I have a problem with the categories that stores use for categorizing music. There are stores that lump almost everything into the “Pop/Rock” category and everything else is either “Country”, “Dance” or “International”. This does not help me find anything. Luckily they also alphabetize the sections and I only have to check a few sections. Further more, this only works if I know the name of the artist I am looking for. If I am browsing for new music I am left to search almost randomly.
I would love to simply ignore these categories as useless marketing tools, but I need to interact with people that have bought into this scheme of categorization. When I want to find new music I need to be able to map my scheme to the “popular” scheme that the masses use.
My scheme was developed during the digitization of my personal music collection. I categorize each artist based on musicological definitions. I have a Minor in Music and I am a trained musician, so this makes sense to me. My categories follow the development of music. I will use the last century of music development to explain.
Folk: Folk music is the origination of almost all modern music. It could be the Celtic music of the Irish and Scottish or the tribal music of the Africa. The instrumentation is varied, but the melody is generally simply and repetitive and the lyrics tell a story. The vocals are prominent.
Bluegrass: In Kentucky, Tennesse, and the Carolinas folk changed into what is now called Bluegrass. It is essentially the same music as the folk music of the Scottish and Irish immigrants of that area, but with different instruments such as the fiddle, guitar, banjo and little to no percussion. Vocals are still strong but there are instrumental interludes.
Country: Country is the modern derivitive of Bluegrass. Standard instrumenation is minimal drum set, bass guitar, acoustic/electric/steel guitar. Instumuments and vocals are equal.
Blues: This is the slow solemn music that grew out of the African tribal music. It has minimal instrumentation, such as a single guitar, which focuses the attention on the vocals.
Rhythm and Blues: If you speed it up Blues a little or a lot and throw in a piano, horns and some drums you have Rhythm and Blues.
Jazz: Jazz is a derivation of R&B. The signature of jazz is the looseness of the style. Swing is a type of Jazz.
Rock and Roll: If you combine R&B, Jazz, and Country you get the original Rock style. After the British Invasion the style changed but still has the same charcteristics. The band is usually a three or four piece: vocals, drums, bass, guitar. The tempo is moderate to fast and the song follows a typical Intro-stanza-chorus-stanza-chorus-outro pattern. More recently a solo occurs somewhere between a stanza and a chorus.
I would love to simply ignore these categories as useless marketing tools, but I need to interact with people that have bought into this scheme of categorization. When I want to find new music I need to be able to map my scheme to the “popular” scheme that the masses use.
My scheme was developed during the digitization of my personal music collection. I categorize each artist based on musicological definitions. I have a Minor in Music and I am a trained musician, so this makes sense to me. My categories follow the development of music. I will use the last century of music development to explain.
Folk: Folk music is the origination of almost all modern music. It could be the Celtic music of the Irish and Scottish or the tribal music of the Africa. The instrumentation is varied, but the melody is generally simply and repetitive and the lyrics tell a story. The vocals are prominent.
Bluegrass: In Kentucky, Tennesse, and the Carolinas folk changed into what is now called Bluegrass. It is essentially the same music as the folk music of the Scottish and Irish immigrants of that area, but with different instruments such as the fiddle, guitar, banjo and little to no percussion. Vocals are still strong but there are instrumental interludes.
Country: Country is the modern derivitive of Bluegrass. Standard instrumenation is minimal drum set, bass guitar, acoustic/electric/steel guitar. Instumuments and vocals are equal.
Blues: This is the slow solemn music that grew out of the African tribal music. It has minimal instrumentation, such as a single guitar, which focuses the attention on the vocals.
Rhythm and Blues: If you speed it up Blues a little or a lot and throw in a piano, horns and some drums you have Rhythm and Blues.
Jazz: Jazz is a derivation of R&B. The signature of jazz is the looseness of the style. Swing is a type of Jazz.
Rock and Roll: If you combine R&B, Jazz, and Country you get the original Rock style. After the British Invasion the style changed but still has the same charcteristics. The band is usually a three or four piece: vocals, drums, bass, guitar. The tempo is moderate to fast and the song follows a typical Intro-stanza-chorus-stanza-chorus-outro pattern. More recently a solo occurs somewhere between a stanza and a chorus.
