I think HH’s scheme is a good one - perhaps with different variants for me. The important thing seems to be the catch-all of Rock / Pop. In many instances it’d be hard to decide what goes where, but it is possible foe something to feature in multiple genres.
For both physical on-shelf arrangement and a digital catalogue I’m still struggling with whether to file things under a performer’s first name (if that’s how I ‘know’ them) or surname…
As for genres: It was principally the rock/jazz/jazz-fusion/something else question that highlighted the difficulties for me: for example Weather Report, Soft Machine, Hatfield and The North, Return to Forever.
I was beginning to settle on two broad categories for arrangement on shelves: one for albums filed by the performer and one for those by composer (typically baroque, chamber and other orchestral). So I’m thinking I’ll merge those indisputably ‘jazz’ records with the rock/prog/folk/fusion
But that leaves numerous problems within those sections: ‘classical’ works that I’ve bought on the basis of the performer (e.g. The English Concert or Acad of Ancient Music) and others (typically compilations that I’d bought on the basis of the genre: salsa, flamenco, even Tibetan folk song - where I don’t know very much about individual artists.
I’ve always had a separate shelf for ECM, which may have to stop; but I possibly won’t go back to having Chopin on a shelf adjacent to The Clash.
I have generally had my classical/orchestral CDs in a separate set of shelves from ‘the rest’ - but of course there are examples where the music could be counted as either category - or even both (Tomita, Wendy Carlos (or Walter, as it is on the albums I have) play classical music, but not using an orchestra).
On my music server, I again have (almost) all classical in a separate folder from everything else. But it matters much less how you arrange music on a computer/server - it’s easy to find stuff by other means than by walking up and down the shelves.
The problem mostly arises, I think, when trying to find new music that you like. Most sources classify by genre, and I find it generally unhelpful.
Personal preference, really. In my case I have always filed classical by composer: surname comma first name(s) or if more commonly used initials instead of first name. Non-classical I have filed by performing artist: if solo then surname first comma first name, if a band then the full band name excluding any leading ‘The’. Tricky ones might be, say, a duo not formally named as X&Y: I would file either by the name I think of first, probably only using surnames (e.g. Menuhin + Grapelli), and if there isn’t a name I think of first then the two surnames alphabetically).
i arrange my cds in artist order. trad jazz .modern jazz. classic rock eagles. beach boys
etc. americana steve earle. dwight yoakam. and classical music. i can find any artist
straight away on my shelves.
My electronic filing system is exactly as I arranged with physical media, so the same applies - however, one difference: it is impossible to accidentally return an album to the wrong place or, worse, put a record back in the wrong sleeve (or for someone else to do that) because the files are not removed when playing - and even if somehow inadvertently saved to the wrong place when first added, an electronic search will find it, no matter how many albums there are. That is at computer filing level. The bigger problem I find is that not all music library / playing software is good at doing what a computer filing system can, and things can disappear if metadata doesn’t meet the software’s expectations…
“Jazz” works for me. Life is too short.
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