Dreams in a mirror : a multimedia work

The primary means and procedures used in data assembly for this research involved analysis of the above works as well as a similar analysis as to compositional procedure in the work of this composer: "Dreams in a Mirror: A Multimedia Work." Information concerning specific works and their composers was found primarily in magazine reviews and in biographies, monographs, or philosophical treatises prepared by the composer himself.

The major conclusions of the research were that certain possibilities posed by the tape medium such as indefinitely sustained sound, vertically dense texture, infinite variety of timbres, and rhythmic complexity also impose certain limitations of form and procedure. Form and procedure arise from the nature of the sounds chosen at the outset by the composer and are applied in an intuitive fashion by the composer.

The further limitations imposed by the inclusion of abstract visuals projected with the aid of a slide projector, particularly a possible failure to integrate disparate elements, called for a means whereby the unfolding and development of one medium would reflect and enhance the other. A dissolve unit with a hand control used in conjunction with two slide projectors provided this means of coordination. Too, the visuals were prepared in such a way that density of color would correspond to vertical density of the music and complexity of image detail would correspond to horizontal density of the music.

A careful attention to procedure, subtlety in form, and an emphasis on the intuitive processes of the individual have emerged as aesthetic goals in the late 1970's. As another decade begins it is probable that these goals will consolidate into a directive for the further evolution of multimedia works in the twentieth century.