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

poïe

tic / con

structio

nal

est

hes

ic /

rece

ptio

nal

1Elementary 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)!

symbol (Peirce) = sign (Saussure)!

meaning: any ‘thing’ representing any other thing than itself

a ‘thing’ representing another thing only by convention

SIGN

ARBITRARY SIGN

C.S. Peirce: Semiosis 1, 2, 3 (1)

• Firstness (emission)

• Secondness (the ‘channel’)

• Thirdness (reception)

object

sign

interpretant

final interpretants

via connotation

The thing/idea perceived before encoding (poïetic pole)

The object (firstness) encoded

Sign (secondness) interpreted(aesthesic pole)

= process of producing andinterpreting signs

C.S. Peirce: Semiosis 1, 2, 3 (2)Sign typology at level of secondness

• Icon

• Index (pl. indices)

• Arbitrary sign

Sign bearing physical resemblance to its object/interprétant

Sign linked to its object/interpretant by proximity or causality

Sign linked only by convention to its object/interpretant

C.S. Peirce: Semiosis 1, 2, 3 (3)aspects of approach after Morris

Internal (etic) organisation and arrangement (‘form’) of structural elements without necessarily considering their meaning

Links between signs and what they represent (emic) without necessarily considering their use in concrete situations

Use of signs in concrete sociocultural situations (economy, ideology, society, psychology, etc.)

Syntax

Semantics

Pragmatics

‘Syntax and semantics, when found in splendid isolation,

become perverse disciplines’ (Umberto Eco, 1990)

Denotation and connotation

Type of lexical meaning associated mainly with arbitrary signs

Non-lexical type of meaning mainly associated with indices and which relies on one or more previous levels of semiosis

Denotation

Connotation

thunder (the word) = noise accompanying lighting

diminished seventh chord = chord consisting of three contingent and superimposed minor thirds

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

sign

interpretant

interpretant

interpretant

smokealarm sound

fire

DANGER!

GET OUT!

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)

2Specificity 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 spoken language visual arts dance music

a single individual himself/herself

two individuals

an individual a group

several individuals inside a group

a group an individual

several groups

concerted simultaneity

Domains of representation and music as the ‘embodying’ cross-domain level

motoric

(fine)

emotional

social

physical

motoric (gross)

linguistic

‘embodying’representation

(music)

Synaesthesia and synaesthesis

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

(syn) = with, (aisthesis) = perception

synaesthetic (adj.): relating to any type of perception using more than one of the five senses simultaneously

3Musematic analysis

Musemeterm 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!

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.

‘Musical structure’What’s that ?

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