The Use of Play-Back Techniques in the Study of Oral Polyphonies
Simha Arom · Ethnomusicology · 1976
T he transcription of recorded polyphonic and polyrhythmic music presents a special difficulty-that of separating each vocal or instrumental line from the whole in such a manner that each may be transcribed and analyzed separately, yet be examined within the overall context of the work. The transcriber of polyphonic and polyrhythmic music, then, faces two discrete problems: determination of each musician's part, and the coherent relation of each part to the others.2 The recording process which I have conceived and implemented solves these two problems by isolating the separate parts and localizing their points of imbrication within the polyphonic texture. Once cognizant of all of the individual parts and their relationships to each other, a synthetic reconstruction of the polyphonic piece becomes possible.