Don't you ever hate it when people refer to classical music as "songs"?

[yohankwon]

So a few days ago in AP music theory class, this one person said to me "Hey, do you know this piano song called 'Fur Elise'? I like that song."

this is my #1 pet peeve as a classical musician

[lukediv]

At least they know it?

I suppose there are worse things in life.

What do we call Mendelssohn's "songs without words"? haha

[thalbergmad]

I hate the term and it drives me insane.

Anyone who uses should be warned on the first offence and then put in front of a firing squad for the 2nd.

This is the only way we can stop it.

Thal

[patrickd]

Not really, though I will gladly show them the error of their ways.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

People who get mad at other people for calling pieces songs are snobs.

It's not a big deal.

[perprocrastinate]

Can't blame them. All people are ignorant of something. Though I have to agree that it is somewhat annoying.

[williampiano]

It doesn't bother me at all if someone who is not a classical musician refers to a piece as a 'song'. The fact that they're listening to classical music in the first place is good enough for me.
It does irk me when friends of mine who are classical musicians do it, because it is clear they should know better.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

You know what really makes me mad?

When someone says they love classical music, or a certain composer, but only know like three works.

This is what happened in my English class like four days ago.

*Girl playing her ipod music on speakers*

Girl:  So...  Does anyone have any requests?

Me:  What do you have?

Girl:  I have... Genre, genre, genre...  and classical!

Me:      Really?!  What composers?!

Girl:  Hmmm...  I have some Beethoven!

Me:  Really?!  What do you have?!

Girl:  5th symphony, 9th symphony, fur elise, and moonlight sonata.

Me:      9th symphony!

Girl:  Alright

*plays only the second movement*

Me:  Don't you have the whole thing?

Girl:  Isn't this the whole thing?

Me:   No...  The whole thing is like an hour and a half long.

[birba]

This "song" thing is relatively new, i think.  I had never heard it till i  joined pianostreet.

[stiefel]

This doesn't bother me at all.  In fact I do it myself on purpose often.  Not only does it make me sound less snobbish to none musicians, but it also reminds me that music is VOCAL BASED.  The oldest and primary instrument will always be voice.  Look at the opera inspired music of Mozart and the beautiful Bel Canto nocturnes of chopin -- if these "pieces" are not singers in disguise, then what are they?

On the other hand, lots of piano music is quite percussive (I'm thinking Bartok).  I am hard pressed to call this music "songs."

[j_menz]

I'm snobby enough to get annoyed when people call Lieder "songs". 

[kakeithewolf]

I'm snobby enough to get annoyed when people call Lieder "songs". 

To be fair, Lieder does translate directly as "songs". 

[j_menz]

To be fair, Lieder does translate directly as "songs". 

That's where the snob bit comes in. 

[pianoplunker]

So a few days ago in AP music theory class, this one person said to me "Hey, do you know this piano song called 'Fur Elise'? I like that song."

this is my #1 pet peeve as a classical musician

If that is your #1 peeve, then you need to slap the sh*t out of tha mutthafa*kah who called Fur Elise a .. a.. a.. SONG?  OMG, no BFF here

[g_s_223]

I think part of the reason for the proliferation of the term is due to Apple and the success of its iPod: the various product versions were differentiated by their memory capacity, and to avoid the less-understood techie-speak of megabytes the marketing people sold them as "can store 1000 songs" - sounds much better than "can store 100 symphonies".

[lateromantic]

This "song" thing is relatively new, i think.  I had never heard it till i  joined pianostreet.

Not at all.  I can remember hearing it back when I first started taking music lessons, in the late 1950s.  And it still annoys me. 

When people ask to hear some songs, I tell them that if they really knew what my singing voice sounds like they wouldn't be asking. 

[mahlermaniac]

No, it doesn't really bother me.

[starstruck5]

I am working hard at my composition -and I decided to call one of my pieces -A Simple Song -Fur Elise IS a song -it may be snobbishly referred to as a bagatelle -or whatever  -but if you can sing the tunes -it is a song -

Dunno if you could correctly call, for example,  a Boulez sonata,  a song though -but it wouldn't bother me if someone did.

I hate the snobbery about this.

[furtwaengler]

You know what really makes me mad?

When someone says they love classical music, or a certain composer, but only know like three works.

This is what happened in my English class like four days ago.

*Girl playing her ipod music on speakers*

Girl:  So...  Does anyone have any requests?

Me:  What do you have?

Girl:  I have... Genre, genre, genre...  and classical!

Me:      Really?!  What composers?!

Girl:  Hmmm...  I have some Beethoven!

Me:  Really?!  What do you have?!

Girl:  5th symphony, 9th symphony, fur elise, and moonlight sonata.

Me:      9th symphony!

Girl:  Alright

*plays only the second movement*

Me:  Don't you have the whole thing?

Girl:  Isn't this the whole thing?

Me:   No...  The whole thing is like an hour and a half long.

Really? You love Beethoven's 9th Symphony? And you think it's "like an hour and a half long?" Haha, the inconsistency of these pet peeves. I agree with your first comment, that it's not a big deal.

But this does make me think of a story I heard about a pianist auditioning for something or somewhere. He was waxing poetic to the jury about his favorite Beethoven symphony, which was the 3rd, the mighty Eroica...and then jury asked him to play it for them, totally taking him off guard - he could not do it. How much do we really know about our *favorite* things, or do we just say these as empty statements?

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Really? You love Beethoven's 9th Symphony? And you think it's "like an hour and a half long?" Haha, the inconsistency of these pet peeves. I agree with your first comment, that it's not a big deal.

But this does make me think of a story I heard about a pianist auditioning for something or somewhere. He was waxing poetic to the jury about his favorite Beethoven symphony, which was the 3rd, the mighty Eroica...and then jury asked him to play it for them, totally taking him off guard - he could not do it. How much do we really know about our *favorite* things, or do we just say these as empty statements?

An hour and 17 minutes is pretty much the same as half an hour...

Dude the 9th symphony is freaking kickass!  I don't know what you're on.

Well you can't really play a symphony...  I mean, Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony is one of my favorites, but if you asked me to play it, I couldn't.

[yohankwon]

Well you can't really play a symphony...  I mean, Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony is one of my favorites, but if you asked me to play it, I couldn't.

Idk if this does anything but there are transcriptions of Beethoven Symphonies by Liszt

[furtwaengler]

An hour and 17 minutes is pretty much the same as half an hour...

Lenny was possessed. The performance itself 74 minutes, however, and that is very much on the high end, as it's sometimes 65 minutes or under (Think about the slow movement ranging from 12-23 minutes depending on conductors!).

Dude the 9th symphony is freaking kickass!  I don't know what you're on.

Well you can't really play a symphony...

What am I on? I love the 9th Symphony...and of course you can play it!

I mean, Rachmaninoff's 2nd symphony is one of my favorites, but if you asked me to play it, I couldn't.

Somebody massacred this symphony arranging it into a piano concerto which Denis Matsuev has played...I suppose you could do that if you want, but it's not really the 2nd Symphony. The point was to go beyond liking what you hear, and into what's behind what you hear. Loving it in terms of score study etc. And with that, you really could at least get the structure, themes and such across on the piano. 

[nystul]

I'll grant that the word "song" is too specific to accurately apply to other musical forms.  That said, the word "piece" isn't specific at all.  And it is fairly misleading given that piece is often synonymous with part in common speech.  We could call them doodads or thingamabobs and it would be better than pieces.

[h_chopin148]

It annoys me a bit, but it doesn't send me up a wall or anything.  If a nonmusician calls it a song then ok, it's fine, but if you're a classical musician and you call a classical piece a song... 

[lateromantic]

Dunno if you could correctly call, for example,  a Boulez sonata,  a song though -but it wouldn't bother me if someone did.

You have to admit that it sounds funny to talk about Cage's "song" 4'33".

[kakeithewolf]

Honestly, this doesn't bother me much. It phases me a bit, but I realize there are actually songs in classical music. The farther back you go, the more common they were.

What bothers me is when people don't refer to such pieces as songs, but rather, pieces.

[zezhyrule]

Honestly, this doesn't bother me much. It phases me a bit, but I realize there are actually songs in classical music. The farther back you go, the more common they were.

What bothers me is when people don't refer to such pieces as songs, but rather, pieces.

A song is a piece of music. If you're talking about art songs, then yes, almost any major composer you can think of composed more than a few songs. However the word "song" (as you can see in other conjugations such as "sing or "sang") clearly refers to a piece of music using vocals and usually a fairly short one for solo voice with accompaniment. You wouldn't call Beethoven's Choral Fantasy a "song" and you certainly wouldn't call an opera a "song".

[gyzzzmo]

I dont mind making fun of it on a site like pianoforum.net, but dont you think it is a lot sillier to make a fuss about it than calling it a 'song'?

[kakeithewolf]

A song is a piece of music. If you're talking about art songs, then yes, almost any major composer you can think of composed more than a few songs. However the word "song" (as you can see in other conjugations such as "sing or "sang") clearly refers to a piece of music using vocals and usually a fairly short one for solo voice with accompaniment. You wouldn't call Beethoven's Choral Fantasy a "song" and you certainly wouldn't call an opera a "song".

I never implied I would call those songs. However, classical music has no shortage of works that are songs in the definition you supplied: A solo voice with accompanying instruments.

[douber]

My WIFE !!!!!!

[stravinskylover]

I don't really care if people refer to pieces as songs. What really irritates me is this:
Person:so what do you like to do during your free time?
Me:practice piano.
Person: No, I mean when you don't have to practice.
Me: I like to practice.
Person: ...Do you have a life?