Lecture 2 Communication Theory: Music as Information

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Lecture 2 Communication TheoryMusic as
Information

• MUSI 3911Music, Emotion and Meaning

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Overview

• What is communication?
• Communication theory and codes
• Music and communication theory
• Information theory
• Information theory and music
• Summary

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What is communication?

• What do we need to have to say communication has
  occurred?
• In what domains is communication most obvious?
• Is communication the same as language?
• Can we speak of musical communication

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Communication theory and codes

• Message/signal
• Code
• Sender, receiver (addressee) and channel

Noise
Errors in typesetting
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Music and communication theory

• What kinds of message?
• Sender
• Composer
• Performer
• Receiver
• Listener
• Performer
• What kinds of encoding?
• What kinds of channel?
• What kinds of noise?

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Music and communication theory

• Why might the message be wrongly decoded?

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Music and communication theory

• How is meaning represented in such theories
• Meaning is the message that is received/transmitte
  d
• Makes clear the different components necessary
  for communication to occur
• Questions?
• Is there always a message?
• Can there be meaning when the message is not
  received clearly?
• Can there be meaning if there is no message?

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Information theory

• Noise in the channel
• Missing or distorted data (ABgtBA or A_)
• Reduces intelligibility
• Redundancy in the signal
• Repetition (ABABABgtABAB_B)
• Predictability
• Information content is negatively proportional to
  redundancy
• Information is present whenever the signal is
  non-redundant (ABABABAC)

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Information theory and music

• Musical structure is redundant
• Musical structure is predictable
• An event implies another event
• V implies I or gap implies fill
• This implication is either realised, delayed or
  denied
• Our expectations are aroused and meaning relies
  on whether they are fulfilled

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Summary

• Musical meaning might be communicated
• If codes are shared
• If there is not too much noise in the channel
• If there is a message at all
• Musical meaning might be encoded as pure
  information
• If there is a degree of redundancy
• If we are able to predict this redundancy