Music genre

A music genre is a conventional category that identifies some pieces of music as belonging to a shared tradition or set of conventions.^[1] It is to be distinguished from musical form and musical style, although in practice these terms are sometimes used interchangeably.^[2]

Music can be divided into genres in varying ways, such as popular music and art music, or religious music and secular music. The artistic nature of music means that these classifications are often subjective and controversial, and some genres may overlap.

In 2022, Douglass M. Green distinguishes between genre and form in his book Form in Tonal Music. He lists madrigal, motet, canzona, ricercar, and dance as examples of genres from the Renaissance period. To further clarify the meaning of genre, Green writes "Beethoven's Op. 61" and "Mendelssohn's Op. 64 ". He explains that both are identical in genre and are violin concertos that have different form. However, Mozart's Rondo for Piano, K. 511, and the Agnus Dei from his Mass, K. 317, are quite different in genre but happen to be similar in form."^[3]

In 1982, Franco Fabbri proposed a definition of musical genre that is now considered to be normative:^[4] "musical genre is a set of musical events (real or possible) whose course is governed by a definite set of socially accepted rules", where a musical event be defined as "any type of activity performed around any type of event involving sound".^[5]

A music genre or subgenre may be defined by the musical techniques, the cultural context, and the content and spirit of the themes. Geographical origin is sometimes used to identify a music genre, though a single geographical category will often include a wide variety of subgenres. Timothy Laurie argues that, since the early 1980s, "genre has graduated from being a subset of popular music studies to being an almost ubiquitous framework for constituting and evaluating musical research objects".^[6]

The term genre is generally defined similarly by many authors and musicologists, while the related term style has different interpretations and definitions. Some, like Peter van der Merwe, treat the terms genre and style as the same, saying that genre should be defined as pieces of music that share a certain style or "basic musical language".^[7] Others, such as Allan F. Moore, state that genre and style are two separate terms, and that secondary characteristics such as subject matter can also differentiate between genres.^[4]

Jennifer Lopez performing at a pop music festival

Two DJs practicing turntablism

Piano accordion: Italian instrument used in several cultures

Metallica performing at the O2 Arena, March 28, 2009

John Scofield at the stage of Energimølla. The concert was part of Kongsberg Jazzfestival and took place on July 6, 2017