There is a division that defines only two musical styles: popular and classical. Popular music is what is available to the masses, the large population, radio listeners, etc. Classical music is music that does not come from folk or popular traditions, being restricted to a small part of the population.
Classical music has the characteristic of having little space for improvisation and being focused on the execution and performance of a piece.
The Simplifying Theory team, however, does not agree with this separation of music into two musical classes only (macro classes), as it implies that classical music is the musical elite and the rest are “leftovers”. When we talk about “popular music” in this website, understand that we are talking about what is really popular (pop music, etc.). Other styles such as jazz, for example, will be mentioned separately and will not be included in the definition of “popular”.
Note: Feel free to form your own opinion about it. It is sometimes important to question the definitions to develop a critical musical personality.
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