Methodology: Exploring Orchestral Music

These pages explain the methodology behind the analysis I have done for my series on orchestral music (first orchestral music post here), and examining official classical music playlists on major streaming platforms (first streaming platform analysis post here). I also have links to source data on the relevant pages, which you can examine or download if you’re interested.

Most of the details you will find here are pretty dry, but some of them are interesting. For example:

• Why focus on composers and not other types of classical music artists?
• Drawbacks of the Canadian “Visible Minority” designation
• What statistics you collect about an orchestra season can depend a lot on what specific question you are trying to answer

Table of Contents

• Methodology: Using Data from the Institute for Composer Diversity 2019/20 Season Analysis

• Analyses of Orchestra Seasons - List & Discussion

• Methodology & Data: Classical Streaming Playlists - Demographic Analysis

• The Canadian Visible Minority Designation

This page is referenced by the following posts:

• Exploring Orchestral Music: Race and Gender Representation of Composers
• Representation of Composers in Top Classical Playlists on Spotify and Apple Music
• Deep Dive: Composer Representation in Apple Music Classical Playlists
• Deep Dive: Composer Representation in Spotify Classical Playlists (Part One)
• Deep Dive: Composer Representation in Spotify Classical Playlists (Part Two)
• Deep Dive: Composer Representation in Spotify Classical Playlists (Part Three)
• Deep Dive: Composer Representation in Spotify Classical Playlists (Part Four)
• 2022 Orchestra Repertoire Report Roundup
• Orchestra Diversity Leaders: Chicago Sinfonietta and Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra