Simple Semiotic Analysis of Music
Philip Tagg
Facult de musique
Universit de Montral
www.tagg.org
P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
Music
(channel)
Emitter Receiver
Intended
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 only emitter only
emitter only
codal incompetence
codal interference
inadequate
encoding
inadequate
encoding
Communication Model P Tagg: Simple semiotics of music
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1
Elementary 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
(poetic pole)
The object (firstness) encoded
Sign (secondness) interpreted
(aesthesic pole)
= process of producing and
interpreting 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/interprtant
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, 19
th
century style
Connotation: smoke alarm sound = danger!
multilevel semiosis (3 causal indices, 1 connotation)
sign
sign
sign
interpretant
interpretant
interpretant
smoke alarm sound
fire
DANGER!
GET OUT!
DONT 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)
2
Specificity 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
sun (syn) = with, aisyhsiw (aisthesis) = perception
synaesthetic (adj.): relating to any type of perception
using more than one of the five senses simultaneously
3
Musematic analysis
Museme
term 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. Well have to
see!
Musicians 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
Whats that ?
PMFC
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
(relevant to IOCM)
PMFC
Paramusical Fields
of Connotation
(relevant to AO)
AO
Analysis
Object
IOCM
Interobjective
Comparison
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
anaphone
sonic: resemblance to paramusical sound
kinetic: resemblance to paramusical movement
tactile: resemblance to paramusical grain/touch
genre
synecdoche
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
style
indicator
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
