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The genealogy of musical genres is the pattern of musical genres that have contributed to the development of new genres. Evolution in musical instruments[1] in technology and in culture can influence the evolution of musical genres.[2]

Genealogical charts or family trees of musical genres show how new genres have emerged from existing genres and how multiple genres have contributed to a new genre. Since music can be endlessly broken down into smaller and smaller categories, a genealogical chart will usually focus on one major genre and its different strains. How these developed out of one another is shown in a genealogical chart, often with major figures or innovators of each subgenre.

A simplified example appears below.

ClassicalBluesFolk
OperaJazzCountry
Rhythm and BluesHip HopRock
ReggaeSoulMetalPunk
Funk
Disco
Dance/Electronic

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Townsend, Peter (25 November 2019). "Musical Changes Driven by Technology". The Evolution of Music Through Culture and Science. Oxford: Oxford University Press (published 2019). p. 116. ISBN 9780198848400. Retrieved 18 November 2020. Examples of Instrument Evolution
    The continuous attempts to offer more notes, more power, and greter flexibility in the sounds are matched by changes in the music that is written for them.
  2. ^ Gerson, Elihu M. (2014). "Some Problems of Analyzing Cultural Evolution". In Caporael, Linnda R.; Griesemer, James R.; Wimsatt, William C. (eds.). Developing Scaffolds in Evolution, Culture, and Cognition. Vienna Series in Theoretical Biology, volume 17. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press. p. 278. ISBN 9780262019552. Retrieved 18 November 2020. The analogy between culture change and biological development contains an important truth: culture change is a historical process in which earlier events influence the character and course of later events. [...] An example will make these ideas clearer. Hip-hop or rap music first appeared [...] in the 1970s. It began as 'sampling,' the practice of repeatedly playing small selections of different popular songs on two turntables. The context for this practice was the custom of live disc jockeys at parties, itself a substitute for expensive live bands. Disc jockeys traditionally accompany their songs with patter, and this grew, in the sampling context, into a rhythmic kind of poetry called 'rap,' merging with other traditions of rhythmic public speech as it did so. As the new genre became popular, it underwent many changes in style. [...] This development created a new musical genre out of many different conventions upon which the practice could draw, the custom of having disc jockeys rather than live bands at parties, the availability of recording and playback equipment, traditions of rhythmic commentary and poetry in public meetings, and so on.

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