INKONGRUENCIJA KAO JEDNO OD SREDSTAVA TUMAČENjA HUMORA U MUZICI

Abstract

The study of humor elements in the art of music is closely connected with the approaches of theorists who have been focused on meaning in music. Therefore, music has aroused great attention also among philosophers and aestheticians in the research of emotional properties of art in general, since it uses specific means of expression that are not always determined by a clear system of „decoding”. Thus, humorous moments in music are set through their determination in different theoretical-analytical approaches. These approaches are based on two basic premises: humor is manifested through possible specific properties of music itself and, on the other hand, humor arises exclusively in the domain of perception and cognition of the listener/analyst. The results of many studies present that the appearance of humor in music refers to a phenomenon that occurs by evoking a certain emotion (since music cannot convey the emotion). Those emotions result in humor when something unexpected happens in the musical flow. Humor, therefore, arises at the moment of discrepancy/incongruence, i.e. at the moment of betrayed expected result/event. Therefore, any sudden change creates an emotional state that, depending on the intensity, can be characterized as humor. However, in order to be interpreted as humor, context is needed, because again, music itself does not represent a higher system of communication levels, and music always, combined with language, creates an appropriate context interpreted within. The aim of this paper is to present the basics of „reading” humor and humorous moments in a musical text, i.e. to set the basic methodology that could contribute to an easier and more detailed approach of meaning in music.