From [STYLE-577] Add an Event type for musicals/opera/ballet - MetaBrainz JIRA - we have a few requests for new event types so I’ll be opening those for discussion This is something that I can tell would get lots of use, given who (other than me) has asked for it, so it seems like a good start.
Stage performance at the same level as Concert
Stage performance as the parent of Concert
Live performance as the parent of Concert
None - use Concert
None - set no type
0voters
“Concert” doesn’t really fit very well for live performances of musicals, opera and ballet, at least (in fact, a “concert” performance of an opera involves no staging, costumes, etc, so it’s a confusing name). We could add separate events for each type (but that sounds like overkill) or pick something that fits all of them. @ListMyCDs.com suggested “Stage performance” - but neither of us are native speakers, so we are definitely open to better options if anyone has them
Covering (non-musical) theatre plays as well would be ideal, since those are performed with incidental music sometimes that we might want to store, but possibly less important.
Anyway, as usual - does anyone have good reasons not to add a type for this? And if people generally agree with adding it, any suggestions on names?
“Theatrical performance”, maybe? That’d definitely cover musicals and opera (but possibly not ballet—but I’m not sure “stage performance” covers it either, at least not without covering everything). Or just “performance”, which definitely covers it (but a lot more, too).
If you Google for “theatrical performance” you get stuff a lot closer to what you want than Googling for “stage performance”. Not to mention almost every concert is done on a stage…
Also, looking at the ticket—don’t a lot of concerts of modern music include dancing, effects, etc.?
I’m not sure what we’re trying to get at with the event types—but e.g., a sit down, be silent, applaud politely classical concert is very different from a rock concert (both, though, are “concert”). If the event type is supposed to give you some idea what the event was like—we need quite a few more event types.
Unfortunately, so are a lot of performances we don’t want to capture with it. E.g., at a concert which just features music (no theatrical content), the musicians often sit/stand on a stage.
The term “run” (an Event type we currently have) is often used (at least in the States) to refer to a series of performances of a play/musical in a particular location. I don’t know if the term is also used for opera or ballet, but it seems to make sense that it would be.
“Run” was also intended for a series of performances of operas and ballets when added at least, yeah But that doesn’t solve the issue of what to call each specific performance.
Ah, I see. “Stage performance” seems to be the term I would most likely use. (For some reason “production” comes to mind as well, but I don’t know if that specifically means an individual performance or an entire run of them.)
Arguably, they’re still closer to each other conceptually than to a “festival”, “convention” or “masterclass” (for types we already have), or “rehearsal”, “music camp”, “radio show” (for examples of what’s been requested).
“Stage performance” as a parent of “concert” sounds like it could possibly work? (a la “all concerts are stage performances but not all stage performances are concerts”). Sure, some concerts are not on a physical stage, but still. I’m not fully sure if that’s still different enough from the other types, but I think it might be.
“Live performance” is ambiguous, it includes in fact every concert. “Stage performance” seems more appropriate, since Opera/ballet/musical performances generally are “staged” – have a “stage director” in the cast, which simple concerts usually don’t.
I don’t like it very much if we loose the most natural word because of opera.
If it does not suit opera then we need another new word for opera but we keep concert.
Live performance sounds clumsy for concerts, IMO.
Like it means dancing with lip sync or art performance like painting or stuff.
Not if I read the initial posts on this topic… The plan was (among others) to be able to distinguish a concert performance of an opera from a “staged performance” of the same opera
Yes, sorry for the last misleading citation, I proposed “live performance” for the top-level category that would include both concerts and operas, see the above post of reosarevok. @jesus2099 It is a really common term (« spectacle vivant » in French) that indeed includes most of art performances, but that’s the idea. “Concert” would be a subtype of it, alike “Opera”, “Theatre”…
This is something that I can tell would get lots of use, given who (other than me) has asked for it, so it seems like a good start.
with lip sync or art performance like painting or stuff.