Introduction - The purpose of this thesis is to try to formulate a framework for composing, and a way of speaking about it, that incorporates not only pitches and rhythms, but also visual parameters such as perspective and framing, physical parameters such as space and room (and to a lesser extent architecture), as well as performative parameters. On the basis of texts by Marshall McLuhan and Johannes Kreidler, I will sketch a theory of how compositional media (instruments, bodies, loudspeakers and projectors, physical space, further defined in part 1) can be combined and utilized. Further, I will describe one of the main focuses of my recent compositions, which is the layering of different categories of compositional media (instrumental, performative, electronic, spatial) and how their respective potentials and limitations shape their use as a thing I compose with. In this thesis, I will try to map the terms instrument, framing and space as compositional media, meaning parts of a composition that I try to communicate information with, and discuss some of their conceptual, technological and historical dimensions. In part 1, I define medium and media in compositional terms, as well as the relations between compositional media, instruments and space. In part 2, I discuss different understandings of frame and framing in music and art. In part 3, I give some examples from music history that make use of physical space and, to a lesser extent, conceptual space. This list is by no means representative of the diversity of works that deal with space, to whatever extent, and furthermore focuses solely on Western art music starting around 1900, unfortunately represented mainly by white men. In part 4, I describe my own compositional attempts at layering different media within my compositions, and how this potentially expands the physical and conceptual spaces I am working within.

Norges musikkhøgskole. Masteroppgave. Komposisjon