Re: genre - style - category

[Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org>]

>--- Matthias Grob <matthias@grob.org> wrote:
>>  hm... dictionary...
>>
>>  I am not sure about genre, but to me, style and
>>  category are not the same.
>>
>>  Style is rather tradition oriented, its the
>>  "cookbook" for a way to play music. etc
>
>I think there's bound to be an inevitable degree of
>equivocation since we all have different backgrounds
>and these terms are used in areas other than music. To
>me, genre and category mean approximately the same
>thing. Like Matthias, I also think that 'style'
>differs slightly in meaning, but my interpretation
>tends towards the other direction; to me, 'style'
>connotates a combination of personality, affectation,
>cliche (affinity for or resistance to), habit, talent,
>imagination, work ethic, individuality, specific
>personal experiences, genetics and chance. I use the
>term the way it's often used in the visual arts, but I
>recognize the way Matthias uses it too...


hm... feel you... its when you say that somebody "has style"
it means that a whole set of characteristics fit together, creates a 
unity which has an impact, as if there was only one spirit in all 
parts...
so maybe, reapplied to music, it comes up when all instruments and 
sounds fit together in a way that creates a perceivable, "round" 
character... and only in a second motion, once such a style is 
elaborated, it turns into a tradition and cliches are copied from 
there into other contexts, which then may turn into a new style, if 
well done...
is that it?
-- 


          ---> http://Matthias.Grob.org