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Bogdana Borota Musical Pictorial Notation in Meaning-Making
University of Primorska, Slovenia in Musical Communication
bogdana.borota@upr.si
© 2026 Bogdana Borota
Meaning-Making, Multiliteracies
and Multimodality
Abstracts of the International
Symposium
Koper, 19–20 March 2026
Thispresentationexploreshowmusicalpictorialnotationcontributestomeaning-
making in musical communication. It considers how visual representation and
musical structure interact in the production and interpretation of meaning.
Thestudyofmusicalsymbolandnotationalsystemsinpedagogicalpracticetakes
place within the framework of children’s musical development and musical liter-
acy. The central assumptions of research are grounded in theories of audiation as
defined by Edwin Gordon (2012), Jeanne Bamberger’s concept of figural musical
thinking (1995), and Howard Gardner’s theory of symbolic development (1995).
The topical relevance of this subject is reflected in its connection with the im-
plementation of music education according to the new curricula for music in pri-
mary schools. A new feature of the curricula is the new topic of Musical Language,
which, among other things, defines the process of musical literacy through a se-
quence of four phases: listening, performing, reading, and writing. This supports
the effective creation of meaning in musical communication.
In this article, we discuss music literacy through musical pictorial notation, which
was designed and experimentally validated in the 1970s by Breda Oblak (Borota,
2017). The scores were developed based on agreed-upon rules for recording
melody, rhythm, and certain elements of musical interpretation. In line with the
pedagogical doctrine of the time, their practical use was focused on the reading
and writing of short musical passages.
New insights into musical development and contemporary approaches to music
literacyemphasizetheneedtodevelopcognitiveconnectionsbetweenthevisual
(written) and aural (heard) images of music. Consequently, within the framework
of modern music curricula, two pertinent questions arise: (1) how to design a mu-
sical symbol that enables the establishment of a connection between the visual
and auditory image of music, and (2) when to introduce musical pictorial notation
into the process of musical communication for it to be meaningful for the child.
Bamberger,J.(1995).Themindbehindthemusicalear:Howchildrendevelopmusical
intelligence. Harvard University Press.
Borota, B. (2017). Pogled na didaktične zbirke za glasbeno vzgojo Brede Oblak z
diahrone perspektive. GlasbenopedagoškizbornikAkademijezaglasbovLjub-
ljani, 13(27), 29–48.
Gardner, H. (1995). Razsežnosti uma: teorija o več inteligencah (I. Kovačič, Trans.).
Tangram.
Gordon, E. (2012). Learning sequences in music: A contemporary music learning the-
ory. GIA Publications.
https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-565-8.6 9