A Guide to Popular Music Genres: From Blues to Rap

Blues vs. Jazz

Blues is more vocal and jazz is more instrumental. That's the principal difference. An inside joke in the jazz & blues circles goes, "A blues guitarist plays 3 chords in front of thousands of people, and a jazz guitarist plays thousands of chords in front of 3 people." The main focus of jazz music is the dynamics and improvisations of an ensemble, while blues music is usually centered on a single guitar player/vocalist, and the personal lyrical content of the song. Most jazz tunes are purely instrumental, while a blues song always contains lyrics. Blues music was around before jazz and can be considered an element of jazz music. However, jazz would not be considered a part of blues music per se.

Country Music

Country music is a genre of nostalgic music that originated with the cowboys of the American West. It is now more popular than ever. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, steel guitars (such as pedal steels and dobros), and fiddles as well as harmonicas.

Rap and Hip-Hop

Rap music is the combination of rhyming and poetry to a beat. It is part of the Hip-Hop genre, which involves lyrics over fast-paced music. Some people have described Hip-Hop as a way of life and a subculture, while rap is a specific genre of music. The Grammy Awards for the Hip-Hop category include R&B and Rap subcategories.

R&B

R&B is a musical genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, pop, funk, and EDM. R&B is used to describe a style of African-American music that originated from the decline of disco music in the 1980s. R&B bases its rhythms on the use of box rhythms, occasional, and saxophone notes.

Gospel Music

Gospel music was born in Africa, and we can hear it in religious events in this part of the world. It's biblical, folkloric music.

Soundtracks

Soundtracks apply to video games, movies, TV shows, series, musicals, etc.

Defining Art

My definition of "art" is the artist's feelings superimposed on something. Cambridge Dictionary: the making of objects, music, images, etc. / Merriam-Webster: skill acquired by experience, study, or observation. / Dictionary.com: the quality, production, expression, or realm, according to aesthetic principles, of what is beautiful, appealing, or of more than ordinary significance.

Film Genres

Film genres: Drama, Comedy, Horror, Musical, Thriller, Action, Science Fiction, Documentary, Animated Feature, Western, International Cinema, Love/War.

Horror vs. Thriller

Horror movies cause fear through images and what is shown, while thrillers "play" and cause fear with psychology and what will happen.

Musicals

We can see musicals in the United States and India.

Science Fiction

Science fiction uses technology or science to explain extraterrestrials, lifeforms, alien worlds, time travel, and things that aren't fully accepted by science.

Documentaries

A documentary is a non-fictional film used to show some aspect of reality.

The Role of Love in Film

The role of love is to generate drama or be a secondary theme.