Purposed changes to repertoire forum

[MaestroX]

Lately the staff have been discussing the structure of the Repertoire forums. We have no fixed plans as of yet, as we would like to hear the thoughts of Music-Web members.

This structure has been purposed:

Large Ensemble Works
Discuss orchestral scores and recordings here: Symphony orchestra, symphonic band, concert band etc.

Small Ensemble Works
Discuss scores and recordings for smaller settings here: Choir music, chamber music, smaller bands etc.

Solo/Duo Works
Discuss recordings and scores of solo works, with or without one accompanying instrument, and chamber musical duets here

Outside the concert hall
Discuss all other repertoire here: Film music, game/anime music, dance music, etc.

Composers
Discuss composers and their life works here

Please take part in the poll and provide your suggestions and feedback

[chckn8r]

Originally Posted by MaestroX

Outside the concert hall
Discuss all other repertoire here: Film music, game/anime music, dance music, etc.

I'd like to suggest a different label for this category as it's no longer "Outside the Concert Hall" - all of this stuff: film, game, dance and such IS being played in the concert halls.

• Classic film music scores are constantly being played in halls around the country (Bernstein, Mancini, Williams, etc...).
• There currently a tour of major cities in North America of an orchestra playing orchestral game music in front of a video back-drop in large halls.
• And, dance music / electronic music is now becoming quite popular in the hallowed halls - look at laptop orchestras and the like...

Perhaps, reposition this into two groups: Works scored for Media and Contemporary Works?

Just a couple of cents...

D

[MaestroX]

Ahh I see your point, well observed. I agree we should probably go for something like this:

Works scored for media
Discuss all music score for media here: Film music, game/anime music, etc.

I think any contemporary works would easily fit in the top three categories

[reith]

I can't quite vote because I don't think it's either/or though I prefer the proposed structure because it allows composer threads to be started. Should anyone enter the Composers' forum, I'd hope they'd see a list of threads headed with composers' names. I'd put a few in there. Also agree with Chicken8r though I'd call it "Music in Films, Games, Television." though I'm not fussy - most people understand "media" these days.

[chckn8r]

Originally Posted by reith

I can't quite vote because I don't think it's either/or though I prefer the proposed structure because it allows composer threads to be started. Should anyone enter the Composers' forum, I'd hope they'd see a list of threads headed with composers' names.

A nice idea Reith, but wouldn't that get a bit unwieldy? I can see everyone having different opinions on which composer gets their own thread and we'd either just have a list of the "pops" composers and catchall "Other" forums, or an unmanageable list of composers including everybody's Uncle Bob and Cousin Jake.

I think the current proposition works in that I believe (I guess that's up to the moderators to clarify) this site is not only discussing works of current and past composers, but more, the art and craft of composing - and all that goes intosharing ideas, thoughts and music with other composers.

D

[reith]

Yeah I've given this some thought over the days and I'm coming round to your thinking. I'd still have liked a forum called "Individual comosers - discuss their work and interpretation here," because some composers don't sit well in any of the categories (just as, if under the prosposed scheme, some works don't....just a problem with categories).

So okay, I changed my mind, the present set up is as good as the proposed one and will save a bit of work moving threads around.

But maybe a composer's forum? Where do you put Debussy, Villa-Lobos, Stanford, Elizabeth Lutyens, etc? Especially if you want to talk about the composer rather than their repertoire.

[MaestroX]

Apologies I'm getting lost over which ideas are good and bad

I think we got to this stage:

Large Ensemble Works
Discuss orchestral scores and recordings here: Symphony orchestra, symphonic band, concert band etc.

Small Ensemble Works
Discuss scores and recordings for smaller settings here: Choir music, chamber music, smaller bands etc.

Solo/Duo Works
Discuss recordings and scores of solo works, with or without one accompanying instrument, and chamber musical duets here

Works scored for media
Discuss all music score for media here: Film music, game/anime music, etc.

But I agree with the ideas and problems you've brought up. The reason I wanted to reorganize the repertoire forums was to try reduce and cross-posting, cross-genre and make it as easy as possible for people to know where to post their topic. At the moment the problem is, as reith has mentioned, where do you put Debussy, Villa-Lobos, Stanford, Elizabeth Lutyens, etc? So for specifically discussing composers, would a dedicated composers forum work such as:

Composers
Discuss composers lives, works and compositional style

Or do you think that brings up more problems?

[chckn8r]

Maestro,

I think that works fine from my perspective.

These are probably on the wish list and I know that this would be some hefty coding and customization, but what probably would help the composers (and possibly others) forum would be a nested threading functionality and a search function...

Cheers, D

[some guy]

Originally Posted by MaestroX

I think any contemporary works would easily fit in the top three categories

Electroacoustic?
Happenings?
Multimedia?
Soundscape?
Installations?
Fluxus?

Not immediately apparent that those would fit into the top three. I suppose some would fit into the top one, large ensemble, except that "ensemble" has a connotation that would probably only fit multimedia.

Would you put Merzbow or Christian Marclay into "Solo/Duo" or "Small Ensemble"? I guess that could work. But even though a turntable or a tape recorder or a cd player or a laptop are all "solo" instruments, the results are often more in line with what one would consider large ensemble--lots of different lines/sounds, a wide dynamic range, thick textures (at least alternating between thick and thin). I dunno. I guess Brahms and those symphonic string quartets have already stretched the boundaries in that regard...

'Course, now you'd have to get posters who have listened to those musics and want to talk about them.

[reith]

This must be a perennial problem for any forum loosely based around "classical music". We're on a complicated border where music isn't the only element (and might be a minor one) in a composition/happening. Nothin new except it's more complicated these days because traditional 'spectale' involving music has created some sort of conventions whereas today's hasn't. Perhaps it does need a separate forum just called "Contemporary/Experimental" with the descriptive terms some guy offers, plus "and their origins". It doesn't solve the problem completely but isolate this group of genres from the more orthodox fora.

One thing for sure, it needs to be got approximately right to avoid a lot of work moving stuff if later adjustments have to be made!