Visual music is defined by the quality of its audiovisual combination, not by any single medium, context, or presentation form

Visual music is the oldest of the five AV performance concepts, rooted in synaesthesia research around 1900 and the exploration of structural analogies between sound waves and light waves. Its central claim is not that it belongs to any particular medium (film, installation, live performance) or context (gallery, concert hall) but that audio and visual components are combined in a way that produces a new, genuinely audiovisual entity. This can be achieved through structural reference to musical composition, transcoding sound to image (or vice versa), or algorithmic/improvised performance. A common confusion is treating visual music as a synonym for all AV work; the term has a specific heritage in abstract, non-narrative composition and the balanced interplay between visual and acoustic components.

Examples

Oskar Fischinger’s abstract animated films; John Whitney’s computer-generated films; real-time performance combining laptop-generated visuals and live electronics where both are co-composed, neither secondary.

Assessment

Distinguish a visual music piece from a VJing set based on the quality and structure of the audiovisual combination. What would the absence of a balanced interplay look like?