&quot;Classical&quot; (big &quot;C&quot;) refers to the period, but &quot;classical&quot; (little &quot;c&quot;) is often used to refer to the vague, nebulous cloud of music to which it often refers and of which Classical music is a subset. I know that&#x27;s super pedantic and nebulous, but I&#x27;ve never heard a satisfactory term for the broader category. I&#x27;ve heard &quot;Western Art Music&quot;, but that implies that Western music outside of its umbrella isn&#x27;t art, which is plainly ridiculous. So, I use &quot;classical&quot;, because it&#x27;s the least bad term I&#x27;ve heard.