Garbuzov’s zone theory: issues and answers




Aliyeva, Imina Gadjievna
PhD in Art History, Leading Researcher, Laboratory "Research of Azerbaijani professional music of the oral tradition and its new directions: organology and acoustics" U. Hajibayli Baku Academy of Music, Baku, Azerbaijan
imina.alieva@gmail.com


Abstract
The concept of the zone nature of the musical ear (the so-called "zone theory") was developed by Nikolay A. Garbuzov in the middle of the last century, but some of its provisions still remain vague and meet with the most diverse understanding. This refers to the "elementary" and "degree" qualities of sound, as well as the very concept of "zone", which Garbuzov did not give a detailed explanation.
In the report, "elementary" and "degree" qualities of sound are comprehended from the standpoint of the informational approach - as a continuum and discrete forms of presentation of pitch information. The pitch zone is defined as a set of pitch values generalized in one quality (degree) with the possibility of their artistically determined choice, which is dictated by the musician's cognitive system.
It is proposed to structure the pitch zone on a qualitative basis. For this, the concepts of the zone of artistically conditioned intonation are introduced, which is formed as a result of the pitch intonation dictated by the musical context; and the zone of ear "imperfection", when ear generalizes pitch differences without capturing or noticing them or "putting up" with these differences. The concepts introduced allow us to interpret the results of Garbuzov's experiments on the study of absolute and interval hearing.The report will voice various interpretations of the concept of the sound-frequency zone, as well as consider foreign analogues of the zone theory and works in which attempts are made to formalize the sound-frequency zone using the mathematical apparatus of fuzzy logic.

Keywords: N. A. Gorbuzov, zone theory, pitch zone, musical ear, perfect pitch, fuzzy sets