Simple%20Semiotic%20Analysis%20of%20Music

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Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music

• Philip TaggFaculté de musiqueUniversité de
  Montréalwww.tagg.org

P Tagg Simple semiotics of music
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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
receiver only
emitter only
codal incompetence
inadequate encoding
inadequate response
Intended message
Music (channel)
Emitter
Receiver
adequate response
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
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P Tagg Simple semiotics of music
AO AnalysisObject
IOCM InterobjectiveComparisonMaterial
PMFC Paramusical Fieldsof Connotation (relevant
to IOCM)
PMFC Paramusical Fieldsof Connotation (relevant
to AO)
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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...

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Parameters of musical expression (1)
P Tagg Simple semiotics of music

• 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...

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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
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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

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Simple sign typology of music
sonic resemblance to paramusical sound
anaphone
kinetic resemblance to paramusical movement
tactile resemblance to paramusical grain/touch
genresynecdoche
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
styleindicator
item of musical structuration typical for the
home style of the analysis object
P Tagg Simple semiotics of music
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Breughel Massacre of the Innocents
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P Tagg Simple semiotics of music
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P Tagg Simple semiotics of music
Palestrina Missa Papae Marcelli
Smetana Vltava (Moldau)
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Monocentric musical positioning
stage
focal point
auditorium
P Tagg Simple semiotics of music