With Music as a Script: Intermedial narrative between classical art music and moving image

Johan Fröst, DMA, MM is a pianist and associate professor of piano at the classical department at KMH. He has previously received his doctorate from Rice University, Texas, USA in, performance practice (pianist), music history and music theory and has just started as an industrial doctoral student (LIC) in the collaboration between KTH and KMH. He is advised by Prof. Roberto Bresin (KTH), Dr Sandra Pauletto (KTH) and Prof. Henrik Frisk (KMH).

With Music as a Script: Intermedial narrative between classical art music and moving image.

Abstract: The purpose of this project is to interpret and visualize art musical form and content with the help of moving image. The moving imagery focuses on the playing musician and the gestures that arise when the music is played. The study is conducted on the basis of the following research questions: How can musical content be lifted using film as a tool? How can the musical experience be enhanced with visual impressions? What impression does the music have in the film - can the film be reused to new compositions?

A recurring view is that classical art music should be consumed as it is and usually does not need any further stimulation of the mind. When classical art music is presented together with a moving image, it is often a matter of an image production that has the task of reproducing the situation of the actual concert. Studies show that the picture tends to dominate when music is combined with moving image. One of the reasons for this is that the visual mind accounts for 80% of the impressions the brain processes. The result is that the recipient's attention to the musical process deteriorates or is disturbed, thus reducing the musical intrinsic value. The method of avoiding this is to create an imagery that has the task of lifting and highlighting musical form and content.

With the help of small cameras this is investigated in practice. The moving image layers (films) are then placed on top of each other with different opacity. The image layers then interact in the finished film where musical form and content are lifted. Four labs have been conducted, resulting in four films, one focusing on a percussionist and three focusing on a pianist. The purpose of this seminar is to show parts of these films and to report experiences from this ongoing project focusing on questions about how a moving imagery can be designed for the viewer / listener to see and hear intermodally. By extension, the problem formulations are also based on the new intermedial aspects that arise when the music and, the film intended for the music, interact with each other. To what extent does each of the media retain their identity and when, and to what extent, something new arises and is established?