Music as Art
It is important to credit music as an art form as much as one would credit a painting or an opera. This semester, we’ve studied visual art, dance, and opera, observing the techniques and media used within each art form. Looking at paintings, I took note of the uses of color, depth, and medium, and how each of these aspects were used to evoke a variety of emotions in each individual viewer. Watching and participating in dance, I realized how the motion of the body and the body itself could be manipulated to produce a certain message. In Le Nozze di Figaro, the actors, singers, and stage crew members all joined forces to create one masterpiece. In several of these art forms, music played a key role in the production. However, we never studied music as an art form. My final project was dedicated to the ability of music to complement other art forms, but also to act as an art form itself. Like painters, musicians employ several techniques to enhance their creations and productions. Among these techniques are tone, mood, harmony, legato, and staccato. A tone is simply the quality of the sound of a certain notes or pitches. Different pitches evoke different moods. A musician may play a scale in a certain mood. This denotes the use of a specific set of notes. Different notes can be combined to produce harmony. When a musician plays a note lengthily and in a relaxed manner, he is playing that note legato. When a musician plays a note shortly and sharply, he is playing that note staccato. Musicians use these techniques frequently to create a variety of emotions and reactions. As displayed in my presentation, different techniques can even stimulate different interpretations of other art forms. In the painting portraying soldiers executing several civilians, music played a key role in framing one’s perception of the painting. When listening to a symphony of percussion, one will view the painting from the perception of the soldier. This makes the painting an illustration of an execution. When listening to the dramatized brass music, one will view the painting from the perception of the civilians. This makes the painting an illustration of murder and injustice. Music can be used to form fixed perceptions and emotions in listeners and audiences, both alone and in conjunction with other art forms.
Louis