How Music Genres Have Evolved.

Music has been a part of life back to ancient times when tribal members beat on their deer skin drums while other members performed ceremonial or ritual dances. Since those times many different types of music have become popular. Lets look at how music genres have evolved over time.

Ancient music defines music that has evolved from prehistoric music to cultural music. The harp may be the first recorded instrument of ancient music.

Ambient Music is a loosely defined genre that incorporates elements from several different styles such as rock and roll, jazz, classical music, reggae, and digital music. It’s usually light, relaxing, and melodic with a soft uplifting beat.

Big Band Music consists of more than 3 musicians and a mix of instruments that may include drums, bass, piano, trumpet, trombone, and guitar. The swing era saw many big bands appear on the scene, and jazz music has always been directly associated with big band.

Barbershop music is harmonized music with lyrics that are easily understood and melodies that are easy to sing along to. Barbershop music is a quartet with a tenor, bass, baritone, and of course the lead singer who carries the melody.

Blues music is a combination of vocal and instrument which emerged from the African American communities. It combined spiritual music, songs to work by, and chants. The original blues has crossed into jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, country, and classical music producing easy listening music.

Bluegrass music has it’s roots in Irish, Scottish, and English music but it is considered a Root music of America. It mixes blues and jazz styles producing an easy listening melody that’s got a slightly unusual sound.

Country music is an amalgamation of folk, Celtic, blues, old time, and gospel music. It’s a catch all category that encompasses many genres. From the Nashville sound to the western ballad to the honky tonk and anything in-between. A large portion of country music is rather a sad tale of life although occasionally it might be something a little more upbeat. Although some of the new country music picks it up a bit with a twist of rock and roll.

Dance music is pretty much explanatory. It’s music to dance to. Earlier examples would have been waltzes, tangos, the swing. More modern examples include rock and roll, disco, hip hop, and techno. Dance music is set to a beat that fosters dancing.

Folk music has survived through centuries and it tells a story about life in the past. Folk music has declined in popularity over the years but some of the old favorites are still heard quite regularly.

Jazz music is generally associated with African American musicians, in fact that’s where it’s roots are. It can be characterized by a melodic swing, blue notes, and polyrhythm. It’s often called “America’s Classical Music.” Jazz became mainstream through dance band music and New Orleans played an integral role in seeing jazz music make it mainstream. Today’s jazz musicians come from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.

Rap or Hip Hop is a very modern and popular music genre made up of two main components rapping and audio mixing. Hip hop is thought of as a cultural movement which began among African Americans and grew to incorporate youth of America. It’s more than just a dance genre. It comes complete with a fashion statement that includes large baggy pants,

Rock and Roll music involves a strong beat, electric guitars, and drums. It can be soft rock or heavy metal rock also known as head banging music. It covers a broad spectrum of music and the definition of rock and roll is very loose. 1960s hit the music scene during the 1960s.

There are many other music genres but just the few we’ve covered shows how music has evolved from ancient times to our current music preferences. Each year technology seems to play an increasing roll in music and one can only wonder what the future of music will be.


Deon Melchior is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit ArticleClick.com. Article Click is a free content article directory. This means that as a publisher you may reprint the articles that are included in our site, as long as the article is unedited and the author box is included with it's live hyperlinks.