Musical style is a common but rather complex concept. Saying that a particular work belongs to a particular style, it means that it was created using typical techniques. The combination of these techniques provides a musical work with a character of sound and perception, an ideological-figurative content. Melody, harmony, rhythm, means of expression distinguish the composition from many others and allow identifying its belonging to a specific style.
Instructions
Step 1
First, determine the musical direction to which the composition belongs. Directions in music are global, diverse and include many styles. Examples include pop, rock, folk, jazz, classical, disco, hip-hop, reggae.
Step 2
Take rock music for example. It is divided into alternative, hard rock, metal, etc.; metal, in turn, is divided into many styles. Electronic music includes Electro, House, Trance, Techno, Drum & Bass, Industrial and many others. To identify different styles in music, you need to listen a lot to the direction of interest, to understand it. In fact, there are so many musical styles that it is simply impossible to know all of them. In addition, new and new styles are constantly appearing, usually at the junction of existing ones. Sometimes it is difficult to attribute a performer to a specific style, because today musicians love to experiment. Often performers come up with a new style, because they do not consider themselves to be in any existing genre.
Step 3
Practice identifying music styles. Take some composition and try to describe its distinctive features: what instruments are used, what rhythm, melody, vocal style (if any), the content of the text, what impression the composition makes, your subjective emotions. Then try to remember one or more songs that you think are similar to this one. They probably refer to the same style. Do this for a piece of music of a different genre. You will soon be able to do this with ease.
Step 4
You are unlikely to find a complete and complete list of musical styles anywhere. The surest way to learn how to identify them is to listen to different music. Then you can give your definition to any work, even if such a concept does not exist yet. You need to feel the style, since music is an art, this is its difference from the exact sciences, where everything is laid out on the shelves.
