An essay is a piece of writing reflecting the author’s opinion about a certain object, fact or situation. They are assigned to teach students to defend their point of view in a clear and professional way and to find persuasive argumentation. The most popular topics all students usually have to write about are hobbies, interests, favorite books, films and music.
Although everyone seems to like music, writing about your favorite music might be not that easy. The problem is that most people listen to different singers, orchestras, music groups and composers. These singers and composers might also belong to different music styles, genres or even epochs. Besides, there are singers and groups who might belong to several genres. Thus, finding a narrow topic and focusing on only one music category often seems to be impossible.
If you try to google music types, you will probably be shocked by the number of them. However, the picture will become much clearer once you make a rough classification of them according to their most typical features. Here is what you might get:
Art music, or serious music, is what also goes under the term “classical music”. It can be a piece for symphonic orchestra (a symphony), for piano only (a sonata), for piano and symphonic orchestra (a concerto), for pipe organ (an organ toccata), for choir or singers plus symphonic orchestra (an opera). Jazz is often also referred to as “art music”.
Traditional music, or “folk music”, is a name for different nations’ musical heritage. Most commonly, these are songs either sung a capella, or accompanied by a traditional musical instrument typical for this country (like bagpipe in Scotland).
The term “popular music” here refers to all sorts of music being accessible to the general public and being marketed and distributed by the mass media. This definition is common for most modern styles from R’n’B to punk rock and from heavy metal to rap.
After you choose a category to write on, try to focus on the most interesting aspect of this or that category. Here are some suggestions for each music genre: