Light Painting to Music – AT
I. Abstract
How can music be turned into a picture? This was the question that led to the development of the “light painting” method. In “light painting”, music is depicted on a photo: the pupils move in the dark (in a room or in the evening in a meadow) to various pieces of music and hold different-coloured lamps in their hands. Still photos are taken of these sequences of movement using a long exposure. The pictures show long streaks of light that result from the dancers’ movements. The photos are then placed in sequence using digital editing so that a light painting emerges that reflects the nature of the music.
II. Introduction
This method can be used in music lessons for pupils of different ages. In the lower secondary school it is suitable for visualising particular aspects of musical structure such as formal progressions, dynamic developments, the development of a particular motif and instrumentation, while the choice of location for producing the light painting can underline the atmosphere and moods evoked by the music. In the upper secondary school, larger-scale projects can be devised.
The method is innovative and unusual: it uses new media to combine the fields of music, movement, location design, photography and art, thus providing opportunities for interdisciplinary activities. In addition, it provides a tool for analysis in music education that reveals the style and structure of the music on the basis of an emotional impression.
The short documentary shows light
painters in action
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III. The Example
The example describes work done using the light painting method with a class in the 6th grade (aged 11-12) at an academic secondary school. The project was sponsored by the coordinating office for music education of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture and the Institute for Music Pedagogy in Vienna.
At the start of the lesson the pupils all listened to the 7th movement of Gottfried von Einem’s “Steinbeis Serenade” and experimented with ideas for a light painting. This then led on to the development of sequences of movement to the music, the passages being explored in more detail. In this way a number of different light paintings are created that reflect the dynamic progression of the music (a sweeping intensification): the rhythmic movements become more expansive and more intensive from the picture’s foreground to the background as they follow the progression of the music. In the foreground, the pupils paint a pink stripe as a linear element: this represents a retained tone played by the violin at a high pitch throughout the entire movement.
A picture is created in a similar way to depict the 5th movement of the Steinbeis Serenade. Three wind instruments play a restrained melody in chorus. The melody lines develop homophonically and homogeneously. At the beginning of the movement the cello adds a whirring harmonic. The pupils portray the homogeneous wind parts with wavy blue lines. The string’s harmonic is shown by a jagged red line in the background.
By working intensively with the pieces of music the pupils become familiar with them down to the last detail. Light painting to music requires highly attentive listening and precise responses. When they are transformed into another medium, the two movements’ structural qualities are laid bare and the technique of their composition investigated.
Ultimately the picture that emerges is first and foremost a unique, artificial result, a commentary on the music, so to speak. But it serves equally as an unusual, graphic score of idiosyncratic design that aids understanding of music. By comparing their picture with the music the pupils can explore other musical parameters such as dynamics, tempo, orchestration / instrumentation and form.
IV. Commentary
Light painting offers a wide range of possibilities for music education: an intensive process brings the pupils into intimate contact with the music. They explore it first aurally and emotionally, then analytically as well, before the emotional and analytical levels of reception merge in the process of light painting. The aspects of music education are:
· exploration of music in a non-cognitive way;
· entering into a dialogue with the piece;
· expressing oneself artistically;
· transferring music into another art form (movement, visual art);
· it has the nature of an event;
· analysis of the form and structure of the music.
Music education work using the light painting method has been developed further in a number of subsequent projects and has been the subject of interdisciplinary discussion and reflection in university seminars. Specialist articles and contributions on the subject of teaching practice have been published. Furthermore the subject has been presented at international congresses (EAS-Congress Pitea 2007; ISME, Bologna 2008 and BSW, Würzburg 2008). Further information and additional photographic material on the project can be found in the internet.
Literature
· Buchborn, Thade; Oberhaus, Lars: Lichtma(h)len. Musik beleuchtet. In: Diskussion Musikpädagogik 35/07, pp. 31-38.
· Buchborn, Thade; Oberhaus, Lars: Lichtmalen - Malen mit Licht zu Musik. In: RAAbits Musik, V., article 10, Oktober 2008, Stuttgart 2008.
V. Contact
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