Magnusson, Thor (2017) Musical organics: a heterarchical approach to digital organology. Journal of New Music Research, 46 (3). pp. 286-303. ISSN 0929-8215

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Abstract

Gaining a comprehensive understanding of new musical technologies is fraught with difficulties. The digital materials from which they are formed are of such diverse origins and nature, that they do not match traditional organological classifications. This article traces the history of musical instrument classifications relevant to the understanding of new instruments, and proposes an alternative approach to the centuries-old tree-structure of downwards divisions. The proposed musical organics is a multi-dimensional, heterarchical, and organic approach to the analysis and classification of both traditional and new musical instruments that suits the rhizomatic nature of their material design and technical origins. Outlines of a hypothetical organological informatics retrieval system are also presented.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	organology; classification; musical instruments; NIME; musical organics, information retrieval
Schools and Departments:	School of Media, Film and Music > Music
Subjects:	M Music. Literature on music. Musical instruction and study > M Music
Depositing User:	Thor Magnusson
Date Deposited:	03 May 2017 08:29
Last Modified:	02 Jul 2019 17:47
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/67623

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