I am certainly bowing in supplication to your superiority, as I have also in my lifetime used the word “song” incorrectly (though I have had music education and I should know better). I would also like to know what is wrong with iTunes, as it allows me to obtain much music for reasonable prices. Is your complete disdain only for their classical music selections? I don’t actually see the word “song” anywhere when I search for classical artist (except when warranted), so what, exactly, is the problem?
Should we unwashed masses not have access to the music we cannot term correctly?
So it’s not Romeo and Juliet, it’s the Adiago of Spartacus and Phrygia. My it’s the untutored ear of this ignorant laymen, but they sound alike, don’t they?
But second of all, if it’s a symphony, call it a symphony. If it’s a sonata, call it a sonata. If it’s an aria from an opera, call it an aria from an opera. If it’s a ballet, call it a ballet. If it’s a song, call it a song. If it’s a string quartet, call it a string quartet. If it’s a fugue, call it a fugue. If it’s a prelude, call it a prelude. If it’s a suite, call it a suite.
Get it? Or is this concept too difficult for you?
My gripe with iTunes is that everything is forced into the pop music mold, as if that were the only music out there, and the way it deals with anything else is often screwed up. More recent versions have been a little better. It still treats separate movements of a symphony, for example, as separate “songs,” which they ARE NOT.
I understand the logic behind what Knorf is saying, but I have to say that sometimes it is not possible for someone to know what category a particular piece of music falls into. I suppose if had learned to tell the difference then there is no excuse, but if you have not learned this then you need to use a generic label.
Now I would agree that the word ‘song’ probably shouldn’t be the default generic term since it implies a sung portion, but nevertheless it does often get used this way and people generally know what you are talking about. ‘Piece’ is probably a better word, but it’s not necessarily the first word that comes to mind.
(Perhaps we all ought to have a better musical education so that we know what to call a particular piece just by hearing it, but that is not the world we live in. Also, the terminology that Knorf uses applies only to Classical music, which, though it is an important element of western musical heritage, is really only a subsection of the musical world.)
No, first of all, Knorf, you wash your mouth out with soap. You may NOT tell another poster to fuck off, not in this forum. This is inappropriate behavior for Cafe Society. You want to tell someone to fuck off, you go to the Pit and open a thread there, be my guest. But not here. Here, we engage in civilized and polite discussion.
Frankly, I don’t really give a damn whether you want to call something a song, a symphony, or a rat’s ass. You will not insult other posters over ANY issue here, least of all matters of definition.
If you think you were provoked , then your proper recourse is to hit the little exclamation point in the upper right corner of the offending post: that’s REPORT BAD POST, and that will bring a Moderator’s attention. If you are insulted, you do NOT insult back, you REPORT BAD POST. Clear?
This is an Official Wake-up call from a Moderator.
Daver914, you need to read this too. Sarcastic insult is still insult, and is not permitted in this forum.
Well, you are right that they separate movements into individual segments. I’m thinking they do that because they’re whole schtick is that you get one bit of an album for 99 cents and the whole shebang for 10 bucks. Nowhere do they call a symphony segment or a suite a song, except perhaps indirectly because sometimes they charge 99 cents for a segment and their advertising says “99 cents a song.” But not in the music display itself.
Sure you can argue that they’re destroying whatever your particular concept of a piece is (I know, I know–it is what it is named), but classical music doesn’t fit the same easy mold as pop. Pop songs being, of course, the most popular and therefore more profitable. You would prefer they not offer it at all? Or do you expect to get an entire symphony for 99 cents? If recent versions are better at the nomenclature, then why would you insist that stupidity is behind all of this? How about manageability?
And if they’re such “musical incompetents,” why would you waste your time on an “abomination?”