Music Semiotics
A.Y. 2025/2026
Learning objectives
The course aims at providing fundamental concepts in music theory and harmony (with specific reference to the tonal language), by analyzing musical communication in its main building compoents (rhythmic, melodic, harmonic), and it its implications in terms of perception, affect-emotion, and cognition.
Expected learning outcomes
At the end of the course, the student will have the knowledge and the understanding of the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic structures of the tonal language, of its functions, and of its perceptual, affective, and cognitive implications. Moreover, the student will acquire the ability to evaluate critically the expressive phenomenology of the tonal language, and will internalize the main concepts so to make them accessible with a clear and competent communication.
Lesson period: First semester
Assessment methods: Esame
Assessment result: voto verbalizzato in trentesimi
Single course
This course can be attended as a single course.
Course syllabus and organization
Single session
Lesson period
First semester
Course syllabus
Part I
Semiotic approach in music
Diachronic / synchronic microstructures (sense units)
Rhythmic / melodic minimum
Harmonic minimum
Tensional dynamics
Structures of the tonal system
System morphology
Thematic formalization
Harmonic formalization
Armolodic gradients
Concatenations and cadences
Secondary dominants
"Flat" and "Sharp" Agreements
Modulations
The musical form
Part II
Disciplinary approaches
Music: movement, emotion, thought
Functions of music
The phonorelational approach: music/lyrics, instrumental music
The linguistic-musical approach
Musical practices: perception / production
The semiotic value: sign / symbol, musical symptom
Phenomenological-relational methodology
The song form: relationship, education, therapy
Semiotic approach in music
Diachronic / synchronic microstructures (sense units)
Rhythmic / melodic minimum
Harmonic minimum
Tensional dynamics
Structures of the tonal system
System morphology
Thematic formalization
Harmonic formalization
Armolodic gradients
Concatenations and cadences
Secondary dominants
"Flat" and "Sharp" Agreements
Modulations
The musical form
Part II
Disciplinary approaches
Music: movement, emotion, thought
Functions of music
The phonorelational approach: music/lyrics, instrumental music
The linguistic-musical approach
Musical practices: perception / production
The semiotic value: sign / symbol, musical symptom
Phenomenological-relational methodology
The song form: relationship, education, therapy
Prerequisites for admission
Prior knowledge is not requested. Being a first year couse, first semester, specific prerequisites are the ones required to be admitted to the Degree course, plus an active willingness to listen to music and vocal practice.
Teaching methods
The didactic approach intends to encourage the student to approach an analytical listening characterized, from a methodological point of view, by the synchronicity of the sound / sign relationship. For this reason, the teaching, in addition to the eminently theoretical assumption that configures it, places the audio-perceptive aspect at the center of the formative experience.
Together with the explanatory part conducted verbally, the lessons are characterized by musical examples to capture the sense of the sound event also on the relational, pedagogical and music therapy level.
The assignment of individual work is also envisaged.
Together with the explanatory part conducted verbally, the lessons are characterized by musical examples to capture the sense of the sound event also on the relational, pedagogical and music therapy level.
The assignment of individual work is also envisaged.
Teaching Resources
Cattaneo P. - Guasconi M., Armonia lingua viva! Fenomenologia del linguaggio armonico tonale, Musicians&Producers, Milano, 2024.
Cattaneo P., La canzone come esperienza relazionale, educativa, terapeutica, Ricordi, Milano, 2009.
Armonia lingua viva! - Chapters and basic paragraphs:
Ch. 1
Ch. 2 (2.2, 2.3, 2.4)
Ch. 3 (3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8)
Ch. 4 (4.1, 4.3)
Ch. 5 (5.2, 5.5)
Ch. 7
Cattaneo P., La canzone come esperienza relazionale, educativa, terapeutica, Ricordi, Milano, 2009.
Armonia lingua viva! - Chapters and basic paragraphs:
Ch. 1
Ch. 2 (2.2, 2.3, 2.4)
Ch. 3 (3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5, 3.6, 3.7, 3.8)
Ch. 4 (4.1, 4.3)
Ch. 5 (5.2, 5.5)
Ch. 7
Assessment methods and Criteria
Oral exam in the form of an interview aimed at ascertaining the competences acquired both on a purely linguistic-musical level (tonal syntax) and on the level of the analytical peculiar perspectives of the teaching and the multiple interdisciplinary implications that derive from it.
Evaluation parameters: specific knowledge of the discipline; understanding and critical processing of the issues addressed; ability to exhibit with interdisciplinary links and appropriate use of language. The mark is expressed out of 30.
Evaluation parameters: specific knowledge of the discipline; understanding and critical processing of the issues addressed; ability to exhibit with interdisciplinary links and appropriate use of language. The mark is expressed out of 30.
M-FIL/05 - PHILOSOPHY AND THEORY OF LANGUAGE - University credits: 6
Lessons: 48 hours
Professor:
Cattaneo Paolo