Language verbalising notation: an intersemiotic analysis of musical notation in student texts

Abstract

Music notation is a fundamental tool for conveying meanings in music and its interaction with verbal language provides valuable insight into musical discourse. The acquisition of both linguistic and notational literacy is important for the academic success of music students who must demonstrate their knowledge and ground their practise through written texts. This paper presents a framework adapted from Unsworth and Cléirigh (2009) for the intersemiotic analysis of language verbalising notation in student research texts. The analysis identifies the valued qualities of notation, the roles of both human and musical participants and the musical and textual circumstances of notational quotes. It further identifies manner and effect as contextually significant aspects generally outside the semiotic potential of notation which are presented in accompanying text. This paper draws on research into the academic literacies of jazz performance students to provide a descriptive foundation for the analysis of writing about music.