Article

Name: A new method of multifactorial modal analysis of music form for systematic musicology. Part 1: Intervallic scaling and formative role of the gradations of articulation and breathing

Authors: A. V. Nikolsky

Independent Researcher, Austin, USA

In the section Этномузыковедение

Abstract:

This article introduces a new method to analyze the tonal organization of music. This method uses “indefinite” intervallic typology instead of “definite.” The focus is on sounds with continuous frequency modulation and fluctuating pitch and time values rather than those with discrete time and frequency intervals that remain constant throughout a music work, forming sets of pitch and interval classes and rhythmic divisions. All existing methods of musicological analysis are primarily intended for the latter kind of music and are hardly useful for analyzing timbral rather than frequency characteristics of sounds and their relative registral position rather than “definite” pitch values. Our novel approach elaborates Eduard Alexeev’s theory of musical mode evolution, corroborating it with findings of modern psychoacoustics, biomusicology, ethology, evolutionary anthropology, genetic epistemology, and cognitive sciences. We implement the latest technologies for frequency and spectral analysis of music. Not only does our approach quantify the melodic, harmonic, rhythmic, metrical, thematic, and textural patterns of TO, but it also allows such aspects of musical expression as dynamics, tempo, articulation, breathing pulse, registration, and timbre to be evaluated. This multivariate method is supposed to improve considerably the analysis of music based on both “indefinite” and “definite” pitch forms. Such a comparative multifactorial analysis is essential for establishing the pathways of the global evolution of music and its biologically ingrained universalities and distinguishing music from other types of auditory communication. To summarize, we present the methodology for identifying the intervallic typology, articulatory gradations, and breathing segmentation of the music flow.

Keywords: music, systematic musicology, structural analysis, syntax, musical mode, tone and interval classes, intervallic typology, musical articulation, gradations of tonal stability, breathing groups, respiratory pulse, segmentation of music

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