Download Simple Music Semiotic Analysis

Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music
Philip Tagg
Faculté de musique
Université de Montréal
www.tagg.org
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Communication Model
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
shared by Emitter and Receiver
s t o r e
o f
s y m b o l s
poïetic /
constructional
Intended
‘message’
receiver only
codal incompetence
‘inadequate’
encoding
Emitter
‘inadequate’
response
Music
Receiver
(channel)
‘inadequate’
response
‘inadequate’
encoding
codal interference
receiver only
emitter only
s o c i o c u l t u r a l
n o r m s
shared by Emitter and Receiver
esthesic /
receptional
emitter only
‘adequate’
response
1
Elementary semiotic
considerations
Semiotics or semiology ?
•  /  (sema/semeion) = sign
(semiotics, semiology, semantifs, semaphore, etc.)
The study of signs and of
what they represent
Charles Sanders Peirce : semiotics, tripartite model
Ferdinand de Saussure : semiologie, binary model
same basic subject, different terms and models
Sign or symbol ?
(terminological problem)
symbol (Saussure) = sign (Peirce)!
meaning: any ‘thing’ representing any other thing than itself
SIGN
symbol (Peirce) = sign (Saussure)!
a ‘thing’ representing another thing only by convention
ARBITRARY SIGN
= process of producing and
interpreting signs
C.S. Peirce: Semiosis 1, 2, 3 (1)
• Firstness (emission)
•
The thing/idea perceived
before encoding
(poïetic pole)
Secondness (the ‘channel’)
The object (firstness) encoded
• Thirdness (reception)
Sign (secondness) interpreted
(aesthesic pole)
 object
 sign
 interpretant

final interpretants
via connotation
C.S. Peirce: Semiosis 1, 2, 3 (2)
Sign typology at level of secondness
• Icon
Sign bearing physical resemblance to its object/interprétant
• Index (pl. indices)
Sign linked to its object/interpretant by proximity or causality
• Arbitrary sign
Sign linked only by convention to its object/interpretant
and semantics,
when
found in
C.S. Peirce:‘Syntax
Semiosis
1,
2,
3
(3)
splendid isolation, become perverse
Syntax
aspects of approach after Morris
disciplines’ (Umberto Eco, 1990)
Internal (etic) organisation and arrangement (‘form’) of
structural elements without necessarily considering their
meaning
Semantics
Links between signs and what they represent (emic) without
necessarily considering their use in concrete situations
Pragmatics
Use of signs in concrete sociocultural situations (economy,
ideology, society, psychology, etc.)
Denotation and connotation
Denotation
Type of lexical meaning associated mainly with arbitrary
signs
thunder (the word) = noise accompanying lighting
 diminished seventh chord = chord consisting of three
contingent and superimposed minor thirds
Connotation
Non-lexical type of meaning mainly associated with indices
and which relies on one or more previous levels of semiosis
thunder (the sound) = humidity, rain, danger, etc.
diminished seventh chord = horror, 19th century style
Connotation: smoke alarm sound = danger!
multilevel semiosis (3 causal indices, 1 connotation)
sign
sign
interpretant
interpretant
sign
interpretant
alarm sound
smoke
DANGER!
GET OUT!
fire
DON’T DIE!
1. smoke triggers alarm; alarm means smoke (causal index 1)
2. fire causes smoke; smoke means fire (causal index 2)
3. fire destroys and hurts; a fire in the home means danger (index 3)
Connotation & ‘polysemy’ : 2 quotes
‘The difference between denotation and connotation is
not... the difference between “univocal” and “vague”
signification, or between “referential” and “emotional”
communication... What constitutes a connotation... is
the connotative code which establishes it; the
characteristic of a connotative code is the fact that the
further signification... relies on a primary one.’
(Eco, A Theory of Semiotics, 1979, p. 55)
‘The thoughts which are expressed to me by a piece of
music which I love are not too indefinite to be put into
words, but on the contrary too definite.’
(Mendelssohn, cited by Cooke: The Language of Music, 1959, p. 5)
2
Specificity of
musical meaning
Music: axiomatic working definition
type of
sonic, non-verbal, interhuman
communication which,
according to particular
sociocultural conventions,
can carry meaning
related mainly to
emotional, gestural, tactile,
kinetic, spatial and prosodic
aspects of cognition.
‘Live’ communication
concerted
simultaneity
 spoken language
 visual
arts  dance  music
a single individual
 himself/herself    
 individuals    
an individual  a group    

several individuals  inside a group 
two
a group
 an individual

 groups

several
Domains of representation and music as the
‘embodying’ cross-domain level
emotional
motoric
social
(fine)
‘embodying’
representation
(music)
linguistic
motoric
(gross)
physical
Synaesthesia and synaesthesis
u (syn) = with, yhw (aisthesis) = perception
synaesthesia: disturbance of sensory perception by the
intrusion of additional perception from another sense than that
considered normal in a given situation
synaesthesis: normal perception using more than one of
the five senses simultaneously
synaesthetic (adj.): relating to any type of perception
using more than one of the five senses simultaneously
3
Musematic analysis
Museme
term invented by US musicologist Charles Seeger (father of Pete)
‘On the moods of a musical logic’ (1960)
‘Minimal unit of musical meaning’ (cf. morpheme)
Can it exist?
Good
question.
We’ll have to see!
‘Musical
structure’
What’s that ?
Musician’s assumptions
• Changing a musical structure often produces a change in effect
on listeners.
• If true, there must be links between musical structures and what
they communicate (their meanings, their interpretants).
• If true, there must be basic elements of structuration allowing
for the production of musical meaning.
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
AO
IOCM
Analysis
Object
Interobjective
Comparison
Material
PMFC
PMFC
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
(relevant to AO)
(relevant to IOCM)
Parameters of paramusical expression
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
•Paramusical sound: chatter, chiming, clapping, rattling, applause, mains hum, vinyl
crackle, engine noise, birdsong, sound effects, crying, laughing, screaming, scraping,
hitting, water, wind, thunder, etc. ad. inf.
•Oral language: monologue, dialogue, commentary, voice-over, lyrics,
accent/dialect, vocal type, prosody, type and speed of conversation/dialogue, &c...
•Written language: programme or liner notes, promo copy, title credits, subtitles,
written devices on stage, expression marks and other performance instructions, &c...
• Visuals • font, graphic design, layout, painting, photo, sculpture, &c…
• scenario, props, lighting, clothing, &c...
• dramatic action, facial expressions, gestures, &c...
• camera positions, cutting speed, editing technique, fades, pans, zooms, &c…
• Movement: dance, dive, drive, fall, fly, glide, hit, hover, jump, kick, lie, ride, rise, run,
slide, sit, stand, stroke, stumble, sway, swerve, wait, walk, &c...
• (Re-)performance venue + concurrent activity: home, concert, club, TV, cinema,
church, sports, dancing, riding, driving, restaurant, hotel, office, factory, circus, street,
town, country, &c...
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Parameters of musical expression (1)
• instrumentational
• number/type of voices/instruments
• mechanical devices: mutes, pedals, stops, plectrum, string types, reed types,
mouthpieces, bows, sticks, brushes, &c...
• electro-acoustic devices: microphone types & techniques, loudspeakers, echo,
reverb, delay, panning, filtering, mixers, amplifiers, equalisers, phasing, flanging,
chorus, compression, distortion, vocoding, dubs, &c...
• performance techniques: vibrato, tremolo, tremolando, glissando, portamento,
pizzicato, sul ponte, picking, strum, &c...
• timbral (timbre)
• vocal: booming, breathy, clean, clear, cracked, crying, deep, gravelly, harsh, hoarse,
howling, growling, guttural, husky, light, melismatic, muffled, piercing, plaintive,
raucous, rich, screeching, shouting, shrill, sonorous, soothing, squeaky, squawking,
strident, syllabics, thin, warbling, warm, wheezing, whooping, &c...
• instrumental: as for vocal + blaring, bubbling, buzzing, chiming, clanking,
clattering, crashing, grating, hissing, humming, jarring, muted, ringing, rumbling,
scraping, stuttering, throbbing, tinkling, whirring, whistling, &c...
Parameters of musical expression (2)
• temporal parameters
• duration: [1] of piece and relationship of this duration to other connected aspects of
communication (film, rite, sports event, dancing); [2] of sections within the piece
• internal order/treatment of musical events: intros, cadences, bridges, continuations,
interruptions, recurrences (reiterations, repeats, recaps), sequences &c…
• pulse, tempo: [1] base rate; [2] surface rate.
• rhythmic texture: polyrhythm, birhythm, monorhythm, &c...
• metre (rhythmic grouping of pulse, time signature, etc.), e.g. simple, compound,
symmetric, asymmetric, additive, divisive, &c...
• accentuation, e.g. upbeat, downbeat, syncopation, regular,.
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Parameters of musical expression (3)
• tonal parameters
• tuning system: how octave is divided, retuning, detuning, &c.
• pitch range: average and total for each voice/part; ambitus, tessitura, &c.
• tonal vocabulary: scale, mode, motifs, number and type of different pitches/notes
• motivic/melodic contour: rising, falling, oscillating, arched, V-shaped, centric, wavy,
terraced, tumbling strain, &c...
• harmonic parameters
• tonal centre (if any)
• type of tonality: droned, modal, diatonic, tertial, quartal, bebop, impressionist, late
romantic, twelve-tone, &c…
• harmonic change as long and short term phenomenon, harmonic rhythm.
• dynamics
• loud  soft
• sudden  gradual
• constant  variable
Simple sign typology of music
anaphone
sonic: resemblance to paramusical sound
kinetic: resemblance to paramusical movement
tactile: resemblance to paramusical grain/touch
genre
synecdoche
pars pro toto reference to ‘foreign’ musical
style, thence to cultural context of that style
episodic
marker
short, one-way process highlighting the order
or relative importance of musical events
style
indicator
item of musical structuration typical for the
‘home’ style of the analysis object
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Breughel: Massacre of the Innocents
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli
Smetana: Vltava (Moldau)
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Monocentric musical positioning
‘stage’
‘focal
point’
‘auditorium’
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music