Minds On
Today’s vocabulary
Press the following tabs to access today’s vocabulary.
First impressions
Explore the following video from the excerpt of the movement “Love Songs for a Small Planet: Introduction: Night” by Alexina Louie.
Pause and Reflect
Pause and reflect
Record your initial thoughts in a method of your choice. You may want to consider the following questions to help guide your thinking.
- What is your first impression?
- What emotions does this work evoke?
- What does this excerpt make you think of?
- What kind of mental image or visuals does this music inspire?
Action
Get ready, get set…
Let’s describe the music
Mood can be communicated through music, dance, and visual art. Artists, composers, and dancers can use certain techniques to create a specific mood and guide the audience to react to an art piece or performance in a specific way.
In music, a composer can create a particular mood in their composition by using the elements of music. These elements work together to elicit specific feelings when individuals experience the music, and it is important to note that different cultures can perceive music differently.
Let’s examine the following Elements of Music Chart.
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Duration |
The element of music that relates to time, which includes beat, rhythm, metre, and tempo. Consider the following questions:
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Pitch |
The element of music that relates to the highness or lowness of a tone. Consider the following questions:
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Dynamics and other expressive controls |
The element of music that relates to volume. Consider the following questions:
Comparing two pieces of music/songs:
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Timbre |
The element of music that relates to the quality of a sound (e.g., sound of a doorbell versus a laugh, a trumpet versus a clarinet, or two people speaking). Consider the following questions:
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Texture/ harmony |
The element of music that relates to the layers of sounds within music. Consider the following questions:
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Form |
The element of music that relates to the way musical pieces are organized. Consider the following questions:
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Press the ‘Activity’ button to access Elements of Music Chart.
Evoking a “mood” using the elements of music
Now that we have refreshed our understanding of what the elements of music are, let’s explore the ways in which each element might evoke certain feelings and emotion on purpose.
The following are some examples and possible interpretations, but as is the case with all personal responses to art, keep in mind that certain audiences might interpret and understand the music differently.
Press the following tabs to examine the ways the elements of music might evoke feelings and emotion.
Duration is associated with time and includes beat, rhythm, and metre.
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When music is fast paced, it can create: |
When music is slower in pace, it can: |
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Tempo, another factor of the element of duration, can have an immediate physical impact on the audience. It can even increase someone’s heartrate as the heart tries to “sync up” with the pace of the music!
When a piece has smooth and consistent rhythms, it might bring out feelings of happiness and peace, whereas irregular or choppy rhythms can create uneasiness. It all depends on how the composer wants to make the audience feel!
The pitch of a sound, whether it is a low or high note, can spark several different emotions and ideas.
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Low-pitched sounds: |
High-pitched sounds: |
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When composers change the pitch in a piece of music, it can also suggest different emotions. Often composers will use a wide range of pitches to create more depth in their music.
When notes descend to a lower octave, it can create feelings of sadness or melancholy. If the pitch rises up an octave, it can create feelings of hopefulness and excitement.
The impact of these tones on the overall mood of a piece is captured in the idea of key signature, or more broadly, if a piece of music is composed in a major or minor key. Music in major keys is more often associated with optimism, positivity, and promise, whereas compositions in minor keys can convey gloominess, complexity, and even a sense of foreboding.
Quiet or soft music often elicits feelings of sadness and melancholy, but also tenderness and peacefulness. A moderate volume might create happiness and pleasantness. Loud dynamics might create joy, excitement, happiness, and triumph.
When dynamics become very loud, or vary from loud to soft quickly, it creates tension.
The quality of the sound of different tones or instruments has an impact on mood.
The single sound of an instrument, such as a flute, can create a sense of pleasantness, peace, or perhaps even boredom (due to the simplicity). Deeper or more complex tones, such as the sound produced by blowing through a harmonica, has the ability to inspire a different and potentially more urgent emotional reaction.
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Bright tones that are crisp: |
Dull tones might be interpreted as: |
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Certain violin sounds can create sadness, fear, and anger, but a violin can also produce sounds that convey joy, peace, and warmth.
The layers of sound within music can have a big impact on the overall mood of a piece.
When music is monophonic, meaning it has one melodic line and no harmony or accompaniment, the mood might be more singular and focused. For example, a single-melody chant could clearly convey a solemn, focused mood.
The opportunity to establish a range of different moods increases once the music becomes homophonic (one melodic line with chordal accompaniment or harmony), or polyphonic (consisting or two or more melodic lines).
Interpreting music and sound through visual art
Composers establish a specific mood by using the elements of music to evoke certain sentiments and reactions from the audience.
We have examined different examples of how moods can be represented musically, but it is equally possible to express a musical mood through visual arts!
Two teachers talking. The first teacher says:
“Express a musical mood through visual art” sounds really abstract and confusing.
The second teacher responds:
It may not seem straightforward, but we can use the elements of music to convey the mood of a song visually!
How can you express the elements of music visually?
For example, the element of duration relates to the tempo or the speed of the music. If a song has a really fast tempo, it might evoke a sense of frenzy or excitement. Can you think of a style of painting that conveys this same idea?
Press ‘Hint’ to reveal ways that duration could be represented visually.
One way that speed and frantic motion could be expressed visually is through the intensity of brushstrokes. For example, fast and hurried brushstrokes can sometimes be found in abstract paintings.
Rests and pauses are also examples of duration, and these could be expressed visually through blank spaces in a painting.
Pitch is another element of music and refers to the highness or lowness of the notes, as well as how much the notes vary by moving up and/or down the scale. Can you think of a style of drawing that represents these changes in pitch?
Press ‘Hint’ to reveal ways that pitch could be represented visually.
One way that pitch could be expressed visually is through the strategic placement of drawings or markings on a page.
For example, high-pitched tones would be represented by drawing the brushstrokes higher on the page. Low-pitched notes could be indicated with markings lower down on the page.
Changes in pitch could be represented through changes in the placement of markings on the page, such as having lines going up and down.
How about dynamics? Recall that dynamics and other expressive controls refer to the volume or loudness of a piece.
Press ‘Hint’ to reveal ways that dynamics could be represented visually.
An artist could represent dynamics and other expressive controls through the size or shape of the drawings or markings. Drawing a thick line or oversized shape could indicate a loud note, and a thin line or smaller marking could represent something being played softly.
Synesthesia and Kandinsky
The idea of expressing the felt experience of music through visual art has connections to both science and art history. Individuals who are able to “see colour” or “draw sounds” have unique abilities that allow them to experience multiple senses at one time.
This is a neurological condition known as “synesthesia” that affects 4 percent of the global population (who are known as “synesthetes”). There are up to 70 different subtypes, and some examples include sounds producing colour, letters and numbers associated with specific colours, or certain words associated with specific tastes. However, the most common versions involve colour.
Did You Know?
Visual arts and synesthesia
Some of the most iconic visual art of the 19th and 20th centuries was created by artists who experienced synesthesia! It is believed that Vincent Van Gogh, whose work is known for its vibrancy and expressive movement, experienced chromesthesia (when a person associates sounds with colours) and saw particular colours in relation to violin sounds.
Russian painter and cellist Wassily Kandinsky is perhaps most well-known for his visual interpretations of music and sound. In his abstract paintings, each exact hue is connected to a particular musical note, and the combination of colours represents specific chords. Consider the musical element of texture and how chords are the combination of notes. Kandinsky used line, shape, and texture to create a rhythmic visual experience to evoke an emotional response.
“Colour is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many
strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause
vibrations in the soul.”
– Wassily Kandinsky
The ability to re-interpret a work of art from one form (such as music) to another (such as visual art) can deepen the emotional experience and enhance the sense of mood.
“Mapping” music in new ways
When we use the tools and techniques of visual art to express the mood of a musical piece, we can consider the resulting artwork as a type of “map.” In the same way that, for example, standard notation guides a musician in how to perform a piece, a “music-to-art” map offers a visual guide through the emotional experience of that piece.
Standard notation: The system of written symbols used to represent the sounds of a composition. This includes the five-line staff, notes, key signatures, time signatures, and indications of tempo, dynamics, and articulation. Also explore the meanings of notation and solfège.
While Kandinsky had his own method for how to “paint sound,” the emotional interpretation of music into art is an individual experience. No two artistic responses to a piece of music will be the same. However, we can use the elements of music to visually express emotion in a way that tells a story and reflects the musical mood.
Did You Know?
Representing music visually
Did you realize we can represent music visually by using different lines, shapes, and/or colours?
For example, a line that goes downwards diagonally could represent when the pitch of a note starts high then goes lower.
The length of a line could also indicate the duration of a note. For example, a quarter note could be represented by a shorter line, and the line for a whole note would be longer.
As we were exploring with the example of Kandinsky, we know different colours can represent certain feelings and emotions. For example, warm colours like yellow and orange could represent a happy mood that is expressed with cheerful melodies at a higher pitch.
Consider the musical excerpt that you explored in Minds On entitled “Love Songs for a Small Planet: Introduction: Night” by Alexina Louie. What emotions or sensations did you record feeling in response to the piece?
Let’s revisit the musical excerpt from Minds On, and then explore an example of a visual response to the excerpt below.
The following is an example of a “music-to-art” map that uses lines, shapes, and colours to express the mood and emotions experienced by the artist as they explored the musical excerpt. Make note of shapes, colours, and textures as you examine the piece of art, and keep in mind that the “map” should be read from left to right.
From left to right, there is an orange line that gets thicker then thinner and starts at the left edge of the image and ends near the middle of the image. There is also a green line that starts with a dot and is about one quarter of the page long. Below that is a blue shape that gets thicker. In the middle of the page, closer to the top, there is a yellow curved line. Where this line ends, a darker blue shape that gets thicker and then thinner is lower on the page. About halfway through this shape, a light-yellow squiggly line is placed high on the page on the right-hand side.
Pitch
Let’s start by considering how pitch is interpreted in the music-to-art map.
Press the following tabs to learn more about visual representations of pitch.
The drawings/markings represent how high or low the notes are by where they are placed in the visual. For example, the higher-pitched sounds are represented by the orange and yellow markings towards the top of the artwork, and the lower notes are represented in the thicker blue markings along the lower section of the page.
An arrow points to the markings at the top of the artwork with the text: High-pitched notes. Around the markings at the bottom is an arrow and text: Low-pitched notes.
The highness and lowness of notes is also represented through colour: the markings become lighter in colour and hue to represent higher-pitched notes, and the deeper/darker hues of blue in the lower markings represent notes played at a lower pitch.
The changes in pitch can be expressed through the direction of the drawings. Markings that are flat indicate a single note at the same pitch, whereas the diagonal blue marking indicates a downward change in pitch. Imagine notes traveling down the scale in the music and how that is represented as the drawing tilts downward.
Duration
Similar observations can be made about how duration is represented in this music-to-art map.
Press the following tabs to learn more about visual representations of duration.
The duration of a note is represented by the length of the line or marking. For example, the orange line that begins at the left and ends halfway across the image indicates a note that starts at the beginning of the excerpt and lasts about halfway through it.
The blank or white spaces in the mind-to-art map reflect the various rests and pauses in the musical excerpt. Among the low-pitched notes in blue, there is a space between the first and second notes (indicating a rest). Among the high-pitched notes, a different sound indicated by the yellow half-circle begins right at the point where the orange line ends, indicating no pause between those two notes.
Between the orange line and the yellow half-circle is an indicator with text: No space for a rest. Between the two low-pitched notes in blue, there is an indicator with text: Blank space indicates a rest.
Dynamics
It is also possible to explore the musical element of dynamics and other expressive controls, as well as the relative loudness of music, in this visual response.
Press the following tabs to learn more about visual representations of dynamics and other expressive controls.
In this image, the artist has used thicker lines to convey notes played at a louder volume and thinner markings to indicate notes that are played more lightly or softly. If a note becomes louder, the line or marking will become thicker (similar to what occurred with the orange line).
An arrow pointing left has the text: Green line representing the sound of the chime is thin and becomes thinner to indicate a soft sound becoming softer. Text at the bottom says: The relative thickness of the blue line expresses a much louder, fuller-sounding note that also increases in volume.
The shape of the visual markings in a music-to-art map are another important tool used to represent mood. A solid or flat shape indicates consistent or unchanging dynamics, whereas markings with a more creative or changing shape indicate a point in the music where the mood is swelling or rapidly shifting.
Timbre
Artists who are interpreting music visually can make creative choices when deciding how to represent timbre, or the “quality” of the sounds in a piece of music.
Press the following tab to learn more about visual representations of timbre.
The sound quality that occurs at the beginning of the excerpt is represented with linear shapes (lines moving in the same direction). When a sharp string sound occurs partway through the piece at 0:09-0:10, the marking is smaller in scale and curves up and down. This gives a lighter and perhaps more frantic visual effect.
Texture/harmony
A final consideration for how musical elements and mood can be represented through visual art is the way that this artwork demonstrates texture and harmony.
Press the following tab to learn more about visual representations of texture and harmony.
Because the element of texture/harmony refers to the layers of sound within a piece, a music-to-art map could demonstrate this idea through how the drawings and markings are grouped or layered.
If the music is rich and polyphonic with orchestral accompaniments and several different harmonies, a visual response would likely be rich with colours, shapes, and different markings.
Because “Love Songs for a Small Planet: Introduction: Night” by Alexina Louie is a short musical excerpt with only a few instances of instrumental layering, the artwork is not too intricate and there are not too many shapes or lines being indicated at the same time.
Go!
Create your own music-to-art map interpretation
Now that you have had the opportunity to explore a music-to-art map in depth, it is time to create your own visual response to a piece of music.
You may use the musical excerpt from Minds On entitled “Love Songs for a Small Planet: Introduction: Night” by Alexina Louie, or you may use a different musical excerpt of your choice.
Before you develop your visual response, consult the following checklist to ensure that you are considering the elements of music.
Music-to-art map checklist
I am incorporating the elements of music in a visual way. These include:
As you are preparing your visual response to the musical excerpt of your own choice, consider how your creative visual decisions clearly reflect the musical mood you have in mind.
Complete the following fillable and printable My Music-to-Art Map, use a digital platform/app, create a detailed audio recording, or use another method of your choice to express a visual music-to-art response map.
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Name of song: |
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Press the ‘Activity’ button to access My Music-to-Art Map.
Consolidation
Putting it all together
Share your interpretation
As we have explored, the emotions and mood associated with a piece of work can be interpreted in different ways. No two artistic or musical experiences are the same, so it can be helpful to discuss your process and share your interpretation to help your audience engage with the mood you intended.
Pause and Reflect
Interpreting music through visual art
Describe how you interpreted the mood of the music in your visual artwork. You may record your response using a method of your choice. Consider the following guiding questions when preparing your response:
- What was your first emotional response to the piece of music?
- Which elements of music did you choose to express in your artistic response piece? How did you portray them?
Reflection
As you read the following descriptions, select the one that best describes your current understanding of the learning in this activity. Press the corresponding button once you have made your choice.
I feel…
Now, expand on your ideas by recording your thoughts using a voice recorder, speech-to-text, or writing tool.
When you review your notes on this learning activity later, reflect on whether you would select a different description based on your further review of the material in this learning activity.