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Instantiation, realization and multimodal musical semantic waves

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 Papers from the 39th ISFC

To boldly proceed

Papers from the 39th International Systemic

Functional Congress

Edited by John S. Knox

39th ISFC Organising Committee ~ Sydney

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to boldly proceed ...

Published in 2012 by The Organising Committee of the 39th International Systemic

Functional Congress, Sydney.

© Copyright lies with the authors, 2012.

The moral right of each author to be identified as the author of their paper is asserted.

All rights reserved by the authors.

ISBN 978-0-646-58257-3

Cover photo and back-page photo by Alexanne Don.

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 Papers from the 39th ISFC

Instantiation, realization and multimodal musical semantic waves

Jodie L. Martin

University of Adelaide
Adelaide, Australia
jodie.martin@adelaide.edu.au

Abstract
Halliday (1991/2009) describes texts as simultaneously realising their context of situation and context of culture
while instantiating the system of language. To examine the use of music notation in student texts, it is useful to
understand how notation instantiates the system of music and realises the contexts of culture (jazz) and of
situation (music conservatory). This paper combines the examination of instantiation and realisation with the
semantic codes of legitimation (Maton, 2011a, 2011b, forthcoming) from Legitimation Code Theory for the
characterisation of notation types and applies them to a multimodal analysis of music notation, adapted from
Unsworth and Cléirigh (2009), to identify underlying organisational principles involved in the intersemiotic
construction of meaning.

Drawing on a corpus of research projects from honours students of jazz performance, the different types of
notation used are examined. The notation varies in the degree to which it is connected to a concrete, embodied
performance, or offers space for a range of performances. This variation is connected to the concept of semantic
gravity. By considering how information is variously unpacked from the notation into text, and repacked into
generalisation with greater abstraction, this analysis provides insight into the ways notation operates in a text,
and how it contributes to a co-construction and prosody of meaning throughout the text.

1 Introduction
Many academic disciplines incorporate non-linguistic examples in their texts to provide
additional, condensed meaning. The examination of this meaning and how accompanying
text repeats, expands and contextualises provides important insight for understanding
academic literacies. Music notation is a fundamental resource in the study of music; it is used
to prompt performance, to distribute repertoire, to enable analysis and to facilitate teaching
and learning. The use of music notational quotes within written texts is instrumental for
conveying musical information concisely and accurately. Its use, however, is under-theorised,
both from a multimodal perspective and from a musical perspective.
This paper endeavours to address this shortage by theorising on the use of music notation
with particular reference to a corpus of six texts. These texts are 5000-word research projects
written as a mandatory ungraded element of the Bachelor of Music (Jazz Performance)
(Honours). All texts were by local, native speakers of English. As honours students, they
were believed by academic staff to be sufficiently acculturated to the study of music to be
able to reflect upon it.

Music and its corresponding notational texts will first be aligned with Halliday’s
(1991/2009) model of context and instance. The focus on the degrees of instantiation and
abstraction in music text types shall be supplemented with the concept of semantic gravity,
drawing on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) (Maton 2011a, 2011b, forthcoming), which
describes the degree to which a meaning relates to its context. Using the descriptive power of
semantic gravity, the texts will be briefly characterised to demonstrate how the use of
notation may be organised within a text. This provides a foundation for looking at notation
with the understanding of the role it plays in its cultural and situational contexts.

Language Verbalising Notation (LVN) (J. L. Martin, forthcoming) is a framework

developed from Unsworth and Cléirigh’s (2009) work on multimodal grammatical

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identification between language and images. It provides a starting point for describing the co-
construction of meaning between notation and linguistic text. By again triangulating this
information with Semantics from LCT, this time both semantic gravity and semantic density,
which describes the degree of condensation of meaning, organisational principles emerge for
unpacking information from the notation into text, situating it within a textual and
performative context, and then repacking it with greater abstraction to enable musical
principles to be generalised across a musician’s repertoire, across a range of instruments, or
across a range of musical situations.

This research is part of an investigation into the academic literacies of music students. It
provides descriptive power for the examination of notation as well as for the analysis of
interleaved modes within a multisemiotic text.

2 Music in context
Halliday (1991/2009), drawing on the work of Malinowski, Firth, Sapir and Whorf, provides
a model for understanding the relationships of instantiation and realisation between language
and text, and the contexts of culture and situation. I suggest that not only can music be
similarly modelled, but that music and language occur as adjacent yet interwoven semiotic
systems, as displayed in figure 1. Paralleling language and music thus is not to suggest that
their texts instantiate their systems in exactly the same way; rather, that their texts do
instantiate their systems, systems which are a reservoir of everything that potentially could
manifest in a text.

Figure 1: Language and music and context, system and instance; adapted from Halliday
(1991/2009, p. 175)

This understanding of instantiation and realisation underlies a multimodal perspective; a

multimodal text is understood as using the resources of the systems of both language and
music, and construing the cultural and situational contexts of jazz and tertiary study. It should
be noted that ‘music as text’ refers to instances of music in all possible manifestations –
audible, written, recorded and enacted – just as language as text refers to “all the instances of
language that you listen to and read. And that you produce yourself in speaking and writing”
(Halliday, 1991/2009, p. 274). Perhaps it would be more appropriate to refer to music as
performance; however, given that the focus of this paper is music notation I will maintain the
use of the term ‘music texts’.

While some of the notational quotes used in the research projects are solely intended for
analysis, such as the improvisation transcriptions, others are taken from their normal
performative context and recontextualised for a pedagogical purpose. The notation text types

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vary in the strength of their connection to specific performances; that is, they vary in how
much they realise the situation or the context. The stronger connection to its context of
situation corresponds to stronger semantic gravity from LCT (Maton, 2011b, p. 65). We can
therefore align instantiation/realisation and semantic gravity and place the various notation
text types along these continuums (table 1). It should be noted that these are relative to one
another within the given context. The degree of abstraction and semantic gravity of notation
in comparison to linguistic text is not under consideration, nor is the performance of music.

Instantiation / Semantic Notation text

Description
Realisation Gravity type
Abstract SG- Harmonic Underlying harmonic structure of
progression pieces; may apply to multiple songs

Lead sheet/chart Basic details for a range of possible

performances of a single song

Pre-composed Strongly prescribes elements of

notation performance but less strictly than
transcription, repeatable

Improvisation Transcription of a specific

transcription performance; notation accurate to
Concrete SG+ that performance

Table 1: Instantiation/realisation, semantic gravity and notation text types

The variations in semantic gravity of the different text types demonstrate the faculty of
music notation to variously represent very specific instructions as to what was or should be
played, reducing meaning potential, or to provide the essential details of a piece, creating
space for multiple possible manifestations. In the case of the latter, the texts rely more on an
understanding of their cultural context, i.e. jazz, in order to appropriately interpret the
notation for performance with appropriate rhythmic and harmonic changes. Each of these
texts has their function within the research projects.

3 Language verbalising notation

The framework of Language Verbalising Notation (J. L. Martin, forthcoming) provides a way
to describe how the accompanying text repeats, expands and elaborates on the notational
quotes. Descriptions of the categories of LVN are presented in Table 2.
Intermodal intensive identification occurs when the accompanying text verbalises
qualities of the notation. These may be explicitly conveyed in the notation, such as “minim
root notes”, or more abstract qualities may be interpreted by the writer from the notation
and/or listening to the music, such as “this melody epitomises true lyricism”. Intermodal
possessive identification identifies both human participants, such as the composer, improviser
and bass player, and musical parts, such as the melody, rhythm and bass line. These two
categories may or may not correspond to each other, or may combine, such as in “Carter’s
bass line”. Intermodal circumstantial identification occurs when the text verbalises the
musical circumstances of the focal notation, such as chords, harmonies and rhythms. It also
occurs when the textual locations of the notation are identified, for example with references
to bar numbers, sections of the piece as well as the title and recording details. Intermodal
circumstantial identification: manner occurs when the text verbalises the manner or technique

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in which the music was played. This may or may not be notated. Finally, intermodal
circumstantial identification: effect conveys the effect of the musical choices described in the
other categories on a listener, on the other members of the band or ensemble, or on musical
parts. Traditional western music notation does not have the affordance to convey the effect of
the music insofar as it is differentiated from what is played.

Category The text verbalises…

Intermodal intensive identification qualities of notation

Intermodal possessive (human) participants who perform or otherwise

identification contribute to musical parts
musical parts that comprise the selected piece
Intermodal circumstantial musical circumstance (chords, harmonies, rhythms)
identification textual locations of the notation

Intermodal circumstantial manner in which the notation was played, whether

identification: manner notated or not, including technique

Intermodal circumstantial effect of the music choices

identification: effect

Table 2: Language verbalising notation

The analysis of two research projects using LVN identified some patterns; while there
was variation, passages relating to a notational quote generally concluded with the effect of
the qualities described. These qualities were variously situated within their textual, musical
and performative context.

4 Multimodal musical semantic waves

Semantic profiles are “significant for cumulative knowledge-building and learning” (Maton,
2011a) and are produced by tracking the strengthening and weakening of semantic gravity
and semantic density over time or text. Such profiles locate weaker semantic gravity and
stronger semantic density at the top of the y axis and track the movement over time (x axis).
Maton et al (J. R. Martin, 2011; Maton, 2011a; Matruglio, Maton, & Martin, 2011) in
analysis of classroom discourse have observed that various shapes can be constructed by the
profiles and describe semantic waves occurring when knowledge is sequentially unpacked
and repacked, the half wave or ‘broken elevator’ occurring when knowledge is unpacked
without being repacked, and flat lines occurring where there is little or no variation in the
semantic range, that is the distance between the crests and troughs of the wave.
Profiling the semantic gravity of the notation used in the student texts, as described in
Table 1, produces two main semantic profiles. Four of the six texts could be described as
having a semantic flat line as they were characterised by one type of notation, the
transcription of the focal musician’s improvisation or bass line. A semantic ripple was
evident where one student presented the decontextualised motive before presenting notational
excerpts of its use, however the semantic range, the distance between peaks and troughs of
the wave, was still limited. By contrast, one text used a semantic wave in employing notation
text types varying in semantic gravity strength. For example, the text begins with a lead sheet
excerpt, followed by two harmonic progressions of the same piece and concluding the section
with another excerpt of the lead sheet. Semantic gravity is thus weakened and then
strengthened, providing different perspectives of the same piece of notation by shifting in

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degree of concretisation. The final student text included two levels of semantic gravity in the
one musical excerpt by including the improvisation in the top line of the system, and the
chord conveyed by that improvisation on the bottom line. This demonstrates the affordances
of notation for providing parallel layers of meaning, but is problematic for depicting in a
semantic profile.

Further research is required to investigate whether the semantic wave in one mode
contributes to knowledge-building or more successful writing. The consideration of the
semantic waves does highlight the contribution of notation specifically and examples
generally in a text, and how they may connect or disconnect from specific instances. A more
significant application is to the intersemiotic construction of meaning with text elaborating on
notation.

The categories of LVN were interpreted in light of Semantics. Intensive, possessive and
circumstantial identification unpacks information condensed in the notation, weakening
semantic density. Possessive, circumstantial identification and manner strengthened semantic
gravity by locating it within its textual context and providing stronger alignment with its
embodied performance. Finally effect repacked the information with greater abstraction and
generalisation across musical situations. The LVN analysis was conducted on two texts from
the corpus, from the two students who have continued on to further study. The triangulation
with Semantics was applied to the analysis of LVN. In the first text, which was characterised
by a semantic wave in the notation text types, a semantic wave was also observed in the
linguistic text. Significantly though, the qualities identified by intensive identification could
be more concrete, such as “the interval of a fourth”, thus weakening semantic density by
unpacking the information condensed in the musical symbols, or could attain greater
generalisation by abstracting qualities of the whole notational excerpt, such as “strong
intervallic identity”, thus strengthening semantic density and weakening semantic gravity by
providing observations applicable to new or multiple contexts. Thus the high points of the
semantic profile were variously provided by either intermodal intensive identification or
effect. By contrast, the second text analysed appeared to have a smaller semantic range; the
effects described were strongly connected to the embodied experience of the listener in the
given context, thus providing stronger semantic gravity than the first text’s abstractions
generalised across instruments, eras and contexts. Although the use of notation ensured there
was some semantic variation, this might better be described as a semantic ripple rather than a
semantic wave.

5 Conclusion
The meanings made in musical notation can be understood by situating the texts within
Halliday’s model of instantiation and realisation. The triangulation of this understanding with
the notion of semantic gravity from LCT demonstrates the semantic wave present in student
texts as the different notation types incorporated vary in the strength of their relation to their
performative context and in the degree of abstraction. These notation types variously construe
the cultural context of jazz and the situation of performance and analysis. Language
Verbalising Notation was briefly introduced as a framework for exploring how text elaborates
and expands on meanings made in notation. By again triangulating this with Semantics from
LCT it was found that information from notation was unpacked and related to its context of
situation, and repacked with greater abstraction which speaks to the greater context of
culture, that is jazz performance.
This research contributes to the understanding of music and music notation. It also
highlights the repurposing of notation from performance for academic texts in a pedagogical

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context. Further research is required to see whether the semantic variations observed
contribute to knowledge-building and student success. Investigating variations in semantic
gravity is useful for understanding non-linguistic examples in texts; investigating semantic
gravity and semantic density provides insight into the interaction between linguistic and non-
linguistic text.

References
Halliday, M. A. K. (1991/2009). The notion of "context" in language education. In J. J. Webster (Ed.),
Language and Education (Vol. 9, pp. 269-290). London: Continuum.
Martin, J. L. (forthcoming). Language verbalising notation: an intersemiotic analysis of musical notation in
student texts. Multimodal Communication.
Martin, J. R. (2011). Bridging troubled waters: Interdisciplinarity and what makes it stick. In F. Christie & K.
Maton (Eds.), Disciplinarity: Functional linguistic and sociological perspectives (pp. 35-61). London:
Continuum.
Maton, K. (2011a). Mastering semantic waves: A key to cumulative knowledge and social justice. Paper
presented at the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association Annual Conference.
Maton, K. (2011b). Theories and Things: The Semantics of Disciplinarity. In F. Christie & K. Maton (Eds.),
Disciplinarity : Functional Linguistic and Sociological Perspectives (pp. 62-84). London ; New York:
Continuum International Publishing Group.
Maton, K. (forthcoming). Knowledge and Knowers: Towards a realist sociology of education. London:
Routledge.
Matruglio, E., Maton, K., & Martin, J. R. (2011). Waves through time: Temporality and the semantic wave.
Paper presented at the Australian Systemic Functional Linguistics Association National Conference.
Unsworth, L., & Cléirigh, C. (2009). Multimodality and reading: The construction of meaning through image-
text interaction. In C. Jewitt (Ed.), The Routledge handbook of multimodal analysis (pp. 151-163).
London: Routledge.

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 The 39th International Systemic Functional Congress was held
at the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), 16-20 July, 2012.

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