Music and intentionality: implementing semiotic techniques into a popular music production

(2022) Rodriguez, Mariana Segura; orientador: Ribeiro, Luís Cláudio

There are a vast number of questions that make up a summarized ‘problematic’ that led to the proposal of this thesis. All of these questions have a significant role in the process of establishing a final hypothesis. How can one determine the impact of a song emotionally if the basic understanding of what music is, in the first place, is not completely grasped? Even before focusing on music, the first step of this problematic is the mere semantics behind what we see and what we hear. When it comes to listening, is there a basic mechanism behind the process of signification, humans have adapted into?

This leads to the questioning of what music truly is. What does music mean? Why is it so universal (as a process) among humans? How does sound become something meaningful? What is it that makes people enjoy music so much, independent of what genre or style they unconsciously gravitate towards? There must be something in common between the connections in the brain, the understanding, and the  perceiving of it. Something about sound has led humanity to classify it into different parameters of musical expression. These parameters, consisting of rhythm, dynamics, melody, tonality, structure, form, etc., are key to the main objective of this proposed thesis. All of them can have a significant role in the perception and meaning of a specific song, but none of them are significant by themselves. This leads to the following question: is the combination of these parameters what really causes an emotional impact on the listener?