# air music



## aesir

Hello: I am confused about the following definition of "air music". It says it's some type of air (that we breath in and out?). I tried to find some examples online and was to no avail - Maybe I searched it the wrong way ...

"An air is a song-like vocal or instrumental composition. The term can also be applied to the interchangeable melodies of folk songs and ballads."


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## Edinburgher

They are not defining "air music".  They are defining "air".  The "(music)" added in brackets simply differentiates this definition of "air" (in a music context) from other meanings that the word "air" may have in a non-music context.


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## aesir

Thank you for the response! So what exactly is an "air music"? Thanks again!


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## entangledbank

There isn't an air music. There is an air. It's a kind of music, a kind of song or tune.


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## Franco-filly

See some definitons from the forum dictionary: 

Air n. [physics] (= the use of the word "air" in relation to physics) the mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and other gases that surrounds the earth and forms its atmosphere.
Air n. [music and dance] (= the use of the word "air" in relation to music and dance) a tune;
melody: _humming a simple air._
Air v. [show business, radio and television] (=the use of the word "air" in relation to show business, etc.) to broadcast or televise;
to be broadcast or televised:


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## aesir

Oh ~ so it's a type of tune/melody ... I hope I finally get it right this time.

Thank you all!


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## MattiasNYC

It's probably worth noting that it's highly unusual to encounter the word "air" referring to any of the above related to music. "Aria" on the other hand is probably more common.


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## aesir

Thank you!


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## Hermione Golightly

The word 'aria' is not an alternative to the word 'air'. 'Air' makes me think of traditional songs or folk music.


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## aesir

Thank you, Hermione


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## Andygc

MattiasNYC said:


> It's probably worth noting that it's highly unusual to encounter the word "air" referring to any of the above related to music.



Trumpet Tune and Air in D major - Purcell
Air on the G String - Bach
Air in G major - Purcell
The Londonderry Air - traditional
etc.

Did I misunderstand you?


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## MattiasNYC

Yes, partially. I was referring to what had been mentioned already. The musical term 'air' is really pretty uncommon compared to "aria". Note that all of what you mentioned seem to be old music.

I've heard the term "air" used to describe the sonic qualities of something, i.e. among producers and sound engineers, but not among musicians to describe what seems to be a 'genre' of music. It's just not common.


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## Edinburgher

MattiasNYC said:


> It's just not common.


As an absolute statement, that's simply not true.  It all depends on context.  You might as well say that "aria" is "just not common" outside the genre of opera.  In the genre of pre-classical (e.g. Baroque and Renaissance) dance suites, and also some traditional folk tunes, "air" is really quite common.


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## Andygc

I tried to post this when the site was down for maintenance, in response to


MattiasNYC said:


> It's just not common.


The term "air" is not at all uncommon. It also seems wrong to compare it to "aria", which has a distinctly different meaning. People who today play classical music which includes an air also today use the word "air". Some of that music is played often, so the word "air" is also used often.

I didn't want to bore you with a lengthy list. Airs didn't end with Bach in the middle of the 18th century. I suggest that you should not dismiss 20th century music as old. A century or less is nothing when current repertoires routinely include music from the 16th century, and sometimes earlier:
Darius Milhaud, Air for viola and orchestra, Op. 242 (1944)
ditto, Kentuckiana, divertissement sur 20 airs du Kentucky, Op. 287 (1948)
Ralph Vaughan-Williams, Slow Air - 4th movement of Suite of 6 Short Pieces (1920)
Frederick Delius, Air and Dance (1915)

It is no surprise that later composers such as Stockhausen and Cage did not write airs. Their music could hardly be described as "song-like" or "lyrical". Composers may no longer make compositions that include an "air", but musicians play and sing a wide variety of airs.


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## MattiasNYC

I started playing a musical instrument back in the 80's. In the 90's I moved to study full-time and after seven years I had a dual major College degree one of which is Jazz Composition. I've since moved from the field of music to professional audio (for the last two decades, roughly).

So when I say it's not common I mean exactly that. During my seven+ years of higher study not once did "air music" get uttered in any context other than talking about the sonic aspects of music, i.e. for sound design and sound engineering.

All people who know something about music is perhaps half the population. More serious listeners a small fraction of that. Musicians and composers an even smaller fraction. Now the question is how often the word "air" is used in any of those groups compared to words like;

ballad, rock, blues, symphony, suite, movement, vocal, folk, instrumental.. etc.

Further more, the original sentence was _"An air is a song-like vocal or instrumental composition. The term can also be applied to the interchangeable melodies of folk songs and ballads." _and I would absolutely say that if the above is true then the words that explain "an air" are actually more common. In other words I hear people talk about a "song" or an "instrumental (composition)". In the case of these interchangeable melodies we don't really say that they're an "air", we call them what they are; "melodies". 

Just that reading the original sentence in question one might get the impression that rather than calling an "instrumental composition" just that it would be equally understandable to call it an "air", and I'm saying that if you do that even musicians will look at you funny not knowing what you're talking about - generally speaking. 

I just fail to see in what context the usage of this is "not at all uncommon" save for the names of pieces of music and for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of society..


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## MattiasNYC

Edinburgher said:


> As an absolute statement, that's simply not true.  It all depends on context.



Ok, fine. But without any context the logical one would to me be "in general", meaning without limiting the population (potentially using the word). Your objection is similar to saying that I can't make a blanket statement that the term "Quantum Field Theory" is uncommon relative to the term "Ice Cream" because among theoretical physicists its used all the time...



Edinburgher said:


> You might as well say that "aria" is "just not common" outside the genre of opera.  In the genre of pre-classical (e.g. Baroque and Renaissance) dance suites, and also some traditional folk tunes, "air" is really quite common.



That's correct, "aria" is not common outside of that genre, but my point is that even among _non_-"classical" musicians and composers - i.e. among jazzers, rockers, folkers, punkers etc - an "aria" is going to be a more commonly known term than "air".


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## kentix

As a non-music person, I have to agree with Mattias. I don't think I've heard this use of "air" before, although I've heard every other musical word in this thread used. It might be a common word in certain genres but it's not a widespread, commonly understood word from a general audience point of view in my opinion (and I would know, I have no musical training).


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## PaulQ

*OED*
Air (n.)
II. Melody.
10.
*a. A tune, a melody; a piece of music in which a single melodic line predominates, and which has little or no distinctive accompaniment; (sometimes) spec. a song with simple or unobtrusive accompaniment.*
Occasionally (esp. in early use) with suggestion of lightness or liveliness1 (cf. aria n.); also spec. (in Early Music also in form ayre) a song to be accompanied by the lute.

1910   D. Macdonald Irish Music 3   The Ancient Irish used the gapped scale in many of their airs.
1981   Times Lit. Suppl. 23 Oct. 1243/4   The more educated sang chamber music, including..English ayres and Italian and English madrigals.
1991   J. Caldwell Oxf. Hist. Eng. Music I. vii. 424   The sixth book consists entirely of church music except for the air of a canzo in honour of Princess Elizabeth.
2000   Vancouver Province (Nexis) 28 Mar. b5   An album of lively airs and reels played with passion and the impeccably high standards of musicianship this band always displays.

1 Compare "I don't want any of your *air*y-fairy ideas around here!" It is this transferred idea of lightness, being ephemeral, - like ... er... air...


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## Andygc

MattiasNYC said:


> not once did "air music" get uttered in any context


Of course not. It's been made clear from Edinburgher's post 2 that there is no phrase "air music". The word "air" is used to describe a particular type of musical composition, commonly within a larger work. It is primarily a description which is also used in titles, not a word used only in titles. To suggest that people who are familiar with classical music are so few that the word is uncommon is ludicrous.

PS. Cross-posted with PaulQ, whose post reminds me that I should have added - While jazz musicians and rockers might not know what an air is, folk singers most certainly do. That adds a few million users of the word to the millions who enjoy classical music of the 17th to 20th centuries.


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## MattiasNYC

Andygc said:


> To suggest that people who are familiar with classical music are so few that the word is uncommon is ludicrous.



You're assuming that "people who are familiar with classical music" are all aware of the word. Again, I propose that the word is by far less common than other words used even within the area of classical music.

But to also reiterate: It's exactly the same as saying that Quantum Field Theory is commonly used _without_ qualifying that one has shrunk the population down to theoretical physicists and fans of the field. In the general public it just isn't used much. "Gravity" is. "Rock" is... relatively speaking.

You can tell me all you want that this is a commonly used term and I'll just tell you based on my experience if you go ahead and tell a musician or composer you like "air" they'll give you a blank stare 90% of the time, because not only is the word not often used, it's used so infrequently that to a lot of people in that subgroup of the population it means literally the air that we breathe. If you try to put it in a context like "I like music. Particularly 'air'" the reaction will likely be exactly the same, albeit with a request to explain just what that means.



Andygc said:


> PS. Cross-posted with PaulQ, whose post reminds me that I should have added - While jazz musicians and rockers might not know what an air is, folk singers most certainly do. That adds a few million users of the word to the millions who enjoy classical music of the 17th to 20th centuries.



I think an indication of the frequency of usage of this word is visualized by searching Wikipedia on the entry and comparing it to all the other musical terms we use. Look up "pop", "classical", "aria", "instrumental" etc and you'll see the difference. Unfortunately we can't "ngram" this thing because the word is primarily used to talk about the air we breathe.

The fundamental question here is what "common usage" really means. Is it a million people among billions? Is it 50+% or some other percentage of the total population? Is it determined by looking at a subsection of the entire population, and if so how is that subgroup defined?

A brief googling shows that if you're looking at how much is being paid per genre classical sits around 2-3% or so (statista puts the album consumption of classical for 2018 at 1% which seems low). I would wager that most people who consume music without paying are going to be overrepresented in non-classical/jazz, further skewing the already large discrepancy. So as I said, we really are talking about a fraction of a fraction here... possibly of another fraction...


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## JulianStuart

I gree up with a broad mix of musical enjoyment, including Renaissance, Baroque and Classical, as well as English, Scottish and Irish folk (among others), where “air” is pretty common.  I rarely listen to opera but certainly am familiar with the term “aria”, so I would be surprised to hear a “composer” express unfamiliarity with the word “air” in a music context.


I think I first heard the word was in a Victor Borge piece about the soprano singing before she dies at the end of an act: a so-called “Die-aria”


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## MattiasNYC

A composer of rock music?

What does "common" mean? In general.


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## JulianStuart

MattiasNYC said:


> A composer of rock music?
> 
> What does "common" mean? In general.


Any (broad-minded/experienced) composer   I used common to refer to my personal experience and my "surprise" would occur no matter what.  Rather like I would be surprised if a "rock composer" had not heard of a bassoon.


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## kentix

PaulQ said:


> An album of lively *airs and reels*


Where I live that would mostly get you a blank stare (I'm guessing, I can't prove it.)

I do have the benefit of having seen the word "reel" used but I'd be hard-pressed to give my own definition.

I wonder what the recognition factor of "guitar lick" would be in certain classical demographics?


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## PaulQ

kentix said:


> Where I live that would mostly get you a blank stare (I'm guessing, I can't prove it.)


 I assume you thought it meant a photo album of various gases and fishing equipment... but, especially with reference to Scottish/Irish traditional music, the population speaks of little else.


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## kentix

That might be one difference. Over here it would be more likely to be qualified, I think, instead of a standalone word. The reference would be to an Irish reel and not just a reel. That would narrow the possible meaning down considerably, unless you had an unhealthy fascination with Irish fishing gear.


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## MattiasNYC

JulianStuart said:


> Any (broad-minded/experienced) composer   I used common to refer to my personal experience and my "surprise" would occur no matter what.  Rather like I would be surprised if a "rock composer" had not heard of a bassoon.



I feel like the discussion is a bit circular, possibly just like the logic; It's common to use the word among those who use the word. People who don't know the word won't use it. What makes a composer "broad-minded"? Probably knowledge of different genres, including those in which the word "air" is used. 

Like I said - limiting the population to those who use the word obviously makes the use more likely to be common within _that _group of people. That's why I was asking what the word "common" means in threads like this one.

I feel compelled to restate that I went to a school with about 3,500 students here in the US, which over the 3+ years I went there must have recycled 66% logically, so I was exposed to at least 5,500 students if my math serves me. Before then more students at smaller schools, and throughout a bunch of musicians and composers. Never recall hearing the word "air" used this way, but almost all other words I've brought up have been used repeatedly. It's a relatively uncommon word... But yeah, I'm not a person who is in that tiny scene...


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## Andygc

MattiasNYC said:


> tell a musician or composer you like "air" they'll give you a blank stare 90% of the time


You'd get a blank stare from me too. Nobody in his right mind would say that.


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## PaulQ

Given the search terms *an Irish air,a Scottish air,a traditional air,an Irish tune,a Scottish tune,a traditional tune,* the results are enough to say that *tune *and *air *are not so far apart in frequency.


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## PaulQ

MattiasNYC said:


> I'll just tell you based on my experience if you go ahead and tell a musician or composer you like "air" they'll give you a blank stare 90% of the time,


As Andy points out, that is an incorrect use of "air": It is a countable noun'


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## kentix

I'd be careful with that. Five of your six search terms only give one result (possibly from the same book). It's not enough data to make a legitimate comparison with.


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## PaulQ

That's strange! I am looking at a fair number in each category.


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## kentix

Actually it says that when I switch between British and American English.

I've wondered how accurate it is before because I've seen sometimes where it would pop up and then on the same graph it would not pop up.


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## JulianStuart

MattiasNYC said:


> People who don't know the word won't use it. What makes a composer "broad-minded"? Probably knowledge of different genres, including those in which the word "air" is used.


 The bassoon was mentioned as it is not used much in rock music, so a "rock composer" may think the instrument is "uncommon".  And yes, the "broad-" was intended to go with both minded and experienced: if a "rock composer" never listens to any other kind of music, that's the "narrow- " version of the characteristic - so they would have heard of neither an "air" nor a bassoon.  And yes, such terms may be common in one group and unheard-of in another (and definitely vice versa, too)


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## PaulQ

kentix said:


> Actually it says that when I switch between British and American English.


My link should go to "English", i.e. in general.
It could be the difference in our search engines; mine is Google.co.uk

Some idea of the accuracy is given by Julian's test: searching "color,colour" in BE and AE.


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## RM1(SS)

kentix said:


> I'd be careful with that. Five of your six search terms only give one result (possibly from the same book). It's not enough data to make a legitimate comparison with.


To me, the interesting thing about that is that the 'tune' variants seem to have been almost nonexistent until around 1890.


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## PaulQ

The Ngram starts with "Irish tune" at its height but is quickly overtaken by "Irish air" - otherwise It's probably more a function of the adjective and Victorian interest in popular romantic music of the day - a tune can be any style but an air always has the smell of wistfulness romanticism about it. The words have both existed since Middle English.


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## MattiasNYC

I just want to say that the only reason I'm talking about whether or not "an air" is common is because I think the OP and others should be aware that just because it has a musical use doesn't mean that if you're talking to a musician or composer they'll know what it is, and that in fact statistically you're far more likely to get a blank stare than not, and that as a result of that there are other words that will more easily and quickly make you understood - which I think is part of what the forum is for.. (I could be wrong of course).. So I'm not just trying to be argumentative..


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## MattiasNYC

PaulQ said:


> Given the search terms *an Irish air,a Scottish air,a traditional air,an Irish tune,a Scottish tune,a traditional tune,* the results are enough to say that *tune *and *air *are not so far apart in frequency.



Within _that_ context, yes. Most of the worlds population however is probably more aware of "tunes" than "airs".



PaulQ said:


> As Andy points out, that is an incorrect use of "air": It is a countable noun'



It doesn't really matter if I say "Would you like to listen to air?" or "Would you like to listen to an air?":

I tried this yesterday when I met up with an American composer here in New York. I asked him if he liked "air". He gave me a blank stare. Then I asked if he liked that type of music. Blank stare. He thought I was messing around with him. It took a couple of minutes before he said "Oh, wait, air is some sort of classical music, right?" So, he didn't think of Irish music and I specifically asked him if he knew about Irish airs, and he didn't. He knows Irish tunes though, traditional or not.

So, as I was saying, asking him if he knows what a "tune" is would yield an equally blank stare because obviously he does, and that's again the point - "Do you like to listen to airs" means virtually nothing to him.


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## Myridon

MattiasNYC said:


> (I could be wrong of course).. So I'm not just trying to be argumentative..


You are and you  are.


MattiasNYC said:


> It doesn't really matter if I say "Would you like to listen to air?" or "Would you like to listen to an air?":
> 
> I tried this yesterday when I met up with an American composer here in New York. I asked him if he liked "air". He gave me a blank stare.


It does matter. "Air" is that stuff with oxygen and nitrogen in it. An air is a tune like O Danny Boy (Londonderry Air).


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## MattiasNYC

JulianStuart said:


> The bassoon was mentioned as it is not used much in rock music, so a "rock composer" may think the instrument is "uncommon".  And yes, the "broad-" was intended to go with both minded and experienced: if a "rock composer" never listens to any other kind of music, that's the "narrow- " version of the characteristic - so they would have heard of neither an "air" nor a bassoon.  And yes, such terms may be common in one group and unheard-of in another (and definitely vice versa, too)



I understand your point, but in my experience a rock musician/composer, even one with a narrow focus, would be far more likely to know that a bassoon was a musical instrument than know that "an air" was a musical term.

I really do think the broader question is: How do we determine when a word is "common" or "uncommon"? (assuming nothing further is said)


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## MattiasNYC

Myridon said:


> You are and you  are.



How do you decide if a term is common?



Myridon said:


> It does matter. "Air" is that stuff with oxygen and nitrogen in it. An air is a tune like O Danny Boy (Londonderry Air).



No, it doesn't matter. Using both terms as I just explained yielded the exact same result.


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## MattiasNYC

I know nobody is going to reply, so:



> com•mon _/ˈkɑmən/_  adj.,  *-er, -est,* n.
> adj.
> 
> 
> belonging *equally to*, or *shared alike *by: We all have a common objective, to stop the mayor's reelection.
> relating to or belonging to *an entire community, nation, or culture*: They had a common language, English.
> [before a noun] *widespread*;
> *general*;
> *universal*: There was common understanding that he would be promoted.
> of *frequent occurrence*;
> *usual*;
> *familiar*: It was a common error.



None of the above bold items apply to "an air" _except_ when you narrow the population size quite a bit (thus conforming with "community" in #2), which then would be in stark contrast to everything else in that definition (which is from here).


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## Myridon

MattiasNYC said:


> II really do think the broader question is: How do we determine when a word is "common" or "uncommon"? (assuming nothing further is said)


All of us are telling you that it is a "normal" word.  The thing that it describes may not be something that you personally have come across.  I'm sure that there are people in the music department at your high school who have played or sung "O Danny Boy" and seen words to the effect of "To the tune of Londonderry Air" on the sheet music.  I think I've seen it listed on doorbells as a choice.

If you ask your friend what a durian is, they might not know because they haven't come across one.  That doesn't mean that it is not the common word for that fruit.


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## JulianStuart

MattiasNYC said:


> It doesn't really matter if I say "Would you like to listen to air?" or "Would you like to listen to an air?":
> 
> I tried this yesterday when I met up with an American composer here in New York. I asked him if he liked "air". He gave me a blank stare. Then I asked if he liked that type of music. Blank stare. He thought I was messing around with him. It took a couple of minutes before he said "Oh, wait, air is some sort of classical music, right?" So, he didn't think of Irish music and I specifically asked him if he knew about Irish airs, and he didn't. He knows Irish tunes though, traditional or not.
> 
> So, as I was saying, asking him if he knows what a "tune" is would yield an equally blank stare because obviously he does, and that's again the point - "Do you like to listen to airs" means virtually nothing to him.


Air is never used as an adjective or uncountably in the music context, so the wording of your question does matter.  "Would you like to listen to gavot(te)?"  "Would you like to listen to aria?" are similarly not correct without the indefinite article.  Your final question using plural does work, however, parallel to "Do you like to listen to arias?"



JulianStuart said:


> And yes, such terms may be common in one group and unheard-of in another (and definitely vice versa, too)


 but I would not classify this use of "air" as "highly unusual", 


MattiasNYC said:


> It's probably worth noting that it's highly unusual to encounter the word "air" referring to any of the above related to music. "Aria" on the other hand is probably more common.


It would be interesting to know how many people are "into opera" and how many "are into Scottish and Irish folk music and some subset of classical music" and how they compare to those who are "into rock music"  This goes directly to the question on what "common" means.  On a lighter note, I _would _agree to use the term "highly unusual" to describe the use of a bassoon in popular rock music


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## MattiasNYC

Myridon said:


> All of us are telling you that it is a "normal" word.  The thing that it describes may not be something that you personally have come across.  I'm sure that there are people in the music department at your high school who have played or sung "O Danny Boy" and seen words to the effect of "To the tune of Londonderry Air" on the sheet music.  I think I've seen it listed on doorbells as a choice.
> 
> If you ask your friend what a durian is, they might not know because they haven't come across one.  That doesn't mean that it is not the common word for that fruit.



What I said was that* it's unusual to encounter the word when referring to or talking about "a type of tune/medlody", "a tune;", "a kind of music, a kind of song or tune", "a music context" - because most music is NOT that genre(s).*

Get it now?

OBVIOUSLY a name for a fruit becomes common _when calling the fruit by that name_. I mean, duh! I'm NOT saying that "durian" isn't the common name for the fruit that has been given the name "durian", I'm saying that most people don't use the word "durian" when talking about fruit - the usage of the word is uncommon!


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## MattiasNYC

JulianStuart said:


> It would be interesting to know how many people are "into opera" and how many "are into Scottish and Irish folk music and some subset of classical music" and how they compare to those who are "into rock music"  This goes directly to the question on what "common" means.



I think the better question is not to compare those who are into that folk music or a subset of classical to those into rock music, but to _all_ people who are into music that isn't one or both of the first categories. I mentioned I searched for music sales for the past year or two and about 1-3% are buying classical depending on the source you're looking at. Irish folk is most likely less than that.

We really are talking about a fraction of music consumers here (of which musicians and composers are a part).



JulianStuart said:


> On a lighter note, I _would _agree to use the term "highly unusual" to describe the use of a bassoon in popular rock music



cowbell on the other hand...


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## aesir

Oh, wow ~ Thank you all so very much for the very detailed explanations that you have given! I am going to read them a few more times ...


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## Myridon

MattiasNYC said:


> the usage of the word is uncommon!


If the thing is uncommon, it's not fair to say that the word is uncommon if that word is used every time the thing is referenced.  That is as common as it is possible for any word to be.


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## MattiasNYC

Using that logic the word "car" is not more or less common in language than the word "bios", because every time we're talking about a car we say "car", and every time we talk about a bios we say "bios". I don't think that makes sense.

*Interestingly, if you look up "air (music)" on Wikipedia  *you can see examples of John Dowland who apparently was among the first to make the "airs" popular. But if you click on the link to each "air" mentioned those individual pieces are referred to as "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" - _not_ "an air". Why would that be? I say it is because those words are more commonly used and understood. And so when a musician who isn't well versed in this particular genre(s) hears a composition he'll likely refer to it as a song or composition, not an "air", and he would be correct. Therefore it is not really true that we're always referring to this thing we're talking about using that one name, and nothing else.

There are  a lot of people that didn't grow up with the English language _and also don't have cultural roots connecting them with Irish music_. If they hear an "Irish air" they'll call it an "Irish song" or "tune", because that's an accurate description using a word they know and understand.

I'm getting the feeling people have made up their minds about this though.


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## PaulQ

MattiasNYC said:


> But if you click on the link to each "air" mentioned those individual pieces are referred to as "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" - _not_ "an air". Why would that be?


It would be because that description is more general. You can describe "anthems" as "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" but it gives you no idea what sort of "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" they are. "Airs" does this.


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## owlman5

aesir said:


> Oh, wow ~ Thank you all so very much for the very detailed explanations that you have given! I am going to read them a few more times ...


I'm glad that you're happy, aesir.  I figured at first that you were being ironic.


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## MattiasNYC

PaulQ said:


> It would be because that description is more general. You can describe "anthems" as "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" but it gives you no idea what sort of "songs", "compositions" or an "instrumental" they are. "Airs" does this.



I obviously understand that. Doesn't make those words any less more common than "airs" though.


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