Genres
Is Shania Twain Really “Country”?
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Assign 9 Student Groups of 5
3 groups were asked to compile all their musical
genres (no limit)
3 groups were asked to compile all their music into
no more than 15 genres
3 groups were asked to compile all their music into
no more than 6 genres
Genres, Groups 1-4
Group 1
Alternative
Big Band
Hip Hop
Motown
Pop
Punk Rock
R&B
Salsa
Group 2
Alternative
Country
Ethnic
Instrumental
Jazz/Blues
Pop/Hip-Hop
Rock
Soundtrack
Green= Unique
Group 3
Acoustic
Alternative
Country
Dance
Pop
Rap
Rock
Soundtrack
Group 4
Acoustic
Alternative
Ambient
Classic Rock
Country
Electronica
Folk
Indie
Pop
Rap
Rock
TX Country
Genres, Groups 6-9
Group 6
Alternative
Blues
Classical
Country
Folk
Hip Hop
Holiday
Pop
R&B
Rap
Reggae
Rock
Soundtrack
Vocal
Group 7
Acoustic/Inst
Classics
Country
Pop
Rock
Soul
Green= Unique
Group 8
Christian
Country
Dance
Folk
Jazz
Latin
Pop
R&B
Rap
Rock
Group 9
Alternative
Blues
Classical
Country
Dance/Elec
Gospel/Rel
Hip-Hop
Latin
Metal
Oldies
Pop
R&B/Soul
Rap
Rock
Vocal
Genres, Group 5
60s
70s
80s
90s
Acoustic
Alternative
Blues
Christian
Classic Rock
Comedy
Country
Dance
Easy Listen
Folk
Funk
Hip/Hop
Jazz
Light Rock
Metal
New Age
Green= Unique
Oldies
Opera
Pop
Progressive
Punk
Punk Rock
R&B
Rap
Reggae
Rock & Roll
Slow Rock
Soundtracks
Southern Rock
Techno
Top 40
TX Country
57 Genres, 34 Unique
60s
70s
80s
90s
Acoustic/Inst
Ambient
Big Band
Classics
Comedy
Dance/Elec
Easy Listen
Electronica
Ethnic
Funk
Gospel/Rel
Holiday
Indie
Instrumental
Jazz/Blues
Light Rock
Motown
New Age
Opera
Pop/Hip-Hop
Progressive
Punk
R&B/Soul
Rock & Roll
Salsa
Slow Rock
Soul
Southern Rock
Techno
Top 40
Christian-2
Classic Rock-2
Classical-2
Jazz-2
Latin-2
Metal-2
Oldies-2
Punk Rock-2
Reggae-2
TX Country-2
Vocal-2
Acoustic-3
Blues-3
Dance-3
Folk-4
Hip-Hop-4
R&B-4
Soundtracks-4
Rap-6
Alternative-7
Rock-7
Country-8
Pop-8
Genres – Variables and Alternatives
How suitable/workable were your genres for the list of artists
provided?
What difficulties/challenges did you encounter in trying to place
these artists in your genres?
Would it have been easier to have more genres? Different
genres? Fewer genres?
Would it have been easier if you had been given the list of artists
first, and then created the genres?
How does this relate to how you organize your ‘knowledge’ other
than music genres?
Genres – Variables and Alternatives
Alternatives (among many):
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Assign by song instead of artist
Assign by album instead of artist
Assign by individual track/song
Determine chronologically
Determine alphabetically
Determine by gender
Determine by size of group
What is Ur purpose?
How do U intend to use it?
What do U want to achieve?
Clips from Herbie Hancock “Possibilities”
1.
2.
3.
4.
Herbie’s attitudes and philosophies
Herbie with Annie Lennox and Paula Cole
Herbie with Jonny Lang and Joss Stone
Herbie with John Mayer
Genres as “knowledge”
• “Genre” as a type, category, collection, grouping, etc.
• Even a label can be considered a genre; or vice-versa
• How do U ‘group’ what U ‘know’, and then how do U label
what U ‘know’?
• Where does Ur Knowledge come from?
Ur Knowledge: what’s the source?
“Bottoms-Ups” (Self)
“Tops-Down” (Authoritative)
“U need to know ...”
“U must believe ...”
“U should ...”
“U ought to ...”
“the way things are ...”
“the way things ought to be ...”
“we want U to know ...”
“this means ...”
what U find, discover
how U experience
what U feel
what U want to do
what questions U ask
what suits Ur purpose
‘Knowledge’ – Compared to Music
Classical Music
Composed
(Bach, Beethoven, Mozart,
Lennon/McCartney, ...)
Score for musicians to play
Musicians play what the
Composer desired
Minor variations of
interpretation
Musicians react to score,
conductor, follow the leader
Jazz
Agreed structure, key,
chords, meter, tempo, etc.
Musicians improvise within the
structure
Musicians play what they ‘feel’
Musicians react to their
‘feelings’ and each other
Follow their inspiration,
within a structure
Examples of “genres” (categories)
“Plagiarism”
•
•
•
•
Previous student
John Merrill
Barack Obama
U?
(from the syllabus)
B. Plagiarism. The appropriation, theft, purchase, or obtaining by
any means another's work, and the unacknowledged
submission or incorporation of that work as one's own offered
for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of
another's work without giving credit therefore.
Examples of “genres” (categories)
“Weapons of Mass Destruction”
• Nuclear
• Biological (germ, bacteria, toxins, anthrax, risin, etc.)
• Chemical (mustard, sarin, CS [tear gas], pepper, etc.)
Is it appropriate to group these “weapons” together?
Is it appropriate to react to the label “WMD” without
differentiating “nuclear” from “biological” or “chemical”?
Genres, categories (cont.)
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Can serve to impede creativity
To think “out of the box” … beyond the conventional genres,
categories
Korzybski encouraged humans to avoid copying animalistic
behaviors:
 Dogmatic attitudes
 Hardening of the Categories
Thinking in rigid categories (genres) is often reflected in “to be”
verbs:
 McCain is/is not a true conservative.
 I am an evangelical Christian.
 She was a total bitch to me.
 Our school must be “Exemplary” or property values will go
down.
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Science & Engineering
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Business
Engineering
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Sciences
Law
Research
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Development
Theology