Everything music from a perspective of a public
school music teacher with subject integration
(especially art, history, and literature) as a focus
to help teach the Common Core Curriculum.
Debussy provided an introductory note to his Nocturnes that reveals the influence of these painters' sensibilities on his own thinking, with its reliance on light, mystery, and impression to characterize his music.
"The title Nocturnes is to be interpreted here in
general and, more particularly, in a decorative
sense. Therefore it is not meant to designate
the usual form of the Nocturne, but rather all
the various impressions and the special effects
of light that the word suggests."
"It's an experiment, in fact, in finding
the different combinations possible
inside a single color, as a painter
might make a study in gray,
for example."
SOME OTHER FAMOUS
NOCTURNE PAINTINGS
BY WHISTLER
Whistler created a series of dark, atmospheric paintings
of nighttime landscapes that he called "nocturnes." His
inspiration for these works came, in part, from Japanese
woodblock prints, while the term "nocturne" was suggested
to Whistler by one of his patrons, an amateur pianist named
01. Art and Music Connection: Artists use colors as their medium of expression musicians use sound. ..... a. Colors you visually see start with primary colors which are then mixed into secondary colors and further mixed into many other varieties or shades. ......b. Music also has primary pitches or TONE COLORS which also can be blended to form different sounds (or "chords") ..............1) Colors can evoke a variety feelings in both art and music. Certain colors or blendings (shadings) of colors can make you feel happy or sad; cause excitement or calm. ..............2) Colors can be used in contrast or be of similar shades; bright or dull.
02. Using the keyboard as an example the primary musical tone can be demonstrated. .......a. On the keyboard pressing down individual keys produces different sounds (TONE COLORS) .......b. The keys are arranged in patterns which can be clearly identified by viewing how the black and white keys are situated. You can see and hear the patterns. .......c. Identify the patterns of the black keys. Identify the pattern of the white keys. How many keys are in each pattern? How many black and white keys (together) are in one pattern? .......d. Playing the patterns it is easy to hear them. The patterns are repeated over and over again going higher as the keys are played going up to the right and lower when moving down to the left. ........e. There are actually 88 keys on a full sized piano but only 7 white keys, 5 black keys and combined together there are 12 keys in a pattern on the keyboard (called chromatics). ........f. The musical keys are identified as colors are in art. The names given to each key in the pattern of 7 white keys (or sounds they represent) are most often the first 7 letters from the alphabet: "A B C D E F G" called the "musical alphabet." (The "DO-RE- MI FA SO LA TI" or "Solfege" system is the second most common way of identification.) ........g. Since the 5 black keys [called "sharps" (#) and "flats" (b) ] derive their names from the white keys, the names of the white keys are learned first.
03. Memorizing the notes of the musical alphabet forwards and backwards [because music sounds will go higher (up or forward) and lower (down or backwards) is one of the basic foundations of understanding music. .........a. Thinking versus Memory: You can memorize something but not understand it and you can understand something but not have it totally memorized. Though the two processes work together they are different. .................1) For performance musicians need to have their music learned as an "automatic reflex" in order to place all their attention on the emotional and tonal aspects of the whole piece. .................2) Thinking while performing has the musician looking at the individual parts separately from the whole and that takes away the musicality. .................3) The ability to play fast musical passages are also impeded by thinking. .................4) In music nothing is totally learned until it has become an automatic reflex. ..........b. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet forward by chanting it to a steady patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over accenting (or stressing) the "A" a little louder to feel the pattern of the 7 letters. (Keep repeating thisexercise at faster paces.) ...................1) Since the regular alphabet going forward is an automatic reflex for most everyone, this is easy to do. ..........c. Memorize the 7 letters of the musical alphabet backwards by chanting it to a steady patsch (a patting of the thighs with the palms of the hand) pulse over and over starting with letter "G" and accenting (or stressing) the "G" a little louder to feel the pattern ofthe 7 letters. ..................1) This may be more difficult because many of us were never asked to learn our regular alphabet backwards and in order to do that requires us to think it through. ..................2) To be able to perform this from memory at a fast pace it must be learned as an automatic reflex by dividing the backwards musical alphabet into smaller, easier memorized sections or patterns and chanting them quickly accenting certain letter sounds to create a rhythm as if reciting a poem. [EXAMPLE: letters enlarged should be louder than the others "GFE" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" (repeat quickly 4x); "CBA"(repeat quickly 4x); "GFED" pause "CBA" (repeat quickly 4x); "GFEDCBA" (repeat quickly 4x)
MEANING OF THE QUOTE:
