Notational Music

So what do you call music that's currently being produced by composers that are heirs the modern-day European classical music tradition (Bach, Mozart, Beethoven and friends)?

'Classical music' is just silly because there's nothing classical about it -- it's modern, contemporary music being made now, or in the past few years. It's also just plain confusing, because 'Classical' refers to a period in European music and art (painting, architecture, etc.) coming between the Baroque and the Romantic period. Properly speaking, Bach isn't a Classical musician; he's Baroque. Neither is late Beethoven; he's Romantic. (Mozart and Haydn are Classical).

'Art music ' is elitist. As if the only music that qualifies is 'art' is created by this very specific group, the educated elites of Euro-Western society.

'New music' betrays how narrow the listening interests of anyone using it are. It only makes sense if all you listen to is music from this genre.

Same thing with 'avant-garde.' Obviously, there's avant-garde music outside of this genre -- free jazz, 'pop' musicians like Captain Beefheart, Aphex Twin, and Yoko Ono (yes, gawdammit, some of us do like her music), maybe things like grindcore and even punk itself.

'Elite music' doesn't take into account the shift in our society from an aristocratic to a democratic model. Sure, fans and performers of this music are still disproportinately drawn from the ranks of the rich and best-educated, but it's -- at least in theory -- accessible to anyone.

Therefore, I propose the following term, after much thought and frustration with existing terms and ways of referring to this tradition:
Notational music. This term does not have any judgemental implications, and in simply describing how the music functions it is quite accurate and says something insightful about the music itself -- and the culture that surrounds its creation and performance. In other words, the fact that it is written down and transmitted through writing has a defining affect on it. (More about this in the next post). This distinguishes it from popular, folk, and jazz music, which may be written down, but for whom notation is never necessary, and which has never been central to how it is typically composed, learned, performed, criticized, or talked about.

It also distinguishes it from other elitest 'art' musics in other cultures, who sometimes use a form of notation, (China and Japan, for example), but for whom this writing is more a reminder than a recipe. No one will get a proper idea of what a piece of music sounds like without hearing it performed. But within the Western notational music genre, a piece is considered complete and self-sufficient when it has been written down for the first time by the composer. It does not necessarily need a performance to exist -- or be discussed and criticized -- though one would be nice. (Thus the habit of many of composers of quietly salting away pieces that don't receive performances for many years, if even in their lifetime).

Yep, notational music.
I'm sure it won't catch on.