The Modal Semiotics Theory offers an innovative approach to modeling traditional monodies across a vast cultural space that spans from Southern Asia to Medieval Europe, including modern-day Greece, Central Asia, Western Asia, and Northern Africa. This theory is based on a matrixial rhythmic-melodic morphophonological transformational rewriting of the monodic segments' surface and on a vectorial syntactic transformational rewriting of the same monody, which allows for a comprehensive description of its derivational and integrative elaboration. The semantic component of this grammar is based on its phonological, morphological, and syntactic components, with a particular focus on the semantic vector modalities inherent in modal syntax. This approach leads to a neurocognitive perception of the structures highlighted by modal semiotic analysis. In this Webinar on Musical Grammar of Traditional Modal Monodies, the Centre for Research on Musical Traditions (CRTM), attached to the Faculty of Music and Musicology (FMM) at Antonine University (UA), provides an overview of this method. The presentation includes seven analyses of monodies from different traditions and four research studies in cognitive neuropsychology that are articulated with modal semiotics.

Organisation

• Date: Monday, March 27, 2023
• Time: 3:00–6:00 PM UTC (11:00 AM–2:00 PM EST Summer Time; 5:00–8:00 PM CET Summer Time; 5:00–8:00 PM Beirut Time)
• Location: Virtual via MS Teams | Join here
• Organiser: Centre for Research on Musical Traditions (CRTM) at Antonine University (UA) – Lebanon
• Satellite event of: Epistemologies of Musical Analysis: What Theories, What Methods, for What Types of Music, and in What Disciplinary and Cultural Contexts? – sciencesconf.org
• Partners of this webinar:
  - Institut de Recherche en Musicologie – UMR 8223
  - International Council for Traditional Music (ICTM) Study Group on Music in the Arab World – ictmusic.org
• Organising committee:
  - Nidaa Abou Mrad | nidaa.aboumrad@ua.edu.lb
  - Nathalie Abou Jaoude | nathalie.aboujaoude@ua.edu.lb

 

Program

 

Opening

3:00 PM | Nidaa Abou Mrad, Antonine University
Introducing Modal Semiotics

A Musical Generative Grammatical Rewrite of Seven Traditional Modal Monodies

3:27 PM | Fr. Toufic Maatouk, Abu Dhabi Music & Arts Foundation and Antonine University
Rewriting a Syriac Maronite Liturgical Chant

3:38 PM | Mikhael Hourani, PhD Student at Sorbonne Université and Antonine University
Rewriting an Eastern Roman Orthodox Chant

3:49 PM | Nidaa Abou Mrad
Rewriting a Gregorian Chant

4:00 PM | Hayaf Yassine, Antonine University
Rewriting a Traditional Lebanese Song

4:11 PM | Marie-Therese Semaan, Antonine University
Rewriting an Instrumental Prelude from the Art Music Tradition of the Mašriq

4:22 PM | Mireille Chaaya, PhD Student at Sorbonne Université and Antonine University
Rewriting an Improvised Cantillation of an Egyptian Mawwāl

4:33 PM | Nidaa Abou Mrad
Rewriting a Tunisian Song from Ma’lūf Tradition

4:44 PM | Nicolas Meeus, Sorbonne Université, Institut de Recherche en Musicologie – UMR 8223
Discussant

4:52 PM | Questions and Answers Session

Modal Semiotics in the Light of Cognitive Neuropsychology

4:58 PM | Carmen Saade, PhD Student at Sorbonne Université and Antonine University
Neurocognitive Perception of Semantic Units in Traditional Modal Monodies of the Mašriq

5:09 PM | Bouchra Béchéalany, Lebanese University
Cognitive Perception of Metric and Rhythmic Units in Traditional Modal Monodies of the Mašriq

5:20 PM | Nathalie Abou Jaoude, PhD Student at Sorbonne Université and Antonine University
Neurocognitive Evaluation of the Ethos of Modal Monodies in the Art Music Tradition of the Mašriq

5:31 PM | Rawane El Dimachki, PhD Student at Sorbonne Université and Antonine University
Anxiolytic and Analgesic Effects of Traditional Modal Monodies of the Mašriq

5:42 PM | Michael Frishkopf, University of Alberta
Discussant

5:50 PM | Questions and Answers Session

5:54 PM | Salwa El-Shawan Castelo-Branco, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa
Concluding Remarks