Citation: Gouzouasis, P. & LaMonde, A. M. (2005, July 3). The use of tetrads in the
analysis of arts-based media. International Journal of Education & the Arts, 6(4). Retrieved
[date] from http://www.ijea.org/v6n4/.
Abstract
In this article, we chose the musical form of a sonata to examine tetrads, a simple
four-fold structure that Marshall McLuhan coined and employed to describe
various technologies. Tetrads, as cognitive models, are used to refine, focus, or
discover entities in cultures and technologies, which are hidden from view in the
psyche. Tetradic logic frames human artifacts and the means of doing things. The
ideas that McLuhan eloquently brought to consciousness, long before
technologies became the sophisticated communication tools they have become
today, may be reinterpreted in a far more timely fashion. The poignancy of his
views invite our immediate attention in light of the limitless extensions humans
are being afforded with new technologies. McLuhan has always remained a
significant and powerful voice among artistshis ideas, in effect, resonate with our
artistic sensibilities.