what makes "classical"... "classical...

[Dikai]

have you guys ever thought of what do we call classical music??
it would seem to me that different kinds of genre of music is defined by the instruments present...
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weird example, a mozart symphony is naturally classical because the instruments include string/brass/wind sections and what not....
but now... the titantic / star war / star trek themes, when played with the same instruments, do we call them classical??  some would, some would not; as for me, i don't even know
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now, it would seem that if you have a drum set, base, maybe a piano/sax and what not, the music becomes jazz, pretty much doesn't matter how you play these instruments, the music that comes out of it would seem somehow jazzy...
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(note that musicals are excluded from this discussion)
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what exactly makes classical music classical then??  if not by the instruments
the composition time??  is it that if the composer of a music is dead before at least half a century ago, his/her music would be called classical??
i'm a classical pianist, yet i have lived in this paradox for so long, i don't even know
please explain

[jason2711]

i think it might be down to the styles of music rather than what instruments, since instruments such as the piano can play a wide range of styles such as jazz, classical, pop, or traditional cultural music.  I don't think its the time period either... since 'classical music', more really known as contemporary music is being composed as we speak.  So I think its really just down to the style