Classical Music (Pro) vs. [Insert Genre of Music Here]

It is clear that choosing which music someone likes better, classical or film, is entirely subjective. But now my opponent has devolved film music, a contemporary classical music just part of my opponent's 'classical music'. And how do I react to this? I would actually say I very much agree! But if we go along with my opponent's definition, then no distinction can be made between classical and film music. If there is no distinction, then there can be no debate. Therefore I would like to define film music as specifically 'music accompanying a film.' And the focus is on film music with no dialogue or lyric. Basically, background music. I hope this distinguishes film music as just an ordinary contemporary classical music. Contemporary classical music can stand on its own. Whereas film music requires the film to represent it. Film music is unique in this case, since you cannot mention film score without also mentioning the movie it was made for. My opponent also states that classical music brings about emotions just as well if not better than film music. I agree somewhat but let me show you why this is not always the case. Compare my opponent's "Lincoln Portrait" by Aaron Copland with John William's "With Malice toward none" from the movie Lincoln by Steven Spielberg. Copland: Vs. William: As a youtuber quotes from the movie in the comments, "With malice toward none, with charity for all. With firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in" Now there seems to be a more profound impact in William's piece. Those who have watched the movie Lincoln will be reminded of the trials of that president, the things he did and the things he achieved. They can remember the scenes, the faces, the objects. But when I hear Copland's piece, I do admittedly feel emotion, however it is not as strong as the emotion I feel listening to William's piece for one main reason: William's piece is specific to a story, or a moment in the story and that is why it that much more powerful. Another example my opponent puts forth, Alternative Energy by Mason Bates, actually has a story and is not meaningless. I had never heard of this music before and so now I respectfully concede my point about classical music being meaningless and without a story accompanying it. My opponent is right that they do indeed have large scale significance and sometimes do have storyline. But here is a comparison between Bate's (yes, masterful and engaging) piece and the epically amazing OST of Iron man by Ramin Djwadi. Bates's piece: (Sample. As my opponent said, the full version could not be found) Vs. Ramin Djawdi: Bate's piece reminds me of the story of the creation of the particle accelerator along with the industrial revolution (a story mentioned in my opponent's article). This moves me somewhat, bringing me back to those years of hard work and awe. It calms me and would be the sort of music I would listen to when I am busy working on an assignment. However, listening to Djawdi's piece brings about an epic awe. A sort of wonderment on something fictional and fantastical, and then getting extremely excited about it. In other words, I start jumping up and down like I'm being possessed by the musical composition. I just feel so much joy being reminded of Ironman, a superhero I love. Do I love particle accelerators, human revolutions and new innovation? Absolutely. Do I get even more excited by the prospect of a genius superhero in a high tech suit, flying around shooting pulsars and saving people? Heck yes. But that's not even the limit to how much emotion can course through people when they hear a film score. Consider the most arguably epic soundtrack made by Hans Zimmer. His piece 'Rise' in The dark Knight Rises does more than just simply relax his fans but also to make them fanatic, perhaps even cheering at the movie screen. Here is the brilliant piece: Yes, the soundtrack of star wars was perhaps influenced by classical works like Gustav Holst's musical composition. But I still stand by my claim that film music transcends classical music. It takes those components and turns it into something else. Something more. Classical music may accompany stories at times but perhaps not to the degree that film music does. Film music does its best to move the movie, to make it more exciting, more sad or more awe inspiring. But it's not just any kind of background music. It also incorporates many classical music styles and fits it to the stories. In this way, film music is an evolved form of classical music. My opponent disagrees with this view in my example of The dark knight soundtrack, claiming that he did not "see a huge step from 20th-21st Century classical music." I disagree. Classical music is soft, relaxing or at times highly intense. But the soundtrack of the Dark Knight is something special, something unique. It has a crime fighting atmosphere to it. The kind of atmosphere that suits a vigilante and suits the kind of movie with such tension and action. I challenge my opponent to give an example of a classical music that can do the same as described before. Film music has been evolving and becoming better with each passing year. My opponent says Interstellars' soundtrack "is essentially musique concrete - which started in classical music and includes the Beatles Revolution 9 - mixed with some older classical elements." This is not true. The soundtrack goes beyond just incorporating some classical music elements. Hans Zimmer instills a 'religious' atmosphere to the soundtrack to make it seem more otherworldly and 'spacelike'. They did part of the music using a peculiar instrument at a church. It is why the soundtrack is so beautiful. Check it out here: Skip to the middle to get to the part I was mentioning. To close off, I quote Jasper Hope, chief operating officer at the Royal Albert Hall. He says film music is "a serious classical music genre despite, in my opinion, being some of the best classical music written". And goes on to say: "I absolutely see it as classical music. It"s live classical music of fantastic standard and composition and performance. It doesn't mean it"s the only form of classical music but it adds to the canon. It"s a story conveyed and told in front of your eyes, and there"s an incredible score." Hope also says that film music should be treated just as seriously as great composers like Mozart or Tchaikovsky. You can read the entire article here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk... But Hope claims film music to be classical music, "[back] then, [musical composers] did not write to accompany a film, they wrote to accompany opera or ballet. It might be a different medium, but you"re not talking about something that"s widely different." And like I said before, I don't disagree. But for the sake of the debate, let us keep the distinction between classical music and film score in that film score is purely the music for film.