Genre

Genre (along with its doublet, gender) is an abstract concept which is difficult-to-pin down and hard-to-universally-define due to the way it varies from culture to culture and from medium to medium. But as a whole, it can largely be understood as:

  • a type
  • a category
  • an aesthetic
  • a mode
  • a tradition
  • an expectation
  • a format

In terms of music, itself a genre of art, genre typically refers to something about:

  • the way it's composed
  • the instrumentation used
  • the production style
  • the vocal style or lyrics
  • the place and time it's from

Some of the most commonly known genres of music include: