Sequence One (3-4 lessons)
Focusing Question
How can art works influence the composition of music?
Learning Outcomes
Students will:
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Listen to, read about, research and analyse a range of music that has been
composed as responses to art works as the source of motivation. (UC, PK)
Listen to a variety of compositions known to be influenced by works of art and
discuss / share ideas about the art work and how it has influenced the mood,
shape, structure, language etc. of the music. (UC, PK Vis Art, CI)
Consider the language we use to discuss, investigate, describe and evaluate
music. (UC, PK)
Activities
1. The following is a selective list of compositions known to be influenced by works of
art. The list is not exhaustive in its inclusion does not include any New Zealand works,
however could. (e.g. Magnificat by Dorothy Buchanan composed for the opening of the
Marian window by Philip Trustrum at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in
Christchurch in the 1980s.) The musical composition is cited first with any known data
on instrumentation, date of composition, and publication (if known). A citation for the
artist and work of art, which inspired the music, follows each composition entry. Listen to
at least FOUR of these and view the arts work/s associated with each composition. Art
works are called sources of inspiration and contain web-links in blue.
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Alpher, David. Las Meninas for piano; also arranged for oboe, cello, guitar, and
piano. 1985. Lakeland, FL: Brixton, 1994. Source of inspiration: Pablo Picasso:
Las Meninas, a study on Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez.
(http://www.abcgallery.com/P/picasso/picasso211.html)
Boulez, Pierre. Structures Ia for two pianos. 1952. Mainz: Universal Edition,
1955.
Source of inspiration: Paul, Klee: Structures Ia.
(http://www.spaightwoodgalleries.com/Pages/Klee.html)
Bourland, Roger. Seven Pollock Paintings for flute, clarinet, and soprano
saxophone, bass clarinet, violin, viola, violoncello, double bass, and tam tam.
Newton Centre, MA: Margun Music, 1980. Source of inspiration: Jackson Pollock:
Lavender Mist, The Wooden Horse, Eyes in the Heat, Drawing 1950, Peacocks
Afraid of Colour, The Deep, The Saint.
(http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/pollock/,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson_Pollock)
Dutilleux, Henri. Timbres, espace, mouvement for orchestra. Paris: Huegel et
Cie, 1980. Source of inspiration: Vincent van Gogh: The Starry Night.
(http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/starryindex.html)
Hartke, Stephen: King of the Sun, tableau for violin, viola, cello, piano. St. Louis:
Norruth Music, Inc., 1993. Source of inspiration: Joan Miro: Personages in the
Night Guided by Phosphorescent Tracks of Snails; Dutch Interior, Dancers
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Listening to the Organ in a Gothic Cathedral; The Flames of the Sun Make the
Dessert Flowers Hysterical; Personages and Birds Rejoicing at the Arrival of Night.
(http://www.art.com/asp/display_artist-asp/_/crid--131/pg--6/Joan_Miro.htm)
Hindemith, Paul. Mathis der Maler, opera and symphony. Mainz: B. Schott's
Söhne, 1935. Source of inspiration: Matthias Grünewald: Altarpiece at Isenheim symphony uses three instrumental movements from the opera based on
Englekonzert (Angel's concert), Grablegung (Burial), Versuchung des Heiligen
Antonius (Temptation of St. Anthony). (http://www.wga.hu/framese.html?/html/g/grunewal/2isenhei/index.html)
Liszt, Franz. Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe for orchestra. New York: G.
Schirmer, 1881 - 2. Source of inspiration: Count Michael Zichy: Von der Wiege bis
zum Grabe
(http://www.amazon.com/Liszt-Canticle-Sun/dp/B000002ZTR)
McCabe, John. The Chagall Windows for orchestra. 1974. London: Novello,
1975. Source of inspiration: Marc Chagall: stained-glass windows in the
synagogue of the Hadassah Hospital, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
(http://www.md.huji.ac.il/chagall/chagall.html)
McTee, Cindy. The Twittering Machine for chamber orchestra. St. Louis: Norruth
Music, Inc., 1993. Source of inspiration: Paul Klee: The Twittering Machine.
(http://www.csulb.edu/~karenk/20thcwebsite/438final/ah438finInfo.00033.html)
Martinu, Bohuslav. Fresques de Piero della Francesca for orchestra. Mainz:
Universal Editions, 1955. Source of inspiration: Piero della Francesca: frescoes.
(http://www.pierodellafrancesca.it/piero_gb/index.html)
Rachmaninoff, Sergei. Isle of the Dead, Op. 29, for orchestra. New York: Boosey
and Hawkes, Inc., 1907. Source of inspiration: Arnold Bocklin: Isle of the Dead.
(http://www.stmoroky.com/reviews/gallery/bocklin/iotd.htm)
Respighi, Ottorino. Trittico Botticelliano for orchestra. Milan: G. Ricordi and Co.,
1927. Source of inspiration: Alesandro Di Mariano Botticelli: La Primavera,
L'Adorazione dei Magi, La Nascita di Venere.
(http://www.umanista.net/it/botticelli.html)
Schuller, Gunther. Seven Studies on Themes of Paul Klee for orchestra. Mainz:
Universal Edition, 1959. Source of inspiration: Paul Klee: Antique Harmonies,
Abstract Trio, Little Blue Devil, The Twittering Machine, Arab Village, An Eerie
Moment, Pastourale.
Shaffer, Jeanne E. Woman with a Parasol, music for flute, violin, viola, and cello.
Montgomery, AL: Company Press, 1996. Source of inspiration: Claude Monet:
Woman with a Parasol. (http://www.nga.gov/cgibin/pinfo?Object=61113+0+none)
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Sondheim, Stephen. Sunday in the Park with George, musical theatre. 1984.
New York: PAJ Publications, 1986. Source of inspiration: Georges Pierre Seurat:
Sunday on the Island of La Grand Jatte.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Afternoon_on_the_Island_of_La_Grande_Ja
tte)
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Stravinsky, Igor. The Rake's Progress, opera. New York: Boosey and Hawkes,
Inc., 1951. Source of inspiration: William Hogarth: The Rake's Progress series of
engravings. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Rake's_Progress)
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Vaughn Williams, Ralph. Job, a masque for dancing. 1927 - 31. Source of
inspiration: William Blake: engravings for The Book of Job.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Blake's_Illustrations_of_the_Book_of_Job)
Examine the artwork/s that were sources of inspiration for at least FOUR musical
compositions listed above using The Generic Art Game (see Assessment Approach, p7).
2. To dig deeper into the artworks, consider researching the artist and the work –
investigating influences and social/cultural contexts, making links to the UC and CI
strands of the visual arts curriculum.
3. Other activities (from Levels 3 – 6, The Arts in the New Zealand Curriculum, pp 7679):
 Discuss why some objects and images have particular value for certain groups of
people. (UC)
 Discuss how different groups of people use clothing and personal adornment to
express their identity, role, or status in society. View and discuss a selection of group
or individual portraits that reflect social and cultural identity. (UC, CI)
 Investigate how artists working within particular cultural traditions use specific subject
matter. Describe and discuss the ideas communicated in artists’ works and use a
selection of these and relevant subject matter as the basis for developing personal
ideas on a theme. (UC, DI, PK)
 Investigate and discuss the compositions and techniques of artists from New Zealand
who use landscape as their subject matter. Analyse and comment on the ideas and
concepts expressed in the works studied. (CI)
 Research and make a study of a selected contemporary Mãori, Pasifika or Asian artist.
Explain how the work relates to their culture, time, gender and society in which the
artist lives. Discuss how such factors have influenced the work. (UC)
4. Listen to a selection of music associated with the artworks listed in Activity 1, p4.
Have students share ideas about the connections between the visual and musical
language used to express creative intentions. Use the Assessment Approach, Connecting
Symbol with Sound on p8. Ask students to brainstorm a list of moods or emotions,
encouraging them to move beyond the basic ones. Share with them this list from a
website: http://hopeforjoy.org/listofemotions.aspx or consider sharing Aristotle’s list –
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Anger: An impulse to revenge that shall be evident, and caused by an obvious,
unjustified slight with respect to the individual or his/her friends. Slights have three
species: contempt, spite, and insolence.
Mildness: The settling down and quieting of anger.
Love: Wishing for a person those things which you consider to be good—wishing
them for his/her sake and not your own, and tending so far as you can to affect them.
Enmity (Hatred): Whereas anger is excited by offences that concern the individual,
enmity may arise without regard to the individual as such. Anger is directed against
the individual, hatred is directed against the class as well.
Fear: A pain or disturbance arising from a mental image of impending evil of a
painful or destructive sort.
Confidence: The opposite of fear.
Confidence is the hope (anticipation),
accompanied by a mental image, of things conducive to safety as being near at hand,
while causes of fear seem to be either non-existent or far away.
Shame: A pain or disturbance regarding that class of evils, in the present, past, or
future, which we think will tend to our discredit.
Shamelessness: A certain contempt or indifference regarding the said evils.
Benevolence: The emotion toward disinterested kindness in doing or returning good
to another or to all others; the same term represents the kind action as an action; or
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the kind thing done considered as a result.
Pity: A sense of pain at what we take to be an evil of a destructive or painful kind,
which befalls one who does not deserve it, which we think we ourselves or some one
allied to us might likewise suffer, and when this possibility seems near at hand.
Indignation: A pain at the sight of undeserved good fortune.
Envy: A disturbing pain directed at the good fortune of an equal. The pain is felt not
because one desires something, but because the other persons have it.
Contempt: The antithesis of emulation (Persons who are in a position to emulate or
to be emulated must tend to feel contempt for those who are subject to any evils
[defects and disadvantages] that are opposite to the goods arousing emulation, and
to feel it with respect to these evils).
5. Ask students to identify the ‘mood’ (the pervading impression, state of mind or
emotion) of the artwork and associated musical work in Activity 1. What expressive
features and/or musical devices are used to achieve the mood in the music? Consider
tonality, tempo, melodic shape, rhythmic features, harmony, timbre, dynamics and
texture. Make links between this analysis and the kind of creative thinking that students
will need to do when planning and generating [devising, selecting, reviewing, re-working,
extending, shaping, and structuring musical ideas] their own instrumentation
/arrangement and composition.
6. Have students think about how we talk about music, considering that music often
expresses what words / text cannot. Discuss with students the following:
 How do we describe music? What do we do? What language do we use? How helpful is
it?
 What does it mean to analyse a piece of music? (Refer to formal analysis conventions
used by musicologists – see http://solomonsmusic.net/formal.htm and
http://www.echeat.com/essay.php?t=28100). Why do we analyse music?
 How do we evaluate or critique music? Why do we do it? What language do we use?
Assessment Approach
The Generic Art Game
Ask whether the students like the artworks. Why or why not? Remember to tell students
that there are no right answers!
1. Look carefully at the work of art in front of you. What colours do you see in it? Take
turns listing the specific colours that you see (e.g: "I see red." "I see purple.")
2. What do you see in the work of art in front of you? Take turns listing the objects that
you see (e.g: "I see an apple." "I see a triangle.")
3. What is going on in this work of art? Take turns mentioning whatever you see
happening, no matter how small.
4. Does anything you have noticed in this work of art so far (e.g: colours, objects, or
events) remind you of something in your own life? Take turns answering.
5. Is this work of art true to life? How real has the artist made things look?
6. What ideas and emotions do you think this work of art expresses?
7. Do you have a sense of how the artist might have felt when he or she made this work
of art? Does it make you feel one way or another?
8. Take a look at the other works of art displayed around this one. Do they look alike?
What is similar about the way they look (e.g: objects, events, feelings, the way they are
made)? What is different?
9. What would you have called this work of art if you had made it yourself? Does the title
of the work, if there is one, make sense to you?
10. Think back on your previous observations. What have you discovered from looking at
this work of art? Have you learned anything about yourself or others?
Now that the game is over, ask students again: Do you like this work of art? Why or why
not? Has your reaction to the work changed? Do you like it more or less than you did in
the beginning? Why?
Reference: The Generic Art Game was created by Project Muse (Museums Uniting with Schools in
Education), at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The group can be reached via email, at
Project_MUSE@pz.harvard.edu. Original copyright 1991, Davis Copyright 1993, Harvard Project
Zero.
Connecting Symbol with Sound
With the music associated with the artworks, ask a series of open, guided and closed
questions to challenge students’ THINKING and to gather musical information. e.g:
Open – What did you hear? How does that match what you see or didn’t see in the
artwork?
How would you describe what you heard – how does that match the description of the
artwork that influenced this piece?
Guided – What makes this piece so evocative of the painting? How would you describe
the mood or the atmosphere? Where did the texture change and why? How does the
composer depict the heat of the day? How might we incorporate some of the rhythms or
sound effects in our own sound work?
Closed - Clap the ostinato. What is the tonality of the music? How many instruments did
you hear? How did the tempo/dynamics/other elements change? (Guided follow-up – if
so, how?)
Now with the music associated with the artworks, ask a series of analytical, judicial and
creative questions to challenge students’ CRITICAL THINKING and METACOGNITION to
develop awareness of their own thinking process, using a framework developed by
Lenore Pogonowki. E.g:
Analytical - Tell me about the melody. Why does that remind you of Stravinsky? What
happened on beat 3? What is the clarinet doing?
Judicial – How did the composer’s/arranger’s plan work? Why was that choice made?
What was the best section and why? Where did the piece lose its drive?
Creative - What could the composer have done here? What aspects could be developed
less/more? How? What could be changed and why? Where could you go with this idea?
Reference: Allsup, R.E., Baxter, M. (2004.) Talking about music: Better questions? Better
discussions! Music Educators Journal, 91 (2), 29-33.