Tonights Research Seminar we present Jean Martin.
Contemporary art music in the context of film and moving image.
Bridge Wardens College, Lecture Theatre
6-8pm
Tuesday, 25th March, 2014
Jean Martin will present some ideas from his recent book ‘Filmgeräusch – Wahrnehmungsfelder eines Mediums (co-authored with Frieder Butzmann).
“Much of music composed in history related to specific activities in the world: It supported religious practice, dance, dramatic opera, funerals, military or stately events. Only occasionally music was purely self-referential as in the scholasticism of late Renaissance music, or the experimentations of New music in the 20th Century. I want to look at the specific case of film music and sound design and music for media. Composing music and sound design for films poses specific challenges. The raison d’etre for any music and sound design, in fact for the soundtrack as a whole is the narrative and the image track of the film. This poses constraints for the timebased art of music. Film music can never follow its own logic freely developing themes or sound textures as long as it takes. It is limited by the duration of a scene which it supports or comments. In my analyses of films I observed that film composers adopt two fundamental musical approaches: on the one hand the thematic concept of music using thematic Leitmotifs and harmonic tonality. On the other hand composers practice a timbral or spectral aesthetic which expresses itself through complex textures and drones.
It is closely linked to sound design, which emerged from the electro-acoustic music tradition and the 20th Century aesthetic of musicalising environmental, indeed any recorded sound or noise.”
This event is FREE to attend and open to Staff and Students.
Please bring your University ID to access the Dockyard.