CHAPTER 6.2.9 - 6.2.10

The dramaturgical functions of the music: ten modes

9. Principles of musical composition as dramaturgy for all elements

As discussed in the part on A Language at War in Chapter 5, the idea of using the form structure of musical variations was an early idea that were used not only for the electroacoustic music but also for the text, the video projections and the dramaturgy for the performers.

Example 6.2.9a. Video: from A Language at War - a series of variations,

excerpts from different scenes

In Hamlet II: Exit Ghost, the use of seamless transformations as often found in electroacoustic music is used as a consistently dramaturgical principle transforming relational theatre dialogues into musical textures.

Example 6.2.9b. Sound: from Hamlet II: Exit Ghost, radio theatre version, scene 4

10. Musicality as an approach for other elements

This mode deals with approaching other elements than music of a performance in a musical way. This means that there can be sections where a musical approach has been important for the creation, but where there is no sounding music at all. In our work processes it has been particularly the dramaturgical work with the actors where musical expressions often have been used as a tool to form their performance. Using the concept of a musical crescendo and accelerando, an expanding build-up of energy, as a dramatic structure for the actors is found in several sections of A Language at War.

Example 6.2.10a. Video: from A Language at War - scene 6b and 9

Musical, and in particular, rhythmic approaches to light design and video projections are also used, as for example the multiple video projections in A Language at War that form peculiar rhythms.

Example 6.2.10b. Video: from A Language at War - a series of variations