In regard to the endless discussion of what distinguishes "classical"
from "popular" music, a thought occurred to me the other day.  For family
reasons, I have recently enjoyed unusually frequent exposure to radio
stations which broadcast "golden oldies", meaning older (mostly soft)
rock music.  What struck me is that the beat in this music is ALWAYS
an absolutely invariant 4/4, in every single song, no exceptions.

Thinking it over, I could recall only a single popular number I have ever
heard which was in triple time:  it was "Good Night Irene", fifty years
ago, and that one was smuggled into the pop scene via folk music.  Can
anyone think of another such example? Now, while "common time" may be the
most frequently employed meter in classical music, there are plenty of
movements, passages, or measures in 3/4, 3/8, 6/8, even 5/8 or 7/8, or
complex meters.

Accordingly, I offer this statistical definition of "classical" as opposed
to "popular":  music in which the probability (or frequency) of a measure
not in common time is greater than 0.0000000001.

Although some may find this simple definition overly reductive, it is easy
enough to use that we could teach it to a computer, and thereby automate
the process of making this distinction.

Cheers///

Jon Gallant
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