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| First Impressions |
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| Curiosity |
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| Toe-Dipper |
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| Feel the Rhythm |
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| Taste the Beat |
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| Pounding in the Air |
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| Let It Out |
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| What's Next? |
Artist's Statement:
High Society is a big, brassy, bouncy tune that first attracted me with it's marching band themes and rat-a-tat rhythms. I love how it perfectly marries the sultry sounds of the muted trumpets and trombones with the ever pressing percussion.
As I approached this assignment I made myself sit down in a silent room, put my earphones in, close my eyes and focus on nothing but the music. I tried to picture the sounds as images, shapes, or colors. Immediately, the sounds of the snares at the beginning flashed white and staccato in front of my eyes. These white flashes became the dots used in all of my images, the pulsing underscore that the percussion gives to the music. As the trumpets began I saw flashes of blue and purple, sweeping swaths of color decorating the percussion with the hues. As the trombones, clarinets, and bass stepped in I saw splotches of green and yellow. Not the sickly hues, no these were vibrant and earthy. The more I listened, I noticed the trumpets bright sforzandos and the trombones' favorite glissandos and how they contrasted yet still complemented the melody, and harmonized perfectly. All of these elements coming together to build this "Creole Sound" that Louis Armstrong describes at the beginning.
After listening to the song, I stopped thinking about the individual elements and asked myself, "On the whole, what did you think of?" After a few long minutes of pondering, I found that it reminded me most of a child. A bouncy baby who is fascinated by anything and everything. Luckily, I happen to know of a particularly adorable specimen who has recently learned that the things around her have words and can be recognized by anyone. I photographed her during our play time and was able to get some great images that I felt tied directly into the song.
First Impressions - This is the first thing I did when I heard the song. The rhythm is in the repetitious white, with a few accents in purple. The gray line is the driving force behind the song. I felt it was taking us on a journey, and needed a sort of "yellow brick road" to guide us.
Curiosity - This is what I think is the start of the creative process in this little angel. There are two blank music staffs overlaid, signifying the potential we can see in her eyes. There is music to be made in the mind!
Toe- Dipper - This is representative of the band coming together for those first notes, creating rippling vibrations that we like to call music. I felt it parallel to taking the first step toward the journey. Notice the gray line again, leading on through the tapping foot and into the next image.
Feel the Rhythm - Children find rhythm in many unexpected ways. For example, she was watching " Be Our Guest" in Beauty and the Beast and was pretending to play the music on the back of her play keyboard. She found it by watching the movements of the characters as well as feeling it in the music. Louis Armstrong was nothing short of magical with his rhythms, especially during his improv pieces. You can see those rhythms in the white dots all over.
Taste the Beat - Those white flashes come back with a swatch of yellow, very faint but still an added layer of complexity to the sound. Children like to test things out with their mouths, and with this image I wanted to convey her trying to investigate the song by tasting it.
Pounding in the Air - This is a nod to the underlying baseline of this song. The thrumming bass that is sometimes hard to pick out under the percussion is shown in the golden rings, emanating from the little toes.
Let it Out - This image is the exact look of surprise when she accidentally took a picture of herself. Until this point, I had not used a flash. Being the little scientist, she pushed the button that both deployed the flash and snapped a picture at the same time. I felt it looked like she was letting out her own song that she'd been concocting to compete against the works of Alan Menken in order to keep and hold my attention. I drained the color but for those specific shapes to draw attention to the look in her eyes, the expression on her lips, and show a beautiful purple that to me is the sound of those trumpet solos getting louder and louder.
What's Next? - A marriage of all the elements. The song comes to a head as all the pieces in the band are executing complicated rhythms, swinging melodies, and the sense of wonderment and discovery that she exudes in this image. Her look of adventure and excitement made me wonder what she was conquering in her mind. Everyone has a goal, and always should have one.
As I listen to this piece, close your eyes, and try to see your potential. What can you do? After listening to this song, I turned that question into "What can't I do?"
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