Composing with flexible phrases: the impact of a newly designed digital musical instrument upon composing Western popular music for commercials and movie trailers.

Abstract

This practice-based research project is an original investigation into the process of producing five compositions employing a self-designed digital musical instrument (DMI) called the ‘Flexible Phrase System’ (FPS). This research consists of two interconnected design processes: one is the production of a portfolio of music, and the other is the development of the FPS, which supports the production of the music. Composing the music and designing the FPS are developed in an iterative design process. The interconnected processes affect the content of the compositions, and it impacts the development of the FPS. Similarly, the FPS is designed for underscoring western advertising or movie trailers; therefore, the compositions are biased towards western popular music. All of the original works are three minutes long and used western popular instruments. The iterative design process offers insights into the compositional process and the artistic motivation that are intertwined with the possibilities provided by the FPS. Audio-visual self-study observation methods are utilised to gain knowledge of composing, the impact of the FPS, and the implementation of an iterative design process. These self-study methods focus on the principles of autoethnographic studies, reflection-in-action studies, and studies of the creative process of music composition (CPMC). This study contributes five western popular compositions for commercials and movie trailers to the repertoire of music, and it also contributes the newly designed DMI to the field of virtual instruments (VIs) and user interface controllers (UICs). It reveals original and critical insights into the iterative design of a DMI. Additionally, other composers, producers, and music technologists can use the developed self-study observation methods and the iterative design process to analyse their compositional process with the aid of a self-designed DMI.