Glossary of special terms, abbreviations, neologisms, etc. used in writings by Philip Tagg
abbr. = abbreviation; etym. = etymology; neol. = neologism
Adeline slides neol. (1990) Short, unidirectional, chromatic passage usually spanning a third and usually descending, as in Sweet Adeline (Harry Armstrong, 1903). See also minichromatics.
aesthesic (from Fr. esthésique, Molino via Nattiez) Relating to the aesthesis, i.e. to the perception of music rather than to its production/construction/creation/making (basically the same as receptional, opposite of constructional or poïetic)
anaphone n., neol. (1991). Museme or museme compound acting as stylised homology for [1] paramusical sound – sonic anaphone, [2] paramusical movement – kinetic anaphone, [3] paramusical touch – tactile anaphone. See Towards a Sign Typology of Music.
AO abbr. Analysis object, i.e. the piece of music under analysis. See semiotics notes.
Ave Maria chord neol. (1989). A subdominant 6-5 chord with fifth in bass held over as second chord in a phrase from an initial major tonic root. Etym. the Dm7 (or F6) with c in the bass that comes as second chord in J S Bach’s Prelude Nº 1 in C Major (Wohltemperiertes, vol. 1) and which was used by Gounod for his setting of Ave Maria.
ca. (followed by number or date) approximately. Etym. Latin circa (= around, about).
chord shuttle neol. (1993) oscillation between two harmonies, e.g. the to-and-fro between triads of B flat minor and G flat major at the start of Chopin's Marche funèbre’; a.k.a. ‘aeolian pendulum’ (Björnberg). See also turnaround.
constructional adj., neol. (2001). Denoting an element of musical structure from the viewpoint of its construction rather than its perceived connotative qualities, e.g. 'con sordino', 'minor major-seven chord', 'augmented fourth', 'pentatonicism' rather than 'delicate', 'detective chord', 'allegro', etc. Basically same thing as poïetic, opposite of receptional or aesthesic.
cowboy half-cadence neol. (1987) progression from major triad on the flat seventh to major triad on the dominant, as in the theme from The Magnificent Seven, Cade's Country, Dallas, Blazing Saddles, etc.
crisis chord neol. (1991). Chromatically embellished chord containing at least one diminished or augmented interval and occurring within the standard harmonic context of the European tertial idiom. Most frequently in the guise of (subdominant) m6 or (supertonic) m7-5, crisis chords can often be found about 75% of the way through a C19 parlour ballad.
elbs. abbr. electric bass.
elgt. abbr. electric guitar.
episodic marker n. neol. (1991). musical sign type consisting of a short, unidirectional process along one or more parameter(s) of musical expression, marking a change of musical material.
equidurational adj. neol. (1998). of equal duration, occupying equal time. [Easier to pronounce than ‘isodiarcetic’, from isoV (=equal) and diarkhV (=lasting)]. Compare isochronous.
etymophony neol. (1997). (study of) the origin of an item of sonic signification.
ex. abbr. music example. exx. = examples.
extrageneric adj. outside or not belonging to the discourse of the symbolic system under discussion.
extramusical adj. extrageneric (q.v.) in relation to music; compare paramusical.
extraopus adj. outside or not belonging to the piece of music under discussion.
genre synecdoche n., neol. (1991). Museme or museme compound consisting of single element(s) of musical style other than that of the analysis object and connoting the complete style of that other music by means of a pars pro toto (part for whole) mechanism. The style reference then also acts as a synecdoche for the genre to which that musical style belongs. See Towards a Sign Typology of Music.
HS abbr., n., neol. (1979) Hypothetical Substitution, i.e. the commutation of one musical element or parameter of expression for another. See semiotics notes.
hypothetical substitution. neol. (1979). See HS.
IOCM abbr., n., neol. (1979) Interobjective Comparison Material, i.e. (extracts from) pieces of music other than the analysis object which bear demonstrable sonic resemblance to (part or parts of) the analysis object, i.e. musical intertext[s]. See semiotics notes.
interobjective comparison neol.(1979). The musically intertextual comparison of one or more elements of musical structure in one piece with one or more structural elements in another. See IOCM.
intramusical adj. intrinsic to a particular musical discourse.
intraopus adj. within a piece of music.
isochronous adj. occurring at the same time, synchronic. To avoid confusion, the second meaning of ‘isochronous’ – occupying equal length time – is covered by equidurational.
kinetic anaphone See anaphone.
LMR abbr. List of Musical References.
LVR abbr. List of Visual References, i.e. appendix containing references to films, TV programmes, etc.
minichromatics neol. (1976). a.k.a. ‘decorative chromaticism’ and opposed to ‘structural’ or ‘modulatory’ chromaticism. Minichromatics implies using chromaticism, within the standard triadic idiom of European tertial harmony, as a means of colouring and decorating the current tonality rather than as a means of modulating away from it. One common type of minichromatics is the Adeline slide.
MoR abbr. middle-of-the-road.
museme n. (Seeger 1961, adapted Tagg 1979). minimal unit of musical meaning. See semiotics notes.
museme stack neol. suggested by Bill Brooks (1981). Simultaneously ('horizontally') sounding set of musemes. Previously (1979) called 'paradigmatic museme compound' (PMC).
museme string neol. suggested by Bill Brooks (1981). Contiguously ('horizontally') sounded sequence of musemes containable within a musical phrase (or shorter). Previously (1979) called 'syntagmatic museme compound' (PMC).
paramusical adj. neol. (1983) literally 'alongside' the music, i.e. semiotically related to a particular musical discourse without being structurally intrinsic to that discourse. Compare extramusical.
PMFC neol. (1991) Paramusical field of connotation, i.e. connotatively identifiable semantic field relating to identifiable (set of) musical structure(s) (see paramusical). Previously (1979) called 'EMFA' (extramusical field of association).
pendulum. See Chord shuttle.
perceptional. See receptional.
poïetic adj. (from Fr. poïétique, Molino via Nattiez) Relating to the poïesis, i.e. to the making of music rather than to its perception. Basically the same as constructional, the opposite of aesthesic or receptional.
prolapsual neol., adj., (1988) having the character of gliding, sliding, slipping, slithering or of other relatively frictionless movement of one body in relation to another. Etym. Latin: prolapsus from prolabi, to slide forwards.
PT abbr. Philip Tagg.
rec. abbr. recording, recorded by.
receptional adj., neol. (2001). Denoting an element of musical structure from the viewpoint of its perceived connotative qualities, rather than its construction, e.g. 'delicate', 'detective sound', 'allegro' rather than 'con sordino', 'minor major-seven chord', 'augmented fourth', 'pentatonicism' , etc. Basically same thing as aesthesic and opposite of constructional or poïetic.
sonic anaphone See Anaphone.
surface rate n., neol. (1988) rate of occurrence of notes (q.v.) rather than of the music’s underlying pulse (tempo). A surface rate can be expressed in notes per minute or in relation to concurrent tempo (e.g. 4 per crotchet). The term is often used to qualify the relation between passages containing short note values (e.g. melodic runs, arpeggiated ostinati, tremolandi) on the one hand and tempo or harmonic rhythm on the other. Put crudely, tempo is the ‘boom-boom’ factor and surface rate the ‘diddly-diddly’ factor.
tertial harmony neol. (1998) Harmony based on the stacking of overlapping thirds (i.e. common triads, chords of the seventh, ninth, etc.) rather than overlapping fourths — quartal harmony. See triad and Tagg's Harmony Handout.
tonatim. adv., neol. (1992). Tone (beat) for tone (beat) (cf. verbatim = word for word).
transscansion. n., neol., musical sign type (1996). Type of sonic anaphone (see anaphone) involving transfer of the prosodic (scanable) elements (rhythm, accentuation, intonation but not vowels or consonants) of a word or words from speech into music according to similar principles as those used for talking drums. Transcansions are assigned to instrumental or to wordless vocal parts, e.g. [1] the repeated 3-note figure scanning the word ‘Superman’ in the main theme from Superman (J Williams 1979); [2] the 4-note figure scanning the two words ‘Intel Inside’ that must contractually be sounded every time the word ‘Intel’ appears on screen. Transcansions are often used in advertising to musically reinforce brand name identities and product slogans. Etym. trans = across (here from words to music), scansion = the prosodic organisation of words.
triad. n. Chord containing three notes of different pitch and pitch name, in the same way that a dyad contains two and a tetrad four notes of different pitch and name. Triads can be tertial (e.g. c-e-d), quartal (e.g. c-f-g or g-c-f) or chromatic (e.g. b-c-f). Tetrads can also be tertial (e.g. g-b-d-f), quartal (e.g. g-c-d-f) or chromatic (e.g. b-c-e-f). Harmony based on overlapping thirds rather than fourths is therefore not triadic but tertial. See Tagg's Harmony Handout.
turnaround. repeated sequence of chords, usually three or four and occupying a period of two to four bars, e.g. I-vi-ii/IV-V; a.k.a. ‘vamp’ (as in ‘vamp till ready’). See Tagg's Harmony Handout and Chord shuttle.
vamp. See Turnaround.
VVA abbr., n., neol. (1987) Verbal visual association, i.e. one discrete verbal and/or visual association elicited from listener in response to music.
