Εκδήλωση
5o Συνέδριο Διεπιστημονικής Μουσικολογίας (CIM09), Παρίσι, Οκτώβριος 2009
Θέμα
Drawing a parallel between the gaida (bagpipe) and the Zonarádikos line dance through Statistics (Χάρης Σαρρής – Άγγελος Βελεγράκης – Τάσος Κολυδάς)
Background in Ethnomusicology.
The gaida bagpipe is an emblematic musical instrument for the agricultural societies of Western Thrace. Its narrow range, as well as the side effects from its continuous sound, have formed a special playing technique, which in turn affects the repertoire of the gaida [5][6]. One of the main characteristics observed in most genres of the instrument's repertoire is the technique of parataxis: the act of placing the melodic units side by side, hence creating the form [6]. This technique is dominant in Zonarádikos line dance, which can be considered as the 'backbone' of the instrumental dancing repertoire of Thrace.
Background in Statistics.
Statistics, as a scientific tool, has been broadly used in sciences as well as in humanities. Regarding music studies, statistics has been applied in compositional techniques, as well as in historical musicology. Regarding Greek traditional music, limited application has been done. Spyridis [10] has applied the methods of descriptive statistics (distributions, graphic charts, histograms etc.) and stochastic processes for the multilateral charting of Zonarádikos line dance songs from Western Thrace. He focuses on absolute pitches, rhythmical patterns, melodic intervals etc.
Aims.
Instrumental Zonarádikos follows the technique of parataxis. Its melodic material consists of dance song melodies, as well as of instrumental phrases. Provided that the gaida was the principal musical instrument for the agricultural societies of Thrace, it was the main instrument that played the Zonarádikos. In this study we scope to a 'charting' of instrumental Zonarádikos dance played by the gaida bagpipe in Western Thrace, in terms of melody, rhythm, and structure. We use tools of descriptive statistics such mean values, standard deviations, and coefficients variation in order to extract musicological conclusions regarding the repertoire, as well as conclusions about playing techniques.
Main Contribution.
How can one describe a 'floating' music, which is re-created each time it is played, by using a methodology with numerical basis such as Statistics? What can numbers say about a complicated musical and cultural phenomenon such as Zonarádikos, which has been mainly administrated by the gaida in the past? In order to answer the abovementioned questions we use statistical tools such as mean values, standard deviations, etc. We scope to acquire frequency distributions of absolute pitches, frequently used melodic intervals, rhythmical patterns and other musicological elements of Zonarádikos. In a second level of analysis, we attempt to evaluate statistical data under the prism of the gaida's playing techniques and possibilities. For the purposes of our research we investigate the population of instrumental Zonarádika from the Research Programme "Thrace" archive (http://epth.sfm.gr). Our analysis is based upon the music transcriptions of the corpus' recordings, coming from the Thrace's archive as well. We conclude that instrumental Zonarádikos is characterized by 'bipolarity': song melodies and instrumental phrases, both having distinctive musical characteristics, are 'interwoven', hence creating the form.
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