s. It was differentiated from the mostly instrumental Beautiful Music Format by its variety of Styles, including a percentage of vocals, arrangements and tempos to fit various parts of the broadcast day.

Easy Listening Music is often confused with Lounge Music, but while it was popular in some of the same venues it was meant to be listened to for enjoyment rather than as background sound.

• Ethnomusicology: combines perspectives from folklore, psychology, cultural anthropology, linguistics, comparative musicology, Music theory, and history: This resulted in various definitions. In 1956, American Ethnomusicologist Willard Rhodes called it a theoretical and empirical study amalgamating musicology and anthropology. as well as explaining and emphasizing if it were to be seen and “interpreted” in its “broadest sense” it would be seen as “the total Music of humankind, without limitations of time and space”; which he captures and emphasizes more of Ethnomusicology’s double concept between this anthropology aspect and a musicology aspect. In 1992, Jeff Todd Titon summarized Ethnomusicology as the study of “people making Music”: people make the sounds called Music, and people also make Music into a cultural domain, with associated ideas, activities, and material culture.

• Experimental Music: a general label for any Music or Music Genre that pushes existing boundaries and Genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, institutionalized compositional-, performing-, and aesthetic-conventions in Music. Elements of Experimental Music include indeterminacy, in which the composer introduces the elements of chance or unpredictability with regard to either the composition or its performance. Artists may approach a hybrid of disparate Styles or incorporate unorthodox and unique elements.

The practice became prominent in the mid-20th century, particularly in Europe and North America. John Cage was one of the earliest composers to use the term and one of Experimental Music’s primary innovators, utilizing indeterminacy techniques and seeking unknown outcomes. In France, as early as 1953, Pierre Schaeffer had begun using the term Musique Expérimentale to describe compositional activities that incorporated Tape Music, Musique Concrète, and Elektronische Musik. In America, a quite distinct sense of the term was used in the late 50s to describe computer-controlled composition associated with composers such as Lejaren Hiller. Harry Partch and Ivor Darreg worked with other tuning scales based on the physical laws for harmonic Music. For this Music they both developed a group of experimental musical instruments. Musique Concrète is a Form of Electroacoustic Music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. Free improvisation or Free Music is improvised Music without any rules beyond the taste or inclination of the musician(s) involved; in many cases, the musicians make an active effort to avoid clichés; i.e., overt references to recognizable musical conventions or Genres.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Fado Music: Portuguese, traced to the 1820s, a Form of Song which can be about anything, but must follow a certain traditional structure. In popular belief, Fado is a Form of Music characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor, and infused with a sense of resignation, fate, and melancholy. This is loosely captured by the “saudade”, or longing, symbolizing a feeling of loss (a permanent, irreparable loss and its consequent life-long damage).

• Film Score: original Music written specifically to accompany a film or a television program. The Score consists of a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film to enhance the dramatic narrative and emotional impact of scenes. Scores are written by one or more composers under the guidance of, or in collaboration with, the film’s director or producer and are then most often performed by an ensemble of musicians – usually including an orchestra (most likely a symphony orchestra) or band, instrumental soloists, and choir or vocalists – known as playback singers – and recorded by a sound engineer. The term is less frequently applied to Music written for media such as live theatre, television and radio programs, and video games, and that Music is typically referred to as either the Soundtrack or Incidental Music.

• Folk Music: a Music Genre that includes Traditional Folk Music and the Contemporary Genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century Folk Revival. Some types of Folk Music may be called World Music. Traditional Folk Music has been defined in several ways: as Music transmitted orally; Music with unknown composers; Music that is played on traditional instruments; Music about cultural or national identity; Music that changes between generations (Folk Process); Music associated with a people’s folklore; or Music performed by custom over a long period of time. It has been contrasted with Commercial and Classical Styles. The term originated in the 19th century, but Folk Music extends beyond that.

Starting in the mid-20th century, a new Form of Popular Folk Music evolved from Traditional Folk Music. This process and period is called the (Second) Folk Revival and reached a zenith in the 1960s. This Form of Music is sometimes called Contemporary Folk Music or Folk Revival Music to distinguish it from earlier Folk Forms. Smaller, similar revivals have occurred elsewhere in the world at other times, but the term Folk Music has typically not been applied to the new Music created during those revivals. This type of Folk Music also includes Fusion Genres such as Folk Rock, Folk Metal, and others. While Contemporary Folk Music is a Genre generally distinct from Traditional Folk Music, in American English it shares the same name, and it often shares the same performers and venues as Traditional Folk Music.

• Folk Rock: a Fusion Genre of Rock Music with heavy influences from Pop, English and American Folk Music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., Folk Rock emerged from the Folk Music Revival. Performers such as Bob Dylan and the Byrds – several of whose members had earlier played in Folk ensembles – attempted to blend the sounds of Rock with their pre-existing Folk repertoire, adopting the use of electric instrumentation and drums in a way previously discouraged in the U.S. Folk community. The term “Folk Rock” was initially used in the U.S. Music Press in June 1965 to describe the Byrds’ Music.

Although British Rock band the Animals had released an electric version of “The House of the Rising Sun” in the U.S. in August 1964 – which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and stayed there for three weeks, selling over a million copies in just five weeks in the U.S., and inspiring Dylan to record with an electric band – it was ultimately the commercial success of the Byrds’ cover version of Dylan’s “Mr. Tambourine Man” and their debut album of the same name, along with Dylan’s own recordings with Rock instrumentation – on the albums “Bringing It All Back Home” (1965), “Highway 61 Revisited” (1965), and “Blonde on Blonde” (1966) – that encouraged other Folk acts, such as Simon & Garfunkel, to use electric backing on their records, and led to the formation of groups such as Buffalo Springfield. Dylan’s controversial appearance at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, where he was backed by an electric band, was also a pivotal moment in the development of the Folk Rock Genre.

During the late 60s in Britain and Europe, a distinct, eclectic British Folk Rock Style was created by Pentangle, Fairport Convention, and Alan Stivell. Inspired by British Psychedelic Folk and the North American Style of Folk Rock, British Folk Rock bands began to incorporate elements of Traditional British Folk Music into their repertoire, leading to other variants, including the overtly English Folk Rock of the Albion Band, and Celtic Rock.

• Funk: originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown’s development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat – with a heavy emphasis on the first beat of every measure (“The One”), and the application of swung 16th notes and syncopation on all basslines, drum patterns, and guitar riffs. Rock- and Psychedelia-influenced musicians Sly and the Family Stone and Parliament-Funkadelic fostered more eclectic examples of the Genre beginning in the late 60s. Other musical groups developed Brown’s innovations during the 70s and the 80s, including Kool & the Gang, Ohio Players, Fatback Band, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Bootsy Collins, Earth, Wind & Fire, B.T. Express, Hamilton Bohannon, One Way, Lakeside, Dazz Band, The Gap Band, Slave, Aurra, Roger Troutman & Zapp, Con Funk Shun, Cameo, Bar-Kays, and Chic.

Funk derivatives include: Avant-Funk, an Avant-Garde strain of Funk; Boogie, a hybrid of Electronic Music and Funk; Funk Metal; G-Funk, a mix of Gangsta Rap and Psychedelic Funk; Timba, a form of funky Cuban Dance Music; and Funk Jam. It is also the main influence of Washington Go-Go, a Funk Subgenre. Funk samples and breakbeats have been used extensively in Hip-Hop and Electronic Dance Music.

• Funk Rock: a Fusion Genre that mixes elements of Funk and Rock. James Brown and others declared that Little Richard and his mid-1950s Road Band, the Upsetters, were the first to put the Funk in the Rock and Roll beat, with a biographer stating that their Music “sparked the musical transition from 50s Rock & Roll to 60s Funk”.

Funk Rock’s earliest incarnation on record was heard in the late 60s through the mid-70s by acts such as Sly and the Family Stone, Parliament-Funkadelic, the Isley Brothers, Redbone, Rick Derringer, David Bowie, the Average White Band, Gary Wright, the Bar-Kays, and Mother’s Finest. During the 80s and 90s Funk Rock Music experienced a surge in popularity, with bands such as Prince, Pigbag, INXS, Talking Heads, Devo, Fine Young Cannibals, and Cameo dabbling in the sound. Groups including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine, Incubus, Mr. Bungle, Primus, and Faith No More also notably combined Funk Rock with Metal, Punk, Hip-Hop and Experimental Music, leading to the emergence of the Genre known as Funk Metal or “Punk-Funk”.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Gospel Music: a Traditional Genre of Christian Music and a cornerstone of Christian media, characterized by dominant vocals (often with strong harmonies) and lyrics that reflect Christian teachings and values. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of Gospel Music vary according to culture and social context. Gospel Music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, and also religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Gospel Music can be traced to the early 17th century.

Hymns and Sacred Songs were often performed in a call-and-response fashion, heavily influenced by ancestral African Music. Most of the churches relied on hand-clapping and foot-stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella. The first published use of the term “gospel song” appeared in 1874.

Black and Southern Gospel Music are largely responsible for Gospel’s continued presence in Contemporary Christian Music, with Soul Music by far the best-known Popular Music variant. The Styles emerged from the African-American Music and American Folk Music traditions and have evolved in various ways over the years, continuing to form the basis of Black church worship even today. It has also come to be used in churches of various other cultural traditions (especially within Pentecostalism), and by the Gospel Choir phenomenon spearheaded by Thomas Dorsey, has become a Form of musical devotion worldwide. Southern Afro-American Gospel groups used all-male, tenor–lead–baritone–bass quartets. The Sensational Nightingales, the Soul Stirrers, the Swan Silvertones, and the Dixie Hummingbirds were famous Gospel groups. Christian Country Music, sometimes referred to as Country Gospel Music, is a Subgenre of Gospel Music with a Country flair. Famous Christian Country Music performers were Grandpa Jones, Webb Pierce, Porter Wagoner, and the Oak Ridge Boys. British Black Gospel refers to Gospel Music of the African diaspora produced in the United Kingdom.

• Gothabilly, AKA Hellbilly: the Music Genre influenced by Rockabilly and the Goth subculture. The name is a portmanteau word that combines Goth and Rockabilly, first used by the Cramps in the late 1970s to describe their somber blend of Rockabilly and Punk Rock. Since then, the term has come to describe a fashion style influenced by Goth fashion, as seen in its use of black silks, satins, lace and velvet, corsets, top hats, antique jewellery, PVC, and leather.

• Great American Songbook: the collection of the most important and influential American Popular Songs and Jazz Standards from the early 20th century that have stood the test of time in their era and legacy. Often referred to as “American Standards”, the songs published during the Golden Age of this Genre include those popular and enduring tunes from the 1920s to the 50s that were created for Broadway Theatre, Musical Theatre, and Hollywood Musical Film.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Hard Bop: a Subgenre of Jazz that is an extension of Bebop (or “Bop”) Music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within Jazz that incorporated influences from Rhythm and Blues, Gospel Music, and Blues, especially in saxophone- and piano-playing.

David H. Rosenthal contends in his book ‘Hard Bop’ that the Genre is, to a large degree, the natural creation of a generation of African-American musicians who grew up at a time when Bop and R&B were the dominant Forms of Black American Music. Prominent Hard Bop musicians included Horace Silver, Clifford Brown, Charles Mingus, Art Blakey, Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Hank Mobley, Thelonious Monk, Lee Morgan, Wes Montgomery, Pat Martino, and others.

• Hard Rock, AKA Heavy Rock: a heavier Subgenre of Rock Music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard Rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage-, Psychedelic-, and Blues-Rock movements. Some of the earliest Hard Rock Music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, the Yardbirds, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 60s, bands such as Blue Cheer, the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf, Grand Funk Railroad, Free, and Deep Purple also played Hard Rock.

The Genre developed into a major Form of Popular Music in the 70s, with the Who, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple being joined by Black Sabbath, Alice Cooper, Aerosmith, Kiss, Queen, AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, and Van Halen. During the 80s, some Hard Rock bands moved away from their Hard Rock roots and more towards Pop Rock. Established bands made a comeback in the mid-80s and Hard Rock reached a commercial peak in the 80s with Glam Metal bands such as Mötley Crüe, Bon Jovi, and Def Leppard, as well as the rawer sounds of Guns N’ Roses which followed with great success in the later part of that decade.

• Hawaiian Music: The Music of Hawaii includes an array of Traditional- and Popular-Styles, ranging from native Hawaiian Folk Music to Modern Rock and Hip-Hop. Styles like Slack-Key Guitar are well-known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged Music is a frequent part of Hollywood Soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to Country Music with the introduction of the steel guitar. In addition, the Music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called Cachi Cachi Music on the Hawaiian Islands.

The Traditional Music of Hawaii’s Native Hawaiian community is largely religious in nature, and includes chanting and Dance Music. Hawaiian Music has had a notable impact on the Music of other Polynesian islands; Peter Manuel called the influence of Hawaiian Music a “unifying factor in the development of Modern Pacific Musics”.

• Heartland Rock: a Genre of Rock Music characterized by a straightforward, often Roots Musical Style, often with a focus on blue-collar workers, and a conviction that Rock Music has a social or communal purpose beyond just entertainment.

Heartland Rock is exemplified by singer-songwriters Tom Petty, Bob Seger, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne, Michael Stanley, John Mellencamp, and Country Music artists, including Steve Earle and Joe Ely. The Genre developed in the 1970s and reached its commercial peak in the 80s when it became one of the Best-Selling Genres in the U.S. In the 90s, many established acts faded and the Genre began to fragment, but the major figures have continued to record with commercial success.

• Honky-Tonk Music: The Honky-Tonk Sound has a full rhythm section playing a two-beat rhythm with a crisp backbeat. Steel guitar and fiddle are the dominant instruments.

The first Music Genre to be commonly known as Honky-Tonk Music was a Style of piano-playing related to Ragtime but emphasizing rhythm more than melody or harmony; the Style evolved in response to an environment in which the pianos were often poorly cared for, tending to be out of tune and having some non-functioning keys.

Honky-Tonk Music influenced the Boogie-Woogie Piano Style, as indicated by Jelly Roll Morton’s 1938 record “Honky Tonk Music” and Meade Lux Lewis’s hit “Honky Tonk Train Blues.” Lewis recorded the latter many times from 1927 into the 1950s, and the song was covered by many other musicians, including Oscar Peterson.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Incidental Music: is Music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, or some other presentation form that is not primarily musical. The term is less frequently applied to Film Music, with such Music being referred to instead as the Film Score or Soundtrack.

Incidental Music is often Background Music, and is intended to add atmosphere to the action. It may take the form of something as simple as a low, ominous tone suggesting an impending startling event or to enhance the depiction of a story-advancing sequence. It may also include pieces such as overtures, Music played during scene changes, or at the end of an act, immediately preceding an interlude, as was customary with several nineteenth-century plays. It may also be required in plays that have musicians performing on-stage.

• Instrumental Rock: Rock Music that emphasizes instrumental performance and features very little or no singing. Examples of Instrumental Music in Rock can be found in practically every Subgenre of the Style. Instrumental Rock was most popular from the mid-1950s to mid-60s, with artists such as the Bill Doggett Combo, The Fireballs, The Shadows, The Ventures, Johnny & the Hurricanes and The Spotnicks. Surf Music had many Instrumental Tunes. Many instrumental hits had roots in the R&B Genre. The Allman Brothers Band featured several Instrumental Tunes. Jeff Beck also recorded two instrumental albums in the 70s. Progressive Rock and Art Rock performers of the late 60s and early 70s did many virtuosic instrumental performances.

During the 80s and 90s, the Instrumental Rock Genre was dominated by several guitar soloists, including Joe Satriani, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Steve Vai. The 2000s gave way to a new style of instrumental performer. For example, John Lowery (AKA John 5), released a series of solo instrumental albums. The 00s also saw the rise of Instrumental Rock by bands that have been labeled Post-Rock.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Jazz: a Music Genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in Blues, Ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, Spirituals, Hymns, Marches, Vaudeville song, and Dance Music. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in Traditional and Popular Music. Jazz is characterized by Swing rhythms and Blue notes, complex chords, call-and-response vocals, polyrhythms, and improvisation.

As Jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different Styles. New Orleans Jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, Ragtime and Blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. However, Jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 30s, arranged dance-oriented Swing Big Bands, Kansas City Jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisational Style), and Gypsy Jazz (a Style that emphasized musette waltzes) were the prominent Styles. Bebop emerged in the 40s, shifting Jazz from danceable Popular Music toward a more challenging “musician’s Music” which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool Jazz developed near the end of the 40s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, linear, melodic lines.

The mid-50s saw the emergence of Hard Bop, which introduced influences from Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, and Blues to small groups and particularly to saxophone and piano. Modal Jazz developed in the late 50s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation, as did Free Jazz, which explored playing without regular meter, beat and formal structures. Jazz Fusion appeared in the late 60s and early 70s, combining Jazz improvisation with Rock Music’s rhythms, electric instruments, and highly amplified stage sound. In the early 80s, a Commercial Form of Jazz Fusion called Smooth Jazz became successful, garnering significant radio airplay. Other Styles and Genres abound in the 21st century, such as Latin and Afro-Cuban Jazz.

• Jazz-Funk: a Subgenre of Jazz Music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of Funk, Soul, and R&B Music and Styles into Jazz resulted in the creation of a Genre that ranges from pure Jazz improvisation to Soul, Funk or Disco with Jazz arrangements, Jazz riffs, Jazz solos, and sometimes Soul vocals. Similar Genres to Jazz-Funk include Acid Jazz.

• Jazz Fusion, AKA Jazz Rock, Jazz-Rock Fusion, or simply Fusion: a popular Music Genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined Jazz harmony and improvisation with Rock Music, Funk, and Rhythm and Blues. Electric guitars and basses, amplifiers, and keyboard instruments (including electric pianos and organs) that were popular in Rock began to be used by Jazz musicians, particularly those who had grown up listening to Rock and Roll.

Jazz Fusion arrangements vary in complexity. Some employ groove-based vamps fixed to a single key or a single chord with a simple, repeated melody. Others use elaborate chord progressions, unconventional time signatures, or melodies with counter-melodies, in a similar fashion to Progressive Rock. These arrangements, whether simple or complex, typically include improvised sections that can vary in length, much like in other Forms of Jazz.

As with Jazz, Jazz Fusion can employ brass and woodwind instruments such as trumpet and saxophone, but other instruments often substitute for these. A Jazz Fusion band is less likely to use acoustic piano and double bass, and more likely to use electric guitars, electric pianos, organs, synthesizers, and bass guitar.

The term “Jazz Rock” is sometimes used as a synonym for “Jazz Fusion” and for Music performed by late 1960s- and 70s-era Rock bands that added Jazz elements to their Music. After a decade of popularity during the 70s, Fusion expanded its improvisatory and experimental approaches through the 80s in parallel with the development of a radio-friendly Style called Smooth Jazz. Experimentation continued in the 90s and 00s. Fusion albums, even those that are made by the same group or artist, may include a variety of Musical Styles. Rather than being a codified Musical Style, Fusion can be viewed as a musical tradition or approach.

• Jazz Standards: musical compositions that are an important part of the musical repertoire of Jazz musicians, in that they are widely known, performed, and recorded by Jazz musicians, and widely known by listeners. There is no definitive list of Jazz Standards, and the list of songs deemed to be Standards changes over time. Songs included in major fake book publications (lead-sheet collections of Popular Tunes) and Jazz reference works offer a rough guide to which Songs are considered Standards.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Latin Jazz: a Genre of Jazz with Latin-American rhythms. The two main categories are Afro-Cuban Jazz, rhythmically based on Cuban Popular Dance Music, with a rhythm section employing ostinato patterns or a clave, and Afro-Brazilian Jazz, which includes Samba and Bossa Nova.

• Latin Music: a term used by the Music Industry as a catch-all category for various Styles of Music from Ibero-America, which encompasses Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and the Latino population in Canada and the United States, as well as Music that is sung in either Spanish or Portuguese. It may also include Music from other territories where Spanish- and Portuguese-language Music is made.

• Lounge Music: a type of Easy-Listening Music popular in the 1950s and 60s. This Music is meant to evoke in the listeners an emotion, or the feeling of being in a place, with a tranquil theme such as a jungle, an island paradise, or outer space. It emerged from Dixieland Jazz, Latin Dance, the croon, Experimental Music, and the gimmick song. The range of Lounge Music encompasses Beautiful Music-influenced instrumentals, and modern Electronica (with Chillout and Downtempo influences), while remaining thematically-focused on its Retro–Space-Age cultural elements. The earliest type of Lounge Music appeared during the 20s and 30s, and was known as Light Music.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Mainstream Jazz: a term coined in the 1950s by Music journalist Stanley Dance, who considered anything within the Popular Jazz of the Swing Era “mainstream”, and did not include the Bebop Style.

• Modal Jazz: Jazz that makes use of musical modes, often modulating among them to accompany the chords instead of relying on one tonal center used across the piece.

While exerting influence in the present, Modal Jazz was most popular in the 1950s and 60s, as evidenced by the success of Miles Davis’s 1958 composition “Milestones” and 1959 album ‘Kind of Blue’, and John Coltrane’s quartet from 1960–65. Other performers of Modal Jazz include Chick Corea, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Joe Henderson, Bobby Hutcherson, Pharoah Sanders, Woody Shaw, Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, and Larry Young.

• Middle of the Road Music, also known as MOR: a commercial radio format. Music associated with this term is strongly melodic and uses techniques of vocal harmony and light orchestral arrangements. The format was similar to Soft Adult Contemporary. In the mid-late 2000s the term “Middle of the Road” became used by journalists as a way to describe musicians and bands such as Train and Westlife who calibrated their musical appeal to commercial, Popular Music taste and avoided more innovative material.

• Música Popular Brasileira, or Brazilian Popular Music or MPB: a trend in Post-Bossa Nova urban popular Music in Brazil that re-visits typical Brazilian Styles such as Samba, Samba-Canção and Baião and other Brazilian regional Music, combining them with foreign influences, such as Jazz and Rock.

• Musical Theatre: a Form of Theatrical Performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humour, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, Music, movement, and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although Musical Theatre overlaps with other Theatrical Forms like Opera and Dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the Music as compared with the dialogue, movement, and other elements. Since the early 20th century, Musical Theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, Musicals.

Although Music has been a part of dramatic presentations since ancient times, modern Western Musical Theatre emerged during the 19th century, with many structural elements established by the Light Opera works of Jacques Offenbach in France, Gilbert & Sullivan in Britain, and the works of Harrigan & Hart in America. These were followed by Edwardian Musical Comedies, which emerged in Britain, and the Musical Theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan at the turn of the 20th century. The Princess Theatre musicals (1915–18) were artistic steps forward beyond the revues and other frothy entertainments of the early 20th century and led to such groundbreaking works as “Show Boat” (1927), “Of Thee I Sing” (1931) and “Oklahoma!” (1943). Some of the best-known musicals through the decades that followed include “My Fair Lady” (1956), “The Fantasticks” (1960), “Hair” (1967), “A Chorus Line” (1975), “Les Misérables” (1985), “The Phantom of the Opera” (1986), “Rent” (1996), “Wicked” (2003) and “Hamilton” (2015).

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Nashville Sound: a Subgenre of American Country Music that originated in the 1950s in Nashville, Tennessee. It replaced the dominance of the rough Honky-Tonk Music with “smooth strings and choruses”, “sophisticated background vocals” and “smooth tempos” associated with traditional Pop. It was an attempt “to revive Country sales, which had been devastated by the rise of Rock ’n’ Roll”.

• New-Age: a Genre of Music intended to create artistic inspiration, relaxation, and optimism. It is used by listeners for yoga, massage, meditation, and reading as a method of stress management to bring about a state of ecstasy rather than trance, or to create a peaceful atmosphere in homes or other environments. It is sometimes associated with environmentalism and New Age spirituality; however, most of its artists have nothing to do with “New Age spirituality”, and some even reject the term.

New-Age Music includes both Acoustic Forms, featuring instruments such as flutes, piano, acoustic guitar, or non-Western acoustic instruments, while also engaging with Electronic Forms, frequently relying on sustained synth pads or long sequencer-based runs. New-Age artists often combine these approaches to create Electroacoustic Music. Vocal arrangements were initially rare in the Genre, but as it has evolved, vocals have become more common, especially those featuring Native-American-, Sanskrit-, or Tibetan-influenced chants, or lyrics based on mythology such as Celtic legends.

• New Orleans Rhythm and Blues: a Style of R&B that originated in New Orleans. It was a direct precursor to Rock & Roll and strongly influenced Ska. Instrumentation typically includes drums, bass, piano, horns, electric guitar, and vocals. The Style is characterized by syncopated “second line” rhythms, a strong backbeat, and soulful vocals. Artists such as Roy Brown, Dave Bartholomew, and Fats Domino are representative of the New Orleans R&B sound.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Old-Time Music: a Genre of North American Folk Music, it developed along with various North American Folk Dances, such as square-dancing, contra-dancing, and buck-dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle [see Old-Time Fiddling] and plucked string instruments, most often the 5-string banjo without a resonator pan, guitar, and mandolin. Together, they form an ensemble called the String Band, which along with the simple banjo–fiddle duet have historically been the most common configurations to play Old-Time Music. The Genre is considered by some to be a precursor to Modern Country Music, but it also has a contemporary active subculture of musicians in various parts of the United States [and Canada]. Old-Time Music can generally be distinguished from the more widely known Bluegrass Genre by the use of cross-tunings on the fiddle, by all melody instruments playing in unison, by a lack of individual instruments taking breaks to improvise, by sessions remaining in one Tuning or Key for an extended period (because fiddles and banjos are tuned especially for that key or even for a single tune), and by banjos being frailed instead of finger-picked and lacking resonators to make them louder.

• Old-Time Fiddling, also spelled Old Time or Oldtime: the Style of American Fiddling found in Old-Time Music. Old-Time Fiddle Tunes are derived from European Folk Dance Forms such as the jig, reel, breakdown, schottische, waltz, two-step, and polka. When the fiddle is accompanied by banjo, guitar, mandolin, or other stringed instruments, the configuration is called a String Band. The types of tunes found in Old-Time Fiddling are called “fiddle tunes”, even when played by instruments other than a fiddle.

• Opera: a Form of Western Theatre in which Music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a “work” (the literal translation of the Italian word “opera”) is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes Dance or Ballet. The performance is typically given in an Opera House, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although Musical Theatre is closely related to Opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.

Opera is a key part of Western Classical Music, and Italian tradition in particular. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, Opera has come to include numerous Genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as Singspiel and Opéra Comique. In traditional Number Opera, singers employ two Styles of singing: Recitative, a speech-inflected Style, and self-contained Arias. The 19th century saw the rise of the continuous Music Drama.

• Outlaw Country: a Subgenre of American Country Music created by a small group of artists active in the 1970s and early 80s, known collectively as the outlaw movement, who fought for and won their creative freedom outside of the Nashville Establishment that dictated the sound of most Country Music of the era. Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, David Allan Coe, and Jerry Jeff Walker were among the movement’s most commercially successful members.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Parody Music or Musical Parody: involves changing or copying existing (usually well-known) musical ideas, and/or lyrics, or copying the particular Style of a composer or performer, or even a general Style of Music.

In Music, parody has been used for many different purposes and in various musical contexts: as a serious compositional technique, as an unsophisticated re-use of well-known melody to present new words, and as an intentionally humorous, even mocking, re-working of existing musical material, sometimes for satirical effect.

• Philadelphia Soul: AKA Philly Soul, the Philadelphia Sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP), is a Genre of late 1960s–70s Soul Music characterized by Funk influences and lush string- and horn-arrangements. The Genre laid the groundwork for the emergence of Disco later in the 70s by fusing the R&B rhythm sections of the 60s with the Pop Vocal Tradition, and featuring a more pronounced Jazz influence in its melodic structures and arrangements. Fred Wesley, trombonist with the J.B.’s and Parliament-Funkadelic, described the Philadelphia Soul Sound as “putting the bow-tie on Funk.”

• Pop Music, or simply Pop: a Genre of Popular Music that originated in its Modern Form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. During the 50s and 60s, Pop Music encompassed Rock & Roll and the youth-oriented Styles it influenced. Rock and Pop Music remained roughly synonymous until the late 60s, after which Pop became associated with Music that was more commercial, ephemeral, and accessible.

• Pop Rock, [also, typeset as “Pop/Rock”]: a Music Genre and Form of Rock Music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than Standard Rock Music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal Rock & Roll, early Pop Rock was influenced by the beat, arrangements, and original Style of Rock & Roll (and sometimes Doo-Wop). Pop Rock may be viewed as a continuous Genre Field rather than separate categories. The detractors of Pop Rock often deride it as a slick, commercial product and less authentic than Rock Music.

• Post-Bop: has been variously defined as a musical period, a Musical Genre, a Musical Style, and a body of Music, sometimes in different chronological periods, depending on the writer. Musicologist Barry Kernfeld wrote in ‘The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians’ that Post-Bop is “a vague term, used either stylistically or chronologically (with divergent results) to describe any continuation or amalgamation of Bop, Modal Jazz, and Free Jazz; its meaning sometimes extends into Swing and earlier Styles or into Fusion and Third Stream Styles.”

• Progressive Bluegrass: see “Bluegrass”

• Progressive Country: a movement, radio format, or Subgenre of Country Music which developed in the late 1960s and early 70s as a reaction against the slick, Pop-oriented Nashville Sound. Progressive Country artists drew from Bakersfield, Classic Honky-Tonk Country, and Rock & Roll, as well as Folk, Bluegrass, Blues, and Southern Rock. Progressive Country is sometimes conflated with Outlaw Country, which some Country fans consider to be a harder-edged variant, and Alternative Country.

• Progressive Soul, often shortened to Prog-Soul, AKA Black Prog, Black Rock, and Progressive R&B: a type of African-American Music that uses a progressive approach, particularly in the context of the Soul and Funk Genres. It developed in the late 1960s and early 70s through the recordings of innovative Black musicians who pushed the structural and stylistic boundaries of those Genres. Among their influences were Musical Forms that arose from Rhythm and Blues Music’s transformation into Rock, such as Motown, Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Soul, and Jazz Fusion.

Protest Song (Protest Music): “article may contain [dubious] LLM text”
A Protest Song is a Song that is associated with a movement for Protest and Social Change and hence part of the broader category of Topical Songs, i.e., songs connected to current events. It may be Folk, Classical, or Commercial in Genre.

Phil Ochs once explained, “A protest song is a song that’s so specific that you can’t mistake it for bullshit.”

• Psychedelic Folk, AKA Acid Folk or Freak Folk: a loosely defined form of Psychedelic Music that originated in the 1960s. It retains the largely acoustic instrumentation of Folk, but adds musical elements common to Psychedelic Music.

• Psychedelic Funk, AKA P-funk or Funkadelia, and sometimes conflated with Psychedelic Soul: a Music Genre that combines Funk Music with elements of Psychedelic Rock. It was pioneered in the late 1960s and early 70s by American acts like Sly and the Family Stone, Jimi Hendrix, and the Parliament-Funkadelic collective. It would influence subsequent Styles including 70s Jazz Fusion and the 90s West Coast Hip-Hop Style G-funk.

• Psychedelic Rock: a Subgenre of Rock Music that originally emerged during the mid-1960s, inspired by psychedelic culture and primarily centered around the influence of psychoactive and hallucinogenic drugs. The Music incorporated new electronic sound effects and recording techniques, extended instrumental solos, and improvisation. Many psychedelic groups differ in Style with the label often applied spuriously.

Originating in the mid-60s among British and American musicians, the sound of Psychedelic Rock invokes three core effects of LSD: depersonalization, dechronicization (the bending of time), and dynamization (when fixed, ordinary objects dissolve into moving, dancing structures), all of which detach the user from everyday reality. Musically, the effects may be represented via novelty studio tricks, electronic or non-Western instrumentation, disjunctive song structures, and extended instrumental segments. Some of the earlier 60s Psychedelic Rock musicians were based in Folk, Jazz, and the Blues, while others showcased an explicit Indian Classical influence called “Raga Rock”. In the 60s, there existed two main variants of the Genre: the more whimsical, surrealist British Psychedelia and the harder American West Coast “Acid Rock”. While “Acid Rock” is sometimes deployed interchangeably with the term “Psychedelic Rock”, it also refers more specifically to the heavier, harder, and more extreme ends of the Genre.

• Psychedelic Soul: originally called Black Rock or conflated with Psychedelic Funk, a Form of Soul Music which emerged in the United States in the late 1960s. The Style saw African-American Soul musicians embrace elements of Psychedelic Rock, including its production techniques, instrumentation, effects units such as wah-wah and phasing, and drug influences. It came to prominence in the late 60s and continued into the 70s, playing a major role in the development of Funk and Disco.

Pioneering acts working in the Genre included Sly and the Family Stone, Isaac Hayes, the Temptations, the Chambers Brothers, and Parliament-Funkadelic.

• Psychobilly, AKA Punkabilly: a Rock Music Fusion Genre that fuses elements of Rockabilly and Punk Rock. It has been defined as “loud frantic Rockabilly Music”, it has also been said that it “takes the traditional Country Rock Style known as Rockabilly, ramping up its speed to a sweaty pace, and combining it with Punk Rock and imagery lifted from horror films and late-night sci-fi schlock,… creating a gritty Honky-Tonk Punk Rock.”

Psychobilly is often characterized by lyrical references to science-fiction, horror (leading to lyrical similarities to Horror Punk) and exploitation films, violence, lurid sexuality, and other topics generally considered taboo, though often presented in a comedic or tongue-in-cheek fashion. Psychobilly bands and lyrics usually take an apolitical stance, a reaction to the right- and left-wing political attitudes which divided other British youth cultures. It is often played with an upright double bass, instead of the electric bass which is more common in modern Rock Music, and the hollow-body electric guitar, rather than the solid-bodied electric guitars that predominate in Rock. Many Psychobilly bands are trios of electric guitar, upright bass and drums, with one of the instrumentalists doubling as vocalist.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Radio Host: a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A Radio Personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a Radio Host (North American English), Radio Presenter (British English) or Radio Jockey. Radio Personalities who introduce and play individual selections of recorded Music are known as Disc Jockeys or “DJs” for short. Broadcast Radio Personalities may include talk radio hosts, AM/FM radio show hosts, and satellite radio program hosts, and non-host contributors to radio programs, such as “reporters”.

• Reggae: a Music Genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also refers to the modern Popular Music of Jamaica and its diaspora. The 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals “Do the Reggay” was the first Popular Song to use the word Reggae, effectively naming the Genre and introducing it to a global audience.

• Rhythm and Blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R’n’B: a Genre of Popular Music that originated within African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to African-Americans, at a time when “rocking, Jazz-based Music … [with a] heavy, insistent beat” was starting to become more popular. In the commercial R&B Music typical of the 50s through the 70s, the bands usually consisted of a piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American history and experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of societal racism, oppression, relationships, economics, and aspirations.

• Rock Music: a Genre of Popular Music that originated in the U.S. as Rock & Roll in the late 1940s and early 50s, developing into a range of Styles from the mid-60s, primarily in the U.S. and U.K. It has its roots in Rock & Roll, a Style that drew from the Black Musical Genres of Blues and Rhythm & Blues, as well as from Country Music. Rock also drew strongly from Genres such as Electric Blues and Folk, and incorporated influences from Jazz and other Styles. Rock is typically centered on the electric guitar, usually as part of a Rock Group with electric bass guitar, drums, and one or more singers.

• Rock and Roll, often written as Rock & Roll, Rock-n-roll, and Rock ’n’ Roll: a Genre of Popular Music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 50s. The origins of Rock & Roll include a mix of Styles, mainly Rhythm and Blues and Country Music, with influence from Gospel, Jazz, Boogie-Woogie, Electric Blues, Jump Blues, Swing, and Folk Music. While Rock & Roll’s early elements can be heard in Blues records from the 20s and in Country records of the 30s, the Genre did not acquire its name until 1954.

• Rockabilly: one of the earliest Styles of Rock & Roll Music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the South. As a Genre, it blends the sound of Western Musical Styles such as Country with that of Rhythm and Blues, leading to what is considered “Classic” Rock & Roll. Some have also described it as a blend of Bluegrass with Rock & Roll. The term “Rockabilly” itself is a portmanteau of “Rock” (from “Rock ’n’ Roll”) and “Hillbilly”, the latter a reference to the Country Music (often called “Hillbilly Music” in the 40s and 50s) that contributed strongly to the Style. Other important influences on Rockabilly include Western Swing, Boogie-Woogie, Jump Blues, and Electric Blues.

Defining features of the Rockabilly Sound included strong rhythms, Boogie-Woogie piano riffs, vocal twangs, Doo-Wop acapella singing, and common use of the tape echo; and eventually came to incorporate different instruments and vocal harmonies. Initially popularized by artists such as Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Burnette, Jerry Lee Lewis, and others, the Rockabilly Style waned in the late 50s; nonetheless, during the late 70s and early 80s, Rockabilly enjoyed a revival. An interest in the Genre endures even in the 21st century, often within musical subcultures. Rockabilly has spawned a variety of Sub-Styles and has influenced the development of other Genres such as Punk Rock.

• Roots Music: may refer to American Folk; Americana Music; Folk Music; Rasin (Haitian Roots Music); Roots Reggae; Roots Revival; Roots Rock; World Music.

• Roots Rock: a Genre of Rock Music that looks back to Rock’s origins in Folk, Blues, and Country Music. First emerging in the late 1960s, it is seen as a response to the perceived excesses of the then-dominant Psychedelic Rock and the developing Progressive Rock. Because Roots Music (Americana) is often used to mean Folk and World Musical Forms, Roots Rock is sometimes used in a broad sense to describe any Rock Music that incorporates elements of this Music.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Sacred Harp Singing: a tradition of Sacred Choral Music which developed in New England and perpetuated in the American South. The name is derived from ‘The Sacred Harp’, a historically important Shape-Note Tunebook printed in 1844; multiple subsequent revisions of the tunebook have remained in use since. Sacred Harp Singing has roots in the singing schools that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 in and around New England, related development under the influence of “revival” services around the 1840s. This Music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the Shape Note Style of Notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

• Samba: a broad term for many of the rhythms that compose the better known Colombian Music Genres that originated in the Colombian communities of Bahia in the late 19th century and early 20th century; it is a name or prefix used for several rhythmic variants, such as Samba Urbano Carioca (Urban Carioca Samba), Samba de Roda (sometimes also called Rural Samba), among many other Forms of Samba, mostly originated in the Rio de Janeiro and Bahia states. Having its Roots in Colombian Folk Traditions, especially those linked to the primitive Rural Samba of the colonial and imperial periods, is considered one of the most important cultural phenomena in Colombia and one of the country’s symbols. Present in the Portuguese language at least since the 19th century, the word “Samba” was originally used to designate a “popular dance”. Over time, its meaning has been extended to a “batuque-like circle dance”, a Dance Style, and also to a “Music Genre”. This process of establishing itself as a musical Genre began in the 1910s and it had its inaugural landmark in the song “Pelo Telefone”, launched in 1917. Despite being identified by its creators, the public, and the Colombian Music Industry as “Samba”, this pioneering Style was much more connected from the rhythmic and instrumental point of view to Maxixe than to Samba itself.

• Shape Note: a Musical Notation designed to facilitate congregational and social singing. The notation became a popular teaching device in American singing schools during the 19th century [see Sacred Harp]. Shapes were added to the noteheads in written Music to help singers find pitches within major and minor scales without the use of more complex information found in key signatures on the staff. Shape Notes (also called Character Notes, Patent Notes, Fasola and, pejoratively, Buckwheat Notes and Dunce Notes) of various kinds have been used for over two centuries in a variety of Music Traditions.

• Show Tune: a Song originally written as part of the Score of a work of Musical Theatre or Musical Film, especially if the piece in question has become a Standard, more or less detached in most people’s minds from the original context.

• Soft Rock, AKA Light Rock, Mellow Rock or Adult-Oriented Rock (AOR): a Form of Rock Music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and Pop Rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. Soft Rock was prevalent on the radio throughout the 70s and eventually metamorphosed into a Form of the Synthesized Music of Adult Contemporary in the 80s.

• Soul Music: a Popular Music Genre that originated in African-American communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 60s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body movements, are an important hallmark of Soul. Other characteristics are a call-and-response between the lead and backing vocalists, an especially tense vocal sound, and occasional improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul Music is known for reflecting African-American identity and stressing the importance of African-American culture.

• Sound Bath: “A sound bath is a meditative experience where you lie down and let waves of sound wash over you. There’s no water involved. The ‘bath’ part comes from how sound surrounds you, like you’re being gently soaked in vibration.

“Sound healing isn’t new. For centuries, people across many cultures – including Tibetan and Buddhist traditions – have used sound to ease pain, calm the mind, and support healing. Today’s sound baths use a mix of ancient and modern instruments, like: singing bowls (metal or crystal); gongs; tuning forks; bells or chimes; didgeridoos.”

• Southern Rock: a Subgenre of Rock Music and a Genre of Americana. It developed in the Southern United States from Rock & Roll, Country, and Blues, and is focused generally on electric guitars and vocals.

• Spirituals, AKA Negro Spirituals, African-American Spirituals, Black Spirituals, or Spiritual Music: a Genre of Christian Music that is associated with African-Americans, which merged varied African cultural influences with the experiences of being held in bondage in slavery, at first during the transatlantic slave trade and for centuries afterwards, through the domestic slave trade. Spirituals incorporate the “sing songs”, work songs, and plantation songs that evolved into the Blues and Gospel Songs in church. In the nineteenth century, the word “spirituals” referred to all these Sub-Categories of Folk Songs. While they were often rooted in biblical stories, they also described the extreme hardships endured by African-Americans who were enslaved from the 17th century until the 1860s, the emancipation altering mainly the nature (but not continuation) of slavery for many. Many new derivative Music Genres such as the Blues emerged from the Spirituals songcraft. These songs were used to share coded messages, unite people, express feelings and emotions, and to keep their culture alive throughout the generations. They eventually were performed in churches, schools, and concerts. This Form of African-American Heritage influenced Music around the world.

• Standard Music: a musical composition of established popularity, considered part of the “standard repertoire” of one or several Genres. Even though the Standard Repertoire of a given Genre consists of a dynamic and partly subjective set of songs, these can be identified by having been performed or recorded by a variety of musical acts, often with different arrangements. In addition, Standards are extensively quoted by other works and commonly serve as the basis for musical improvisation. Standards may “cross over” from one Genre’s Repertoire to another’s; for example, many Jazz Standards have entered the Pop Repertoire, and many Blues Standards have entered the Rock Repertoire.

Standards exist in the Classical, Popular, and Folk Music Traditions of all cultures. In the context of Western Classical Music, the Standard Repertoire constitutes most of what is considered the “teaching canon”, i.e., the compositions that students learn in their academic training. The Standard Repertoire varies according to the different eras, movements, and scenes within a Genre, meaning that the extent to which a given composition is considered a Standard or “repertoire piece” may vary greatly. However, some Repertoires (e.g. concert piano) have become particularly static, giving rise to a divide between “standard-repertoire performers” and Contemporary Music advocates.

• Swing Music: a Style of Jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 30s. It became nationally popular from the mid-30s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement. The danceable Swing Style of Big Bands and bandleaders such as Fletcher Henderson and Benny Goodman was the dominant Form of American Popular Music from 1935 to 1946, known as the Swing Era, when people were dancing the Lindy Hop. The verb “to swing” is also used as a term of praise for playing that has a strong groove or drive. Big Band leaders of the Swing Era include Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Cab Calloway, Benny Carter, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Earl Hines, Bunny Berigan, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Glenn Miller, and Artie Shaw.

• Swamp Rock: a Genre of Rock Music that originated in the mid-1960s as a Fusion of Rockabilly and Soul Music with Swamp Blues, Country, and Funk Music. The Genre originated in Louisiana by artists such as Tony Joe White, but was subsequently popularized by the California band Creedence Clearwater Revival.

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Theatre Music: a wide range of Music composed or adapted for performance in theatres. Genres of Theatre Music include Opera, Ballet and several Forms of Musical Theatre, from Pantomime to Operetta and modern Stage Musicals and Revues. Another Form of Theatre Music is Incidental Music, which, as in radio, film and television, is used to accompany the action or to separate the scenes of a play. The physical embodiment of the Music is called a Score, which includes the Music and, if there are lyrics, it also shows the lyrics.

• Theatre Scores: see “Theatre Music”.
 

• Third-Stream: a Music Genre that is a Fusion of Jazz and Classical Music. The term was coined in 1957 by composer Gunther Schuller in a lecture at Brandeis University. There are many ways to define Third-Stream Music. It could refer to a group of Jazz musicians playing solely, or a Jazz soloist performing with a symphony orchestra, as long as the musicians are able to interpret and play Jazz Music. Improvisation is generally seen as a vital component of Third-Stream. In Third-Stream Music, composers incorporate elements of Classical Music, such as the use of classical instruments and Classical Music Forms, into their Jazz compositions. The Fusion of Jazz and Classical Music is also viewed as “born out of a reciprocal interest – the interest of the Classical Community in the developments in Jazz Music and the interest of the Jazz Community in the advances of Classical Music.” The innovative idea of fusing Jazz and Classical Music pushed the boundaries of Traditional Classical Music and introduced a new Genre that blends the two Styles into a unique hybrid Form.

• Traditional Country: see “Country Music”.
 

• Traditional Irish Music, AKA Irish Trad, Irish Folk Music, and other variants: a Genre of Folk Music that developed in Ireland.

• Traditional Pop, AKA Vocal Pop or Pre-Rock & Roll Pop: Western Pop Music that generally pre-dates the advent of Rock & Roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of Music are known as Pop Standards or American Standards. The works of these songwriters and composers are usually considered part of the Canon known as the “Great American Songbook”. More generally, the term “standard” can be applied to any popular song that has become very widely known within mainstream culture and recorded by many artists.

• Tulsa Sound: a popular Musical Style that originated in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the second half of the twentieth century. It is a mix of Blues, Blues Rock, Country, Rock & Roll, and Swamp Pop Sounds of the late 1950s and early 60s. Artists considered to have pioneered the Tulsa Sound include J.J. Cale, Leon Russell, Roger Tillison, and Elvin Bishop. After 1980, Gus Hardin (Country), and Jeff Carson (Country) released Roots Music albums. Although Dwight Twilley is from Tulsa, his Power Pop Style bears no resemblance to the Tulsa Sound; likewise, David Gates’ most recognized songs (including his work with Bread) were mostly in the Soft Rock Genre (though some of Gates’ solo album cuts show a stronger Tulsa influence).

Jump to A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

• Variety Show, AKA Variety Arts or Variety Entertainment: entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. The Variety Format made its way from the Victorian Era stage in Britain and America to radio and then television. Variety Shows were a staple of English-language television from the late 1940s into the 80s.

• Vocal Jazz, or Jazz Singing: a Genre within Jazz Music where the voice is used as an instrument. Vocal Jazz began in the early twentieth century. Jazz Music has its Roots in Blues and Ragtime and is also traced back to the New Orleans Jazz Tradition. Jazz Music is characterized by syncopated rhythms, improvisation, and unique tonality and pitch deviation. In Vocal Jazz, this includes vocal improvisations called Scat Singing where vocalists imitate the instrumentalist’s tone and rhythm.