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Misuse of the word “song”

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UndaMaris

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Misuse of the word “song”

PostTue May 08, 2018 11:01 am

Here in the UK many of us organists are being driven mad by the use of the word “song” to describe any piece of music on the internet, whether sung or purely instrumental. This practice seems to come from the US and the world of popular music. I am fed up with seeing pieces of great organ music being described as “songs” on internet sites. What can we do to stop our common language being misused in this way? Who is responsible for this nonsense? How can youngsters be expected to use language correctly if adults fail to do so?
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TheOrganDoc

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostTue May 08, 2018 7:03 pm

Our Language was brought to the USA, by The Queens British, who wanted to conquer this continent !

I don't feel that the word "Song" applies "at all" to Music that is not intended to be "Sung" !

If you wish to express your hate, please do it in front of your own mirror, and listen and watch very carefully to what you hear and see ! :roll:
Mel..............TheOrganDoc...............
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sesquialtera

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostWed May 09, 2018 7:48 am

It is not only an english vs american problem.
In france too, a lot of people consider music as song. And for the kids, a instrumental music is a song (without singer) . (I'm a music teacher in a school, believe me, I allways have to say : it's a music, not a song).
The problem is not new : Mendelssohn wrote "songs without words", Jean Langlais "Chant de paix" etc.

A more important problem for me is that a lot of people consider instrumental music as boring.

When I go out, in restaurants, the music is often songs ... I can't help listen to the lyrics, sometimes it is very disturbing, I can't focus on my couple .
We 've other problems : a lot of people think loud = low.
Journalists and speakers say : "there's a flat or "I wan't to put a flat" meanig "there's a little problem" or "it's not as perfect as it seems" ...
And I'm sure we can find dozen of other examples.
Mass culture + lazyness = langage impoverishment.
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UndaMaris

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostWed May 09, 2018 2:45 pm

Here's an example from Amazon of what I am talking about:

"Remove Songs from Amazon Music for Web
To remove songs from My Music:

Go to My Music.
Select Songs from the menu.
Check the box next to each song you want to remove.
Click the Delete button in the upper right corner of your screen and confirm your selection.
If you want to select multiple songs to delete at the same time:
Check the box next to the first song you want to delete.
Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard.
Check the box next to the last song you want to delete.
This automatically highlights and selects all of the songs in between the two.

Tip: You can also use the other categories under My Music (Recently Added, Albums, Artists, Genres, Purchased, Imported) to find music you want to remove. The More Options menu ("three vertical dots" icon) next to individual songs includes a Remove from My Music selection.
Remove Songs from the Amazon Music App
To remove songs from My Music using Amazon Music for PC and Mac:

Find the song or album you want to delete.
Right click on the song or album, select Remove from My Music, and confirm."

The word "song" is used instead of track. Why? You might as well call every piece of music that Schubert wrote a "Lied". But we all know what is meant by Lied. It's a song, to be sung by the human voice, not a piece of instrumental music.

Or in iTunes the tracks are listed as songs, not tracks. So if I want to find the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata xxxx, I have to look through the list of "songs".

The same on Spotify:

"Create a playlist

Click New Playlist in the menu on the left.
Give your playlist a name (description and cover image optional) and click CREATE.
You can now find it in Your Library.

Add to playlists

Right-click any song and select Add to Playlist.
Select a playlist.
Tip: You can also drag and drop the track to a playlist.

Edit a playlist

To remove a song, go to the playlist and right-click the song you’d like to remove. Select Remove from this Playlist.

Note: You can only delete tracks from playlists you’ve created.

To reorder the track listing, click and hold a song to move it up or down."

Who came up with this barmy idea of calling all pieces of music a song?

Songs are songs. Tracks are tracks. Pieces are pieces. It is important that precision is observed in the use of language, just as in the world of technology and science.

How wonderful to have a music site like Contrebombarde which uses language correctly.
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Erzahler

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostWed May 09, 2018 7:23 pm

Come on cheer up, if a recording of you playing the organ was announced on radio it would be 'that was UndaMaris on organ'! I feel the same but just have to accept that it is change and there has always been change in language.
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TheOrganDoc

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostWed May 09, 2018 7:26 pm

Both I-tunes and Amazon, are sourced by computer specialists and NOT Musical lovers or Musicians, Do not Belittle Everyone other than yourself for what a few Computer specialists provide to the masses !

Do not make the mistake of comparing Online Sources Of Music---- To Everyone worldwide, beside yourself ! :roll:

Anyone that enjoys, Music Knows the difference, between a "Musical Piece" and a "Lowly song", just as much, or more than you Do, "Under Mars" !

(I will no longer be responding to this foolishness, Goodby !) :oops:

UndaMaris wrote:Here's an example from Amazon of what I am talking about:

"Remove Songs from Amazon Music for Web
To remove songs from My Music:

Go to My Music.
Select Songs from the menu.
Check the box next to each song you want to remove.
Click the Delete button in the upper right corner of your screen and confirm your selection.
If you want to select multiple songs to delete at the same time:
Check the box next to the first song you want to delete.
Press and hold the Shift key on your keyboard.
Check the box next to the last song you want to delete.
This automatically highlights and selects all of the songs in between the two.

Tip: You can also use the other categories under My Music (Recently Added, Albums, Artists, Genres, Purchased, Imported) to find music you want to remove. The More Options menu ("three vertical dots" icon) next to individual songs includes a Remove from My Music selection.
Remove Songs from the Amazon Music App
To remove songs from My Music using Amazon Music for PC and Mac:

Find the song or album you want to delete.
Right click on the song or album, select Remove from My Music, and confirm."

The word "song" is used instead of track. Why? You might as well call every piece of music that Schubert wrote a "Lied". But we all know what is meant by Lied. It's a song, to be sung by the human voice, not a piece of instrumental music.

Or in iTunes the tracks are listed as songs, not tracks. So if I want to find the second movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata xxxx, I have to look through the list of "songs".

The same on Spotify:

"Create a playlist

Click New Playlist in the menu on the left.
Give your playlist a name (description and cover image optional) and click CREATE.
You can now find it in Your Library.

Add to playlists

Right-click any song and select Add to Playlist.
Select a playlist.
Tip: You can also drag and drop the track to a playlist.

Edit a playlist

To remove a song, go to the playlist and right-click the song you’d like to remove. Select Remove from this Playlist.

Note: You can only delete tracks from playlists you’ve created.

To reorder the track listing, click and hold a song to move it up or down."

Who came up with this barmy idea of calling all pieces of music a song?

Songs are songs. Tracks are tracks. Pieces are pieces. It is important that precision is observed in the use of language, just as in the world of technology and science.

How wonderful to have a music site like Contrebombarde which uses language correctly.
Mel..............TheOrganDoc...............
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162_Ranks

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Re: Misuse of the word “song”

PostThu May 10, 2018 6:19 pm

I've always struggled with the misuse of "song" as well, but I think a large part of the problem is the lack of a euphonious alternative in English. "Piece" sounds like a small physical object, not particularly notable in any way, which is not a real improvement. Am I missing something? Do other languages have better alternatives that we should import?

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