<https://music.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic> no more than states:

> 
> music theory, notation, history, or composition
> 
> 
> 

But this doesn't distinguish between on- and off-topic questions. So what are the criteria? I haven't found a straightforward exposition, e.g. on <https://music.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask>.

I'm assuming some of the following questions as on-topic; none are closed as of 2017 Dec. 24.

Some music history questions apparently are judged off-topic (like [my 3 on Xenakis](https://music.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2862/26407)); but others like the following (none mine) aren't.

4. [Prokofiev's style](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/671/prokofievs-style),
5. [Training and Influences of J. S. Bach](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/433/training-and-influences-of-j-s-bach?rq=1),
6. [Why was Brahms's music considered 'too academic'?](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/63091/why-was-brahmss-music-considered-too-academic?s=1|70.9273),
7. [What's so off about the intro to Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights?](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/17461/whats-so-off-about-the-intro-to-prokofievs-dance-of-the-knights),
8. [Why did composers write atonally?](https://music.stackexchange.com/questions/29400/why-did-composers-write-atonally/29408#29408)
9. [What is the history of considering Rock 'n' Roll to be "the Devil's music"?](https://music.stackexchange.com/q/9779/26407)
10. [Is Beethoven's title "Sonata quasi una Fantasia" an oxymoron, and does the title instruct how to perform it?](https://music.stackexchange.com/q/6078/26407)