Open AccessIconography, Nomenclature, and Sound: Building a Musical Database
Author(s) -
Cynthia I. Gonzales
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
engaging students
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2689-2871
DOI - 10.18061/es.v7i0.7367
Subject(s) - iconography , harmony (color) , nomenclature , musical , singing , sound (geography) , visual arts , linguistics , art , computer science , acoustics , taxonomy (biology) , philosophy , biology , botany , physics
Musicians who possess functional sight singing and dictation skills have unified into a single entity three discrete bodies of knowledge about music: iconography, nomenclature, and sound. Iconography refers to the visual representation of music. By nomenclature, I mean any labeling system for pitch, rhythm, and harmony. The third component—musical sound—is abstract, being invisible to human eyes and intangible to human touch. In this essay, I suggest approaches to unifying iconography, nomenclature, and sound into a "musical database," as well as propose a curricular reform in which aural skills precedes courses in written theory.