Visual Music - Case Study Example

Visual Music Contents Outline 3 Introduction 3 Visual Music 3 2.History of Visual Music 3 6.References3 Visual Music 4 History of Visual Music 4 Early Color Organs 5 Louise Bertrand Castel 5 Bain bride Bishop 6 Notes and Colors 8 Relationship to Motion Media 10 Modern Artist-Musicians 10 The Future of Visual Music 12 Outline 1. Introduction Visual Music 2. History of Visual Music Introduction Modernism Early Color Organs Louise Bertrand Castel Bainbridge Bishop Notes and Colors Modern Artist-Musicians Visual Culture 3. The Future of Visual Music 4. Relationship to Motion Media 5. Conclusion 6. References Visual Music Visual music is the utilization of musical structures in the visual imagery that can also comprise of silent films1.It also points to devices and methods that can convert music and sounds into correlated visual presentations. In 1912, Roger Fry defined Visual Music as translation of music into painting. Furthermore, visual music refers to systems that convert sound or music into visual forms like video, computer graphics, and film through computer, mechanical instrument, and artist’s interpretation. Visual music relates to the history of abstract film. However, visual music is not abstract2. This paper attempts to present a historical study of visual music. It also explores the relationship of visual music to graphics and motion media in modern times and throughout history. History of Visual Music For many millennia, the realms of music and visual art did not follow similar paths, but they have crossed relatively recently. Early on, people used abstract forms that were not found normally in nature to communicate their emotions and ideas. Music was not played on stringed instruments, flutes, or drumbeats. Visual arts began with hand painting on cave walls. Inhabitants of the caves drew images of decorations, animals, pottery, and themselves3. Accidentally, the visual art realm and the music realms were connected. Modernism During the Romantic era, German philosopher Herder asked the first question on the relationship between music and painting. Herder emphasized the significance of inspiration in all types of arts. He pointed out the fact that music manifests the inmost reality of the world. Herder argued that all arts tend to move towards conditions of music. The comment of Beethoven on his Sixth Pastoral Symphony confirmed this fact as he said that his work was an expression of emotions than painting. Early Color Organs The beginning of visual music was initiated by the concern in color. In the 18th century, Louis-Bertrand Castel, a Jesuit priest, came up with the first color organ. Castel was followed by Bainbridge Bishop, A.Wallace and D.D. Jameson, who developed color organ in the 19th century. The instruments developed by these people were controlled by playing an instrument with a piano-style keyboard and a screen with ever-changing color lights4. Louise Bertrand Castel Louise B. Castel, a famous physicist and mathematician, was a strong advocate of a strong relationship between seven units of scale and seven colors of Newton’s optics5. Around 1742, Louise B. Castel proposed the development of a light-organ, named clavecinoculaire as a novel musical instrument that could concurrently generate both sound and associated color from every note6. Around 1730, Castel created an Ocular Harpsichord that consisted of a frame with 60 small openings each with a unique colored-glass panel and curtain. Curtains were attached with pullies each to a specific key, so that on every strike, the curtain would rise briefly to give a flash of matching color. The general size of the instrument was a 6-foot square structure placed over an ordinary harpsichord7. Many people were so fascinated with the invention, and they flocked Castel’s studio in Paris for demonstration. Telemann, a German composer, traveled to his studio to examine the invention and compose some pieces to be played on the instrument. Telemann later wrote a German-language book about Ocular Harpsichord8. In 1754, an improved model was produced. The new model consisted of 500 candles with reflecting mirrors. The improved model thus provided more light for a large audience. Castel expected that every family in Paris would own an Ocular Harpsichord. He dreamed of developing a factory to create over 800, 000 instruments. However, his invention did not outlive him. No physical relic of an Ocular Harpsichord has survived to this day. Bain bride Bishop In 19th century, Bainbride developed an instrument with reflectors and prisms9. It worked virtually as the Ocular Harpsichord of Louise Castel. When a sound chord was struck, a matching harmonious and disperse exhibit of colors came out on a semicircular screen. The instrument had all colors. The instrument was played with the similar number of octaves of colors in similar order and interval. The warm red glow over the sky was the basic color10. On reverse, the colorgave out greenish-blue and red as its dominant colors. The prime bend on the eye appeared to give yellow, red, violet, and greenish-blue colors. When the instrument was used to play a series of harmonic sounds, the supernumerary bow on the inside offered high notes of the sounds11. In 1911, Alexander Rimington, patented a color instrument and discussed it in The Art of Mobile Color. Later, Thomas Wilfrid built Clarilux, an instrument with a keyboard. Wilfrid’s instrument had a large screen for projecting colors12. In Pictures at an Exhibition (1874), Mussorgsky acknowledged the works of the painter named Victor Hartmann. In his work, Mussorgsky described each painting by Victor Hartmann through music. Rachmaninov’s sound poem titled The Isle of the Dead (1909) was inspired by Bocklin’s paintings. Prometheus (1910) by Scriabin was the first work in which ordered colored figures and music appeared together. Scriabin’s work inspired Kandinsky to improve the synthesis even more13. Kandinsky developed the first abstract musical drama. Later he created and directed a creation that was founded on Pictures at an Exhibition by Mussorgsky. The work showed the relationship between music and painting14. Furthering these progressions, Stanton MacDonald-Wright, an American painter with the help of his friends created Synchronism. Stanton then orchestrated his colors as a musician15. Notes and Colors Sir Isaac Newton made the first demonstration that the white light consist of several colors. Heals pointed out that the seven colors of the rainbow are equable to musical notes on a scale. He equated C to red, E to yellow, D to Orange, and anymore. As discussed earlier, Louis Castel created a Clavecinoculaire. His instrument was a visual keyboard, which its creation was based on Newton’s claim on colors. Chaldini developed an instrument with a metal plate, which held a thin film of sand. The plate produced moving patterns when it was caused to quiver by drawing a violin bow against it. Die gluckliche Hand, Schonberg’s composition contained a light storm passage, which was an emulation of Scriabin’s efforts16. Le Corbusier developed a theatrical presentation, which combined the forms and colors with music. Albert Einstein a talented violinist with the help of Mary-Ellen invented of electronic art and kinetic animation made several drawings Leonid Theremin’s studio. Leonid Theremin was a friend of Albert Einstein who pioneered the thereminvox an electronic musical instrument. Einstein was interested with the connection of geometrical figures and music. He was not only concerned with the connection of music with colors but with geometric figures like hexagons, heptagons, triangles, and other geometric figures. He intended to combine them into a drawing17. In 1965, Robert Strubin transliterated music by Bach and other composers into many paintings. He created them note by note and per his uninformed music-to-color scale. Strubin’s work had a different music-to-color scale. It was different from those used by other developers18. For instance, A was sea greenwhile G was terracotta. Nonetheless, he foundered it on the ideas of early developers. Strubin’s work showed the different perceptions people have on colors. He was inspired by Jackson Pollock’s action paintings. The spontaneous presentation on art of the 1960s andthe technological developments like the video, colorful diode appearance, and TV might have also influenced him19. Visual Culture Visual culture as to do with the images or pictures from mass media like music videos, television, computer technology, music, advertisements, newspapers, and magazines. The pictures created. Pop artists utilized imagery and methods of popular culture and consumerism. Pop artists comment on the beliefs and values of their audience using images from visual culture. In 1960s, high art replaced visual art. High art is the art made exclusively for galleries, and opera houses. Relationship to Motion Media Modern Artist-Musicians With the development of sophisticated video displays, laser, computer graphics, interactive media, and virtual reality, an exceptional opportunity has arrived for developing an absolute unification of painting and music. Today, many songs in video format have beautiful graphics, which accompany the music. Again, three-dimensional forms in color are nowpossible. People are nowapplying long-developed knowledge on the connection between music and color. For instance, Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and mathematician pointed out that vibrating strings generate harmonious sounds when rations of the measurements of strings are whole numbers. WolframTones, using the idea link mathematics with music by developing a program that automatically produces simple rhythms and tunes. WolframTones based the development on mathematical algorithms and matching colorful notation. However, the development was static20. New interactive animation methods became possible as graphic accelerators and processors became possible. For example, in about1995, Intel processors had a speed of 100MHz. it was thus, possible to develop interactive and beautiful animations in software. It was possible to copy pixels of images to screen buffers. Video processing has also enables the likelihood of images controlling sounds. Apple computer proffers iTunes software that displays dramatic and automatically produced graphics that can move with any music. However, there is no simplistic and systematically standardize language of colored figures that are moving. The language would be like the musical scales and instruments that used them. Thorough analysis has been done on color scale. Today, there are computer programs with assigned numbers to display and describe any conceivable concentration, tone, and hue. The geometrical figures and tessellations in two and three dimensions with new progress in topology promise the standardization and tabulation of geometrical shapes. Animated computer graphics has facilitated movement in time greatly. This fact has greatly helped visual artists to develop colored figures that can move in time. The animated figures are viewable in silence or combined with synthesized music to develop a world of novel and unlimited artistic expression. In the modern world, visual artists are computerized systems in their arts. The new technology has enabled them to translate digitally the work of many musicians. For instance, a visual artist named Jack Ox with some collaborators from different laboratories and universities have been able to translate the music of Debussy and Bruckner into a great visual art digitally. They were able to translate Eighth Symphony by Bruckner into a beautiful and interactive three-dimension color figurative landscape pulsating and undulating to the music. Ox and her group synchronized the visual effects with existing and new piece of music. Fred Collopy has created a programming language for creating geometrical forms that can move in time. It is now possible to create motion graphics usually, displayed through electronic media or on manual powered technology like flipbook, zoetrope, stroboscope, praxinoscope, and phenakistoscope. The Future of Visual Music Visual artists have developed great works that are beautiful and interactive. Unfortunately, they are not capable of beginning from scratch. They are not able to generate a novel work of sound-with-music from the start. They only interpret music. Nonetheless, a visual-musical language can be created from basic colors and shapes. Rules of fugal arrangement, counterpoint, and harmony of shapes and sounds and the effects of light, darkness, and silence can be used innovatively in visual music. Visual artists need to be trained to be both musicians and artists, as is possible as there are several individuals that have been both artists and musicians. For example, Leonardo da Vinci’s case portrays the possible correspondence of musical and artistic talents in the same person. The fact is also shown by the near similarity of Webern’s musical works and the painting titled Park Near Lu by Klee21. The painting had the same qualities and nature expressed in Webern’s music. Again, visual artists can work with musician to generate new creations. Godfrey Reggio and musician Philip Glass have done this. Together they developed the cinematic work titled Kotaanisqatsi: Life out of Balance. They also developed Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation22. Conclusion Visual music has a long history. In the 18th century, Louis-Bertrand Castel, a Jesuit priest, came up with the first color organ. Castel was followed by Bainbridge Bishop, A.Wallaceand D.D. Jameson, who developed color organ in the 19th century. Since their inventions, major improvements have been done on visual music. For instance, in 1965, Robert Strubin transliterated Bach’s music and those of other composers into many paintings in a unique and uninformed music-to-color scale. His work was inspired spontaneous presentation art of the 1960s and the technological developments like the video, colorful diode appearance, and TV. Today, visual artists are using computers to create exquisite works. However, their works involve translation of composers’ works. 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