One approach I’m going to try in studying the relationships between music and architecture is examine what vocabulary and concepts the two have in common. I intend to flesh this piece out with definitions, but for now I’m going to list those words and ideas that are frequently tossed around in both fields. I realize this vocabulary might also appear in many other disciplines – which of course attests to the many links that exist between other seemingly dissimilar fields as well – but I do believe that the sheer number of common terms may be unique to this pairing and perhaps a few others. Stay tuned as I define these terms and conduct a bit of compare-contrast of their roles in each discipline.
For those wondering, this photograph is from Xenakis and Le Corbusier’s Polytopes, a multidisciplinary experiment for 2 expos in the 1970s, combining music, architecture, and engineering.
- Arch
- Articulation
- Balance
- Colour
- Composition
- Contrast
- Density
- Depth
- Development
- Dynamics
- Energy
- Flow
- Form
- Foundation
- Function
- Genre
- Harmony
- Height
- Line
- Minimalism
- Motif or motive
- Movement
- Ornamentation
- Pattern
- Phrase
- Pitch
- Process
- Proportion
- Repetition
- Rhythm
- Sequence
- Shape
- Space
- Structure
- Style
- Symbol
- Texture
- Theme
- Transparency
- Unity
- Variation
- Volume
