Poll: Do you enjoy instrumental music?
- Thread starter Jonluw
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Yeah, instrumental music can be brilliant. Some of my favourite songs are instrumental or mostly instrumental.
I just love great music. Whether it has lyrics or not doesn't matter to me. I certainly wouldn't say I enjoy either type more or less than the other. If it's good, I'll listen to it.
Well I have a strong preference towards classical music. I also have a strong dislike of electric guitar solos. 80's music is just unbearable to me because of how the synth+electric guitar combined to make that horrible noise back then. I don't know if classical is instrumental in your book but in mine it is so i'm going to say yes.
I do, and often more than music with vocals. If the vocals are good, that's fine, but bad vocals are a really good way to ruin a song for me. It doesn't even have to be bad singing or stupid lyrics. Sometimes I just don't like the singer's voice or style. There's so many times I've listened to a song and thought "this would be a great if it didn't have the vocals".
I do like some music that has vocals, but I'm really picky about what the singing should sound like.
I do like some music that has vocals, but I'm really picky about what the singing should sound like.
I prefer music with vocals without lyrics, and then instrumental music. Don't particularly like music with lyrics. Vocal music provides the beauty of the human voice, without the subtitles. I prefer to be immersed in the theme that the music gives me rather than it tell it to me. To those who know of her, it should be fairly unsurprising that I fangirl over Yuki Kajiura.
Hm. Nope. Instrumental classical music is instrumental but "classical music" includes:Jonluw said:
Opera
Oratorio
Masses
Requiems
Troubadour song
Lieder
Chant
Choral Music
etc.
There is a *huge* amount of classical music with vocals.
Now, you are using the phrase "classical music" to mean "art music of the classical period, 1750-1820...that is also the time when some of the most popular works were opera rather than symphonies.
Also this idea that instrumental music has a higher "technical or musical level" is completely subjective and is based on covert and casual values that are not universal. West African Singing/Drumming tends to be much more advanced in terms of rhythm. Modern popular music tends to be much more advanced in terms of timbre. Music with lyrics clearly have a higher level of lyrical skill and vocal skill than music without it. Jazz (including jazz vocalists) tends to be much more advanced in terms of improvisation. There are many different musical parameters. Instrumental classical music values some over others, but that doesn't mean those parameters are the most important to making good music. Nor is the value "more complex" actually better than "more simple."
As a start, I'd recommend reading the article, "Covert and Casual Values in Recent Writings About Music" by Janet Levy, in the Journal of Musicology, Vol 5, No 1 (Winter 1987), pg 3-27. It is available on JSTOR if you are attending a university that subscribes to JSTOR, if you don't, you could probably just drop by the music library of your local major university.
To answer your question, I like both instrumental and vocal music. I prefer vocal music slightly over instrumental music (the voice is one of my favorite instruments for expressivity), but I like them both.
Definitely.
Vocals usually either make or break a song for me, and by "make" I of course mean "make it decent enough to listen to without impaling myself on a well-sharpened pencil".
Vocals usually either make or break a song for me, and by "make" I of course mean "make it decent enough to listen to without impaling myself on a well-sharpened pencil".
I find that I love music with lyrics, but I also love instrumentals aswell.
I do find that I prefer the instrumentals more than the music I have that has lyrics, but that's not because I dislike lyrics or rather don't like music with lyrics as much but that the instrumentals I have and listen to regularly are so freaking awesome.
I unfortunately don't have too many instrumentals, since the ones I do have are just the occasional song by various bands I have the albums for, though I would probably listen to more if I knew of more bands that did more instrumental based albums.
I do find that I prefer the instrumentals more than the music I have that has lyrics, but that's not because I dislike lyrics or rather don't like music with lyrics as much but that the instrumentals I have and listen to regularly are so freaking awesome.
I unfortunately don't have too many instrumentals, since the ones I do have are just the occasional song by various bands I have the albums for, though I would probably listen to more if I knew of more bands that did more instrumental based albums.
My favourite two genres are hip-hop and classical piano (Romantic), so I guess you could say that I like both, one being focussed almost solely on lyrics, the other on the instrument.
Although it's noteworthy that I do also like hip-hop instrumentals. So I guess I swing slightly towards the instrumental end of the spectrum.
Although it's noteworthy that I do also like hip-hop instrumentals. So I guess I swing slightly towards the instrumental end of the spectrum.
Yeah, mostly videogame soundtracks though to be honest. Just lately I've been listening to Gyakuten Meets Orchestra (Ace Attorney!) and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
I knew someone was going to call me out on that.trooper6 said:
What I meant was "Most of the great classics from the baroque and out that we still listen to to this day are instrumental".
If you go out and buy an album like "classical favourites" or something, pretty much the only pieces with lyrics will be Händel's messiah, Carmina burana, Pomp and circumstance and certain versions of In the hall of the mountain king.
I'm not really counting opera in that statement. I've always seen opera as its own genre that I just don't feel like touching on too much.
I see I didn't express myself very clearly there either.
What I meant was that in instrumental music, the only thing that is presented to the listener is the music. No lyrics. As a consequence, the melody and harmony or groove or otherwise just plain musical aspects of a piece are normally afforded more attention and more carefully crafted. i.e. I don't like the kind of music that only exists as a background to the writer/composer's poetry.
Do note that I still call music instrumental if the voice is used for something other than performing lyrics.
Would you really say that the music in this piece
is as interesting and engaging as this music?
[sub]Note that I'm using a song with lyrics here. I'm not saying music with lyrics is bad. I just think instrumental music is generally more engaging, musically, because it's made to engage only by means of music, not with the help of lyrics.[/sub]
Erm, is this referring to things like the "Halo" intro as instrumental despite quasi-Gregorian chanting? Because I can't think of any other non-lyrical vocals.Jonluw said:
Note: I totally get behind music like the "Halo" intro as instrumental.
Ever since I discovered Touhou, I have come to learn that instrumental music has the potential to kick much ass. Therefore, I enjoy it much more than vocal music; though, that's not to say vocal music doesn't have it's hits.
A "classical favourites" CD is in no way a good indicator of what was going on in the realm of classical music. Those are marketing compilations like "Mozart for Lovers" or "Baby on Beethoven"--they are in no way informed by music history. Many people consider Beethoven's 9th Symphony as the greatest piece of classical music ever (a sort of title I find irritating and don't personally endorse generally)--heck, it is now the national anthem of the European Union...and that symphony has a choral section at its climax. People think it is great because of its marriage of text and sonics. The realm of Western Art Music if full of vocal music. Ignoring it is ahistorical.Jonluw said:
But that doesn't work. Opera is Western Art Music. Heck, the beloved Beethoven even wrote an Opera...as did Mozart...and Bach wrote Oratorios. If you mean to say only instrumental western art music, then say that...but you can't say that western art music (i.e. "classical music") is mostly instrumental.Jonluw said:
**Note: for the purpose of these posts I'm using "classical music" as I think you are, to mean Western Art Music as opposed to how it should be used, to refer to Western Art Music from 1750-1820.
First things first. Lyrics are part of the music. If you look at a standard Music History textbook like the "History of Western Music" by Grout/Palisca/Burkholder, you will note they begin the story with the music of the Ancient Greeks. The word "music" is an ancient greek word...and in that word there is no difference between music and poetry. It is the same word.Jonluw said:
And also the idea that the presence of text meant the other musical aspects are not as carefully crafted is not accurate. Are you saying that the sonic elements of Beethoven's 9th Symphony are not as carefully crafted because text exists? Are you saying that the very care word painting and relationship between text and piano in Schubert's lieder are evidence on careless crafting of the sonic elements? Also note: there is lots and lots of instrumental music that is hastily and carelessly put together. The presence or absence of text is not an indicator of how much care was put into crafting the sonic elements of piece of music.
I reject that as weasel. If there are voices, then it is vocal music.
ETA: As for your examples of the two versions of "Baby" --any one can do that. I could turn around and say,
"Are you honestly trying to say that elevator music is better than Beethoven's 9th Symphony?!"
That is disingenuous argumentation.
Though my music tastes is HEAVILY influenced by instrumental, especially guitar instrumentals by the likes of Joe Satriani, Steve Vai and Vinnie Moore and electro-trance, I do enjoy songs with vocals. I see vocals as just another instrument anyway.
The thing is though, almost the first thing anyone notices in a song is the vocals, if they have it of course. So if a vocal part of the song is rather bad, it can bring down the whole song.
That said there are exceptions though, like if the backing music makes up for it(...Megadeth)
But, of course, there are songs with amazing vocals which resonate with the backing which can help carry the song well. The only example I can think of at this moment right now is tyketto(God, that singer can hold a note)
The thing is though, almost the first thing anyone notices in a song is the vocals, if they have it of course. So if a vocal part of the song is rather bad, it can bring down the whole song.
That said there are exceptions though, like if the backing music makes up for it(...Megadeth)
But, of course, there are songs with amazing vocals which resonate with the backing which can help carry the song well. The only example I can think of at this moment right now is tyketto(God, that singer can hold a note)