Paradoxes in the Relationship Between Orality and Musical Writing
The notion of oral and written modes of transmission are often associated with the idea of ‘primitive’ and ‘civilised’ in the collective imagination, and by extension, concepts of so-called literate and illiterate cultures, popular vs. learned, immaterial vs. material. In reality, oral and written modes of transmission come out of practices that, while opposed, are complementary to each other. These modes use different manners of functioning, the auditory and the visual. The oral and written traditions co-existing in music are not without a certain historical tension. This is reinforced by the search for authenticity in notation and the significance given to it, often justified from the standpoint of orality. Due to this, the 20th century has given birth to a multitude of languages, techniques, levels of perceptions and conceptions of sound structures, bringing into question the function and place of the score, a symbol seen as the pinnacle of Western musical thought. The purpose of this text is thus to explore the relationship between oral and written modes of transmission using Western contemporary musics as a point of reference, referring also to the fields of composition and ethnomusicology to point out and juxtapose their similarities and differences in approach.