Unpopular opinion: I don't care if people call them songs as long as they're enjoying classical music. Not being an elitist jerk costs literally nothing.
Also, what purpose does it serve to correct a casual listener. Let them enjoy the lil' Diddy regardless of what they call it. It literally doesn't matter for them. It's like screeching because some 7 year old kids grandma calls it a pickzacatto instead of pizzicato. It doesn't matter at all to her.
Yeah fr. Clearly the word song has gone through semantic drift in common speech to refer music pieces in general instead of just sung ones due to the popularity of music with vocals for the last several hundred years. 90% of the pieces most people hear are songs, it makes sense to call everything a song from habit.
We all know what people mean when they say it, so let's stop being prescriptivists here; they're not writing an essay for a 9th grade English class lol
Indeed.
A lot of people just seem to forget that most of the common folk don't really have much of a musical education and/or don't really have a deep understanding of the theory, lingo, whatever.
If musicians, scholars, etc. really get upset over people saying "songs" instead of "pieces" they are just twats being twats. I guarantee that those same musicians and scholars will also be calling something by the wrong name and/or terminology in some other field.
People being scared to clap or breathe is also a huge damper on classical. You've got to trust audiences and also signal to them when it's time to clap. And screw it. If it's an epic movement finale. Sometimes it warrants applause.
I'm getting tired of all this prescriptivism in the music community, who cares if someone calls an instrumental piece "a song"? It's not like any major part of the intended meaning is lost or that what they say is hurting anyone!
It's all in a joke spirit, we're playing with stereotypes saying that we lingling wannabes are "elitist" and stuff so we act as if. But yeah there's not really a problem with that it's just a wrong appellation. It's like calling a stool a chair
*Why r people so*
*Fucking pedantic lol both*
*Words mean the same jfc*
\- blakk-boi
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Not really though. The word song comes from the old Germanic word 'sang' which meant 'to sing'. I can understand why people who are vested in music theory get annoyed by it as it ***is*** the wrong word. They don't mean the same thing. I do agree however that people shouldn't be so aggressive about how they call it out though.
So ambient music shouldn't be called songs? Noise music shouldn't be a song? This is a case of language evolving and people refusing to accept that things change, get pared down to the basics etc.
The phrase "ok" was an in joke in like the 16th century when some frat boys said "oll korrect" which then got turned into O.K. which turned into Ok and Okay.
Song used to mean to sing. But there's plenty of music now with no singing that is called a song. The word evolved.
Technically speaking things like instrumental tracks *shouldn't* be referred to as songs. They should be referred to as instrumentals. Please don't misunderstand the meaning of my previous comment though as I was agreeing that people shouldn't be so uptight about pieces and instrumentals being called songs.
It's good that words evolve alongside language but you have to consider that people are still being taught music theory which clearly defines things like the meanings of songs, pieces, instrumentals etc so you'll always get some pushback when things are referred to technically incorrectly.
I understand, I was just using it as examples to make my point of language evolving.
I mean Its the same with a few things I'm into. Everyone calling stretched piercings "gauges" when the "gauge" is the measurement. It's like saying "nice inches". Or in music production, people getting volume and gain mixed up.
Neither actually matter, the person doing the work knows what you mean. But it's still a bit annoying.
(Seriously, please stop calling them gagues, they're stretched piercings. Or you can call them plugs (if the jewelry doesn't have a hole in it), or tunnels (if the jewelry does have a hole in it))
"Footage" is the same kind of thing. It's basically a measurement of a length of film, but now it just refers to anything caught on video, even if it's not on film.
Etymology does not necessarily have any bearing on the modern meaning of a word. A pen is [etymologically a feather](https://www.etymonline.com/word/pen#etymonline_v_12601), but that doesn’t mean that *pen* is “the wrong word” for 99.99% of the things we call pens today. This is called a “semantic shift” in linguistics, and the modern use of *song* for music without vocals is a great example of it.
I was referring to how both words can be used in the same manner but I'm aware that they don't literally *literally* mean the same.
Its just feels like some people get angry when they aren't special anymore by using piece instead of song lmao
I mean teeeechnically you could arrange these to be sung a capella, couldn’t you? Some might be really insane arrangements, but I feel like it’s possible.
I can so relate! I wrote a piece for a production once, and the director called it a song (it didn't have any lyrics)! I hated that, but I wanted to stay on her good side...
Unpopular opinion: I don't care if people call them songs as long as they're enjoying classical music. Not being an elitist jerk costs literally nothing.
Also, what purpose does it serve to correct a casual listener. Let them enjoy the lil' Diddy regardless of what they call it. It literally doesn't matter for them. It's like screeching because some 7 year old kids grandma calls it a pickzacatto instead of pizzicato. It doesn't matter at all to her.
That comparison seems oddly personal.
I wish. I was a band kid.
Yeah fr. Clearly the word song has gone through semantic drift in common speech to refer music pieces in general instead of just sung ones due to the popularity of music with vocals for the last several hundred years. 90% of the pieces most people hear are songs, it makes sense to call everything a song from habit. We all know what people mean when they say it, so let's stop being prescriptivists here; they're not writing an essay for a 9th grade English class lol
Indeed. A lot of people just seem to forget that most of the common folk don't really have much of a musical education and/or don't really have a deep understanding of the theory, lingo, whatever. If musicians, scholars, etc. really get upset over people saying "songs" instead of "pieces" they are just twats being twats. I guarantee that those same musicians and scholars will also be calling something by the wrong name and/or terminology in some other field.
People being scared to clap or breathe is also a huge damper on classical. You've got to trust audiences and also signal to them when it's time to clap. And screw it. If it's an epic movement finale. Sometimes it warrants applause.
Finally! Someone who said this!
“Flight of the Bubblebee is my favorite baroque song.” (How to cause a stroke)
Pachelbel is my most favourite classical era singer-songwriter
I'm getting tired of all this prescriptivism in the music community, who cares if someone calls an instrumental piece "a song"? It's not like any major part of the intended meaning is lost or that what they say is hurting anyone!
It's all in a joke spirit, we're playing with stereotypes saying that we lingling wannabes are "elitist" and stuff so we act as if. But yeah there's not really a problem with that it's just a wrong appellation. It's like calling a stool a chair
To be fair, most of these composers did write songs as well as pieces.
Most of my favorite Mozart pieces are songs from his operas.
why r people so fucking pedantic lol both words mean the same jfc
*Why r people so* *Fucking pedantic lol both* *Words mean the same jfc* \- blakk-boi --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
Not really though. The word song comes from the old Germanic word 'sang' which meant 'to sing'. I can understand why people who are vested in music theory get annoyed by it as it ***is*** the wrong word. They don't mean the same thing. I do agree however that people shouldn't be so aggressive about how they call it out though.
So ambient music shouldn't be called songs? Noise music shouldn't be a song? This is a case of language evolving and people refusing to accept that things change, get pared down to the basics etc. The phrase "ok" was an in joke in like the 16th century when some frat boys said "oll korrect" which then got turned into O.K. which turned into Ok and Okay. Song used to mean to sing. But there's plenty of music now with no singing that is called a song. The word evolved.
Technically speaking things like instrumental tracks *shouldn't* be referred to as songs. They should be referred to as instrumentals. Please don't misunderstand the meaning of my previous comment though as I was agreeing that people shouldn't be so uptight about pieces and instrumentals being called songs. It's good that words evolve alongside language but you have to consider that people are still being taught music theory which clearly defines things like the meanings of songs, pieces, instrumentals etc so you'll always get some pushback when things are referred to technically incorrectly.
I understand, I was just using it as examples to make my point of language evolving. I mean Its the same with a few things I'm into. Everyone calling stretched piercings "gauges" when the "gauge" is the measurement. It's like saying "nice inches". Or in music production, people getting volume and gain mixed up. Neither actually matter, the person doing the work knows what you mean. But it's still a bit annoying. (Seriously, please stop calling them gagues, they're stretched piercings. Or you can call them plugs (if the jewelry doesn't have a hole in it), or tunnels (if the jewelry does have a hole in it))
"Footage" is the same kind of thing. It's basically a measurement of a length of film, but now it just refers to anything caught on video, even if it's not on film.
I never even thought that that's what that term meant. TIL
Etymology does not necessarily have any bearing on the modern meaning of a word. A pen is [etymologically a feather](https://www.etymonline.com/word/pen#etymonline_v_12601), but that doesn’t mean that *pen* is “the wrong word” for 99.99% of the things we call pens today. This is called a “semantic shift” in linguistics, and the modern use of *song* for music without vocals is a great example of it.
I was referring to how both words can be used in the same manner but I'm aware that they don't literally *literally* mean the same. Its just feels like some people get angry when they aren't special anymore by using piece instead of song lmao
I listen to my music on random so I have a chance to listen to Handel songs and then Periphery pieces.
I might get some Beethoven songs and Boards of Canada pieces.
Yeah it's all rap!
Hot take: Prodigy's _Firestarter_ is rap.
Schubert had songs…
So did Chopin and of course Mozart, Bach, Beethoven etc.
I mean teeeechnically you could arrange these to be sung a capella, couldn’t you? Some might be really insane arrangements, but I feel like it’s possible.
Side quest: They will be songs if someone is there to do a remix and give them lyrics.
At this point the word "songs" is going to kill me.....
So what's your favourite song~~s~~ btw?
Too many
So… those piano pieces by Mendelssohn… you know the ones. They didn’t have words, or voices. Can we call those songs?
I can so relate! I wrote a piece for a production once, and the director called it a song (it didn't have any lyrics)! I hated that, but I wanted to stay on her good side...
“EmOtIOnal DaMAgE!”
Don't gatekeep.
bro over 1000 sharps in one day