On the Detriment of Metaphors in Scholarly Texts

Main Article Content

Dmitry B. Gorbatov

Abstract

The article calls into question the concepts of Mark Aranovsky
(1928–2009), a Russian musicologist, about the possibilities
of applying the information theory to the analysis of musical
statements, as well as Sergey Polozov’s speculations based
on them and expounded in his article «Ponyatie informatsii i
informatsionnyy podkhod v issledovaniyakh M.G. Aranovskogo»
[“The Concept of Information, and the Informational Approach,
in Mark Aranovsky’s Works”] (Problemy muzykal’noy nauki/
Music Scholarship, no.1 (10), 2012). Direct analogies between
verbal language and musical language are disclaimed, and the
scholarly credibility of the very term “musical language” is
disputed from the standpoint of general semiotics. The author
recommends that musicologists be more precise in their use of
scholarly terminology and especially that they cleanse it of an
excessive use of metaphors.

Keywords: information theory, verbal language, musical
language, musicological terminology, musicology and methods
of exact sciences, musical text

Article Details

How to Cite
Gorbatov, D. B. (2013). On the Detriment of Metaphors in Scholarly Texts. Music Scholarship / Problemy Muzykal’noj Nauki, (2), 187–190. Retrieved from https://musicscholar.ru/index.php/PMN/article/view/140
Section
Tribune of the Opponent
Author Biography

Dmitry B. Gorbatov, The Moscow State P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory

Master’s Degree in Composition
(New England Conservatory, Boston, USA),
Translator at the Department
for International Cooperation
of the Moscow State P. I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory

References

1. Aranovskiy M. G. Intonatsiya, znak i «novye metody» [Intonation, Sign and “New Methods”]. Sovetskaya muzyka [Soviet Music], 1980, no. 10, pp. 99–109.
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6. Polozov S. P. Ponyatie informatsii i informatsionnyy podkhod v issledovaniyakh M. G. Aranovskogo [The Concept of Information, and the Informational Approach, in Mark Aranovsky’s Works]. In: Problemy muzykal’noj nauki [Music Scholarship], 2012, no. 1 (10), pp. 6–11.