A Multi-Platform, Procedural Approach to Graphical Composition

The world of multi-platform (cross-platform) entertainment presents programs available to consumers on a number of different production media, such as TV, online streaming, radio, and podcast download; essentially a bridging between
television and 'new media'.1 A multi-platform approach to composition, therefore, is derived from this idea, together with the array of software that contemporary composers have come to employ, particularly in the designing of graphic notation.

In order to fully explore the effectiveness of this approach, I present an analytical breakdown of my own procedural compositional methodology in the context of related works, examining the platforms and processes used, and their
significance. This is preceded by discussion on the concept of composing using multiple platforms and the hardware and software involved, then a comparative study into the application of design in the creation of graphical notation. Parallels are drawn between areas of music notation, graphic design, and applied geometry, typography, photography, and topography, whilst reflecting upon their importance in the visual and sonic results of my music. Then the value of this approach is empirically illustrated through the musical and notational outcomes of my work in the accompanying portfolio. Essentially a fluctuating yet coherent balance between the visual and the sonic, my approach to composition blends myriad influences in the procedural abstraction of an original concept, through multiple working platforms, to create a graphical notation that
employs fundamental principles of design with a view to ultimately creating sound.