Music
and Art Exchange Project
Members of the 2012-2013 Symphonic Band began work on a
piece of music composed in 2011 by Samuel Hazo entitled “Blue and Green
Music.” This work was based on a 1921
painting by Georia O’Keeffe of the same title.
In producing the painting, O'Keeffe
explained her idea that “music could be translated into something for the
eye.” As rehearsals for the performance
of this music ensued, the Symphonic Band students learned about the concept of
performing with different types of tone and timbre on their instruments. Indeed, it became possible to take a breath
in and exhale using a “blue” tone, and a “green” tone, with cooler air quality
than warm air that might be used for “orange” or “red” tone. Not only did the colors of different combinations
of instruments have a significant effect on the sounds of the music, but a
synthesizer was used to generate a lush string section sound that contributed
to the “blue” and “green” effect of the music in a much different way. The piece also had a great deal of dynamic
expression inherent in the writing, and the students enjoyed expanding their
ability to play dynamically shaped phrases of greater and greater contrast and
depth. When the work was performed on
March 6, 2013, an enlarged photo of the painting was projected on a screen
above the band. The audience was then
allowed the freedom to visualize the painting and hear the music on their own
creative and imaginative terms.
Painting and Drawing Studio
Five
students in Mrs. Hansen’s 2013 spring semester Painting and Drawing Studio were
asked to pick a piece of music that they enjoyed personally, or music that
inspired their creativity. Once the
music was picked, each student then created a drawing or sketch of their idea
for a painting that would capture their thoughts and feelings about the music
they chose in a visual way. Much like
Georgia O’Keeffe in 1921, the students then transformed their ideas onto canvas
and developed paintings that were titled as the music they chose. A description of these thoughts and processes
are contained in written paragraph under each of the paintings on display. On the same March 6, 2013 concert, each of
these works was projected onto the screen, and a sample of the music that inspired
them was played through the auditorium sound system. The audience was then free to hear the music
and view the creation of each of these students based on their knowledge of
reading about the process, and then seeing and hearing the final product. After the performance of these five works,
two of the students then took the opportunity to describe to the audience what
the project was like for them. They
shared their thoughts and feelings of inspiration, creation and production of
their works of art. Thanks to participating artists Aura Evans, Josh Johnson, Natalie Pelekh, Crystal Ponce and David Morlock.
