Kinetic Relationships in Visual Music Composition – Page 4

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The rhythmic qualities of a visual music composition are achieved in numerous ways. There are the obvious punctuations, accents, and patterns presented in the music via typical rhythm instruments such as drums. Beyond those the visual music medium presents opportunities for rhythmic relationships such as successions of cuts in the visual flow or accented events in musical progressions. Interrelating rhythmical patterns affords audience interest on several strata. These patterns maybe perceivable in the audio or visual separately, together, or in an exchange wherein each provides aspects of an overall rhythmic structure.
As with the unity type relationships, the rhythmic patterns can occur in a 1:1, tightly synchronized, manner, which is fairly straightforward. This approach can be used to accentuate major rhythmic passages in the composition. Somewhat isolated punctuations provide points of unison that allow an audience to easily experience a connective link between the audio and visual. When used sporadically, they provide landing points in a composition. Let’s experience an example of a tight synchronization approach.

Example 3.0

Going deeper, variations to this approach and deviations from it can elevate a composition to a higher level of complexity and can provide a timeless quality to the work. In the next example, the visual provides for rhythmic punctuations that the music only infers. Thus, the visual rhythms become an aspect of the auditory experience and vice versa. This is just one example of myriad possible rhythmic relationships in visual music. Rhythmic syncopations, simplifications, and exchanges provide for imaginative experiences.

Example 3.1

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