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Philip Tagg
Facult de musique
Universit de Montral
www.tagg.org
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Communication Model
emitter only
poetic /
constructional
Intended
message
o f
s y m b o l s
receiver only
codal incompetence
inadequate
encoding
Emitter
inadequate
response
Music
(channel)
Receiver
inadequate
response
inadequate
encoding
codal interference
emitter only
receiver only
s o c i o c u l t u r a l
n o r m s
esthesic /
receptional
s t o r e
adequate
response
Elementary semiotic
considerations
Semiotics or semiology ?
!!!! / !!!!!!! (sema/
(semiotics,=semiology,
semeion)
sign semantifs, semaphore, etc.)
Sign or symbol ?
(terminological problem)
SIGN
symbol (Peirce) = sign (Saussure)!
a thing representing another thing only by convention
ARBITRARY SIGN
Thirdness (reception)
Sign (secondness) interpreted
(aesthesic pole)
object
sign
interpretant
final interpretants
via connotation
Icon
Sign bearing physical resemblance to its object/interprtant
Arbitrary sign
Sign linked only by convention to its object/interpretant
and semantics,
when
found in
C.S. Peirce:Syntax
Semiosis
1,
2,
3
(3)
splendid isolation, become perverse
Syntax
Semantics
Links between signs and what they represent (emic) without
necessarily considering their use in concrete situations
Pragmatics
Use of signs in concrete sociocultural situations (economy,
ideology, society, psychology, etc.)
Connotation
Non-lexical type of meaning mainly associated with indices
and which relies on one or more previous levels of semiosis
thunder (the sound) = humidity, rain, danger, etc.
sign
sign
interpretant
interpretant
sign
interpretant
alarm sound
smoke
DANGER!
GET OUT!
fire
DONT DIE!
2
Specificity of
musical meaning
Live communication
spoken language
visual
arts ! dance music
concerted
simultaneity
a single individual
D himself/herself !
D individuals !
an individual g a group !
!
several individuals D inside a group
two
a group
I an individual
HI groups
several
motoric
social
(fine)
embodying
representation
(music)
linguistic
motoric
(gross)
physical
3
Musematic analysis
Museme
Good question.
Well have to
Musical
structure
see!
Whats that ?
Musicians assumptions
Changing a musical structure often produces a change in effect
on listeners.
AO
IOCM
Analysis
Object
Interobjective
Comparison
Material
PMFC
PMFC
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
(relevant to AO)
(relevant to IOCM)
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...
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...
dynamics
loud soft
sudden gradual
constant variable
anaphone
genre
synecdoche
episodic
marker
style
indicator
stage
focal
point
auditorium