How to Classify Music by Genre is not an exact science, as there are countless genres, subgenres, and classification methods. The ever-evolving nature of music, along with fringe bands and overlapping styles, makes categorization challenging. However, there are fundamental guidelines to help identify the major genre a song belongs to.
To begin, understanding the core genres—such as rock, pop, jazz, blues, hip-hop, classical, and electronic—is essential in how to classify music by genre. Each genre has defining characteristics, including rhythm, instrumentation, and lyrical themes.
Additionally, subgenres and fusion styles add complexity to classification. For example, rock music branches into alternative, punk, and metal, while electronic music includes house, trance, and techno. Recognizing these distinctions is crucial in how to classify music by genre effectively.
By analyzing musical elements such as instrumentation, vocal style, tempo, and mood, you can refine your classification process. Whether categorizing songs for personal enjoyment or professional purposes, mastering how to classify music by genre enhances your appreciation of music’s diversity.
Method1 Determining the Different Genres of Pop Music
1. Classifying Rock Music
Rock music is a broad genre of popular music with nearly a hundred subgenres. It is characterized by a strong beat, simple (or sometimes complex) chord structures, and loud volume. Emerging in the 1950s from rhythm and blues (R&B), rock typically features electric guitars (sometimes distorted), drums, bass, and vocals.
There are many variations of rock music, making precise definitions difficult. Some early rock pioneers include The Kinks, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Buddy Holly, and Bo Diddley. Over the decades, rock has evolved significantly:
- 1970s: Birth of punk rock.
- 1980s: Rise of metal and glam metal.
- 1990s: Emergence of grunge and many other styles.
If a song has a strong beat and distinct personality, it can likely be classified as rock.
2. Identifying Top 40 Pop Music
Top 40 is a ranking system that tracks the success of pop songs based on listenership and popularity. Over time, Top 40 has evolved into its own genre, with music typically written by professional songwriters and produced by major record labels.
The easiest way to find Top 40 music is by tuning into mainstream radio stations labeled as “pop.” This genre is designed to be catchy, often featuring grand choruses that repeat multiple times. Some of the most popular Top 40 artists include Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and Keke Palmer.
3. Classifying Country Music
Country music, like all other genres, continues to grow and evolve into subgenres. It places the strongest emphasis on storytelling and typically follows a verse-chorus format. A signature feature of country music is the singer’s distinct twang.
Instrumentation plays a secondary role, with common instruments including acoustic guitars, pedal steel guitars, and folk instruments. The genre traces its roots back to the honky-tonk era of the 1950s, with legendary artists like Hank Williams leading the way.
A notable subgenre of country music is folk, which intensifies storytelling elements. Prominent folk
4. Understanding Soul and R&B
Soul and R&B (Rhythm & Blues) are genres deeply influenced by gospel and blues. These styles represent a broader umbrella of music that originated within African American communities.
- Soul music is defined by powerful vocals and a catchy groove.
- R&B evolved from its early form in the 1950s to become more pop-oriented in the late 1980s.
Early pioneers of soul include Solomon Burke, Ben E. King, and Aretha Franklin, while foundational R&B artists include Big Joe Turner and Fats Domino. The 1960s saw a greater influence from funk and groove-driven sounds, with artists like James Brown and the Mar-Keys shaping the genre.
5. Identifying Rap and Hip-Hop
Rap and hip-hop are easy to recognize due to their defining element: rapping over a beat. Rap is a form of rhythmic poetry performed over music, often featuring complex wordplay and storytelling.
Hip-hop culture originated in the late 1970s, with pioneers like Grandmaster Flash and Blowfly shaping the early sound. Since then, the genre has continually evolved and heavily influenced modern pop music.
Some notable subgenres of rap and hip-hop include:
- Gangsta rap – Focuses on street narratives.
- Trap – Features heavy bass and hi-hat beats.
- Chicano rap – Latin-American hip-hop influences.
- Ghetto house – Blends rap with house music.
6. Classifying Electronic Music
Electronic music is an umbrella genre that overlaps with many other styles. The key characteristic of electronic music is its heavy reliance on synthesizers and computer-generated sounds.
Synthesizers became widely available in the 1970s, leading to early electronic hits like Herbie Hancock’s 1973 track “Chameleon”. The genre expanded into many substyles, such as:
- Techno – A high-energy dance music style popular in the 1990s.
- EDM (Electronic Dance Music) – A broader category of modern electronic beats.
- Dubstep – Features deep bass and syncopated rhythms.
Today, electronic elements are incorporated into many mainstream genres, making it one of the most influential sounds in modern music.
Method2 Sorting Music as Experimental
1. Understanding the Roots of Experimental Music
Experimental music began to take shape in the early to mid-1900s, greatly influenced by Black Mountain College. Several classically trained composers began to challenge the conventions of music composition and explore what it truly means to create a piece of music.
Over time, this exploration extended beyond classical music, with modern artists taking pop genres, like techno, and experimenting with them. If successful, these experiments result in entirely new and unique sounds.
A notable example is Stockhausen’s “Helicopter String Quartet”, which involves four helicopters and each member of the quartet performing in separate helicopters while playing in unison. This piece exemplifies the groundbreaking nature of experimental music.
2. Blending Pop and Experimental Music
Since the 1960s, several musicians have sought to blur the boundaries between conventional pop music and more avant-garde experimental sounds. One notable trend is within psychedelic experimental music, where the goal is to disrupt pop conventions.
For instance, Acid Mother Temple creates hooks through traditional melodies but often branches off into long, cosmic jams that break the expected structure of a pop song.
Similarly, Captain Beefheart’s “Trout Mask Replica” is a fully composed album that sounds like spontaneous improvisation. The work represents the chaos and unpredictability that experimental music can bring to traditional formats.
3. Identifying Ambient Music
Ambient music emerged in the mid-1970s as synthesizers gained popularity. Inspired by Indian ragas and Eastern classical droning techniques, ambient music focuses on creating an atmosphere or mood for the listener, rather than traditional melodies and structures.
Brian Eno is often credited with popularizing ambient music, especially with compositions like “Music for Airports”, which was designed to be played in the background of airport terminals, emphasizing ambiance over active listening.
Another interesting cross-genre evolution is noise music, which, although loud and chaotic, often creates a consistent “wall of sound” that can be classified as ambient in nature. Noise music pushes boundaries of sound while maintaining a form of atmosphere.
4. Understanding Minimalist Music
Minimalist music refers to a movement that emerged in the 1960s and continues to influence composers today. While the term “minimalist” suggests simplicity, it doesn’t fully capture the essence of this genre. Instead, minimalist music is defined by the layering of simple, repetitive musical patterns that, when combined, create complex and intricate soundscapes.
One of the most prominent examples of minimalist music is Philip Glass’s opera “Einstein on the Beach”, which showcases the idea of stacking minimal melodies to build something vast and expansive.
Other influential minimalist composers, such as Steve Reich and Terry Riley, each brought their unique approach to the genre, creating compositions that explore repetition, phase-shifting, and subtle variations to develop intricate musical textures.
Method3 Identifying Classical Music
1. Understanding the Time Period of Classical Music
Classifying classical music largely depends on the time period in which it was composed. Typically, when referring to “classical music,” we are talking about European music, where the date of composition often aligns with specific art movements that serve as genres for classical music. These art movements can provide valuable context for understanding the characteristics and style of the music. To better understand classical music, it’s essential to familiarize yourself with its different art movements.
2. Identifying Early Classical Music
Early classical music refers to compositions created by monks and Roman Catholic church officials before the 9th century. The most famous example of this style is the Gregorian Chants, which were historically attributed to Pope Gregory, though this claim is now questioned by scholars. These chants were performed by a group of monks and marked the first instance of music being written down using musical notation. The chants are known for their a cappella style and use of Latin lyrics.
A good indication that music belongs to this period is if it is sung a cappella and in Latin.
3. Classifying Baroque Music
The Baroque era (1600-1750) artists characterized the period by its grandiose and elaborate artistic style, with music following suit. This period saw the rise of orchestral music and opera. A significant sound of the Baroque era is the harpsichord, which plucks the strings rather than striking them, producing a sharp, unique tone.
During this time, the influence of the church began to wane, and music became more ornate and expressive. Baroque music’s defining characteristics include its use of ornamentation, contrasting dynamics, and dramatic expression.
4. Identifying the Classical Movement
The Classical period (roughly 1730-1820) composers focused on symmetry, structural clarity, and refinement. Composers from this era, such as Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn, created highly refined and organized compositions. Unlike the rococo style, which was overly decorative, classical music aimed for a balanced, logical structure. The era coincided with the Enlightenment, which emphasized the importance
5. Identifying the Romantic Era
Composers of the Romantic era of music (1820-1915) are known for their emotional intensity, fantasy, spontaneity, and exploration of sensuality. They were influenced by the desire to return to nature during the Industrial Revolution. The period also introduced the idea of using orchestras as a “palette” to create vivid, emotional landscapes, often inspired by unfamiliar or natural scenes.
A sub-movement, Impressionism, was inspired by the visual art of the same name, and composers like Erik Satie sought to evoke moods rather than adhering strictly to melody. His “furniture music” was one of the first pieces of music intended to be in the background, changing how we think about music’s role in our lives.
6. Understanding Modern Classical Music
Modern classical music, beginning around 1915 and continuing into the 20th century, marked a time of experimentation and innovation. Composers sought to break boundaries and explore extreme contrasts in mood and sound. One example is Igor Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring,” which caused a riot at its premiere due to its controversial style.
This era also gave birth to experimental music with composers like John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen, whose works challenged traditional concepts of melody, structure, and even sound itself.
7. Learning Key Figures and Pieces of Classical Music
To better understand the classical music era, listen to representative pieces from each period. For example:
- Early Classical: Gregorian Chants
- Baroque: Bach’s Cello Suite No. 1 in G or Handel’s Messiah
- Classical: Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik or Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9
- Romantic: Liszt’s Liebestraum or Chopin’s Etude Op. 25
- Modern: Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring or Cage’s 4’33″
Listening to these pieces while learning about their historical context can help reinforce your understanding of classical music movements.
