1. Research Skills Musicology
Dr Paul Carr

3.  Icon: Where the sound resembles in some
shape or form what it is representing. This is a
form of Primary Signification. Interesting to
consider sampling
 Index: Where the sound points toward its
meaning

4. The person or
What the
Stimulus/Music people who
meaning
understand
refers to
its meaning
Can Be
„Designative‟
or Embodied‟
(Outside or Inside Music)

5.  Mayer believes that once we become emotionally
or intellectually aware of the implications of a
musical stimulus – meaning arises.
 Regarding how listeners gain interest in music,
Mayer distinguishes three types of „deviation‟,
arguing that “the mind becomes aware of the
possibility of alternative modes of continuation”-
 1) The probable event is delayed
 2) Ambiguity
 3)The Unexpected

6. 1. „Hypothetical Meaning‟ (What we expect to
occur) “Greater freedom of choice, greater
uncertainty, greater information go hand in
hand .
2. „Evident Meaning‟ (What has happened
retrospectively) – Very Common!
 These two factors are interrelated by the
former being re-evaluated in light of the latter.
 This can be considered part of the
„hermeneutic circle‟.

7. Evident
Whole
Meaning
Part
Hypothetical
Meaning

8. Revision: Phil Tagg Communication
Model
Intended ‘adequate’
‘message’ Emitter Music Receiver response
(channel)

9. AO IOCM
Analysis Interobjective
Comparison
Object Material
PMFA PMFA
Paramusical Fields Paramusical Fields
of Association of Association
(relevant to AO) (relevant to IOCM)

12.  “A musical synecdoche would therefore be a set of
musical structures inside a given musical style that
refer to another (different, 'foreign', 'alien') musical style
by citing one or two elements supposed to be typical of
that 'other' style when heard in the context of the style
into which those 'foreign' elements are imported. By
citing part of the other style, the citation then alludes
not only to that other style in its entirety but also
potentially refers to the complete genre of which that
other musical style is a subset” (Tagg Towards a Sign
Typology of Music )
 Shakti
 Miles Davis

13.  What examples can you think of in popular
music where there is a „sign‟ that indicates a
musical event is about to happen?
 Drum fills?
 Rallentaddo?
 Film Music examples: Jaws

14.  Intrasubjective analysis: Personal account of
ones own reactions to music.
 Intersubjective analysis: An account that takes
numerous accounts of a piece of music into
consideration.
 Intraobjective analysis: Personal account – but
attempts to be objective!

15.  Performance practices and techniques can give a song
its „unique‟ character.
 Can impact both live music making and recorded
music.
 Recording changes what may originally have been
considered an improvised moment into something that
can be analysed repeatedly.
 How does the musician communicate their musical
persona in a recorded or live performance?-
 In a single take?
 Via overdubs?
 Are they being themselves or someone else?
 etc

16.  Many musicians and
producers have a sound
that is associated with
them:
 Hendrix guitar sound
 Phil Collins drum sound
 Duane Eddy guitar sound
 Phil Spector production
 All of these are sometimes
a combination of
performance style and
recorded sound.

17.  What occurs in terms of reception when
musicians of different styles and traditions
combine?
 For example:

18.  RunDMC/Aerosmith
 Limp Bizkit

20.  Intentional: Meaning in the performance as the
players have more freedom
 Extensional: Meaning in the notation
 Pink Floyd Rehearsal

21.  Interesting to examine how the time and
location of a recording influences the sound.
 Many artists have used specific „places‟ to
influence a sound. For Example:
 Phil Spector – Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.
 Led Zeppelin (4th album) Headley Grange
 Buddy Holly: Norman Petty‟s studio
 Elvis Presley: Sun Studios
 Joe Meek: 304 Holloway Road
 Rolling Stones: Muscle Shoals Studio

23.  Sometimes the peculiarities of a room may lead
to a specific recording technique and therefore
sound.
 Buddy Holly: (“Not Fade Away”) Studio too
small for drums – used cardboard boxes
 Note how The Rolling Stones attempted to
emulate this sound in the UK with their
version of the song.
 .

24. BUDDY HOLLY THE ROLLING STONES

25.  Modern recordings are often compiled in a
variety of locations and times.

26.  Jimi Hendrix: Crash
Landing
 The Beatles Anthology:
John Lennon
 Nat King Cole and
Natalie Cole:
“Unforgettable”
 Patsy Cline-Jim Reeves:
“I Fall to Pieces” (1982)
 Hank Williams Jr and
Sr: “There‟s a Tear in
my Beer”

27.  A Certain Kind Of Freedom
 In today's digital age – unity of time and place
is no longer a prerequisite for studio
performance.

28.  Les Paul
 Stevie Wonder
 Mike Oldfield
 Many modern dance
music over the last
20 years or so is
documented by a
single „performer‟.

29.  Techniques include:
 Compiling the best aspects of numerous takes, as
opposed to going with a „single take‟.
 „Punching in‟ to redo specific aspects of a performance
 Digital enhanced tuning and timing
 Using a „sub mix‟ to (for example bass and drums) to
bring about a specific type of performance (In this
case, it may be a particularly „tight‟ relationship
between the instruments)
 Other sub mixes could focus on the interaction
between instruments.

30.  Place examples of
 Episodic Markers on blog: plus
 -one of the following
 Sonic/Tactile/Kinetic Anaphones
 Genre Synecdoche
 Experiments with Time & Place