The Sonologium Ontology
The formal knowledge graph structuring Sonologium. 32 entity classes spanning Music, Sound, and Listening, linked by 48 canonical relationships governed by the quadripartite axiom of representation.
The score is not the performance.
Prescription of duration is not acoustic realization in time.
The recording is not the acoustic event.
An electroacoustic imprint is conditioned by transducer limits.
The waveform is not the listening experience.
Oscillating pressure in air is not cognitive audition in brain.
The sonification is not the space phenomenon.
Data translation is a perceptual tool, not vacuum sound.
Entity Classes (32)
Partitioned across Music, Sound, and Listening domainsComposition
An abstract musical idea or structural architecture conceived by an author.
Score
A symbolic visual notation encoding pitch, metric duration, and expression prescriptions.
Performance
The temporal acoustic realization of a musical composition or improvisation by physical agents.
Recording
A physically or digitally captured acoustic imprint preserved on a medium.
Composer
The entity who conceives the formal and harmonic structure of a musical work.
Performer
The vocal or instrumental agent who realizes sound in time.
Instrument
A physical or electronic mechanism engineered to produce controlled acoustic or electrical vibrations.
Voice
The human biological vocal organ consisting of lungs, vocal folds, and vocal tract articulators.
Genre
A socio-historical lineage of musical conventions, shared traits, and cultural practices.
Movement
A self-contained structural section of an extended musical work.
Pitch
The psychoacoustic perceptual sensation of fundamental frequency organized on musical scales.
Interval
The frequency ratio between two musical pitches.
Scale
An ordered set of pitches spanning an octave used as a tonal framework.
Mode
A specific circular rotation of intervals establishing tonal hierarchy and finalis.
Chord
Three or more simultaneous pitches perceived as a unified harmonic entity.
Rhythm
The patterned temporal distribution of acoustic events, accents, and silences in time.
Sound
A mechanical longitudinal pressure wave propagating through an elastic physical medium.
Signal
An electrical or numerical representation of acoustic pressure variations through time.
Frequency
The rate of cyclical repetition of a wave in Hertz (cycles per second).
Harmonic
An integer multiple of a fundamental frequency component.
Waveform
The geometric profile of instantaneous amplitude plotted against time.
Timbre
The multidimensional acoustic character that enables distinguishing two sounds of identical pitch and loudness.
Acoustic Environment
The physical space and boundary conditions that reflect, absorb, and color propagating sound.
Sound Source
The vibrating physical body that initiates pressure waves in an environment.
Species
A biological organism capable of producing acoustic signals for communication or echolocation.
Vocalization
An acoustic signal actively emitted by an organism through specialized anatomical structures.
Recording Medium
The physical substrate on which an audio signal is mechanically, magnetically, or optically inscribed.
Audio Process
A mathematical or electrical transformation applied to an audio signal.
Effect
An audible modification of an audio signal altering its timbre, dynamics, or spatial dimension.
Listening System
The complete biological, physiological, and cognitive apparatus that detects, translates, and interprets sound.
Hearing Measurement
A calibrated quantitative assessment of acoustic threshold sensitivity across frequency.
Sonification
The systematic mathematical mapping of non-auditory scientific data into the acoustic domain.
Relational Edges (48)
Typed semantic and physical relationships connecting entitiesThe composition is symbolically inscribed in the score, but the score is not the composition.
The abstract composition is temporally manifested in a live physical performance.
The temporal acoustic event of a performance is inscribed onto a physical recording medium.
The score is a representation of the work; it is not the performance itself.
The recording is an electroacoustic imprint; it is not the original three-dimensional acoustic wave event.
The physical waveform plotted in amplitude and time is not the cognitive listening experience.
The sonification is a mathematical mapping; it is not the underlying astrophysical phenomenon in vacuum.
Conceived by the authorial source.
Executed by physical vocal or instrumental agents.
Realized through physical mechanical acoustic transducers.
Realized through human biological vocal anatomy.
Acoustic resonances radiate pressure waves into the medium.
Contextualized within cultural and stylistic traditions.
Historical lineages directly shape subsequent musical styles.
Direct genealogical succession under strict historical evidence.
Pressure waves travel through air, water, or solid strata.
The physical wave has an amplitude contour through time.
Oscillation rate measured in Hertz.
Integer multiples form the overtone series.
Multidimensional spectral and temporal character.
Generated by kinetic excitation of physical bodies.
Biological organisms emit communicative acoustic signals.
Encoded by specialized biological sound organs.
Physical wax, shellac, tape, or optical polycarbonate substrate.
Subjected to de-click, noise reduction, or equalization filtering.
Modifies audible dynamics, frequency balance, or space.
Digitized into discrete numerical sample arrays.
Preserves the spatial reverberant acoustics of the space.
Received by ear canal, basilar membrane, and auditory cortex.
Quantified by pure-tone audiograms and Fletcher-Munson curves.
Thresholds measured across calibrated octave frequency bands.
Scientific numerical data translated into audible acoustic signals.
Clustered together within multidimensional timbre morphospace.
Notates discrete pitch values.
Notates metric note values.
Pairs of pitches constitute harmonic intervals.
Arranged in ascending patterns to build scales.
Defines modal color centers.
Pitches stacked in thirds or fourths form chords.
Comprises distinct formal movements.
Imparts reverberation decay time (T60) and absorption.
Adapted to specific marine, forest, or canyon soundscapes.
Geometry and materials dictate resonant overtone comb.
Imposes dynamic range and bandwidth ceilings.
Injects expressive rubato, dynamics, and ornamentation.
Assigns scientific variables to pitch.
Assigns categorical data variables to synthesizer timbre.
Translates basilar place coding into musical pitch sensation.