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Abstract
Composing music means score-making; and score-making means systemsmaking. A musical score is a system—a matrix—of control.
My recent compositional work investigates new media and strategies for managing matrices of control in musical notation: namely, video scores, which prescribe in real-time a musician’s movement and actions, rather than the sound they are expected to produce. The performers’ task is to mirror the actions demonstrated in the video score in such a way that sound is produced on their instrument.
This thesis examines my notational and compositional approach to the medium of the video score, illustrated by three recent works: rupture | rapture for voice and percussion, 8 x ∞ for mixed octet; and XEROX ROCK for electric guitar, piano, and marimba. The first chapter outlines the theoretical and aesthetic contexts in which I situate my approach to video scores: theories of the interface, the screen, and interactivity; the audio-visual interdependence of the video medium, taking into account early video art; and the semiotics of the screen.
The second chapter discusses two works of the triptych— rupture | rapture and 8 x ∞—and the mimetic relationship between score and performer. Both of these scores include not only video but also audio material, the sounds of which the performers are called upon to recreate with their instruments.
The third chapter addresses the third work of the portfolio, XEROX ROCK, in reference to the aesthetic and pedagogical qualities of the YouTube videos from which the score's video footage is sourced.
