Combining Network Analysis and GIS for Music Historiography: Genre, Urban Space and Music Ecologies

Abstract

The objective of this article is to present the potential of network analysis in the field of music historiography. Starting from previous research, I will try to expand the applicative horizons of the technique in two different ways. First, by involving a wide plurality of music practices; then through the employment of Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The case study examined will be the live music scene of Milan at the time of the economic boom (1958-1962), observed through the lens of a data set of 8288 musical events. Network analysis will allow us to synchronically visualize different types of relationships, such as the ones between performers and composers, which appear to have been unequivocally reticular. Then, it will be possible to demonstrate how the properties of these networks are closely linked to music genre and mediated by urban and performative space. Finally, the consonance between the results achieved and pre-existing historiographical research will suggest the effectiveness of an “ecological” approach to musical network analysis.

Keywords

• network analysis
• digital mapping (gis)
• music historiography
• urban space
• live music ecologies