There are only four musical directions: folk music, sacred music, academic music and popular music. Each direction has a number of musical genres and each genre has many subgenres.

Native music, musical folklore is the musical and poetic creativity of the people, an integral part of folk art (folklore), which exists, as a rule, in oral (unwritten) form, passed down from generation to generation. Traditional folk music, mainly created by the rural population, has long retained relative independence and is generally opposed to professional music belonging to younger, written traditions. Since folk music is known to all socio-historical formations (both oral and written), it should be considered not only as a component of folk art, but also, in a broader sense, as a branch (root) of musical art. One of the main branches, opposed to popular and academic music

Sacred music - musical works associated with texts of a religious nature, intended for performance during a church service or in everyday life. Sacred music in the narrow sense means the church music of Christians, and in the broad sense, sacred music is not limited to the accompaniment of worship and is not limited to Christianity. The texts of sacred music compositions can be either canonical (for example, the Catholic Mass) or free, written on the basis of or under the influence of sacred books (for Christians, the Bible)

Academic music developed from the European music of church singing. The Christian Church, together with its philosophy and ethics, threw away almost all the emotions of ancient songs and dances. Church singing was self-centered and not associated with dance, stage performance, gesture - in contrast to the complex state of music in folk culture. "Musical autonomy" is the most important quality of academic music. It should be noted that there is a distinction between typical Catholic and Orthodox chants. Western Christian singing gravitated towards high timbres (treble, tenor) and light, gentle color. Russian church singing was distinguished by its bass timbre, and basses-octa-vistas were especially proud of it. However, for all the differences, Christian singing was very different from the Muslim manner, which retained a special kind of hoarse guttural sounds.

Another peculiarity of academic music is that it is written in notes. The Russian musicologist and historian M. Saponov wrote: "European musical culture has become, in the full sense, the only written musical culture in the world, which was one of the factors of universality and universal significance of the artistic values created by this culture. The written way of existence of the musical tradition is not just an alternative to the oral, it carries a completely new concept of musical art, different aesthetic criteria, a different creative psychology, its auditory attunement and the methods of musical training associated with writing.

From the end of the XVII century, the first concert halls for the performance of musical works began to be built in Europe. With the end of the Renaissance, there was a fundamental change in the world of music. If in the Middle Ages the Christian Church cut off the music of the pagans, full of earthly passions, putting singing entirely at the service of God, then in modern times the experiences of various earthly human emotions returned to music

Folk music is a popular music that developed on the basis of folk music in the middle of the XX century as a result of the phenomenon of folk revivals (folk revival), when folk music began to spread among a mass audience. In this regard, it is sometimes called "folk revival music". The most active development of the genre took place in the United States and Great Britain. Folk music also includes various subgenres, including folk-rock and electric-folk.

A type of American popular music that evolved from the traditional music of the immigrants of the British Isles. Originally a rural amateur genre that blended Celtic and English dance melodies with nineteenth-century songs, blues, gospel, and American sacred music, it has evolved into one of the most commercially successful musical genres since the 1920s

Latin American music (Spanish: música latinoamericana) is a generalized name for the musical styles and genres of Latin American countries, as well as the music of immigrants from these countries, compactly living on the territory of other states and forming large Latin American communities (for example, in the United States). It is a fusion of many musical cultures, but it is based on three components: Spanish (or Portuguese), African and Indian musical cultures. As a rule, Latin American songs are performed in Spanish or Portuguese, less often in French. In colloquial speech, the abbreviated name "Latin music", "Latina" (Spanish: música latina) is often used.

Blues (English blues from blue devils) is a musical form and musical genre that originated at the end of the XIX century in the African-American community of the Southeastern United States, among immigrants from the plantations of the "Cotton Belt". It is (along with ragtime, early jazz, rap, etc.) one of the most influential contributions of African Americans to world musical culture, formed from such manifestations as the "work song" and cholera (rhythmic cries that accompanied the work in the fields), shouts in the rituals of African religious cults (English ring-shout), spirituals (Christian chants in a special manner), shants and ballads (short poetic stories). Blues has largely influenced modern popular music, especially such genres as "pop", "jazz", "rock and roll", "soul".

Rhythm & Blues, or Rhythm & Blues. R&B) is a style of popular African American music that includes elements of the blues. Initially, it was a generalized name for mass music based on the blues and jazz trends of the 1930s and 1940s. In the late 1940s, the phrase rhythm and blues became the official marketing term for modern, with an element of dance rhythm, popular trends in the music of African-American performers in the United States.

Jazz is a form of musical art that arose in the late XIX - early XX century in the United States as a result of the synthesis of African and European cultures and subsequently became widespread. The characteristic features of the musical language of jazz were originally improvisation, polyrhythm based on syncopated rhythm, and a unique set of techniques for performing rhythmic texture - swing. Further development of jazz took place due to the development of jazz musicians and composers of new rhythmic and harmonic models.

The first jazz orchestra in Soviet Russia was created in Moscow in 1922 by the poet, translator, dancer, theatrical figure Valentin Parnakh and was called "The First Eccentric Orchestra of Valentin Parnakh's Jazz Bands in the RSFSR"