This portfolio of compositions researches the use of DNA sequences as a system for music composition. The main objective is to identify and create musical expression using sequences of DNA, which carry embedded structure and organisation. An effective model of DNA sonification was implemented through the use of a Parameter Mapping Sonification Interface that can obtain a musical rendering of the genetic material through the replication of different stages of DNA coding. In this way the composer could make compositional decisions a priori in mapping musical parameters (musification), and make use of sonification as a tool in order to successfully generate, organise and develop musical material in a compositional system based on DNA and RNA sequences. This is in contrast to a hard scientific sonification perspective, where unedited outputs are presented as a musical composition. As a result, the portfolio provides an intelligible corpus of music that integrates science, literature, cultural heritage and the social sphere in order to deliver my musical discourse. Nine compositions are presented in the portfolio, each of these explores the use of sonification and musification as a compositional tool to generate and organise musical materials.

I det här masterarbetet har jag musik för tre olika musikaliska sammanhang; elektronisk pop i samarbete med kurskollega, kortfilmsmusik i samarbete med filmregissör och musik till statistik i samarbete med SCB. De tre delprojekten rör sig inom olika musikaliska uttryck och har olika instrumentering. En frågeställning som genomsyrar tankegångarna i textens reflektioner är vilka likheter i fråga om uttryck och processer de tre olika verken har även om de har olika estetiska ramar och förutsättningar. Arbetet har genomförts i syfte att undersöka hur de olika inriktningarna påverkar och influerar mig som musikskapare. Går det att se hur flödet av influenser ser ut? Vidare tar jag upp olika föreställningar om att som enskild musikskapare arbeta inom olika inriktningar och medieuttryck. Metoden har utgjorts av kompositionsarbete, improvisation, musikproduktion och studioinspelningar. Resultatet av arbetet är tre olika musikverk varav två; kortfilmsmusik och musik till statistik, är en sorts beställningsverk med målet att spelas i den offentliga kulturen. / In this master dissertation, I have created music for three different musical contexts; electronic pop in collaboration with a program colleague from KMH, short film music in collaboration with film director and finally music to statistics in collaboration with Statistics Sweden (SCB. The three sub-projects move within different musical expressions and have different instrumentation. An issue that is central in the reflections of the text is what similarities in terms of expression and processes the three different works have, although they have different aesthetic frameworks. The work aims to find out how the different directions affect and influence me as a music creator. Can you see what the flow of influences looks like? Furthermore, I discuss different conceptions of working as an individual music creator in different directions and media expressions. The method has consisted of composition work, improvisation, music production and studio recordings. The result of the work is three different pieces of music, two of which; short-film music and music for statistics, is a kind of commissioned work with the goal of being played in the public culture.