Transcript ISKOUK-2011_DeborahLee

Faceted music: towards a model
of music classification
Deborah Lee
ISKO UK conference
UCL, 5th July 2011
Outline
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Theme 1: scores and literature
Theme 2: facets
Theme 3: “other” musics
Theme 4: classification and retrieval
Theme 5: classification schemes
Concluding remarks
Theme 1: scores and literature
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Printed materials: scores and literature
Practical vs. conceptual
Outward appearance =
Two separation methods:
 Same classmarks, with extra symbol
 Different classmarks
Theme 2: facets
• Faceted classification very significant to music
classification
•Lots of possible facets, but ...
… discourse focuses on a few
• Different facets for scores and literature:
▫ Scores: “medium” and “form”
▫ Literature: “composer”
Theme 3: “other” musics
• Classification of non-Western, non-classical musics
• Particular problems with e.g. jazz and popular music
• Why?
▫ Can’t keep up with rapid changes in music/culture
▫ Problems with structure of classification schemes
• Non-sympathetic classification ...
 materials badly arranged on shelves ...
 readers cannot find them
Theme 4: classification and retrieval
• Retrieval = ->centre<- of all classification
• Different readers use collections in different
ways
• “listener” vs. “user” (McColvin and Dove)
• “musicologist/researcher” vs. “performer” (Line)
• Different types of readers prefer different facets
Theme 5: classification schemes
• Three types of classification scheme
• Large number of special and home-grown
schemes in music libraries
• Why?
▫ Music is fundamentally difficult to classify?
▫ Existing schemes inadequate for music?
• Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) = scheme
discussed most often
• Dewey issues? Theme 1, theme 2 etc.
Concluding remarks
Theme 1: scores and literature
Theme 2: facets
Theme 3: “other” musics
Theme 4: classification and retrieval
Theme 5: classification schemes
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Concluding remarks
• Pattern emerges ... Sets of protagonists, e.g.
• Theory:
“librarian” and “musicologist” (= allies)
• Users:
“performer” and “musicologist” (= opponents)
Music classification model: crosses boundaries
of musicology, music librarianship and
knowledge organization
Questions
Contact email: [email protected]