Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music

1. Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music Philip TaggFaculté de musiqueUniversité de Montréalwww.tagg.org P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

2. 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 emitter only receiver 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

3. P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music AO AnalysisObject IOCM InterobjectiveComparisonMaterial PMFC Paramusical Fieldsof Connotation(relevant to IOCM) PMFC Paramusical Fieldsof Connotation(relevant to AO)

4. 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...

5. 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...

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. Breughel: Massacre of the Innocents

10. P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music

11. P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli Smetana: Vltava (Moldau)

12. Monocentric musical positioning ‘stage’ ‘focal point’ ‘auditorium’ P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music