It's more accurate to call it Orchestral Music, Chamber Music, and all that, or to identify it by time period, as in Renaissance Baroque, Classical, Romantic, etc.
My favorite of it, by the way, is called Early Music, which takes place at and before the Renaissance. The harmonies were more open, the melodies more free of rhythm and fluid, and the whole thing more meditative but just as exciting and engaging as anything you can listen to. Josquin is one of my favorite composers of that or any era.
But, maybe my very favorite composer is Alan Hovhaness, an American that died in 2001. He composed music from a more Eastern perspective, but merged it with elements of Western Music. Delicate and beautiful.
I understand all those, but it seems to chop something that has a unifying principle in to pieces...e.g., Orchestral and Chamber Music refer to large and small ensembles playing in that style commonly referred to as classical, right? Or am I misunderstanding the terms?
I like Early Music a lot too, especially early vocal music. I once was in a group her in Ann Arbor called Our Lady's Madrigal Singers. I loved it. (And then I got a job that I was required to be at on Saturdays, and had to stop going since a major activity was weekend performances at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.) The group is now called Arbor Consort, and I hope to get back to singing with them at some point.
(Sorry, I am a linguistics geek...I like figuring out words and concepts. My cognitive linguistics chops seem to be firing on this today.)
It still seems to me there should be a larger unifying term for these genres. I mean early Elvis and Chuck Barry are a lot different than OK, Go, but they are still both called Rock. Of course, modern "country" is probably Rock in the bigger definition, too. When we want to refer just to the Chuck Barry stuff, we call it Rock and Roll as opposed to Modern Rock or whatever. At least Baroque through "Post Great War" are considered to be a lineage in the popular understanding of music genres. Is there somethign we can call the whole lineage other than classical?
You start a radio station that plays Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Post Great War music. One of the business missions is music education, so you really want to play the gamut of orchestral, symphonic, and chamber music.
A few people have thrown their hats in the ring about this, but nothing has really stuck quite like "classical." None of the suggested names, come to think of it, can I even remember right now.
And while Elvis and Ok, Go are very different, they still stem from the same harmonies, rhythms, and scale progressions, which isn't true for Early Music and Romantic.
Reply
My favorite of it, by the way, is called Early Music, which takes place at and before the Renaissance. The harmonies were more open, the melodies more free of rhythm and fluid, and the whole thing more meditative but just as exciting and engaging as anything you can listen to. Josquin is one of my favorite composers of that or any era.
But, maybe my very favorite composer is Alan Hovhaness, an American that died in 2001. He composed music from a more Eastern perspective, but merged it with elements of Western Music. Delicate and beautiful.
Reply
I like Early Music a lot too, especially early vocal music. I once was in a group her in Ann Arbor called Our Lady's Madrigal Singers. I loved it. (And then I got a job that I was required to be at on Saturdays, and had to stop going since a major activity was weekend performances at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.) The group is now called Arbor Consort, and I hope to get back to singing with them at some point.
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
It still seems to me there should be a larger unifying term for these genres. I mean early Elvis and Chuck Barry are a lot different than OK, Go, but they are still both called Rock. Of course, modern "country" is probably Rock in the bigger definition, too. When we want to refer just to the Chuck Barry stuff, we call it Rock and Roll as opposed to Modern Rock or whatever. At least Baroque through "Post Great War" are considered to be a lineage in the popular understanding of music genres. Is there somethign we can call the whole lineage other than classical?
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Let me ask this way.
You start a radio station that plays Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Post Great War music. One of the business missions is music education, so you really want to play the gamut of orchestral, symphonic, and chamber music.
What do you call the radio station format?
Reply
And while Elvis and Ok, Go are very different, they still stem from the same harmonies, rhythms, and scale progressions, which isn't true for Early Music and Romantic.
Reply
Leave a comment