Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music

Philip TaggFaculté de musique

Université de Montréal

www.tagg.org

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

Music (channel)

Emitter ReceiverIntended

‘message’‘adequate’ response

s t o r e o f s y m b o l s

s o c i o c u l t u r a l n o r m s

‘inadequate’ response

‘inadequate’ response

shared by Emitter and Receiver

shared by Emitter and Receiver

receiver only

receiver onlyemitter only

emitter only

codal incompetence

codal interference

‘inadequate’ encoding

‘inadequate’ encoding

Communication ModelP Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

PMFCParamusical Fields

of Connotation (relevant to IOCM)

PMFCParamusical Fields

of Connotation (relevant to AO)

AOAnalysisObject

IOCMInterobjectiveComparison

Material

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

Parameters of paramusical expression

•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

• timbral (timbre)

• 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...

• 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...

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

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

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

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

Simple sign typology of music

anaphonesonicsonic: resemblance to paramusical soundkinetic: resemblance to paramusical movementtactile: 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

Breughel: Massacre of the Innocents

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli

Smetana: Vltava (Moldau)

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

‘focal point’

‘stage’

‘auditorium’

Monocentric musical positioning

P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music