City Research Online

Abstract

The classification of Western art music is a complex area of knowledge organization, yet the reasons for those complexities have not been fully studied. This article dissects the concept of orthogonality, in particular regard to music classification. Orthogonality (antonym: dependency) means that one facet acts independently from another facet. While orthogonality is an assumed quality of facets, it has attracted relatively little attention in knowledge organization discourse. This article utilizes bibliographic classification schemes, musicological writings, and musical works, to analyse orthogonality in music classification. The relationships between the medium, form/genre and function facets are unpicked and a strong dependency is found between these facets. Whether this orthogonality exists as a construct of faceted classification or stems from the domain knowledge is explored. Furthermore, the analysis initiates new thinking about the general concept of orthogonality. The idea of a spectrum of dependency is proposed. In addition, novel, orthogonality-derived phenomena are discussed – “dynamic facets” and “meta-dependency” – where the boundary between what is and is not a facet are blurred. The concluding model visualizes the chain of dependencies between music facets, ultimately showing how the lack of orthogonality plays a key role in the complexity and issues found in music classification.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Lee, Deborah, Bawden, David and Robinson, Lyn (2020). Orthogonality, dependency and music: an exploration of the relationship between music facets. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, which is published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24426. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Subjects:	M Music and Books on Music Z Bibliography. Library Science. Information Resources > Z665 Library Science. Information Science
Departments:	School of Communication & Creativity > Media, Culture & Creative Industries > Library & Information Science
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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