Student profiles
Mark Dyer
Email: Mark.Dyer@student.rncm.ac.uk
Website: https://www.markdyercomposer.com/
Previous Education
2014 – 2015, Distinction, University of Manchester, Mmus Music Composition
2011 – 2014, First with honours, University of Southampton, BA Music
Thesis Title
Musical Ruins: a practice-led approach to explore the potential of ruin as a musical phenomenon.
Supervisors
Dr Mauricio Pauly, Prof Emily Howard
Research Summary
Ruin depiction and aesthetics are commonly explored within archaeology, literary theory and the visual arts. Through his research, Mark will compose ‘musical ruins’ that might establish a listener experience analogous to visiting an architectural ruin.
Mark aims to achieve this by subjecting borrowed material to destructive compositional techniques, and thus explore the emotional responses inherent to ruin lust: nostalgia, alienation and hopes of restoration. Additionally, the project will explore the various compositional techniques we might employ to disassemble a given piece of music, and the threshold at which point a degenerated piece of music becomes unrecognisable. The project reflects a personal vision where music might contribute to ruin studies in other fields and add new perspectives on ruin fascination.
Research Interests
Ruin, Borrowing, Materialism, Generative Art