Styles of Music

So I admit, I've only taken a high school AP music theory course. In which they only go over the "common practice period." So I don't know all the terms for the styles of music beyond that. Like minimalism, concrete, etc. I can guess as to what they are. But could you guys help me out, and tell me about these different style? And perhaps some good examples of pieces written in that style. Thanks.

Start here:

Art music - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Read the linked articles as well.

Alright so I checked out the link. I didn't find the particular page useful, but I did eventually find this. List of music styles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It has a list of hundreds of different styles. The only problem with the list, is that it is so huge! So which genres/styles are ones I should look at?

Also, "concrete" music isn't on this list. I thought I saw that in a post off of a different thread, but I don't see it here. So what is it?

Thanks ****, the link did help.

Well, you can't make a definite list of "styles" as they aren't clearly defined. Most composers never consciously "composed in a style", but some musicologists decided at some point to lump some of them together under one name. Which doesn't really do them justice, of course. Regardless whether that is Classicism, Impressionism or New Simplicity. Often the composers to whom such terms were applied even fought against being labelled such (even though in other cases they willingly gave themselves such a label).

Anyways, regarding "concrete music": I'm not sure if it's what you mean, but there is "musique concr

I can understand that we don't want to label music generally. The only problem is that we have to call it something. Sometimes it's not quite satisfactory, but at least people are trying. And it does help people like me who are trying to find general information. Then after that, I can start learning more specific information.

Thanks for the info on musique concrete. And now that I know the actual name of the style, I can look it up myself.

Does anyone have a song that is a good example of musique concrete? I'd like to hear what I'm reading about.

look up the originator of musique concr

Dolmetsch Online - Music Theory Online Contents - lessons 35 to 40 (not too good, but a brief, online introduction to some basic concepts).

Also, read books. There are tons of books on modern and contemporary music. Paul Griffiths' books on music after 1945 are very good, and also Nyman's book on experimental music explains a lot of the american (and some european) developments in experimental/minimalistic music of the 60's and 70's (and although the book was written in 1975, it remains probably the best book on the topic since.