Musical Motion Graphics – Communicating Live Electronic Music

Abstract

Live electronic music, including acoustic instruments and electronic sound generation and manipulation, faces specific challenges regarding its composition and performance. There is no music notation available which could equally represent the acoustic and the computer instrument. Due to the often complex musical structure and the possible lack of expressiveness during the performance, live electronic music is not easily accessible for the audience. These challenges are based on a lack of communication. This article discusses the use of Musical Motion Graphics (MMG) linked to visual communication theory to tackle the above-mentioned challenges. MMG cannot be considered as music notation in the sense of western music notation since the eighteenth century since its aim is not a normative canon or universal validity. Nevertheless, it has a music notational purpose, which manifests in video scores. It offers an open framework of so-called determined ambiguity, allowing the mapping of visual and acoustic parameters. MMG communicates time structure and indicates musical objects and their relations. The exact synchronisation of actions and events of all the instruments involved is possible. An MMG score supports audience understanding of the music by visualising the composition through an intuitively understandable score.