What Genre of Music Have We Been Listening To?

Ok, first off, I realize that we listen to what's called "Film Music" or "Movie scores," but what genre does that music from films and scores from movies fit into?

To find out, I opened up my Windows Media Player to look at some of the genres it had classified my music under. There I saw "soundtrack," "film score," "orchestral," and the oh so descriptive "Other" genre. Heck, I even found a song that was given the genre, "General Unclassifiable."

The term "soundtrack" to me is really kind of vague because it's basically all the genres of music combined together with the one common thread that they were all heard in a movie. However, this is the genre movie scores are given in places like Best Buy, Sam Goody, etc.

Then we have "orchestral" which would be ok except that there is so much more that goes into the scores besides just an orchestra.

Now, I think it is self-explanatory why the "other" genre and "General Unclassifiable" won't work.

The there is "film score" which is the best out of all of them, but to me still lacks something. I guess I feel it puts the emphasis on the movie, rather than on the music. "Film score" just sounds like a cop-out genre to me. It's like "Well, we have our Pop, Rock, Rap, R&B.. Oh, and that music you hear in the movies." Isn't the music itself important enough to distinguish it from the movie?

One of my friends said that some of the more celtic sounding music from movies can be considered "New Age," but surely all film music doesnt qualify for this genre?

I mean, I understand how you can get away with classifying songs from musicals as "Showtunes" because the whole point of the Show is to hear the "tunes." However, I seriously doubt very many people (besides those of us obsessed with movie scores ) go to see a movie to hear the music playing in the background.

I guess what I'm wondering is if you seperate the music from the movie, what genre does that leave the music in? Modern classical? Instrumental? If it was up to you, what would you call the genre?

 

Soundtrack is what I put everything under in iTunes.

 

It doesn't matter as long as you don't call music without words "songs".

 

Film Scores.

Of course, there are many different styles. Listening to John Williams is radically different from listening to Wojciech Kilar is radically different from listening to Danny Elfman is radically different from listening to Patrick Doyle. But whatever.

 

I would classify scores with what labels you can give them without simply calling it a soundtrack. If it is performed as a string quartet both instrumentally and movement wise, it is a string quartet. If you doubt it, look at how Franz Josef Haydn wrote string quartets: typically three movements with two violins, a viola and a cello. If you were to go to a music store, it would likely be under instrumental category under the composer's name.

The Apu trilogy in which Ravi Shankar composed the score would likely be placed within "World Music" or "International Music", then from there it would be further placed as music from the Indian Subcontinent. Since it is composed in the form of an Indian tala or raga, I would classify it as Indian Classical Music.

And, yes, the examples I used are what I frequently play in my CD player.

 

I agree that classifying by composer rather than Genre is thae way to go. Even within the scores themselves exist different styles of music. I will use the HP: POA soundtrack as an example. JW goes from his usual style to writing a Waltz for Aunte Margie, to a Jazz inspired white knuckle ride on the Knight Bus, to creating the music of the magical community by using rennissance intrumentation and modes. The shear diversity contained within the scores alone makes it difficult to classify in one Genre. That is only one soundtrack by one composer. Williams himself writes in many styles as do other composers in Hollywood.

 

(Film) Scores

or "film music" whenever I'm talking to ignorant idiots