Ethnomusicology and musical meanings

Authors

  • Jean-Jacques Nattiez University of Montreal
  • Silvana Zilli Bomskov University of Paris Sorbonne

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2004.55644

Keywords:

ethnomusicology, musical semantics, semiotics

Abstract

In the first part of this article, in order to differentiate musical semantics from linguistic semantics, a concept of the former is presented. The classification of the major families of semantics research in musicology allows one to determine the place of musical semantics in ethnomusicology. In the second part, the application of the semantic phenomena traits in ethnomusicology is proposed: the usage of the language´s substitutive procedures; the dimension of sign; the symbolic aspects, both connotative and cognitive; the indexical remission to the political, social and ideological planes. It ends with critical observations about the musical semantics and ethnomusicology methods: the establishment of pertinent significants and significations connected to them, the
status to be attributed to the authors of semantization and the context functions.

Author Biographies

  • Jean-Jacques Nattiez , University of Montreal

    Jean-Jacques Nattiez is a Full Professor of Musicology at the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal. Considered a pioneer of Musical Semiotics, he published: Fondements d'une sémiologie de la musique (UGE, 10-18, 1975), Musicologie générale et sémiologie (Bourgois, 1987), De la sémiologie à la musique (UQAM, 1987), Le combat de Chronos et d'Orphée (Bourgois, 1993). He applied his semiotic concepts to the relationships between music and literature (Proust musicien, Bourgois, 1984, 1999); to the works of Wagner (Tétralogies, Bourgois, 1983; Wagner androgyne, Bourgois, 1990); to the thoughts of Pierre Boulez (for whom he edited several volumes of writings, including correspondence with John Cage); and to the music of the Inuit (Canada), the Ainu (Japan), and the Baganda (Uganda), publishing several records of theirs. He is the author of the novel Opera (Leméac, 1997) and the intellectual autobiography La musique, la recherche et la vie (Leméac, 1999). He was the first co-editor and co-founder of the Revue de musique des universités canadiennes, directing Circuit from 1990 to 1999. Today, he is the general director of an Encyclopedia of Music, in 5 volumes, whose publication in Italian by EINAUDI began in 2001, and in 2003, by ACTE-SUD, in French. He has written around 150 articles, giving lecture series in twenty countries. Several of his books have been translated into English, Italian, and Japanese. The revised and expanded edition of Le combat de Chronos et d'Orphée will soon be published in Brazil by VIA LETTERA.

  • Silvana Zilli Bomskov, University of Paris Sorbonne

    Silvana Zilli Bomskov is a Conference Interpreter and a member of AIIC (International Association of Conference Interpreters), trained at the Université de Paris Sorbonne - Paris IV and specialized at the Université de la Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris III - ESIT. She has provided various interpretation and translation services for the Brazilian Embassy in Paris, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Parliament, the European Commission, the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and large international companies.

References

AGAWU, Kofi. African Rhythm. A Northern Ewe Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

__________ «Musica, linguaggio, danza». In: Enciclopedia della Musica, vol. III, «Musiche e Culture». Turin: Einaudi, 2003, p.944-956 ; trad. fr., Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIème siècle, vol. III, « Musiques et cultures ». Arles e Paris: Actes Sud et Cité de la musique, 2005, a ser publicado.

AMIRA, John, CORENLIUS, Steven. The Music of Santería. Traditional Rhythms of the Batá Drums. Tempe: White Cliffs Media, 1991.

BARTHES, Roland. « Rhétorique de l’image », Commnunications 4, 1964, p 40-51. Incluído em Œuvres complètes. Paris: Seuil, vol. I, p. 1417-1429.

BECKER, Judith . «Musica e trance», Enciclopedia della Musica, vol. III, «Musiche e Culture». Turin: Einaudi, 2003, p.409-436 ; trad. fr., Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIème siècle, vol. III, « Musiques et cultures ». Arles e Paris: Actes Sud et Cité de la musique, 2005, a ser publicado.

BELL, Yung. «Musica nel teatro chinese», Enciclopedia della Musica, vol. III, «Musiche e Culture», Turin: Einaudi, 2003, 889-924 ; trad. fr., Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIème siècle, vol. III, « Musiques et cultures ». Arles e Paris: Actes Sud et Cité de la musique, 2005, a ser publicado.

BLACKING, John. How Musical is Man? Seattle: Universty of Washington Press, 1973; trad. fr., Le sens musical. Paris: éditions de Minuit, 1980.

__________ Music, Culture, and Experience. Selected papers of John Blacking. Chicago e Londres: The University of Chicago Press, 1995.

BLOOMFIELD, Leonard. Language. Nova York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1929; trad. fr., Le langage. Paris: Payot, 1970.

BOILÈS, Charles L.. Cognitive Process in Otomi Cult Music. Tese de doutorado. Tulane University ; University Microfilms No. 70-6380, 1969.

__________ « Sémiotique de l’ethnomusicologie », Musique en jeu 10, 1973a, p.34-41.

__________ « Les chants instrumentaux des Tepehuas : un exemple de transmission musicale de significations », Musique en jeu 12, 1973b, p.81-99.

__________ Man, Magic, and Musical Occasions. Columbus: Collegiate Publishing, 1978.

BUDD, Malcolm. Music and the Emotions. The Philosophical Theories. Londres e Nova York: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985.

CALAME-GRIAULE, Geneviève. Ethnologie et langage. La parole chez les Dogon. Paris: Gallimard,1965.

CARON, NELLY, SAFVATE, DARIOUCHE. Iran (Les traditions musicales). Paris: Buchet-Chastel, 1966.

COMBARIEU, Jules. La musique et la magie. Étude sur les origines populaires de l’art musical, son influence et sa fonction dans les sociétés. Paris: Alphonse Picard et fils, éditeurs,1909 ; reed. , Genebra: Minkoff Reprint, 1978.

COUVREUR, Séraphin. Mémoire sur les bienséances et les cérémonies. Paris: Cathasia, 1950.

DESROCHES, Monique. Tambours des Dieux. Musique et sacrifice d’origine tamoule en Martinique. Montreal: L’Harmattan, 1996.

FRANCÈS, Robert. La perception de la musique. Paris: Vrin,1958.

GARDIN, Jean-Claude. Une archéologie théorique. Paris: Hachette, 1979.

GRIAULE, Marcel. Dieu d’eau. Paris: Fayard, 1966.

HANSLICK, Eduard. Du beau dans la musique [1854]. Paris: Christian Bourgois éditeur, 1986; trad. bras., Do Belo Musical, Trad. Nicolino Simone Neto. Campinas: Ed. da Unicamp, 1989.

HJELMSLEV, Louis. Prolégomènes à une théorie du langage [1943]. Paris: éditions de Minuit, 1971.

IMBERTY, Michel. « Perspectives nouvelles de la sémantique musicale expérimentale », Musique en jeu 17, 1975, p.86-109.

__________ Entendre la musique. Sémantique psychologique de la musique vol. I . Paris: Dunod, 1979.

__________ Les écritures du temps. Sémantique psychologique de la musique, vol. II. Paris: Dunod, 1981.

JAKOBSON, Roman. « A la recherche de l’essence du langage », in Problèmes du langage. Paris: Gallimard, col. Diogène, 1966, p.22-38.

JUSLIN, Patrik , SLOBODA, John. Music and Emotion. Theory and Research. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.

LASKE, Otto. “Towards a Musicology for the Twentieth Century”, Perspectives of New Music, 1977, XV/2, P. 220-225.

MARCONI, Luca. Musica Espressione Emozione. Bolonha: CLUEB, 2001.

MERRIAM, Alan P. The Anthropology of Music. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1964.

MEYER, Leonard B. Emotion and Meaning in Music. Chicago e Londres: The University of Chicago Press,1956.

__________ Explaining Music. Berkeley , Los Angeles, Londres: University of California Press, 1973.

MOLINO, Jean. « Fait musical et sémiologie de la musique », Musique en jeu 17, 1975, P.37-62. Trad. port. : “Facto musical e semiologia da música”, in J.J. Nattiez, U. Eco, N. Ruwet, J. Molino, Semiologia da Música, (org. Maria Alzira Seixo), trad. M.V. de Carvalho. Lisboa: Ed.Vega, s.d.

NATTIEZ, Jean-Jacques . Fondements d’une sémiologie de la musique. Paris: Union générale d’éditions, 1975.

__________ Musicologie générale et sémiologie. Paris: Christian Bourgois éditeur, 1987.

__________ « Inuit throat-games and siberian throat-singing : a comparative, historical and semiological approach », Ethnomusicology XLIII/ 3, 1999, p.399-418.

__________ «Musica e significato », Enciclopedia della Musica, vol. II, «Il sapere musicale». Turin: Einaudi, 2002, p. 206-238 ; trad. fr., « La signification comme paramètre musical ». Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIème siècle, vol. II, « Les savoirs musicaux », Arles e Paris: Actes Sud et Cité de la musique, 2004, a ser publicado.

NATTIEZ, Jean-Jacques, NANNYONGA TAMUSUZA, Sylvia . « Ritmo, danza e sesso », Enciclopedia della Musica, vol. III, «Musiche e Culture». Turin: Einaudi, 2003, p. 957-977 ; trad. fr., Musiques. Une Encyclopédie pour le XXIème siècle, vol. III, « Musiques et cultures ». Arles e Paris: Actes Sud et Cité de la musique, 2005, a ser publicado.

NETTL, Bruno. The Study of Ethnmusicology. Twenty-nine Issues and Concepts. Urbana, Chicago e Londres: University of Illinois Press, 1983.

NKETIA, J.H. Kwabena. Folk Songs of Ghana. Legon: University of Ghana, 1963.

OGDEN, C.K., RICHARDS, I.A. The Meaning of Meaning. Nova York: Harcourt, Brace, Janovich, 1923.

PAULUS, Jean. La fonction symbolique et le langage. Bruxelas: Charles Dessart éditeur, 1969.

POWERS, Harold. «Mode», The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Londres: Macmillan Publishers, 2001, vol. XVI, p. 775-860.

POWERS, Harold, WIDDESS, Richard. «Raga» in Article « India », The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Londres: Macmillan Publishers, 2001, vol. XVI, p. 178-188.

ROUGET, Gilbert. La musique et la transe. Esquisse d’une théorie générale des relations de la musique et de la possession. Paris: Gallimard, 1980.

ROUSSEAU, Jean-Jacques. Dictionnaire de musique. Paris: Veuve Duschesne, 1767. Reed. in Œuvres complètes, vol. V. Paris: Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, 1995, p. 605-1191.

SAPIR, Edward. Anthropologie. Paris: Seuil, 1971.

SLOBODA, John. «Affect», in article «Psychology of Music», The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. Londres: Macmillan Publishers, 2001, vol. XX, p. 544-546.

SORCE KELLER, Marcello . « Musica come rappresentazione e affermazione di identità », in Magrini, Tullia (ed.), Universi sonori. Introduzione all’ethnmusicologia. Turim: Einaudi, 2002, p. 187-210.

TAGG, Philip. Kojak – 50 Seconds of Television Music : toward the understanding of affect in popular music. Göteborg: University of Göteborg, Department of Musicology, tese de doutorado, 1979; reed. Nova York: The Mass Media Music Scholar’s Press, 2000.

__________ « Analysing popular music : theory, method and practice», Popular Music 2, 1982, p. 37-68.

__________ «Musicology and the semiotics of popular music», Semiotica LXVI/1-3, 1987, p. 279-298.

__________ Fernando the Flute. Analysis of musical meaning in an Abba mega-hit. Nova York :Mass Media Music Scholars’ Press, 1991.

__________ « Toward a sign typology of music », in Rossana Dalmonte et Mario Baroni (ed.), Secondo Convegno Europeo di Analisi Musicale. Atti. Trento: Università degli Studi di Trento, Studi e Testi 1, 1992.

TAGG, Philip e BOB Clarida. Ten Little Tunes. Nova York e Montreal: The Mass Media Music Scholars’ Press, 2003.

ZEMP, Hugo. Musique Dan. La musique dans la pensée et la vie sociale d’une société africaine. Paris: Mouton, Haia, Mouton, Cahiers de l’homme, 1971a.

__________ 1971b Masques Dan. Disco vinil, Paris, OCORA, OCR 52, 1971b ; reed. em CD, C 580048.

__________ « Aspects of ‘are’ are Musical Theory », Ethnomusicology XXIII/1, 1979, p. 6-48.

Downloads

Published

2004-07-01

Issue

No. 10 (2004): General Topics

Section

Translations

License

Copyright (c) 2004 Per Musi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Licença Creative Commons
Except where otherwise noted, contents on this site are licensed under a  Creative Commons - Atribuição 4.0 Internacional.

How to Cite

“Ethnomusicology and Musical Meanings”. 2004. Per Musi, no. 10 (July): 5-30. https://doi.org/10.35699/2317-6377.2004.55644.

Most read articles by the same author(s)