Kim Patrick Clow <[log in to unmask]> writes:

>Karl Haas has rightfully said that those are the only real distinctions
>that need to be made in any discussion of music.  Good Music and Bad Music.
>I kinda agree.

Since the beginning of time, people have endeavored to classify things.
If anyone wants a superlative book that goes about classifying almost
everything with considerable success and brevity, investigate Barbara Ann
Kipfer's "The Order of Things:  How Everything in the World is Organized
into Hierarchied, Structures, and Pecking Orders."

In the section on music, which is quite comprehensive, she identifies
the following primary categories:

Primitive
Folk
Instrumental
  chamber
  concerto
  etude
  lieder
  march
  overture
  quartet
  rondo
  sonata
  suite
  symphony
  tance
Choral
  anthem
  cantata
  canticle
  chant
  chorale
  hymn
  Mass
  oratorio
  plainsong
  sequence
  (I think I would put lieder here, not above)
Non-Western  . .
Theater
  ballet
  musical
  opera
  operetta
Jazz . . .
Popular . . .

Note, she does not use "classical" at all, only "popular" and then all the
others as "instrumental," "choral," and "theater." In light of the above,
it seems to me that "good" versus "bad" music begs the question.

D. Stephen Heersink <[log in to unmask]>