Multimedia

Composer Pamela Z performs in front of a projected black and white image. Black bands on her outstretched arms are connected with wires to an open laptop in front of her, and a microphone on a mic stand is placed in front of her. Composer Pamela Z performing at 2008 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. Pamela Z's compositions often feature recorded audio, video, and electronic sensors which detect movement and light and generate aural responses.
(Armin Rudelstorfer | CC BY-NC-ND-2.0)

Music which involves other forms of art is called multimedia. Some music can be considered multimedia without falling into the categories of opera, ballet, musical theatre, and music for film, television and video games.

Non-musical References

It is common for musical works to reference objects, people or events, artistic or otherwise, that are not musical. While not presented directly in the musical performance, the listener may gain insight or appreciation if they are familiar with what is being referenced.

For example, American composer Allan Blank's 1975 song Don't Let That Horse Eat That Violin is a setting of a 1958 poem by American poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti, which itself references a 1947 oil painting by Russian-French painter Marc Chagall entitled The Falling Angel. The song and poem, which refer not only to things in the painting, to the artist himself, but to the surrealist nature of the work, provide insight and humor to the listener.

A watercolor elevation painting of a large archway and belltower. People and horses stand in front of and behind the gate, and there is text in cyrillic above and below the painted structure.
Figure 1: Plan for a City Gate, a painting by artist Viktor Hartmann. Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, a close friend of the artist, was inspired by the painting for a movement in his 1874 piano work Pictures at an Exhibition.
(Viktor Hartmann | Public Domain)

Incorporating Other Media

Composers will sometimes incorporate other types of media into the musical performance, adding another dimension of art with which the music can interact.

Imagery

Some musical compositions incorporate either still images or video which is played during the performance. The composer might have composed the music using the imagery as inspiration, or the imagery might be selected afterward to match the music.

An example of this format is the 2012 production 35MM: A Musical Exhibition by American composer Ryan Scott Oliver, which individual original songs written to accompany 15 photographs by his husband, photographer Matthew Murphy. The photographs are projected on the stage during the performance, which is presented in a concert format.

Recorded Audio

Composers will sometimes incorporate recorded audio with live instruments. The audio can be electronically generated sounds, recorded performances that have been manipulated, or other audio such as natural sounds or spoken dialogue. The audio track is usually created by the composer and licensed to performers for use in presenting the work. Performers must ensure that they are aligning the live performance with the recording, either using aural cues from the recording or by following strict timing.

Theatre

Musical scores may specify more than just music; it may direct performers to move in specific ways, to speak or make sounds beyond the usual vocabulary of their instrument, dress a certain way or interact with others. In Italian composer Luciano Berio's 1966 work Sequenza V for solo trombone, the score prescribes many extended techniques and directs the trombonist to mime certain movements and speak to the audience. In fact, the work was written as a tribute to the well-known Swiss clown Grock, and performers often dress in clown attire to perform the work.

Music Video

Through the 1960s and 1970s, recording artists would sometimes release songs in video format, showing the musicians performing the piece, often lip-syncing the studio recording. These video releases were intended for television broadcasts when the band was unavailable to perform in person, for use in video-jukebox devices, and for promotional use in retail outlets.

In the 1980s, music videos gained significant popularity due in large part to the cable television network MTV, which centered its programming on broadcasting music videos. Some musical acts — for example, American musician Madonna and the English band Duran Duran, became successful by embracing and capitalizing on the format.

Figure 4: The music video for the 1984 song Take On Me by the Norwegian band A-ha. The video, which combines rotoscoping and live action scenes, was among the most successful videos played on MTV in its first decade.
MTV reduced its programming of music videos in the 1990s, and the popularity of the format waned until the early 2000s. The video sharing site YouTube, as a side effect of its approach to copyright and monetization, became one of the first widely-used streaming music services; recognizing this, recording artists once again embraced and capitalized on the music video format.

Figure 5: The music video for the 2006 song Here It Goes Again by the American band OK Go. Produced by the band and lead singer Damian Kulash's sister, director and choreographer Trish Sie, the video was a viral success and began the band's continued association with ornate amateur music videography.

Multimedia: Summary

  • Multimedia is the use of multiple forms of art in a single work.
  • While not considered multimedia, music can be influenced or inspired by other types of art, such as visual art or dance.
  • Multimedia works can include different types of non-musical art:
    • They can incorporate visual art or imagery; for example, a performance may include a slideshow of photographs or paintings.
    • They can make use of recorded audio such as interviews or electronically-created soundscapes.
    • They may include theatrical direction for the performers, including instructions for how to dress or incorporate props.
  • One of the most common forms of multimedia in the late 20th and 21st centuries is the music video.
    • Though originally designed for promotional use in retail outlets, music videos became an integral part of the music business with the establishment of MTV in the early 1980s.
    • Music videos gained resurgent popularity in the early 2000s with the advent of video streaming services such as YouTube.

Exercises

Exercise 1: Assembling a Multimedia Piece

Exercise 2: Sketching a Screenplay for a Music Video