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== An earlier unreleased recording of a pop song surpassing the official release ==
== ] ==


Watchers of this page may be interested in the discussion at ] ] ≠ ] 11:25, 1 May 2024 (UTC)
According to the policy page: ''"When a track is not strictly a ] (in other words a composition without lyrics, or an instrumental that is not a cover of a song), disambiguation should be done using "(composition)" or "(instrumental)"."'' This is a request for an admin to complete the move of that page to ''Tequila (instrumental)''. ] (]) 20:02, 2 February 2012 (UTC)


== In the case that an artist releases music under multiple aliases, should their name or one of their aliases take title precendence? ==
== Editors jumping in and revising guidelines w/o consensus ==


In particular, ] of ] has released a great deal of music under the solo project Giant Claw (the current title of his Misplaced Pages page), but has also solo-produced several death's dynamic shroud mixtapes to the point that his releases under that (group) alias rival his number of releases as Giant Claw. As he is established as a primary member of DDS in addition to these solo releases, should his article remain under the title "Giant Claw" or be revised to his name? ] (]) 00:46, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
At ]:


:Best handled case-by-case. Ultimately, ] would overrule any naming convention that we write in here. ] (]) 16:32, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
'''Revision as of 16:17, 31 January 2012 (edit) (undo)'''<br>
] (talk | contribs)<br>
''(→Articles in series: '''per talk.''')''<br>
"or by some other well-established method''', such as a prevalent nickname (], which should have a redirect from the systematic name).'''"


== Naming conventions for boy bands ==
Per ''<u>what</u>'' talk? Where was any consensus for this?


There seems to be a huge disconnect between what is listed in this naming convention guideline and what is actually out there in the wild.
In the meantime, Melodia has correctly responded with<br>
'''Latest revision as of 16:42, 31 January 2012 (edit) (undo)'''<br>
] (talk | contribs)<br>
''(→Articles in series: '''The whole point of it keeping its name is that it's not a 'nickname' per se)'''<br>
changing "'''nickname'''" to "'''non-generic name, such as'''", but still leaving the remaining added wording unchanged.


] states the naming convention for non-instrument playing musical ensembles is to:<br>
Why would ''anyone'' feel free to jump in and take it upon himself to just go in and change the wording - ''and the meaning'' - of a guideline willy-nilly when there is obviously no consensus for such a revision? ] (]) 21:10, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
{{tq|1=Use "'''(group)'''" when the musical ensemble members do not perform by playing musical instruments, the members are mainly vocalists, and other people perform by playing musical instruments.}}<br>


Now, let's look at what the boy band articles are '''actually''' named, in practice:
*'''Comment''': I don't know about anyone else here, but if I had what I thought would be a clarification or improvement to a policy or guideline page, I would go to its talkpage and create a '''New section''' titled ''Proposed change in wording''. At least that's what ''I'' would do. It seems only reasonable. Not to mention polite. (And thank you, Melodia, for fixing the edit, correcting and maintaining the important distinction between a nickname and a true name assigned by the composer.) ] (]) 22:10, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
* I looked at the top 5 most-populated categories in ]
*Perhaps ]? ] (]) 22:28, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
** ] - Of the 101 articles that use a disambiguator, 79 are disambiguated with "band", and only 22 with "group" (78% use "'''band'''")
::That leads to revert warring - I think Melodia's revision was preferable as a temporary fix, and now discussion. ] (]) 22:49, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
** ] - Of the 20 articles that use a disambiguator, 16 are disambiguated with "band", and only 4 with "group" (80% use '''band''')
:::I tend to agree; there is always some room to be ], but the general encouragement of BOLDness lessens on a guideline page like this one. ] (]) 23:04, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
** ] - Of 37 articles that use a disambiguator, 27 are disambiguated with "band", and only 10 with "group" (73% use '''band''')
::::You're absolutely correct in making that important distinction, Dohn joe. Policies and guidelines are different from articles; and we are already thick with confusing discussions on this talkpage. Any ad hoc changes to the guideline page are out of order. ] (]) 23:12, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
** ] - Of 8 articles that use a disambiguator, 7 are disambiguated with "band", zero disambiguated with "group". (100% use '''band''')
:::::Just thought that <small>]</small> could have provided a rationale for the change, given the lack of any response so far to JCScaliger's reasoned ].
** ] - Of 6 articles that use a disambiguator, 5 are disambiguated with "band", 1 is disambiguated with "group". (83% use '''band''')
::::::BRD has its uses, MistyMorn, but with or without a specific response to the post pointed to, I'm afraid I still think going in and changing the text without notice of intent here was wrong. ] (]) 00:36, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::::I wouldn't have been so bold either. But my limited understanding is that such an edit was legitimate. Certainly, the points raised by JCScaliger will have to be addressed sooner or later. ] (]) 00:51, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
{{FYI|1=] has been indef blocked as a sockpuppet of ] (blocked for another year for abusive sockpuppetry).}}
::::::Are there ''substantive'' reasons why ] should not be placed where it is? This is at least clear; those who would prefer a different clarity should say so, and say why. ] (]) 04:06, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
{{outdent}}
I don't think the new wording is a problem, but I've added one word ''(exceptionally)'' in clarification. Please say if anyone disagrees with it. Thanks. --'']]'' 02:43, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
:I'm not sure it adds much in practice; this example will only be appealed to in cases which are as exceptional as "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" is. I would not have added the word; but it is not a problem until we start getting arguments whether a piece is "exceptional" or not. ] (]) 04:06, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
::Yeah, 'exceptionally' seems really silly, since even if it's not common, the point is it occurs. ] comes to mind right away. ] (]) 05:18, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
<br>
*Why the phrase '' "per WP:NAMINGCRITERIA"''? Surely it shouldn't be necessary to have to contend that the local guideline is in keeping with the general policy? Anyway, it would have to be: ''"Article titles for compositions in the same, or similar forms, should always be <u>recognizable, natural, concise,</u> precise and consistent, per WP:NAMINGCRITERIA..."'' Which would be tautological. '''Suggest''' to remove the phrase ''"<u>per ]</u>"'' from ]. ] (]) 11:57, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
*'''Oppose''' – I think it's important to explicitly demonstrate that this local guideline is in keeping with the general guideline. This was supported by ] at the time. -- ] (]) 12:47, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
::<small>A small disclaimer: My "'''''support'''''" was limited (nuanced) and I certainly never supported excluding the common names. ] (]) 20:30, 1 February 2012 (UTC)</small>
*I'm not sure what we're "supporting" or "opposing", but I think PMA's diff is fine. I think everyone here is ok with EKM as an exception, right? It seems to be in line with our ], also. ] <small>(] &#124; ])</small> 18:44, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
::I'm opposing the bolded suggestion by MistyMorn above my previous contribution.<br />{{Querylink|Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (music)|qs=&diff=474231246&oldid=473941823|Pmanderson's edit}} failed to recognise the lengthy discussion about the difference between problematic nicknames and proper undisputed common names. ]'s article title is not an exception, it follows ] and ]. I think that the {{Querylink|Misplaced Pages:Naming conventions (music)|qs=&diff=next&oldid=474235051|parenthetical "(exceptionally)"}} is unnecessary. (The spelling of K. 525's name needs to be corrected, too.) -- ] (]) 03:28, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
:::PMA's edit might have failed to recognize the discussion here, but it did recognize the much more well-established consensus behind ]. ] <small>(] &#124; ])</small> 05:03, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::I don't see that distinction between nicknames and common names myself; can someone come up with an example where an (undesirable) nickname is "prevalent"? If there aren't any, that's not a problem.


Overall, of the five categories I checked, '''78% of boy band articles that require a disambiguation are using "band"'''.
:::::Those who want to change the spelling of '']'' should begin on that page; is this issue the capital ''K''? That is proper and customary in ''titles of works'' in English; English speakers no more use German capitalization than in calling the same piece ''A Little Night Music''. ] (]) 23:41, 2 February 2012 (UTC)


It seems like, while "group" is the de-jure disambiguator for non-instrument-playing boy bands, in practice, the widely accepted convention is to use "band". And I know what you're thinking, "some boy bands play instruments!", well, not these ones - you can check for yourselves, these are all (or almost all) singing/dancing bands, not instrument bands.
=== Test case/s for the recent amendment ===


So, where do we go from here? Do we start the process of bringing those "band" articles into "group" naming convention? Do we update the naming convention to match what is most common in actual practice? Do we just leave everything as the status-quo and hope it all works itself out in the end?
]? (ie ] — ] — ] — ]) Thoughts? ] (]) 10:10, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
:Did you even look at the articles? "Sometimes refereed to as", "though the composer didn't designate it as such" and "published as". I think it's pretty clear that, despite their common numberings, those pieces are QUITE clearly named as they are now. We don't have an article on ], we have it on ] (and the numbering in Liszt's case IS often used). To demonstrate with a really silly example, we don't have ], we have ]. ] (]) 15:00, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
::I'm just trying to confirm more fully the consensus on this last change without taking anything for granted. For instance, that cases like Eine Kleine are—as you yourself pointed out—not at all exceptional. Here, there are four such examples in a 'series' of nine. That the statement ''In all cases, current scholarly practice should be followed'' doesn't stretch to providing a rationale for renaming ] to "Ocean Symphony" (presumably thanks to RVW's own acknowledgement of the 'nickname'). Personally I find it strange to see titles like ] without inclusion of the composer's name (unlike, for example, ]), even though the disambiguation is quite clear. But others will doubtless disagree. As I've posted ], ''...when establishing a set of guidelines, it's important to take the time to consider examples and possible issues arising. I've invited comment on a series of examples that I think are broadly similar to Eine Kleine to help explore how the recent changes to WP:MUSICSERIES function in slightly different contexts. The named Vaughan Williams symphonies may be relatively uncontroversial. Apart from one possible exception, they don't really touch on the controversy regarding cases—of which Moonlight is just one—where the common name is also a nickname.'' I think it's good to know where we are. Adopting guidelines just on a take it or leave it, love it or loathe it basis is wrong, imo. ] (]) 15:45, 4 February 2012 (UTC)


Thoughts? ] (]) 04:06, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
=== But what about ]? ===
:I'll note that girl groups don't have the same issue - they almost universally use "group" as their disambiguator. {{pb}}I think part of the disconnect is because the terminology is "boy band" vs. "girl group" - the more natural disambiguation for "boy band" is "band" because that word is already part of what that class of musical ensemble is commonly known as. The opposite is true for for "girl group" - using the "group" disambiguator is natural because "group" is part of that class of musical ensemble's common name. ] (]) 04:11, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
::There's been some discussion and pushback on this. Consensus seems to be that "band" is just as accurate for a vocal group. See ], ]. ] (]) 04:37, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Oh, and I had also proposed that we just use "musical group" for everything and that didn't take off. See the 2021 discussion at the top of this talkpage. ] (]) 04:41, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
:::Yeah I've seen those big giant page move proposals in my travels.{{pb}}I also saw the discussion from 2021 but it doesn't seem like the loop was actually closed... it would be a lot simpler to codify what is already the de-facto naming convention for boy bands, and then discuss moving the ~35 articles that currently use "group", versus continuing to use "group" and try to move the ~135 articles that use "band" to bring them in line with the "group" naming convention. ] (]) 05:02, 4 November 2024 (UTC)


== RfC about the naming conventions for boy bands ==
For Vaughan Williams Symphonies, so far so good... ], not "Ocean Symphony", is the common name. And ] is (arguably) fine as it stands without any mention of VW. But Beethoven's "Pastoral symphony" is by far the more common name (by a factor of 5 even on Google Scholar: about vs ). So, a '''Question''': Given ] (and therefore scholarship apart), why "]" without 'Pastoral' <u>anywhere</u> in the title? According to WP:UCN, ''The term most typically used in reliable sources is preferred to technically correct but rarer forms, whether the official name, the scientific name, the birth name, the original name or the trademarked name.'' ] (]) 15:56, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
{{closed rfc top
:To accommodate the common name 'Pastoral' without affecting consistency (in the spirit of WP:MUSICSERIES), '''Suggest''' ], or something similar. ] (]) 13:18, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
| result = There is clear consensus that per common usage and practice the disamb for a ] should be a (band). See ] for my update to ]. '']''<sup>]</sup> 11:40, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
::Your google scholar stats are flawed. The Beethoven outnumbers the Vaughan Williams because more people study Beethoven than Vaughan Williams. Plus there are several other ] as well. The issue with the VW is that the composer did not number any of his symphonies until he got to #4. "A Pastoral Symphony" is not a "common name", its how VW published this work. Its the numbering which was retrofitted later. As far as I know, Beethoven's Pastoral is just a nickname and most people also know it as the "6th". Its not like Mozart's 13th serenade.] (]) 15:44, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
}}
:::Well taken. Your 'apples versus pears' objection is certainly justified from a 'within-article' perspective. However, I think the point that, when taken out of context, most music lovers associate the phrase "pastoral symphony" firstly with Beethoven (and with Handel, Vaughan Williams, Rawsthorne etc afterwards, depending on the context) is relevant to the identification of the ]. Even Kleinzach acknowledges (below) that WP:COMMONNAME does not exclude nicknames, if ''accurate'' and typically ''used to refer to the subject in English-language reliable sources sources used as references for the article.'' As, I think, is the case here. Can we honestly say that 'Pastoral' is not part of the common name for Beethoven's Sixth? ] (]) 16:08, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::::It wouldn't bother me one bit if the VW article got a "(Vaughan Williams)" disambiguator. Your google scholar stats didn't compare "Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony" to "Beethoven's Sixth Symphony". Its probably too difficult to get a good result for the latter because of the number of ways you can say "sixth" (sixth, 6th, no. 6, #6, etc) but I'd guess it would be much more even. I think its a question of whether use of the nickname becomes so pervasive that people never use the other title. That's not the case here. Most people also it as the 6th.] (]) 16:31, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:::Of course, Beethoven didn't number his symphonies (or his piano sonatas, or his trios, or...) either. The title page of the "Eroica" simply says "Sinfonia Grande", with the scratched-out Napoleon dedication. The numbering - like the nicknames - came later. ] (]) 16:44, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::All unnamed and unnumbered pieces end up getting numbered, whether its by the publisher or the musicologist. And Beethoven knew his symphonies were numbered, unless the famous "because the Eighth is so much better." quote was somehow paraphrased in translation over the years (which is possible). VW gave his works explicit titles until #4 came along.] (]) 17:34, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
<br>
::::: <small>(Replying to DavidRF, edit conflict:)</small> Well taken again, though I'd still argue that the comparison provides pertinent information on usage of 'pastoral' (cf etc). ''A query:'' Why do you object to including 'Pastoral' in the title if that name is <u>also</u> also extremely common? Based on current Misplaced Pages policy, I can't see any reason for ] of such universally recognized appellatives. To me, that sort of exclusion seems unfriendly to general users, and out of kilter with what Misplaced Pages is. ] (]) 16:49, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::I just don't like the title getting too busy. Add nicknames and then there's a debate over which nicknames "title-worthy", then people want opus numbers in the title too, or the key. Then the question as to how you order all of that? Many of these issues are rather subtle and require explanation as well. Then we have to run around and move a bunch of articles. Then when people notice that editors in different sections are doing it differently, then we have to move them again. Then we have to move them all when when people change their minds. Just look how long these particular article-name discussions have been going on. "Minor edits" become page-moves which become a big maintenance nightmare. Maybe pragmaticism is not a very convincing viewpoint but there are advantages to the clean and simple system we have now. Navigation templates and the very first line of the article clear things up for everyone. It just seems like much ado about a relatively trivial detail -- what part of the first line gets repeated with a larger font at the very top.] (]) 17:34, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::::Imo, the 'pragmatic' points you raise are indeed relevant. And some of the intentions behind WP:MUSICSERIES are very good indeed. But at the same time it seems to me that, in the light of WP:COMMONNAME, (in Beethoven) instances such as Pastoral, Eroica, possibly Choral, certainly Kreutzer, Waldstein etc are far more than supplementary information. They're words just about everyone associates with the works. OK, in the case of 'Pastoral', there's also '6th', granted. But 'Piano Sonata No. 21', for example, already seems rather less immediate. ] (]) 17:49, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::::In all of those cases (except "choral") the nickname is in bold at the very top of the article and is prevalent in all of the nav templates. Sometimes I think this is all about how the category pages look... like they want the category pages to appear like a well-formatted list. Nav templates are a much better way to move around than category pages which are mainly for editors. I don't want to make that point into a strawman, though.] (]) 18:00, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::::::I also feel that the bolding helps a lot (though not currently at Hammerklavier, for example) and said so up at Moonlight corral... That was before moving on here to what seemed to me a worthwhile attempt to provide general guidance rather than sporadic shootouts. However, it also seems to me that if Misplaced Pages has an encyclopedia-wide titling policy in which WP:COMMONNAME plays a pivotal role, then it makes good long-term sense to try to implement that policy appropriately, rather than ] by ] universally recognized common names like Eroica, Pastoral, Waldstein etc. ] (]) 18:28, 6 February 2012 (UTC)


I've given some thought to this. Although the issues may be a bit clearer for the Waldstein (unlike with Beethoven's 6th, nobody I know refers to "Beethoven's 21st"), the exceptional familiarity of the Pastoral to a broad public seems to me to make it a particularly relevant test case. So, in a consensus-building spirit, I've gone ahead and made the name change to ]. ] (]) 19:18, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:Yikes. I don't know why you would do that without consulting other editors first. Independent of whether or not it should be moved, there are quibbles about quote-types, commas, etc that people would have liked to have dicussed first. My guess is it gets reverted pretty quickly. Page moves are annoying.] (]) 19:46, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
::For instance, (Beethoven) is unneeded and unwanted there, unless it needs to be distinguished from another composer's "Symphony No. 6 'Pastoral'" -- and it doesn't. -- ] (]) 20:33, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:::Does that mean you support ]? ] (]) 20:41, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
::::No, it does not imply that, but neither do I oppose it. I haven't followed up on the stats and rationales above, but whatever name is appropriate by ] should be used, with only as much subsequent qualification as needed for ]. -- ] (]) 20:51, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::Thank you for clarifying. My contention is that "Pastoral" is a key component of the common name which should not be excluded. ] (]) 21:07, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
<br>
@JHunterJ: A related issue regarding qualification: Would you also consider ] (titled as per ]) to be unnecessarily qualified? ] (]) 21:17, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:Yes, it should be moved to ] per ]: "over-precision should be avoided. Be precise, but only as precise as necessary." It is not clear that ] contradicts that; we can consistently apply the qualifier based on the ambiguity, and in any event ] wouldn't override the encyclopedia-wide guideline. -- ] (]) 21:30, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
::So we have two different concerns. To me the systematic exclusion by ] of extremely common nicknames such as Pastoral, Jupiter, Kreutzer, New World etc is contrary to ] and unfriendly to the general readership of Misplaced Pages. My impression is that there really is only local consensus for this. ] (]) 21:40, 9 February 2012 (UTC)


Should the naming convention for disambiguating ] be updated to be "(band)" instead of "(group)"? ] (]) 22:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
Are there any more of these? I've already responded at both ] and at ]. ] (]) 21:34, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:This seems like a very reasonable suggestion. Including the nicknames in the titles would certainly greatly increase recognizability, be more similar to commonly used formulations of the titles on recordings, etc, and might possibly be acceptable to a large proportion of the editors who care about these things. One possible objection to the title ] is the use of single quote marks. Straight double quote marks are apparently preferred at Misplaced Pages for searching reasons (see ]), although I gather this is not firmly established. Are there well-established examples of quote marks used in titles? (I think the issue of this being an overqualified title does not necessarily apply, when these nicknames are almost invariably included when these works are listed on recordings, in the press, etc., and could be considered as having become an almost inseparable part of the title.) --] (]) 21:38, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
::With/without quotation marks, whatever, as per MOS... I included them to anticipate concerns from others about using nicknames at all. ] (]) 21:47, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
:::I do think the nickname needs to be in quotes. It's just a question of which type. --] (]) 23:02, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
::::Putting the nicknames in quotes seems strange. What is the ] of this piece? Is it ''Pastoral'' or is it ''Symphony No. 6''? If it's ''Pastoral'', then it should be moved to ]. If it is ''Symphony No. 6'' then it probably ought to stay where it is at ]. The idea of putting extra information in the title to help readers who don't recognize the common name has been promoted heavily in the last month or two and is ''not'' catching on. ] <small>(] &#124; ])</small> 18:22, 10 February 2012 (UTC)


===Survey===
== Nicknames = ] ==
*'''Yes''' - Approximately 78% of ] articles already use "(band)" when a disambiguation is necessary, despite "(group)" being the prescribed disambiguator for musical ensembles that do not play instruments in this naming convention (]).{{pb}}With such a large amount of boy bands already using "(band)" as the disambiguator despite "(group)" being the disambiguator per this naming convention, it demonstrates that "(band)" is the most natural method of disambiguation for boy bands. Not modifying the naming convention to be "(band)" to be used to disambiguate boy groups would mean that almost 80% of boy band articles are out of line with the naming convention.{{pb}}If almost 80% of articles are following a ''de facto'' naming convention that is contrary to what the ''de jure'' naming convention is, does the ''de jure'' naming convention still hold any weight for those articles? I don't think so – I think it indicates that the ''de jure'' naming convention isn't intuitive or natural for that subset of articles.{{pb}}See ] for ] attempt at a discussion that shows the breakdown of how I arrived at the 78% number. ] (]) 22:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Yes''' - the article itself is called ], not ] (which redirects to boy band), which is my main reason for arguing this viewpoint. On the other hand, ] is the name of the article on Misplaced Pages. ] (]) 22:53, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
*:I think “band” is the most intuitive disambiguator for boy bands given the word is already included in name of that class of musical ensemble. That’s demonstrated by the fact that the vast majority of boy band articles (~80% of them) have already naturally settled on using “band”, not “group”, when disambugation is necessary.
*:Girl groups, on the other hand, almost exclusively use “group” as a disambiguator, again, because it’s the most intuitive way to describe that type of musical ensemble: it’s already in the name. ] (]) 17:02, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Yes''' - I don't think it should vary from how we'd disambiguate a rock/blues/whatever genre band just because their music is stylistically different. That, and the whole boy ''band'' thing... ] ] 16:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Yes''' - "band" is the common term for a musical group, plus it's right there in the name.--] (] &#124; ]) 19:01, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
*'''Yes''', I think. ] is a bit oddly structured, with a global statement that (band) is the most common disambiguator and then a list of "other methods" of disambiguation, which include the strangely absolute rule about (group). Suggest that the best patch might be to replace the current last sentence of the (group) paragraph with something like {{tq|However, if a group is commonly referred to as a "band", even if it is an exclusively vocal group, "band" is preferred as a disambiguator.}} -- ] (]) 05:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
{{closed rfc bottom}}


== ''Italics'' vs. quotation marks in titles ==
I've seen several editors around here commenting on the distinction between "common names" and "nicknames" of pieces. And I understand that there can be a technical distinction made there. However - for the purposes of article titles on Misplaced Pages, "common name" refers to ], and means simply what what it says - a commonly used name. In other words, for purposes of ] - and therefore article titles - there is no distinction between a "common name" and a "nickname". The policy states it clearly: "Where the term "common name" appears in this policy it means a ''commonly or frequently used name'', and not a common name as used in some disciplines in opposition to scientific name." Of course, ] is not the only criterion used in choosing a title. I just wanted to clear up any misconceptions that nicknames went afoul of WP policy. Hope that makes sense. ] (]) 22:22, 31 January 2012 (UTC)


] currently reads ''"Non-generic names are italicised, except those of individual dances, songs, hymns, lieder and arias (e.g. "The Blue Danube",..."'' Looking at ], some "individual" titles some are italicised (e.g. ], ]) and some are not (e.g. ], ]). Based on the conventions, which is preferred, or are there differences between these examples that I'm missing? — ] 16:39, 9 January 2025 (UTC)
:] has tried to raise this issue before, and was shouted down for being irrelevant. I agree with Kleinzach, and strongly believe that ] needs serious re-evaluation. ] (]) 22:35, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
:WP:NCMUSIC has to be read together with ] which makes a distinction between ], also called ], and ], also called ]. WP:NCMUSIC refers to those guidelines. IMO "Crown Imperial" is a short work and more like a song and should not be in italics, but ''Marche slave'' is a substantial tone poem and should be. -- ] (]) 04:08, 10 January 2025 (UTC)
::], like the rest of ], is current '''''policy''''', as distinct from speculation or wishful thinking. ] needs to follow that policy, rather than somebody's opinion on the policy. (Of course, anyone is fully entitled to request changes to ], but I didn't note many signs of consensus for Kleinzach's appeal in the centralized forum.) ] (]) 00:39, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
::::Basically ] is correct here. Nicknames are not specifically addressed in ], indeed the concept of 'common name' itself is undefined (as I have pointed out) hence the general confusion which I have tried to address in as neutral a way as possible. Unfortunately ] is in short supply at ] where there has been an unrelated drama going on. --'']]'' 02:33, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::The policy itself seems pretty clear, though, so it's probably ok that the term is not defined. The policy wording and examples make it clear that nicknames can be appropriate titles. ] <small>(] &#124; ])</small> 07:37, 1 February 2012 (UTC)
:::I couldn't even understand what the appeal was. ] <small>(] &#124; ])</small> 01:03, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

::::Just in case this is not clear: WP:COMMONNAME refers to any name that is used significantly more often that others. In other words: the name (or names) that is (are) most ''commonly'' used. The policy does not care whether the name is the "formal" one, used by cognoscenti, or a nickname used by the uneducated masses. It simply calls for using the one that is used significantly more often in the sources. ] (]) 23:33, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

== Songs and Instrumentals ==

There is a question at ] that relates to this convention's instruction on disambiguation... specifically the line that says: ''When a track is not strictly a song (in other words a composition without lyrics, or an instrumental that is not a cover of a song), disambiguation should be done using "(composition)" or "(instrumental)".''

To answer the question properly, I need to know the original ''intent'' behind this provision. Was it added to deal with the situation where two works of music with the same title (one with lyrics and one without), or was it added simply to be pedantic (ie to point out that a work of music isn't a "song" unless it contains singing)? The question relates to a request to move ] to ]. ] (]) 00:35, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
:I believe it was added to stop editors from determining that "instrumental song" is a legitimate definition (as I pointed out at another discussion, it's as silly as a "feline dog"). "Tequila" is an instrumental piece, that at certain points has the word "Tequila" spoken only to fill a ]. That is not a lyric, there is no story being told, the ] is played by the sax, etc. Whoever applies even the tiniest bit of ] will agree that it is not a song, just like "]" or "]". Why is this move request so "controversial" all of a sudden? ] (]) 18:36, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
::So it was added to be pedantic? Have you considered that voice is often considered an instrument... and thus ''all'' "songs" are instrumentals. (not really arguing that... just using it to point out that pedantry can be taken too far). Also... PEnnsylvania 6-5000 apparently ''does'' have . ] (]) 21:34, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
::: Yes, the voice can be considered an instrument, and in a sense all songs could be regarded as "instrumentals" - except they're not. Popular-speak reserves "instrumentals" for those songs that use only non-vocal instruments; hence, all instrumentals are songs but not all songs are instrumentals. (Popular-speak also calls ''any'' musical composition, from any historical time period, whether or not it contains voices, a "song", e.g. some people would call Tchaikovsky's ''1812 Overture'' a "song". Go figure.)
::: Now, if we switch to encyclopedia-speak, we have a far more sophisticated hierarchy of terminology for musical compositions, where only a small proportion of works are considered songs. This is about encyclopedic integrity; nothing to do with pedantry. ] </sup></font>]] 04:20, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::PEnnsylvania 6-5000 was originally written as an instrumental, with the title being yelled out in rhythm; those lyrics you linked to were added later. Back to the issue in question: are you REALLY considering yelling out the word "Tequila" as a filler to be an actual lyric &ndash; or are you being pedantic? Furthermore, would you call ] a song because of ? ] (]) 05:36, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::Why does it matter ''when'' the lyrics were written?... if there are lyrics, there are lyrics.
::::::FYI... on the specific issue of whether "Tequila" has lyrics or not (and thus whether it should be disambiguated with "song" or "instrumental"), there seems ''enough'' of a question that it should be put it up for community consensus through a formal "RM" discussion (I have requested one). If the community thinks "Tequila" has lyrics, then the article should stay at "(song)"... and if the community thinks it does not have lyrics then it should be moved to "(instrumental)" per this guideline. I do think the guideline is overly pedantic on this, but I don't object enough to challenge it. ] (]) 17:48, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::Of course it matters. "]" was composed by ] as an instrumental, but I personally played with a vocal group that sang it with lyrics. How about answering the Nyan Cat question? Is that a song because of its novelty "lyrics"? How about "Caveman" from '']'' or "Altered State" from '']''? ] (]) 18:34, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::Not to mention the second movements of ] and ] or the third of ] or even ]...not to further mention the first movement of ] and the overture to ]. ] (]) 19:40, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
:::::Melodia &ndash; I fail to see the connection... ] (]) 19:58, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::::I second Jack of Oz's lucid appeal for ''encyclopedia speak''. Like, as per ]. ] (]) 21:03, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

::::::Perhaps ] is a better example. Notice the first few words of the page. ] (]) 23:29, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::It depends entirely on how the word "instrumental" is used in context. Regardless of whether Glenn Miller wrote lyrics to "In the Mood", I would refer to it as a "song", and qualify that, if needed, as being an "instrumental". I would never differentiate, and argue that "In the Mood", being a purely "instrumental" piece, is therefore not a "song". I would call a piece of popular music "an instrumental" ''only'' if it did originally have lyrics, which were omitted in a given version or performance. Or in a different context, I would say that "an instrumental" is a ''type'' of song that has ''no <s>lyrics</s> <u>vocal accompaniment</u> at all'', as opposed to "Tequila" or "PEnnsylvania Sixty-Five Thousand / PEnnsylvania Six-Five Oh-Oh-Oh". ] (]) 22:04, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
:::Thinking about it, this is the problem right here. "Lyrics" is the wrong determinant. The real question is whether a song includes any ''vocal accompaniment''. And in any case, an "instrumental" is a ''type'' of "song" that either never had any vocals at all, or more usually, omits the original vocals, depending on context. ] (]) 22:29, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::FWIW, to clarify a coming nitpick, ad lib ''interjections'' such as "yeah!" or "take it again!" are not "''vocal accompaniment''". ] (]) 23:04, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
:::OK &ndash; good, we're getting somewhere. Now: if you agree that shouting "take it again" is not considered a lyric, how come shouting "Tequila" is considered a lyric? What's the difference? ] (]) 23:37, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
::::That's very simple: "Tequila" is ''not'' an ''ad lib'' - it was written into the song to start with, in its incarnation as recorded by The Champs. It was always "vocal accompaniment". It's part of the song. ] (]) 00:03, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:::So by that logic, had they recorded it with "take it again" in the original version and decided to shout it during live performances, would that turn it into lyrics? In that case, would you consider ]'s version of "]" a song because he shouts "one more time" as an instruction to recap the coda? ] (]) 02:57, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

(ec) We have something of a problem here with separate parallel discussions:
#] appears to be finished for now, but could be added to unless a request is posted there redirecting further discussion to:
#this page and ''Songs and Instrumentals'' section; and at
#], the specific title under discussion.
I suggest that #1 be closed and redirected, but I'm not sure whether here or at #3 is the best place to continue, but I'll assume it's here.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I need to point out that I have appeared to make precisely the ''opposite'' argument at ], saying
*"titles should reflect best practices, and not be dumbed down for those who are unfamiliar with the topic. Redirects and disambiguations do all the work of guiding the unfamiliar to a wanted article. It has been argued that readers never look at article titles, and I do not believe that. Some readers may not; but for those who do, a properly formal title as established by editors familiar with the field helps to put the article into a broader context."

So I start off with the supposition that ] is an editor far more "familiar with the field" than I am. However, my problem here is with the concept and understanding of the meaning of the terms ''instrumental'' and ''song''. Hearfourmewesique takes the position that ''Tequila'' is not a "song", because there are no "sung" "lyrics" - just "shouts" of the work's title. Well, but the title is derived from those shouts, not the other way around, and they are an integral part of the composition and performance. I'm not familiar with its various covers, but I suppose it's not unlikely that a cover may have omitted those three shouts of "Tequila".

I do suggest, however, that in defining the terms "instrumental" and "song", "lyrics" should preferably be replaced with "vocal accompaniment", while clarifying that ad lib interjections do not qualify as "vocal accompaniment". Thus on this basis I would categorize "Tequila" and "PEnnsylvania 6-5000" as songs, irrespective of how either "instrumental" or "song" may be used colloquially.

The real difficulty with "Tequila", as opposed to , e.g., "PEnnsylvania 6-5000", is that a disambiguation is required to distinguish the musical work from the beverage and other uses of the name. What "Tequila (instrumental)" says to me, ''not'' being an expert in the field, is that this points not to what I think of as a "song" but rather to a ''purely instrumental cover'' of the "song" I want. Do we even have disambiguations from disambiguations?

I hope this may help clarify my position. ] (]) 03:10, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

::To answer your "April in Paris" question, no. In a <u>colloquial</u> sense, which I argue against, yes, it is a "song". ] (]) 03:10, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

And we still have an ongoing problem of continuing parallel discussion at ]. ] (]) 03:24, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:A little for y'all. As for the ] issue, it can be called "song" on a dab page but redirect to "instrumental". ] (]) 03:43, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::Just a final comment on ]... we don't even ''have'' an article on that song/instrumental/musical work. What we have is an article on the phone number that the song is about, with a ''section'' that mentions the song. I don't have a problem with that... I just wanted to explain ''why'' there is no disambiguation (and thus no debate over whether it is a song or an instrumental). ] (]) 04:30, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

NOTE... I started this thread in order to find out what the intent behind the provision was... not to debate the provision or open a second thread about Tequila. I think my question has been answered (apparently the intent was to make a pedantic point). We do not need parallel discussions. We now have a formal move request on the talk page of the article to deal with the specific issues of ] vs. ]. I suggest we end this discussion, and the one at WP:AT... and continue to talk about the specific case at the move discussion. ] (]) 04:30, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:And where, then, do we talk about whether we need to make this distinction between songs and instrumentals at all? ] <sup><small><small>]</small></small></sup> 15:17, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::Right here, "Tequila" serves as a fine example to that and we should deal with the specific as well as with the broad. Unfortunately, no one wants to be musically educated, as most comments read something along the lines of "everyone calls them songs, so we should too". I'm slowly running out of air, as I forgot (again) that very few editors apply ]. Why don't you rename all music articles to "songs"? Das how dem folks know it y'all! ] (]) 17:36, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
:::If that's your idea of a discussion, count me out. Mocking your fellow editors is not productive. ] <sup><small><small>]</small></small></sup> 19:36, 6 February 2012 (UTC)
::::I'm not mocking any editor, I'm mocking the mindset that encourages promoting false knowledge based solely on popularity. Is there anything wrong with that? ] (]) 23:21, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
:re: ''where, then, do we talk about whether we need to make this distinction between songs and instrumentals at all''?
:Ah... ''that'' is a different issue. If you wish to question and change what the current convention says, then this ''is'' the place to hold that discussion. As I said MY intent was not to challenge the convention, but simply to have it clarified. Carry on. ] (]) 23:39, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

== RFC – WP title decision practice ==

Over the past several months there has been contentious debate over aspects of ] policy. That contentiousness has led to efforts to improve the overall effectiveness of the policy and associated processes. An RFC entitled: ] has been initiated to assess the communities’ understanding of our title decision making policy. As a project that has created or influenced subject specific naming conventions, participants in this project are encouraged to review and participate in the RFC.--] (]) 17:16, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

== Propose disambiguation by songwriter, not artist ==

"Disambiguate albums and songs by artist and not by year unless the artist releases multiple albums with the same name." Many, probably most, songs have been recorded more than once. Inviting disambiguation by artist is to invite POV as to which performance is to be considered definitive/most popular. Artists own no rights to a song, only to their recording of it. On the other hand, the composer of a song retains rights for his/her lifetime (and the estate retains them for some years beyond that), and this avoids POV.

If someone composes another song called ''With a little help from my friends'', which becomes a huge international hit such that it eclipses the version we all know, what disambiguation would the Lennon/McCartney ditty have. The Beatles' version only reached 63 in the charts (as a double A side), to my generation the Joe Cocker version is definitive, but two other versions have reached number one in the UK. The only NPOV version would not be ], or ], or ] or ]: it could only be ]. ] (]) 09:23, 17 March 2012 (UTC)
:See also ] -- should it use the year, the artist, or the songwriters? -- ] (]) 14:12, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
::If a song writer's name is not well-known in public, and artist's name is not well-known, how about a year? --] (]) 14:17, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
:::It's good to have concise disambiguators whenever possible, and when there's no single performer closely associated with the song I think it's best to go with the year. For example, I find ] a lot better than the former title ]. Apart from being more concise, it also doesn't confuse the reader as to whether the person in the parentheses is the songwriter, performer or both. ] (]) 19:57, 26 April 2012 (UTC)
::::If we standardize on composer, it would obviate the doubt about which is listed. Also, re transition, rarely (if ever?) would confusion arise as from the same person having written one song and notably performed another of the same name. Disambiguating by songwriter is a simpler and stabler regime, as stated in the proposal, and appealing for that reason. It also avoids dealing with a new artist's performance eclipsing an established one's in notability, and the naming dispute that would follow if based on performer. Further disambiguation, as on a dab page or in an article, can employ information like year and notable performers. I appreciate the value of concision, but on balance I go with composer. ] (]) 19:32, 16 May 2012 (UTC)
:::::The problem is that many songs are simply much more associated with an artist than with a songwriter. For example, if ] was to be disambiguated further, a reader would much readily recognize "Thriller (Michael Jackson song)" than "Thriller (Rod Temperton song)". A casual reader is simply not aware of the composer of a song in many cases, and the name of the performer is more likely to help them figure out which of the similarly named songs they are looking for. Furthermore, many songs have more than one songwriter (the most usual case is having a separate composer and lyricist), which would make disambiguated titles unnecessarily long. "]" is a recognizable and relatively concise title, and I don't think we would want to change that to, say, "Heaven and Hell (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward song)". Similarly, "]" is preferable to both "No Other Love (Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II song)" and the slightly shorter "No Other Love (Rodgers and Hammerstein song)". ] (]) 18:25, 17 May 2012 (UTC)

== Disambiguation of bands with shared names ==

The guideline suggests using nationality to disambiguate bands with shared names, but what should happen when there are two bands with the same name and of the same nationality? The ongoing ] for ] is the specific instance that prompted my question. -- ''']''' <sup>(])</sup> 20:59, 4 June 2012 (UTC)

=='Musical scale' vs. 'Scale (music)'==
See discussion at ]. ] (]) 23:35, 9 June 2012 (UTC)

== Disambiguation discussion ==

A discussion regarding the correct implementation of the ] is currently taking place at ]. All contributions and informed opinions welcome.--] ] 03:30, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

== Beatles RfC ==

You are invited to participate in an RfC at ] on the issue of capitalising the definite article when mentioning that band's name in running prose. This long-standing dispute is the subject of an open mediation case and we are requesting your help with determining the current community consensus. Thank you for your time. For the mediators. ~ ] <sup>(]|])</sup> 03:47, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

== Merger proposal ==

I thought of the request for this merger when I noticed that an editor had linked the section ] in ]. The standard usage of this template is to link to non-WikiProject pages in the Misplaced Pages namespace for naming convention guidelines. Essentially, the guidelines in ] state all the information regarding albums types that are not listed on ]; in fact, ] currently only includes mentioning of modern-day albums in the opening sentence, and then is not mentioned ever again throughout the entire page.

...And that is why I propose that ] be merged into ]. The information in the WikiProject could only expand ] due to its lack of wording. ] (]) 22:56, 27 April 2013 (UTC)

== Capitalization ==

Delete the section on capitalization. Our job is to report the name of a band or song, not create it. Normal capitalization rules apply, there is nothing special about song names or band names that calls for a section on capitalization. ] (]) 21:17, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

:I editted it to clarify that there's nothing new or special there, using links to the relevant style guidelines. ] (]) 22:22, 28 April 2013 (UTC)
::It does not work that way. We can not be making up song titles and band names. ] (]) 16:41, 29 April 2013 (UTC)

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See also discussion started at category talk:musical compositions, derived from a RfC topic

An earlier unreleased recording of a pop song surpassing the official release

Watchers of this page may be interested in the discussion at Talk:Karma (2024 song)#Requested move 17 April 2024 older ≠ wiser 11:25, 1 May 2024 (UTC)

In the case that an artist releases music under multiple aliases, should their name or one of their aliases take title precendence?

In particular, Keith Rankin of Death's Dynamic Shroud has released a great deal of music under the solo project Giant Claw (the current title of his Misplaced Pages page), but has also solo-produced several death's dynamic shroud mixtapes to the point that his releases under that (group) alias rival his number of releases as Giant Claw. As he is established as a primary member of DDS in addition to these solo releases, should his article remain under the title "Giant Claw" or be revised to his name? Psidey (talk) 00:46, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Best handled case-by-case. Ultimately, WP:COMMONNAME would overrule any naming convention that we write in here. 162 etc. (talk) 16:32, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Naming conventions for boy bands

There seems to be a huge disconnect between what is listed in this naming convention guideline and what is actually out there in the wild.

WP:BANDDAB states the naming convention for non-instrument playing musical ensembles is to:
Use "(group)" when the musical ensemble members do not perform by playing musical instruments, the members are mainly vocalists, and other people perform by playing musical instruments.

Now, let's look at what the boy band articles are actually named, in practice:

Overall, of the five categories I checked, 78% of boy band articles that require a disambiguation are using "band".

It seems like, while "group" is the de-jure disambiguator for non-instrument-playing boy bands, in practice, the widely accepted convention is to use "band". And I know what you're thinking, "some boy bands play instruments!", well, not these ones - you can check for yourselves, these are all (or almost all) singing/dancing bands, not instrument bands.

So, where do we go from here? Do we start the process of bringing those "band" articles into "group" naming convention? Do we update the naming convention to match what is most common in actual practice? Do we just leave everything as the status-quo and hope it all works itself out in the end?

Thoughts? RachelTensions (talk) 04:06, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

I'll note that girl groups don't have the same issue - they almost universally use "group" as their disambiguator. I think part of the disconnect is because the terminology is "boy band" vs. "girl group" - the more natural disambiguation for "boy band" is "band" because that word is already part of what that class of musical ensemble is commonly known as. The opposite is true for for "girl group" - using the "group" disambiguator is natural because "group" is part of that class of musical ensemble's common name. RachelTensions (talk) 04:11, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
There's been some discussion and pushback on this. Consensus seems to be that "band" is just as accurate for a vocal group. See here, and here. 162 etc. (talk) 04:37, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
Oh, and I had also proposed that we just use "musical group" for everything and that didn't take off. See the 2021 discussion at the top of this talkpage. 162 etc. (talk) 04:41, 4 November 2024 (UTC)
Yeah I've seen those big giant page move proposals in my travels.I also saw the discussion from 2021 but it doesn't seem like the loop was actually closed... it would be a lot simpler to codify what is already the de-facto naming convention for boy bands, and then discuss moving the ~35 articles that currently use "group", versus continuing to use "group" and try to move the ~135 articles that use "band" to bring them in line with the "group" naming convention. RachelTensions (talk) 05:02, 4 November 2024 (UTC)

RfC about the naming conventions for boy bands

The following discussion is an archived record of a request for comment. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this discussion. A summary of the conclusions reached follows.
There is clear consensus that per common usage and practice the disamb for a Boy Band should be a (band). See Special:Diff/1265737089 for my update to WP:GDAB. TarnishedPath 11:40, 28 December 2024 (UTC)


Should the naming convention for disambiguating boy bands be updated to be "(band)" instead of "(group)"? RachelTensions (talk) 22:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)

Survey

  • Yes - Approximately 78% of boy band articles already use "(band)" when a disambiguation is necessary, despite "(group)" being the prescribed disambiguator for musical ensembles that do not play instruments in this naming convention (WP:BANDDAB).With such a large amount of boy bands already using "(band)" as the disambiguator despite "(group)" being the disambiguator per this naming convention, it demonstrates that "(band)" is the most natural method of disambiguation for boy bands. Not modifying the naming convention to be "(band)" to be used to disambiguate boy groups would mean that almost 80% of boy band articles are out of line with the naming convention.If almost 80% of articles are following a de facto naming convention that is contrary to what the de jure naming convention is, does the de jure naming convention still hold any weight for those articles? I don't think so – I think it indicates that the de jure naming convention isn't intuitive or natural for that subset of articles.See here for WP:RFCBEFORE attempt at a discussion that shows the breakdown of how I arrived at the 78% number. RachelTensions (talk) 22:51, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Yes - the article itself is called boy band, not boy group (which redirects to boy band), which is my main reason for arguing this viewpoint. On the other hand, girl group is the name of the article on Misplaced Pages. the wildfire update guy that also writes about other weather (talk) 22:53, 8 December 2024 (UTC)
    I think “band” is the most intuitive disambiguator for boy bands given the word is already included in name of that class of musical ensemble. That’s demonstrated by the fact that the vast majority of boy band articles (~80% of them) have already naturally settled on using “band”, not “group”, when disambugation is necessary.
    Girl groups, on the other hand, almost exclusively use “group” as a disambiguator, again, because it’s the most intuitive way to describe that type of musical ensemble: it’s already in the name. RachelTensions (talk) 17:02, 9 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Yes - I don't think it should vary from how we'd disambiguate a rock/blues/whatever genre band just because their music is stylistically different. That, and the whole boy band thing... Sergecross73 msg me 16:53, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Yes - "band" is the common term for a musical group, plus it's right there in the name.--3family6 (Talk to me | See what I have done) 19:01, 11 December 2024 (UTC)
  • Yes, I think. WP:GDAB is a bit oddly structured, with a global statement that (band) is the most common disambiguator and then a list of "other methods" of disambiguation, which include the strangely absolute rule about (group). Suggest that the best patch might be to replace the current last sentence of the (group) paragraph with something like However, if a group is commonly referred to as a "band", even if it is an exclusively vocal group, "band" is preferred as a disambiguator. -- Visviva (talk) 05:34, 12 December 2024 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Italics vs. quotation marks in titles

WP:NCMUSIC currently reads "Non-generic names are italicised, except those of individual dances, songs, hymns, lieder and arias (e.g. "The Blue Danube",..." Looking at Category:Orchestral marches, some "individual" titles some are italicised (e.g. Crown Imperial (march), Marche slave) and some are not (e.g. Funeral March of a Marionette, The Liberty Bell (march)). Based on the conventions, which is preferred, or are there differences between these examples that I'm missing? —  AjaxSmack  16:39, 9 January 2025 (UTC)

WP:NCMUSIC has to be read together with MOS:TITLE which makes a distinction between MOS:MAJORWORK, also called MOS:ITALICTITLE, and MOS:MINORWORK, also called MOS:QUOTETITLE. WP:NCMUSIC refers to those guidelines. IMO "Crown Imperial" is a short work and more like a song and should not be in italics, but Marche slave is a substantial tone poem and should be. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 04:08, 10 January 2025 (UTC)