Composing with Flexible Phrases

Braunsdorf, Dennis (2021) Composing with Flexible Phrases.

This practice-based research project is an original investigation into the process of producing five compositions employing a self-designed digital musical instrument (DMI) called the ‘Flexible Phrase System’ (FPS). This research consists of two interconnected design processes: one is the production of a portfolio of music, and the other is the development of the FPS, which supports the production of the music. Composing the music and designing the FPS are developed in an iterative design process. The interconnected processes affect the content of the compositions, and it impacts the development of the FPS. Similarly, the FPS is designed for underscoring western advertising or movie trailers; therefore, the compositions are biased towards western popular music. All of the original works are three minutes long and used western popular instruments. The iterative design process offers insights into the compositional process and the artistic motivation that are intertwined with the possibilities provided by the PS. The thesis, “Composing with flexible phrases: The impact of a newly designed digital musical instrument upon composing western popular music for commercials and movie trailers”, contains 13 audio-visual files. The research data is the core of the thesis, and the thesis describes in great detail the audio-visual material.