4 ms·

Former classical music composer here. Your analysis is quite spot on. Some people in classical music scene even call it ”serious music”.

sammorrowdrums 7y ago
Yeah these labels are fascinating. I studied jazz at a conservatoire and also played in the "classical" Contemporary Music Ensemble which played a lot of this difficult to define art music. And there was the amusing rift between popular, jazz and classical students in terms of what music was about and later working as a session player of sorts I used to laugh (internally) playing jazz sets with some function bands because they didn't play any "actual jazz" and didn't play it "properly" and yet nobody else would even notice. It's fun to debate music and genre definition, genre lacking enough nuance to even work effectively for lots of music. If I recall Soweto Kinch (UK rapper and sax player) had difficulties with record stores putting him in jazz, and ideally he'd wanted to be in urban sections also. For musicians and composers I think genre definition is more of a necessary evil than something helpful.
analog31 7y ago
Amusingly, jazz people call it "legit" music.
tunesmith 7y ago
There are other distinctions, though. For instance, classical music, aside from some forms of minimalism, is very definitely not about loops and layers. Classical music is more about long form narrative and has a lot more in common with long form fiction, with development, surprises, and entirely new contexts. The way a classical work is cohesive within itself is very different than how a pop song or jazz or electronica is.
- dwd 7y ago
  Funny enough a lot of film scores and more recently TV and video game soundtracks also follow that formula with specific motifs for different characters with variations depending on the scene. It's particularly noticable where you have a long running series that allow for the motifs to mature over time.

sammorrowdrums 7y ago

Yeah these labels are fascinating. I studied jazz at a conservatoire and also played in the "classical" Contemporary Music Ensemble which played a lot of this difficult to define art music. And there was the amusing rift between popular, jazz and classical students in terms of what music was about and later working as a session player of sorts I used to laugh (internally) playing jazz sets with some function bands because they didn't play any "actual jazz" and didn't play it "properly" and yet nobody else would even notice. It's fun to debate music and genre definition, genre lacking enough nuance to even work effectively for lots of music. If I recall Soweto Kinch (UK rapper and sax player) had difficulties with record stores putting him in jazz, and ideally he'd wanted to be in urban sections also. For musicians and composers I think genre definition is more of a necessary evil than something helpful.

analog31 7y ago

Amusingly, jazz people call it "legit" music.

tunesmith 7y ago

There are other distinctions, though. For instance, classical music, aside from some forms of minimalism, is very definitely not about loops and layers. Classical music is more about long form narrative and has a lot more in common with long form fiction, with development, surprises, and entirely new contexts. The way a classical work is cohesive within itself is very different than how a pop song or jazz or electronica is.

dwd 7y ago
Funny enough a lot of film scores and more recently TV and video game soundtracks also follow that formula with specific motifs for different characters with variations depending on the scene. It's particularly noticable where you have a long running series that allow for the motifs to mature over time.