John Estioko Annotated Bibliography (Last Edited 2/14/08)

By John Estioko, Textones Team

 

1. Groves, Peter. Strange Music: The Metre of the English Heroic Line. University of Victoria: English Literary Studies, 1998.

Peter Groves studies the aspects of English Meter, specifically, iambic pentameter. He delves deep into the theory of the formation of the meter as well as questioning the significance of why the structure is so. The interesting idea I have come across in this work is the significance of emphasis in the meter, the example being the iamb as formed with a strong emphasis on one syllable and a weak emphasis on another. The later chapters of the book pertain to the relationship between linguistics and the meter; though it seems that the material has little to do with the project it may be useful and interesting to study the formation of language in the sonnet.

                The interest in this book stems partly as a result from the mention of using phonetic parts of language and applying that musically. There are many possibilities to methods used to analyze the text and it would be interesting to see the result of a simple approach. By assigning a musical sound to the sounds that we make as a construct of language we may see a simple pattern. The International Phonetics Alphabet http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/IPA_chart_(C)2005.pdf will prove useful if we decide to experiment with this method. Though at this point the concept is merely a concept and it may be beyond the level of expertise, but in a hypothetical sense it is a very interesting idea. Yet in our current concept the significance of this work is to see if we can use it to apply its ideas to the rhythm aspect of the project.

2. Image-Line Software. “FL Studio.” 1998-2007.

                This is the primary software I will be using to sequence and create sound files. This digital audio workstation provides a user interface to interact with samples of instruments as well as placing them onto a kind of timeline. There are sound generative devices programmed within the software as well as the ability to use VST’s (Virtual instrument/device plug-ins) and to arrange them on a timeline as well as have the instrument play a specific note. The work may then be output into various commonly used audio formats (.wav, .mp3).

                The FL Studio software is one of the easiest music sequencing software I have come across as well as being one of the most diverse and powerful. By using various virtual instruments available it is possible to create music of any genre. The interface is also very easy to understand and learn quickly.

3. Shakespeare, William. Shakespeare's Sonnets: Edited by Stephen Booth. New Haven: Yale Nota Bene, 1977.

                The book provides a facsimile of the 1609 Quarto as well as edited text on the adjacent page in modern typeset. The first 132 pages contain all 154 sonnets presented this way in their entirety. The latter part of the book is comprised of about 400 pages of collected commentary and commentary made by the editor, Stephen Booth. The commentary is concerned mostly with the commonly accepted interpretations of the sonnet’s meaning.

                This is one of the most in depth and interpretive volumes of Shakespeare’s sonnets I have come across. If there was any dispute as to what something meant in the sonnet this would provide a great reference and surely some sort of clarity would be found by studying the volume.

                For purposes for our project the facsimile version would prove useful, as our idea is to have images that correspond to “buttons” that trigger sound. It would be easy to find high quality images of the facsimile version to serve our purpose and use a program to mark up functions of that file (most likely using Adobe flash). This is the primary body of work we will study as the sonnet is very structured and usually abides by certain rules.

4.Stageberg, Norman. “The Aesthetic of the Petrarchan Sonnet.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol. 7, No. 2. pp. 132-137. (Dec. 1948).

                This very complex article concerns the analysis of sonnet form, from the significance of the individual feet (iambs) up to how the feet correspond to the meaning of the sonnet as a whole. Once the structure of the sonnet is analyzed by the author he then proceeds to relate to how the structure influences the consciousness of the audience experiencing the sonnet. The author notes that the expectations influenced by the placement of rhymes, emphasis as well as word choice in the feet form something coherent to a musically logical structure.

                This particular article was slightly difficult to wrap my head around, once the author mentions how the sonnet structure is important because it influences a “unified response” it begins to become confusing. He relates the “unified response” to the nervous system and how an organism integrates “motor sets”. The significance I pulled from this portion of the article is the importance of organized movement in a work. Though it is a look into the aesthetic of the Petrarchan sonnet it still applies to our studies in Shakespeare because Shakespearean sonnets are closely related to those of Petrarch as Petrarchan sonnets were the forerunner to later sonnet forms and created the basis of later sonnet forms.

5.Wilson, Katherine. Sound and Meaning in English Poetry. Edinburgh: R. & R. Clark, 1930.

                The book analyzes the relationship between music, poetry and speech. This is a very detailed 345 page volume of work that studies many aspects of the way music and English poetry is structured. Particularly interesting is the intrinsic musical nature of speech as well as all types of communication, a significant example of this is when the author mentions the songs of birds and how they are essentially rhythmic and melodically significant.

                I have barely scratched the surface of the information that this book contains and so far it is very interesting and pertains greatly to the project idea. The book had my attention from the first line when the author mentions that “Two things are necessary for music – noise and movement.” Specific topics of interest looked at in the book is the emotional aspect of poetry and how speech can resemble various tonal keys. By applying these ideas to the project we are undertaking it seems we can structure our compositions around the ideas of melody and rhythm being nature.