Audio fine arts
Audio fine art(s), or auditory fine art(s), is an academic, minor category of quizbowl placed under the umbrella of fine arts.
In ACF and mACF tournaments, auditory fine arts content usually goes in two categories: "classical music" (or simply "music") and "other fine arts" (or "other arts"). There are usually 2 questions (1 tossup and 1 bonus) a round devoted to "classical music," and 1 question (either 1 tossup or 1 bonus) a round on miscellaneous other auditory content within the category called "other fine arts" (which is shared among miscellaneous other types of fine arts).
Nomenclature and split
Music, widely construed, comfortably encompasses enough subject matter to deserve about 1.33/1.33 of quizbowl's standard 3/3 Fine Arts distribution. In other words, it would be too cramped to only have 1/1 worth of space for all of classical music, opera, jazz, world music, and any contemporary music. Arbitrary numerical choices are thus made to fit some of the subject matter into 1/1 "Music" and the rest into (part of) 1/1 "Other Arts".
Because music is split up, and in different ways by different sets, there isn't a standard name for the category. Ideally a self-contained category would just be called "Music", but "Music" is not specific enough when split across two categories. The arbitrary split chosen for a specific set usually informs its official category names, such as:
- Classical music (as traditionally opera was not placed in the "Classical music" category)
- Classical music and Opera
- Classical music, Opera, and Ballet
- Classical music, Opera, and World music
- Classical music and Jazz
- Music (all cramped into 1/1; see 2018 Chicago Open)
Various clunkier new names and acronyms (e.g. auditory arts, auditory fine arts, audio fine arts, AFA, etc.) have also taken some hold since the late 2010s. However, to the uninformed, these names often confuse when, for example, "auditory arts" doesn't contain jazz or world music, or "other auditory arts" contains dance (a primarily audiovisual or visual art), etc.
Category composition
Classical music
In quizbowl and in general, "classical music" refers largely to a tradition known as "Western classical music"[1] (sometimes called "Western art music" or "Western concert music") that encompasses Western liturgical and secular music, orchestral music, chamber music, band and light music, and electronic and avant-garde music produced by "classically trained" musicians.
In quizbowl, "classical music" usually excludes Western popular and folk music as well as non-Western "classical" music traditions such as those of China, India, Indonesia, the Islamic World, and Japan. But the musical traditions of Byzantine civilization and of Eastern Europe are usually classified under "classical music" due to significant overlap in their histories and their historical sources, and composers of non-Western origin who compose in or whose creative work engages with the Western classical tradition are typically placed under "classical music" as well.
As much of the music of opera and ballet is part of the Western classical tradition, the music for such performances is often incorporated in the "classical music" category; however, questions focusing primarily on elements more exclusive to the stage performance of operas, operettas, and ballet, as well as the "non-auditory" elements such as their choreography, are typically contained in "other fine arts".
Questions on classical music in quizbowl often focus on major composers and their works; performers and performances; music theory; and other aspects of the culture of the classical music tradition.
Other genres
For the most part, the separate 1/1 "other fine arts" category contains questions that ask about music outside of the Western classical tradition, such as blues, bluegrass, folk, jazz, gospel, the "Great American Songbook," avant-garde, experimental, several liturgical musics, and various traditions under the "world music" label. Some older rock-and-roll, country, R&B, soul, hip-hop, Latin, and electronic music has been increasingly asked about in the "other fine arts" category as well, now that it is increasingly learned about in an "academic" manner rather than through "popular" consumption.
Contemporary popular music is almost always placed in the popular culture category (a third category separate from both "music" and "other fine arts", if any), although the above genres may also appear in popular culture (or vice versa).
Artistic genres that frequently include musical elements, such as stage musicals, operas, ballet, film, marching band, and some performance art, are typically asked about within "other fine arts".
Notes
- ↑ In more strict contexts (and often capitalized), "Classical music" refers only to the musical output of the Classical period (c. 1730–1820) rather than the entirety of the Western art music tradition.