If you are a music enthusiast, you must have come across the term EDM Music. Or, perhaps, you have overheard it in the nightclub, on the radio, or even at your mom’s 55th birthday party. But, what exactly is EDM music? If you are an upcoming artist, a deejay, or a producer and want to…
The answer to the question, “what is music” is as multifarious as the musical material it has engendered. What we define as music is primarily culturally defined. In the West alone, our ancestors have lived within many different epistemes and therefore defined music in many ways. With this brief survey of Western music, we intend…
Lo-fi is quickly becoming one of the most popular musical styles, spanning across genres and spawning new ones all its own. But what is lo-fi music? This article will explain what makes lo-fi music what it is and where it came from, with examples from its pioneers and influencers.
Blues music is all around us. What do Led Zeppelin, Bob Marley, and Aretha Franklin all have in common? Their music directly utilizes the blues! While traditional forms of the blues are pretty easy to distinguish due to their speed and mellow tone, several other forms of blues emerged to keep the blues alive within…
Relaxation is fine, but sometimes you’re in the mood for some blistering blast-beats and gutturals at the highest volume you can manage. When that’s the mood you find yourself in, reach for your favorite deathcore tracks. Being relatively new, not everyone is familiar with deathcore music. What makes deathcore stand out among other styles of…
The kinds of music that fit under the umbrella “classical” are incredibly diverse. Compare, for example, the minimalist workings of a Steve Reich to the grand machinations of a Bachian fugue. At the same time, Classical music is a very specific period of musical history. In this article, we’ll discuss what exactly Classical music is…
K-pop has taken the world by storm. It slowly started accumulating international fans in the early 2000s, and now it’s a global phenomenon that consistently creates record-breaking hits. Despite its international success, this massive genre of music has very humble beginnings and interesting history. This guide will briefly define K-pop and provide prime examples of…
If you’ve ever wondered what secular music is, today you’re in luck. In this article we’ll explore the characteristics, top songs, best musicians and the genre’s history. Without further ado, let’s look at what secular music is. Definition: What Is Secular Music? When talking about music, most musicologists make a distinction between secular and sacred…
Wherever you come from, one of the core tenets of folk music is that it can be sung by the lay-person. It’s accessible, and it’s catchy, and in some cases, the songs go back hundreds of years .
Baroque music is immediately recognizable for its instrumentation, ornamentation, and orchestration. It’s full of unique stylistic trends and fashions that make it incredibly recognizable. While some of the unique characteristics died at the end of the era, we still have plenty of examples to celebrate the baroque style. So, let’s explore what baroque music is…
While many do not know what precisely program music is, chances are you’ve seen it in action. That’s because perhaps the most famous example of program music is Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Not all Disney’s musical selections were written to be programmatic. Still, many became so ubiquitous that you can’t hear, for instance, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice…
What is alternative music? Alternative music is notoriously tricky to describe. It is not rock music, it is not pop, it is…alternative. The genre also has an endless number of subgenres, from hardcore alternative to garage alternative. While the genre is seemingly impossible to nail down to one category, alternative remains one of the most…
What is pop music? There are many definitions of what pop music is, depending on who you ask. You are likely familiar with some of the most famous examples of pop music. With so many musicians working to produce hits, there are thousands upon thousands of songs that qualify for the title. Critics and listeners…
Even though soul music is just over 70 years old, it has a fascinating history and characteristics that separate it from other genres. But what is soul music? Borrowing elements from African-American gospel, jazz, and R&B, soul music was integral to American life in the 50s and 60s and is still a worldwide wonder today….
You have probably come across trap artists while turning the dial on your radio or scrolling through your Spotify feed, whether or not you’re a music guru. You might not know what the definition of trap music is, but you probably won’t go mistaking it for twangy country hits or old-school hip-hop artists like Notorious…