Difference between revisions 11183674 and 11290667 on enwiki

A '''music genre''' (or '''musical genre''') is a [[category]] or label used to describe [[music]] that shares a certain [[style]] or language, or which have certain elements in common. Some [[genre]]s, such as [[Indian music]], are geographically defined; others, like [[Baroque music]], are largely defined by time period. Still others, such as [[Barbershop (musical style)|Barbershop]], are defined by quite precise technical requirements.  

Some genres are quite vague, and may be contrived by [[critic]]s; [[post-rock]], for example, is a term devised and defined by [[Simon Reynolds]]. Another example of this is [[video game music]], which while defined by its media, can also represent its own style, as well as that of any other musical genre.

To some extent, all attempts to label music will have a degree of artificiality to them, because [[musician]]s tend to produce music in any style they choose, without concerning themselves with which genre they are working in. Some people feel that the categorization of music into genres is useless. [[John Zorn]], for example, a musician whose work has covered a wide range of genres, wrote in ''Arcana: Musicians on Music'' that genres are tools used to "commodify and commercialize an artist's complex personal vision." Zorn believes that genres represent efforts at [[marketing]] rather than actual musical distinctions. Other artists feel that it is the artist's fault themselves for making a body of work that can be put into a shared class easily with others.

Dividing music   by genre is still widely done, however,does makinge it easier to trace threads through [[music history]], and increasing the ease with which individuals find artists that they enjoy.

== Overview of main groupings ==
Although there are many individual genres, it is possible to group these together into a number of overlapping major groupings. The rest of this page attempts to do that for a number of widely agreed areas.

These definitions are relatively short and simple, referring to further articles as needed.


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[[Category:Musical genres]]

[[de:Stilrichtungen der Musik]]
[[fr:Genre musical]]
[[he:ז'אנר מוסיקאלי]]
[[it:Genere musicale]]
[[nl:Lijst van muziekstijlen]]