Not realy “of topic” but i didnt find anotrher better fitting forum.
I got a question:
Many times i read the word “Tune” here. And as far as i see meant is “Song”
Did i miss something?
Does the Word “Tune” has another meaning?
Is ist something typical of ITM?
or…?
A song has words and involves someone singing, i.e. using their voice. A tune is simply a melody, whether set to words or not. So, for the most part, what we are interested around here are tunes and not songs, though occasionally we really mean songs, i.e. things with words that people sing.
so its a language thing and not an ITM thing right?
but is every instrumental music a tune?
and are songs when just played instrumental without singing possible called tunes?
whats the best word for all, songs, tunes, whatever … dont say “music” please
I nominate “chune” 
Seriously though, I’d say there is overlap between the terms “tune” and “song”, as explained by behnall.1. There are other near-synonyms, e.g. tune, song, melody, piece, composition, track. Further, I’d add that for most conversations, the distinction isn’t crucial. In the world of whistles, “tune” is simply the accepted custom.
I think the Irish Traditional folks are very particular about calling lyric-less dance tunes, Tunes.
It makes sense too.
More cultural than language I believe, but then I’m a n00by round here.
And then too, I don’t know a thing about other music traditions, Scots, English, etc.
It’s got nothing - or not very much - to do with ITM. The best word? It depends what you want to say. If you want to talk about melodies, whether of songs or of pieces which do not have words and are not sung, then either “melodies” or “tunes” are good words. The word “songs” would not be a good word in that situation. In fact it would simply be incorrect. It should be kept for the combination of tune and words, sung by a singer, which we commonly know as a “song”.
Is every instrumental piece of music a tune? Not necessarily. A piece of complicated contrapuntal music, or some Stockhausen, could hardly be referred to as just “tunes”.
[cross-post with maki, whose post I will answer next ]
No, it’s a language thing. It is simply incorrect to call something which does not have words and is not sung, a “song”. (Unless you’re Mendelssohn. 
)
Its so easy in German, We call it “Lied” never mind if it has just a melody or words too, if just hummed or played by an instrument or even an orchestra, its a “Lied”.
We call it “Lied” never mind if it has just a melody or words too, if just hummed or played by an instrument or even an orchestra, its a “Lied”.
… in the English I use that’s a tune, the sequence of musical notes. A song is a series of words (usually) sung to a tune (some might argue that’s not always the case 
… so, a song usually has a tune, but a tune doesn’t need a song. A song that is sung unaccompanied still has a tune, even though there’s no instrument involved, other than the human voice (some chants might be deemed exempt from this definition)
Just my tuppence worth
I know I posted a reply to this hours - guess it disappeared in the ether…
for ITM:
songs have sung words - nothing to do with the melody,
singing = song
same melody but no words/singing = tune
same melody but no words/singing = tune
Or, alternatively, air.
Yes. “Air” used to be a synonym of “tune”, and still is. But nowadays it has acquired some additional connotations, and is often used to mean the tune of a song, played on a melody instrument.
I recall reading a posting here (I’m not certain about who the poster was, sorry) about tunes vs songs - I think the point was that if it’s a “song” (as in: A melody with lyrics) then that puts some constraints on how the melody can be played. You shouldn’t change the rhythm and note lengths so that it cannot be sung anymore, i.e. whatever you do with the tune it must still be possible to sing it. If it’s a ‘tune’ (and not a song) then you may be more free in your interpretation.
My interpretation (and blame in case I misunderstood) of course, but it makes sense to me.
-Tor
is often used to mean the tune of a song, played on a melody instrument.
I don’t think ‘air’ is specifically used for an instrumental rendition. Air is the tune that belongs to a song. At least that’s the way I see it used.
Maybe we should start using ‘aire’ for tunes played by uninitiated looking for sounds they think ‘haunting’.
Yes. Agreed. But there is this whole ‘slow air’ thing, which has, it seems to me, been shortened to ‘air’ these days. I mean, presonally, I’d rather see ‘air’ used to mean what it used to mean, i.e. any melody, a synonym of ‘tune’. But when people talk about playing ‘airs’ they are often, nowadays, referring to the playing of song tunes on melody instruments. That’s what I was talking about. It’s probably the addition of the word ‘playing’ that alters the meaning, and I left that out before.
I’m not entirely agreed here, Ben, but I’m coming from a usage standpoint. While I think you are entirely correct about strict differences of meaning between “song” and “tune”, I find the actual marking of those differences to be more a matter of norms within certain groups. To an extent, it may be “cultural” simply in the sense of general norms within the greater English-speaking educated music community, but I can’t speak to that, being only a trad player. All I know is that it was upon my entry into the trad world that the difference was made important, and because it is a logical distinction that is very useful, the distinction will remain with me. Outside of the trad world at least, though, people - including at times other musicians - generally display little distinction between the two words at all, but then that must mean their musical discourse has less need of it. I do notice it is the word “song” that tends to be most used for both, wrongly or no. And I’ll admit that when I hear “song” for what to me is “tune”, I wince. But my own differentiation between the two was given to me by a particular music community; prior to that, I jumbled them up too. Now I think not marking the distinction is wrong, because - really - it IS a confusion; but more importantly to me it has everything to do with communicating clearly among my own, where it matters.
IIRC, in Irish and Scots Gaelic the difference between “song” and “tune” is just as precise as the distinction we’re talking about here, so discursive inheritance may be at least partly why it’s important among English-speaking trad players as well.
So anyway, for me, songs have tunes, and tunes may have songs to go with them, but neither is the other. Works for me. And I do think everyone else should get on board, too. Who knows - it might even contribute to world peace.
There is indeed one cultural difference: It has been pointed out to me that in the NAF tradition the tunes played are called “songs”, and this is because the NAF is considered to be a voice, singing.
I seem to be on the wrong side of the British/English(US) business 
OK. I believe you, Nano, but, over here, I’ve never heard an experienced musician call a “tune” a “song” unless someone’s singing. Trad musicians don’t. Classical musicians don’t. Most musicians don’t. There is perhaps one exception to that, which is amongst the jazz community, amongst whom I have been an occasional dabbler. But the reason for that is simple - just about all, if not in fact all, of their tunes are song tunes. In fact, most of the time, even in informal settings, in my experience, there has been a singer.
Oh, and by the way, in my experience, even most jazzers don’t seem to call them “songs” if they’re going to be performing them solely instrumentally. “Numbers”, “standards”, “themes”, “verses and choruses” maybe, but quite often not “songs”.
So I’m not used to anybody calling something a “song” unless it’s “sung”. It makes sense.
Actually, I’ve thought of something else - songs have to have words, or they’re not songs (unless, as previously stated, they’re by Mendelssohn). But they don’t need a tune. You can have songs that are simply poems, or declaimed verse. How about “The Song of the Happy Shepherd” or “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”? I think there are quite a few more too … I have it in the back of my mind that there’s some ancient verse form that was known as “song” but which is declaimed, but I can’t find any at the moment. I suppose I could be making it up …
See? Cultural. 
But yeah, in that case what I was talking about might be more a colloquial Merkin thing. Could be we’re sloppier.
Here we are, back to usage. As to the last, you are just going to make me Google now, aren’t you.
Yes please.