AMEN: VISUAL INTERPRETATION OF MUSIC RESEARCH 1

Inspired by the research into Oskar Fischinger I wanted to look at other ways to visually interpret and display music to deepen my creativity, contextual understanding and add to my visual library moving forward. The Amen Brother piece could almost be a sound installation but being a visual person, with a tin ear and loving to work with the moving image I want to try and combine the two. The aim is for the  visual and aural aspects of the piece to work in tandem both offering clues to the audience. The message of the piece is all about a celebration of the unsung hero that is G.C. Coleman and how 6 seconds of impromptu genius could create something that has influenced over 2300 other pieces of music.

Below are visual examples I sourced of ways of displaying a musical scores that could be possibilities for my Amen Brother piece or act as inspiration moving forward. The piece below I like and the watercolour kinetic energy of the piece. I can imaging animated or shot watercolours moving with the notes a different colour representing each element, cymbal, snare, bass drum etc. This is set against the scales underneath to keep that contextualisation of the music too which works. There may be an effect for this or I could try and shoot some colours using green screen and them composite them together.

The piece below is very formal but I really like the use of colour to divide up the notes and create a visual impression of the music. The primary colours really leap out at you and also suggest a strong mood and tone to elements of the piece. It also uses the musical scales as well as notes which give it that musical integrity and clarity and grounded in musical notation.