Harmonic Words, Narrative Chords: Textual Sonification Using Part of Speech

Jiin Ko, Youngjun Choi, and Jinjoon Lee

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract:

This research aims to identify the commonalities between words (language) and chords (music), exploring if text itself can be musical and harmonic. Rather than letters or phonemes, we focus on words and their relationship between each other and have realized texts as music by using part of speech as chord progression on an automated algorithm. Other elements such as length and sentiment information inherent in text were also assigned to corresponding musical elements. For this research, a full-text of George Orwell’s Animal Farm was turned into a three-hour harmonic piece.

Citation:

Jiin Ko, Youngjun Choi, and Jinjoon Lee. 2024. Harmonic Words, Narrative Chords: Textual Sonification Using Part of Speech. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.13904772

BibTeX Entry:

  @article{nime2024_5,
 abstract = {This research aims to identify the commonalities between words (language) and chords (music), exploring if text itself can be musical and harmonic. Rather than letters or phonemes, we focus on words and their relationship between each other and have realized texts as music by using part of speech as chord progression on an automated algorithm. Other elements such as length and sentiment information inherent in text were also assigned to corresponding musical elements. For this research, a full-text of George Orwell’s Animal Farm was turned into a three-hour harmonic piece.},
 address = {Utrecht, Netherlands},
 articleno = {5},
 author = {Jiin Ko and Youngjun Choi and Jinjoon Lee},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.13904772},
 editor = {S M Astrid Bin and Courtney N. Reed},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {September},
 numpages = {5},
 pages = {28--32},
 presentation-video = {},
 title = {Harmonic Words, Narrative Chords: Textual Sonification Using Part of Speech},
 track = {Papers},
 url = {http://nime.org/proceedings/2024/nime2024_5.pdf},
 year = {2024}
}