- The following is an archived discussion concerning one or more categories. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on an appropriate discussion page (such as the category's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this section.
- The result of the discussion was: NO CONSENSUS. postdlf (talk) 21:25, 26 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Propose renaming Category:Songs with music by Kenny Dorham to Category:Compositions by Kenny Dorham
- Nominator's rationale: Rename. The sole article included in this category is not a song but an instrumental composition. This category does therefore not belong under songs by composer, but rather under compositions by composer. Jafeluv (talk) 17:47, 4 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, I created this category, and I have 2 points to make :-
1. I can't see any difference with having a single song in a songwriter category and what it says at Category:Songs by artist, This category and its subcategories list songs by recording artist. Please note that all song articles should have subcategories here, regardless of how many songs the artist has recorded...." I'd be happy if every category with only one entry was deleted, because none of them are categories, they are sidetracks, or even dead ends because they don't take the reader anywhere. (I did expect more entries when I created the category, but it appears there is only the one to be added at the present time).
2. Regarding the change of name can somebody spell out the difference between "writing music" and "composition" when it comes to popular music? Is there some reason jazz musicians should be sitting with the likes of JS Bach? If jazz musicians should be under the composition moniker, then why not the Beatles? At the moment this category sits very nicely with the likes of Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, George Gerswin and a load of others. I think the simple answer is classical composers are known as and should be categorised as "compositions by" and all others by the more modern idiom of "songs with music by." Otherwise we will finish up debating every entry in both categories, entry by entry, song (or should I say composition?) by song. Categories are a method joining together similar articles, not a definition of fact. Whatever "style" a song is the writer/composer have all used some or all of the same old 12 notes, even if they are usually in a different order.
3. I am at loss to understand the Charlie Mingus renaming. As I am aware, the category: Foo songs is supposed to mean songs recorded by Foo. Why on earth can't poor old Charlie be sitting in that category as well?
All in all I'd rather see this category deleted than renamed. I really don't fancy the arguments whether composer Foo is a composer or a music writer or some other grade of music creator everytime a category is created. --Richhoncho (talk) 20:40, 4 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- 1. It's an instrumental, not a song. Unfortunately we don't have "instrumentals by artist" or "recordings by artist" categories yet. Creating those and making the "songs by artist" categories subcategories of them would resolve the problem on where to put instrumentals by the same artist – currently, instrumentals are either categorized in a completely separate way without a "by artist" category, or incorrectly in the "songs by artist" category.
- 2. "Writing music", in my view, includes both composition and writing lyrics. That's why we have "songs by songwriter" (where, I assume, the songwriter wrote both the music and the lyrics), "songs with music by", and "songs with lyrics by" categories. One does not have to be Johann Sebastian Bach to be a "composer" or to write "compositions".
- 3. Since a majority of Mingus's recordings were instrumental, it would have been incorrect to categorize them as songs, wouldn't it? Jafeluv (talk) 21:44, 4 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- (By the way, I'm quite aware that colloquially all tunes are called songs, regardless of whether they have lyrics or not. In my opinion an encyclopedia should make that distinction, though.) Jafeluv (talk) 21:48, 4 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- OK, an instrumental isn't a song, but, are you now suggesting where a writer has written both "songs" and "instrumentals" there should be 2 categories? Surely that is really the definition of overcategorization? It's the same case as the what User:Occuli brought up, Category:The Shadows songs, 4 of the entries are instrumentals whilst the 5th actually has words. Are you suggesting that categories like this should be split in 2? What happens when a tune has words added later - as has happened on numerous occasions, should it now be listed as a "tune" or a "song" or, perish the thought, 2 separate articles (and this has happened in WP!)
- "Writing music" is NOT lyric writing, these are 2 different functions, but often a "songwriter" will undertake both or either function. Now here's the rub, a composition in music means melody, harmony and rhythm (generally and not taking into account regional differences), that doesn't preclude whether the piece has lyrics or not. So, it is not unreasonable, according to your nomination to list, say, Paul McCartney as both lyric writer and composer, rather than "songwriter." Then you have to take into consideration that for most jointly wrote songs we don't know who wrote what! As for Mingus, I would fully endorse the creation of "tunes written by Mingus" what I don't understand is why, if one of the tunes it should have words he should have 2 entries or why this has excluded him from from the "Songs by artist" category, even if the list is exactly the same!
- So, all in all we should be moving all "composers" to the compostions category if your nomination is correct - and that will upset the folks over at the classical music project, or better still, we should be considering how this nomination affects all songs/tunes. All I see are loads of arguments about what is what. This is my main concern, rather than this specific category. Categories are to bring similar themed articles together, not the subdivision of articles into postcodes! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Richhoncho (talk • contribs) 06:04, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- I understand your opposition to the idea of separating instrumentals and songs by the same artist completely – the added accuracy of the title comes with the disanvantage of hindering the navigation for readers, and aiding navigation for the readers is of course what categories are for. However, this proposal is not about that. Currently, we have Category:Jazz compositions, with a subcategory Category:Jazz songs. Composition categories are named "compositions by X", not only for Bach and other classical composers, but also for Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, George Gershwin (the latter two of which actually have a "songs" subcategory), etc. This proposal is simply to make this jazz composition category correspond with that structure. Clearly we agree that the tune listed in the category is not a "song".
- I would welcome discussion on whether only classical composers deserve to be categorized as composers, though. Maybe this is something that could be brought up at Wikipedia:WikiProject Composers (which does focus solely on classical composers). Jafeluv (talk) 09:17, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Thanks for your response, I actually don't like compositions by style, it's a misnomer, please see my nomination for country songs by songwriter, which was merged, at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2009 October 10 for a clear and concise reason for my dislike. --Richhoncho (talk) 10:10, 5 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Comments – I don't see any problem with the category having 1 member. The creator of the music is surely the defining characteristic of the music. We have generally categorised instrumentals as 'songs', eg Category:The Shadows songs (meaning 'songs recorded by The Shadows'). Occuli (talk) 22:55, 4 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- Actually, that's just the "songs by artist" categories. The "by composer" categories have always made the discinction. Song categories are "Songs with music by X" and general composition categories are "Compositions by X". This one is a "by composer" category; Dorham is the composer, and the artist is Joe Henderson. Jafeluv (talk) 11:55, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- I understand a song includes words, and have already supported your suggestion elsewhere not to use the word (song) for instrumentals, what I don't understand is what the correct definitions and difference between "songs with music by" and "compositions by" and when the person who writes the tune (when applicable) is not a composer. I could happily live with merging ALL "with music by" into compositions, after all, it is still a music composition, with or without words. What I really wouldn't want to see is 2 categories for Kenny Dorham or anybody else because he was also the writer of a "song" (whether alone or with a lyricist) as well as this "tune." --Richhoncho (talk) 13:57, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- I would actually not object merging the several "songs with music by" categories with the "compositions by" categories. Even for people like Ellington or Gershwin who composed a lot of notable tunes, a single category would be more than enough (Gershwin, for example, would have 71 "compositions", instead of the current structure with 61 "songs" and 10 "compositions"). Also, as you pointed out above, in some cases the distinction is indeed pretty arbitrary (eg. if someone writes lyrics for a tune 20 years later, should it suddenly be categorized as a "song"?). Jafeluv (talk) 15:48, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- If you are suggesting merging ALL "songs with music by" to "compositions by" you'd have my full support, although you do say, "several" above. I still can't get my head round any difference in the two terms. --Richhoncho (talk) 17:32, 9 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]
- The above is preserved as an archive of the discussion. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the category's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this section.