Notation, Documentation and Digital Archiving
Domain 7 tests how oral repertoires are written down, recorded and archived. The exam expects awareness of both technical capture and ethical responsibilities.
Core rules
- Oral transmission is primary; notation is a secondary aid.
- Lyrics may be transcribed in Assamese or community scripts; drum patterns can use bol notation; Borgeet may use sargam; staff notation is rare.
- Metadata must include performer, village, community, date, genre, instruments, tempo and consent.
- Digital archiving needs lossless audio/video, checksums, backups and cataloguing.
- Access rights and community protocols must be recorded.
Worked example
Documenting a Bihu song: record audio and video; collect lyrics and a translation; note singer, village, date, instruments and tempo; obtain consent; tag genre and community; store two backup copies with checksums. Reasoning: the recording alone is not an archive; without metadata it cannot be searched or credited; without consent it cannot be ethically shared.
Traps that cost marks
Recording without consent and publishing without attribution are serious ethical failures. Missing metadata makes an archive unusable. Assuming notation captures ornament and microtiming loses accuracy.