One of the basic assumptions of modern ethnomusicological research is the need to analyse music taking into account the relationship between the sound and the context where it is produced. So, mostly since the 1970s, several ethnomusicologists have developed new analytical approaches focused on performance. To analyse the spatial distribution of participants in a ritual or a concert, the interaction between audience and musicians, the relationship among specific performances and the basic grammar in a given genre, and so on, a wide use has been made of models of graphic representation not requiring the use of the staff.
In the first part of my paper I will propose a description of some of the most interesting models for the visualization of the performance used in ethnomusicological research, attempting a typological classification based on different parameters. In the second part I will focus on the graphics I used for the analysis of ‘toque de santo’, a complex ceremony of ‘regla de ocha’ (the most common among the Afro-Cuban religions) that involves dancers, singers, ‘batá’ drummers and practitioners.