Three Kingdoms

I’m afraid I’m not going to be able to remember the source for this, but I learned the following during my time in the music program at the University of Missouri. I’m fairly certain it would have been in Dr. Michael Budds’s American Music class.


Music, all music, fits into one of three categories.

The first is Fine Art music. This is music that is composed and performed by trained musicians for an elite or cultivated audience; music that is considered to be an elevated art form.

The second is Popular music. This is any music created for entertainment.

The third is Folk music. This is any music that is tied in with everyday life experiences in some fashion. This can include music associated with specific life events, or music involved in life’s more mundane or ordinary pursuits.


This will be the primary, fundamental subdivision in the Universal Music Classification system. These three categories will form the base from which all of the various styles branch out.

Gap in Coverage

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posts lately. When I get to the last few weeks of each semester, I don’t seem to have time for anything other than paper writing.

As far as the next step for Universal Music Classification, I’ve decided that a sort of top-down way of designing the system would probably be best. That is, it will probably come together most effectively by starting with the most general categories and working toward the more specific. In the next post, I’ll give my vision for the first and most general subdivision of music by its stylistic characteristics. Future posts will then refine the categories further.

Thanks for your patience.