This aspect of the course like all aspects of the course is very flexible, and can be shaped as a stand alone plug-in series of classes, or workshops.

Composing for Mulitmedia explores, and experiments with new relationships between composition, technology, performance, visual and theatre arts and society at large.

As part of this multimedia course Composing for Multimedia is about practical professional experience of developing work in collaboration with performers, visual artists, and set designers. In this area of the course, composers will explore techniques, and the creative processes involved of working music into a total multimedia performed environment.

This course builds on mixed media concepts which recontemporarizes opera as multimedia performance. Students investigate ideas surrounding form, structure and spatial relationships between media. It gives students in-depth understanding of the role, and new potential music plays in these relationships.

The course gives composers the opportunity to develop multimedia writing, and content organisation techniques by way of far reaching relationships between mediums, and extended notational, and organised re-mixable sound production concepts.

Composers will incorporate techniques, and concepts that open up ways to bring mediums together, to work as a "multimedia whole". They will study applied compositional techniques, and ideas surrounding the way that music be can used to expose the hidden relationships between media. They will learn how connect compositional processes with the way physcial, and visual material, can be made to act, or be made to behave, as 'music' as original multimedia communication.

Studewnts will approach language and text, and develop the way an original multimedia 'language' can transcend, and re-contextualise meaning, and the visual image: how creative elements derived from differnet 'physical' sources, and non-narrative properties can be used to restructure scenario, and act as an engine driving character development in theatrical work. Composers will learn how to release narrative from the literal boundries of conventional approaches to libretto. They will develop notions of multimedia scripting as "libretto".

The interaction of music in media goes further. The course will explore the way movement, in its most common denominating form-metaphysical movement, filmed movement, human movement, extended human movement through costume and prop design, movement embodied in spatial relationships, "vocal" movement, lighting and spatial movement within set design, movement between mediums- can become powerful, fundamental elements of a creative 3 dimensional language towards creating a "total multimedia" experience.

Relationships between music writing and sound production technology.

Students will develop relationships between digitally manipulated recorded material and live music ensemble vocal writing and text in counterpoint to theatrical/ visual material.

These musical forces will be used to construct, or deconstruct situation in a 3 dimensional space. Creative manifestations, will form work which stems directly from relationships between media- in counterpoint and juxtaposition.

Composers will develop work for live music, and sound design as an integrated whole, and will develop their own approaches in reference theatre/visual action and sound, while at the same time developing their audiovisual technology skills.

Course breakdown of skills learnt:

• Creating, developing and structuring musical material as multimedia.

• Developing 21st century live and computer aided creativity, orchestration and ensemble techniques: working with pre-recorded sound with live instrumental ensembles in music and dance theatre.

• Working with voice and text in music and dance theatre orientated multimedia performance.

• Instrumentation: approaches to developing extended instrumental techniques.

• Writing and cutting to picture.

• Writing and cutting to live choreography.

• Publishing multimedia performance scores.

See also in Music Creation:

Compositional Studies

Sound Production and Music Technology Classes

Music for Film & Television and Commercial Media Provsion Classes