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Honors Thesis_ Alena Miskinis.pdf (2.84 MB)

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TRANSLATING MUSIC INTO WORDS: ENCODING AND DECODING MUSICAL EXPRESSION THROUGH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE

Miskinis, Alena
http://orcid.org/0009-0008-6189-3734
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1683071268016061

Abstract Details

2023, BM, Kent State University, College of the Arts / School of Music, Hugh A. Glauser.
In 1830, music critic, Ludwig Rellstab, described the opening movement of Beethoven’s Op. 27, No. 2 as “a boat, visiting, by moonlight, the wild places of the Viervaldsee in Switzerland” (Waltz, 2007). Using figurative language to describe the perceptual experience of music is a phenomenon musicologists, critics, and pedagogues practice fluently. Yet, how can any music listener accurately interpret that a piece of music sounds like moonlight? And how can any linguistic description evoke sound without hearing it? Since the Baroque Era and the development of the Doctrine of Affectations, researchers have argued the affects music can induce on the audience, primarily based on a lens model approach. However, what is less clear is how we use figurative language to describe music outside of pure emotion. This three-part study explores the relationship between figurative language and musical expression in relation to the wider discussion of encoding and decoding acoustical cues. In the first study, a corpus of 2,780 metaphors collected from 19th century music periodicals revealed that 19th century music critics used mostly personifying metaphors, followed by synesthetic metaphors and extended imagery, among numerous subcategories. The second study observed how words are acoustically defined by giving five words (cold, dark, lively, mournful, and tender) from the previous corpus study to instrumentalists to perform with five given excerpts. Results revealed significant acoustical effects of duration, articulation, and timbre (sans piano), but no significant effect of dynamics. Finally, the third study looked at whether participants could accurately perceive the intended musical expression. Results indicated that participants (mostly nonmusicians) were significantly able to interpret the intended expression, although individual features like instrument and excerpt affected ratings. These results carry cross-disciplinary and practical implications in music, psychology, and linguistics.
Joshua Albrecht (Advisor)
Wendy Matthews (Committee Member)
Phillip Hamrick (Committee Member)
Ed Dauterich (Committee Member)
142 p.
Language; Music; Psychology
metaphor mapping, figurative language, musical expression, music cognition, music psychology, 19th century, music emotion

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Miskinis, A. (2023). TRANSLATING MUSIC INTO WORDS: ENCODING AND DECODING MUSICAL EXPRESSION THROUGH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE [Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1683071268016061

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Miskinis, Alena. TRANSLATING MUSIC INTO WORDS: ENCODING AND DECODING MUSICAL EXPRESSION THROUGH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE . 2023. Kent State University, Undergraduate thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1683071268016061.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Miskinis, Alena. "TRANSLATING MUSIC INTO WORDS: ENCODING AND DECODING MUSICAL EXPRESSION THROUGH FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE ." Undergraduate thesis, Kent State University, 2023. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ksuhonors1683071268016061

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ksuhonors1683071268016061
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This open access ETD is published by Kent State University Honors College and OhioLINK.