From: Ken Bawcom (email suppressed)
Date: Mon Apr 27 2009 - 22:50:37 PDT
I believe my favorite "visual music" films are the works of Canadian
film maker Carl Brown. Many of them I call 'jazz for the eyes,' but
they often have jazz for the ears as well.
Ken B.
Quoting Myron Ort <email suppressed>:
> I think that the prevailing definition(s) seem(s) to be:
>
> 1. Abstract films which need a soundtrack. "Abstract" films which
> may not really "work" presented silent.
>
> for example I just saw Lapis by Whitney, and the presenter stated
> that it was originally silent but the distributor thought it needed
> a soundtrack and thus added an Indian raga. I don't think the
> "montage" in the film would have been as acceptable without the
> masking of sound and it happened that there were enough coincidences
> between some changes in the music and the images to seem
> "intentional" and the assumption was that this added sound made it
> "more entertaining". Personally I wished they had left it silent.
> Either way I believe the "transitions" (dissolves) between
> sequences would draw attention to themselves, to me they were not,
> and should have been, more "seamless", given the mechanical
> perfection of this kind of imagery, or perhaps separated by pauses
> (and then better left silent). I do however appreciate the
> pioneering aspects of the film's historical context.
>
> As opposed to a "silent" film by Stan Brakhage with its "silent
> sound sense", which clearly does not need a soundtrack since the
> totality of "montage" , movement, visual rhythms, etc. is
> "musical" in a sense.
>
> 2. Abstract films in which there is a clear "programmatic"
> relationship between images and sounds. Off On, 7362 etc. As
> opposed to films (abstract or otherwise) that use Cocteau's
> aesthetic of preferring the fortuitous alignments of music and
> image. (ever notice how almost any music or sound works more or less
> with any film?...)
>
> 3. Abstract films (animation etc.) in which the images were
> composed specifically and obviously (programmatically) to an
> existing piece of music, ala Disney's Fantasia.
>
> 4. Any abstract film or abstract animation with a musical soundtrack.
>
> 5. Abstract films whose timing fits the timing of music, whose
> duration, say, is reigned in by the constraints of the musical
> composition accompanying it, the film in a sense is an accompaniment
> to the musical composition.
>
> 6. Short abstract films or animations with accompanying music
> designed to hold audience interest in the manner of a musical
> performance.
>
> To me, in spite of the general notion of this term to describe the
> works of Fischinger etc., I think it unfortunate that the term
> "visual music" is not better used to describe films like Brakhage's
> silent films which illustrate his notion of "the silent sound
> sense", because the term "visual music" would be a convenient
> shorthand for the mini lecture I have to give every time I might
> present a work of mine or of Brakhage that is silent by design and
> preference, the "rhythms" of which hold up on their own with a
> musical sense and which might be unnecessarily ponderous with any
> added music composed, fortuitious, random or otherwise.....etc.
>
> I am aware, however, that there is some controversy surrounding this notion:
>
> http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/silent_legacy.html
>
> " The idea of film as music, however, still suffers from the legacy
> of understanding music, and sound for that matter, on purely
> auditory terms. This is clearly demonstrated by Peter Kivy, who
> begins a highly sophisticated inquiry into the nature of the musical
> experience by trying to come to terms with why there has not been a
> “purely visual music” to compare with the great masterpieces of
> Western composition for the ears. He suggests that despite the
> wealth of experimentation with “totally abstract,
> non-representational sequences of patterns and colors that can
> fairly be described as ‘music for the eyes’…[this] visual music has
> been unable to sustain itself to any significant length, at least in
> terms of the normal viewer (not the fanatic)” (Kivy 1990:2).
> Granted, many of Brakhage’s greatest fans might fall into the
> category of “fanatic,” but I digress. Kivy continues:
>
> A person of no particular musical expertise, with only limited
> musical enthusiasms, can listen, with more or less rapt attention,
> to a concert of chamber music that may last for two hours. Nothing
> even approaching this attention span seems possible for visual
> music. Why is this? (Kivy 1990:2)"
>
>
>
> Myron Ort
>
> www.zeno-okeanos.com
>
>
>
> On Apr 27, 2009, at 5:04 AM, Freya wrote:
>
>> That definition would appear to exclude visual music works that
>> contain no sound however! :)
>>
>> love
>>
>> Freya
>>
>>
>>
>> --- On Mon, 4/27/09, Leo Cardoso <email suppressed> wrote:
>>
>>> From: Leo Cardoso <email suppressed>
>>> Subject: Re: Vienna shows
>>> To: email suppressed
>>> Date: Monday, April 27, 2009, 10:59 AM
>>> It seems to me that, in its broadest
>>> sense, visual music is a audiovisual work that is
>>>
>>> (1) created by using some kind of compositional link
>>> between aural and visual events - thus exploring the
>>> synesthetic field
>>>
>>> (2) performed as something that integrates aural/visual
>>> gestures
>>> (3) perceived as something that integrates aural/visual
>>> gestures
>>>
>>> Visual music has also been used in the last decades to mean
>>> an audiovisual work associated with artists such as Oskar
>>> Fischinger, Mary Ellen Bute, John Whitney, and Larry Cuba.
>>> It usually uses 'abstract' visual forms and various
>>> music genres (including Western Classical music and Indian
>>> Classical music). It is this specific artistic field that
>>> I'm most interested in.
>>>
>>>
>>> Please let me know if you think visual music is actually
>>> something else, or if you have contancts (or any info) that
>>> might be useful for my research.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>>
>>> Leo
>>>
>>> On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 10:24 PM,
>>> Simonetta <email suppressed>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> I was going to ask the same
>>> question. What do you mean by "visual music?" I am
>>> personally interested in the film-music dialectic and I also
>>> know other graduate students involved in this kind of work.
>>> More specifics would be helpful to have a better sense of
>>> what you are looking for.
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks,Simonetta
>>>
>>> On Sun, Apr 26, 2009 at 11:05 PM,
>>> Myron Ort <email suppressed>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> What is the definition of "visual music"?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Myron Ort
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Apr 26, 2009, at 4:24 PM, Leonardo Cardoso wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Dear frameworkers,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm a graduate student in ethnomusicology, and would
>>> like to get in touch with people interested in visual
>>> music.
>>>
>>> My research project focuses on the visual music scene in
>>> LA, and I'm expecting to talk with as many people as I
>>> can (not only from US) as a means to consider different
>>> perspectives on visual music.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'm planning to spend this summer in LA to attend
>>> performances and do some fieldwork there.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd appreciate any suggestion of places to visit,
>>> people to talk with, and any other valuable info related
>>> with visual music.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Thank you!
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Leo Cardoso
>>>
>>> Graduate student
>>>
>>> Butler School of Music
>>>
>>> University of Texas at Austin
>>>
>>> tel. (512) 216-8205
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>>
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Leo Cardoso
>>> Graduate student
>>> Butler School of Music
>>> University of Texas at Austin
>>> email suppressed
>>>
>>> tel. (512) 216-8205
>>> http://leocardoso.org/
>>>
>>>
>>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
>>> <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>>
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
>
"Those who would give up essential liberty
to purchase a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty, nor safety."
Benjamin Franklin 1775
"I know that the hypnotized never lie... Do ya?"
Pete Townshend 1971
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.