‘The sound of art’ is a resource that has been created in conjunction with The Australian Chamber Orchestra. It draws inspiration from some of the work of American musician and artist Sharon Roffman. It has been adapted for the NSW context. The resource takes inspiration from the many and varied links between the visual arts and music through art appreciation and making. ‘The sound of art’ is divided into 9 parts which can be completed as a whole or separately in isolation. Part 9 culminates in an art and music exhibition inspired by Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. Instructional video links such as this ‘Introduction’ assist in the teaching and learning process.

Introduction

Duration 2:20Video transcript - Introduction

Part 1 – visual arts inspired by music

This part exposes students to a wide variety of musical and visual arts painting examples.

View part 1

Part 2 – a guide to the orchestra

Part 2 exposes students to the 4 instrument families of the orchestra and their different timbres (or tone colours).

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Part 3 – emotion in music and artworks

Students will experience associating music and art with emotional expression by listening to and observing a wide variety of musical and visual art examples.

View part 3

Part 4 – listening to the world

Students will listen to and observe a wide variety of musical and visual art examples, to describe or articulate responses, and to help them understand how everyday sounds can be transformed into music or art.

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Part 5 – shapes and symbols in music and art

Students will experience the pioneering music of Anton Webern through his ‘First Bagatelle’. They will then explore connections to the paintings of Wasily Kandinsky and John Coburn.

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Part 6 – composer’s choices

Students will become aware of the choices that they can make when they are composing music. For each musical concept there are similar concepts in the paintings, demonstrating that music and visual arts share many common elements and concepts, as do the other artforms of dance and drama.

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Part 7 – notation

Part 7 focuses on notation as a method of recording sound through symbol. Rather than focus on building specific music literacy skills, it explores the reasons that notation systems have been created throughout time.

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Part 8 – composing

Students will compose a piece about the four seasons by drawing that express the words and meanings of a set poem. This will involve the students analysing poetry and discussing its meaning, then extending this into creating their own compositions.

View part 8

Part 9 – exhibiting a story

In this final part of ‘The sound of art', students are introduced to the work ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. This is a musical composition originally written for piano by the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky in 1874.

View part 9

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