Music Styles Word Search

About this puzzle

Fourteen styles of music, many born in the Americas: jazz, blues, gospel, soul and funk from African American traditions; country and bluegrass from the American South; rock and hip hop; reggae from Jamaica; salsa from Caribbean communities in New York; and older traditions — folk, classical and opera — from around the world. Short, lively names make this a friendly Easy puzzle.

The default layout is Easy on a 10×10 grid. Easy, Medium and Hard each use their own checked layout of the same words, and every one can be printed in standard or large print on US Letter or A4.

Word notes

Jazz

Developed in New Orleans in the early 1900s, with improvisation at its heart.

Blues

Grew from African American work songs and spirituals in the Deep South, and shaped rock, jazz and soul.

Reggae

Developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s.

Opera

A drama told through singing, accompanied by an orchestra; it began in Italy around 1600.

Hip Hop

Began in the Bronx, New York, in the 1970s, bringing together DJing, rapping, breakdancing and graffiti.

Salsa

Dance music developed in New York by musicians from Cuba, Puerto Rico and elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Bluegrass

An American style built around banjo, fiddle and guitar.

Try this after the puzzle

Play short clips of four styles from the list and ask solvers to name each one. Then make a simple timeline showing roughly when each style began. In a class, each student can name one favorite song and match it to a style.

All 14 words

Jazz · Blues · Rock · Reggae · Country · Classical · Opera · Gospel · Hip Hop · Salsa · Folk · Bluegrass · Soul · Funk