UC Berkeley

Abstract

Six Musical Compositions Integrating Digital Video

by Nils Bultmann

Doctor of Philosophy in Music

University of California, Berkeley

Professor Edmund Campion, Chair

In this thesis I am presenting six video-related musical compositions that explore physical movement in performance and the integration of alternative performance locations. This text offers a chronological description of these experiments, tracking the evolution of these ideas through a variety of forms: A walk-through installation, Location-based fixed-media videos, Interactive web platforms using maps, and projection templates for live performance. Each of the works explores a particular relationship of the digital video to the musical composition with varied approaches and degrees of connection between the sound and image. The insights and skills accumulated through the compositional process of the initial five works ultimately lead to the final piece in the series. This culminating composition offers a flexible working method and platform for integrating a quite diverse spectrum of musical collaborations and other activities. The new procedures I developed through these video-related compositions facilitated the creation of new works in quite diverse venues while also providing tools for bringing both audio and visual material from varying locations back into the concert hall through live performance.