music and sculpture

[cmustard]

There are certain pieces of music that, when I hear them I'll think...I want my work to feel the way this music makes me feel.

My question....Do any of you have particular pieces of music or musicians whom you believe relate to the rythms and dynamics of what you do visually.

[evaldart]

If it ends up being the case that the universe is made up only of vibration, not any matter, as suspected by some, everything is part of the same eternal song; all our endeavors. Maybe it won't be a dirge.
I have always worked with loud music in the background. Exactly what that is depends on an ever-changing interest. Mostly variations on rock n roll. I keep instruments in the studio as well (upright piano, guitars, amps) in case I wish to become distracted. (Thank god I never tried to make a living with THAT distraction).

[jOe~]

Since as you know I'm a big fan of yours cmustard, I really like to know what music is in your head at the time of conception?

Maybe it won't be a dirge. Evaldart, excellent! Except, I'm not that optimistic given the history of war and environmental destruction.

jOe~

[cmustard]

Hi Joe,

I once did a series of headless figures listening primarily to piano recordings of George Winston and Liz Story.

I've been drawing more than sculpting the past couple of years...rediscoverd Joni Micthell's "Blue" and have been listening to a lot of a guy named Elliot Smith.

Today...James Taylor and Jackson Browne

[jOe~]

I would have never guessed. I too rediscovered "Blue" a couple years ago.

jOe~

[evaldart]

The stuff I listen to when I'm forging would probably scare the hell out of everyone here except maybe Neverexhale (Napalm Death, Mr. Bungle, Today is the day, My Dying Bride, A.C). But sometimes I have to think when I make art so the music must then be turned down to 8 and be delivered by youthful sounding brits or grizzled, whiskey soaked texans (Blur, Placebo, Blaze foley, Townes Van Zant).

[cmustard]

evaldart, Are those bands or songs? never heard any of them. How about some Neil Young...he can jam...."Napalm Death" that does kind of scare me!

[evaldart]

Love Neil Young, Zeppelin, ZZtop, Allman Bros, The move, ELO, and all that classic stuff but I've heard it so much. I need new music to keep me excited. There are thousands of new bands out everyday and SOME of it might be good. So I'm always lookin.

[ironman]

Hi, In regards to music and sculpture, back in the late 70's I was making sculptural interpretations of music. They were sort of linear like a musical score on paper with, for example, large round shapes positioned down low on the piece for bass notes and maybe tall thin spike like shapes for high pitch notes and all sorts of other things in between. It wasn't as simple as the example I've just given but I think you can get the picture. Unfortunately I can't find any photos to show you.
I have a friend in NYC that does a thing called "Color Music". He paints abstractly on blank sheets of music instead of writing musical notes, then he gathers musicians together and has them interpret the colors as sounds. He's put on performances in different venues around the city and seems to have gotten good feedback on it.
have a great day,
Jeff

[GlennT]

Glad you asked, as music is a very important element in my work evironment. I have quite a range, depending upon the work at hand and my energy levels, etc. But the most played favorites are:

Mahler symphonies, especially the last 1/3 of the 8th, the first movement of the 9th, #4, #2, and #1.
Wagner's operas, especially the instrumental interpretations of them, in particular Parsifal , the Ring , and the Miestersingers.
Christus by Franz Liszt, Durufle's Requiem, Almost anything by Ralph Vaughn Williams,especially symphony #5, Dvorak's 9th and 8th symphonies, Glazunov's symphonies, The florida Suite by Delius, Rachmaninov.

Sting, especially Ten summoner's Tales and Mercury Rising
Joanne Shennendoah, particularly Matriarch
The soundtracks from "Bed of Roses" (instrumental parts only) and " Bodies, Rest, and Motion by Micheel Convertino
The soundtracks from " Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" by Tan Dun and many by James Horner, especially " The Spitfire Grill "

Close to the Edge by Yes
Occasionally Emerson Lake and Palmer, especially Trilogy
You'll know When you Get There and Butterfly by Herbie Hancock
Crosscurrents by Billy Cobham
Romantic Warrior by Return to Forever
Journey to Love by Stanley Clarke
Getz/Gilberto
Frank Sinatra singing Gilberto songs
Judy Garland
The Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss, sung by Jesse Norman
The Martyrdom of Saint Stephen by Debussy
Celtic music, especially Altan, Solas, Anuna , Katy McMahon, Le Boutine Sourriant,Kim Roberston
Ella Fitzgerald/ Louis Armstrong
America, especially Three Roses
Cat Stevens
Joni Mitchell
Riders on the Storm by the Doors
The Soundtrack from Riverdance
Beethoven, especially the 7th Symphony
ShivaKumara Sharma
Sheila Chandra
And more Mahler, Wagner, and Vaughn Williams

Gotta go,

GlennT

[jOe~]

It "sounds" like what Glenn and Evaldart are saying is that music is fuel, like food. Personally, I like extreme variety in my diet--classical, opera, flamenco, to punk, metal,rap,electronica , and everything in between. It doesn't affect the work, just gets energy flowing to get it done.

jOe~

[evaldart]

Exactly Joe, the right thing for the right process, problem is though when you find something REALLY good it might make you stop and listen, or, god forbid, pick up an instrument and jump in. Artmaking momentarily interrupted. A worthwhile interruption if you ask me.

[jOe~]

Or a few quick dance moves with torch in hand?
jOe~

[cmustard]

I was setting up an exhibit once (not my own) and caught myself unconsciously looking at the arrangement of works and putting a rhymic beat to them (the orchastrated arrangement of them) in my head.

I do this sometimes too while working on a piece...kind of like hearing what the visual movements might sound or "feel" like if they were a drum. Sometimes, if what I'm looking at sounds right to me, I know it's working visually.

And no, I don't play an instrument or sing very well.

[G. Murdoch]

I'm a little surprised by the absence of Mozart (especially on Glenn's list). I was sure someone would have mentioned the "Mozart effect" by now; you know the studies conducted wherein it was showed that people who listened to Mozart while studying & writing exams, did significantly better on questions relating to spatial awareness, than people who listened to any other classical composer, and even more so compared to people who listened to any other genre of music.

That said, I've currently got Doug & the Slugs, and The Barenaked Ladies on my ipod when carving.

Graham

[evaldart]

I'm sure the music I have chosen to listen to my whole life has only served to reduce my I.Q . But thats okay, a high-energy physicist's life would have been kinda boring anyway.

[GlennT]

Graham:

Mozart almost only works for me when I am doing pure mental work such as architectural design, which supports the points that you raised. For that, it makes the perfect background. For my sculpture and painting, it is too predictably organized and tight. I realize that I'm generalizing here. The Coronation Mass and Jupiter symphony and others can be found on occasion in my studio, but not nearly as often as the aforementioned.

I realized in my previous post I forgot to make a shameless self-promotional plug for my own music CD, " At Home in an Expanding Universe " available for a mere 15 clams as stated on my website, http://www.glennterryart.com
My favorite piece on there, " Tone Poem # 1" , I have listened to a good couple hundred times without getting tired of it, as it was an inspired piece. Ditto with some music I created in 2000-2001. I have had 2/3 of a 2nd CD recorded since then, but after 9-11, and the deaths of a friend, a neighbor, and my dad not long after, the musical inspirational energy that I had going on was somewhat tapped out for a while.

Other good stuff:
Norweigan Harpist and singer Tone Hulbaekmo
Blackwater by the Doobie Brothers
Rainy Night in Georgia by Brooks Benton
The Twelve Dreams of Dr. Sardonicus by Spirit
Roberta Flack Paolo Conte Raff Symphony #3
I talk to the Wind by King Crimson
Puccini's Turandot just about anything by Grieg
Verdi's Aida Paderewski's Piano Concerto in A
More Mahler More Wagner More Vaughn williams
The St. Olaf Choir (wow!)
Roll Over, Beatles by Beethoven ( Ha ! )
Simon and Garfunkel ( if you want the mood of the 60's with style )
The Call of Camelot , and Enoch by Norman Thomas Miller
Midsummer's Night Dream by Mendelsson
James Cagney singing George Cohan songs
My wife and I singing on our answering machine.

GlennT

[tonofelephant]

Joining the music party myself today. I am going to rearrange the gallery today. Take down some paintings, a sculpture, put up a bunch of prints, some new paintings anda new sculpture. To accomplish the rearranging I will probably have on some Strauss waltzs and other lyrical ballroom dancing type music. Last weekend while rearranging I had the strangest urges to put on some world music featuring some digger-du's (awful spelling of cool Australian Aborigine Instruments), drums, harmonicas, etc. Arranged the gallery and did most of the sales for the day with world music on.

While actually carving need loud jamming music like the Stones, Deep Purple, or some real good head-banging music. While refining/changing the stone design need soothing classical like Bach, Vivaldi, or some opera like Barber of Seville or some good goat-roping country from the 20's 30's and 40's - think Hank Williams Sr. Depends on the pace of the sculpture. If to keep enthusiasm up I need head banging music. To tame the energy or get back to normal -classical. Whatever the need for music I don't do country music from the 60's on forward - just say no.

I don't seem to have any in-between music that I listen to. My wife insists that I love drama in most parts of my life. That is why the elephant monniker.

Carl

[Tired Iron]

Smooth Jazz..............sometimes oldies from the 60's and 70's. Simply Red,... Doug and the Slugs I can appreciate cause I live on the Canada border. Don't know how many others out there even know who they are. In the summer it is usually noise from all the birds around the farm. I never tire of them. Woodcocks, woodpeckers , Bob-o-links, robins, grosbeaks , even have an American Bittern that returns to the field behind the barn to nest every year. Ever heard one of those? Haven't been able to get any purple martins . Miss their chatter. Barn swallows are fun but a pain in the neck and messy , messy , messy!

[dondougan]

Interesting thread!

Listening to music as part of the studio environment has always been important — but not essential — to me.

I listen to classical (from medieval stuff up through contemporary, easy on the opera & Wagner please), all kinds of rock (not too much heavy metal, almost no rap/hip-hop), R&B, country and Chicago Blues, hot jazz from the '20s, swing jazz from the '30s, mellow jazz from the '40s - '70s, boogie woogie, accordion music, small doses of Broadway show tunes, western swing, country (gotta admit I can't take too much contemporary stuff there), folk music (Irish and English mostly), pop vocals, Randy Newman, Tom Waits, Benny Goodman (small groups), Billie Holiday, early George Winston (only small doses of new age stuff), k.d. lang, Jacques Brel, Erik Satie, Annette Hanshaw, Lee Morse, the Boswell Sisters, and many more.

I like variety, so I currently have 10,853 tracks on my hard-drive and have it wired out to the studio speakers so the music can shuffle-play or be listened to in broad categories as my mood varies. Of course, when I am using powertools (often) I am also wearing hearing protectors so I miss a lot of what plays. However, when I am teaching/working in studios out-of-country (stone-carving studios are usually out-of-doors) I simply listen to nature.
I must add here that I do not like to listen to music through headphones or earbuds — it becomes entirely too intrusive and impacts the other senses I need to use when working. No music is better than too much intensity.

I have done a number of pieces which 'capture' the musical feeling of some of these artists/performers in visual or sculptural terms, but have never tried it the other way (having a tin-ear as far as pitch goes).
I do find that some types of music seem to work better for particular studio activities, but it also varies with the conceptual nature of the work I happen to be making. For instance, carving with hand tools works best when accompanied by more mellow type sounds like jazz and vocals, while working with powertools often seems to fit best with hard rock or blues. Classical and instrumentals are ideal when rethinking designs or mentally critiquing them. Works with figurative elements seem to move along better when I listen to vocals (no matter the musical genre), while abstracted works tend to proceed better with jazz, classical, or instrumentals. And strangely enough I have found that laying-up fiberglass seems to fit with Sousa marches . . . go figure!

[Ries]

It is good to know I have common ground with Glenn, after our recent disagreement on rap.
But I find several of my favorites on his list-
Sheila Chandra, Spirit, and Billy Cobham and Stanley Clarke.

I am a sucker for good (of which there is only a bit) 70's jazz-rock- anything with Cobham, of course, the man is incredible, but also Mclaughlin in his various incarnations, and Miles Davis of the era. The Santana/Mclaughlin album about Sri Chimnoy, in which they cover John Coltrane's Love Supreme is quite good too.

I am surprised that almost all of the music mentioned is so old.
I am old, and so I listen to many of the 60's and 70's and 80's stuff mentioned, but I am still alive- so I still find new music I like.

I have found many newer bands that use electronic devices in various ways that I like.
Some are extremely mellow, others quite racaous.

Boards of Canada, Tortoise, David Last, Four Tet, and many more electronic based bands are quite beautiful.

There is a lot of interesting stuff that is combining world music with modern techniques- Transglobal Underground, Banco de Gaia, Bally Sagoo, Loop Guru, Fila Brazilia, Congotronics- these are all great.

I love techno too- Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Basement Jaxx, Utah Saints.

Two of my favorite artists, both quite prolific, take the singer songwriter thing into the 21st century- I cant understand why both of them arent huge stars-

E, of the band The EELs, is really great.
And Howe Gelb, who usually records as Giant Sand- the singing Jewish cowboy who mostly lives in Denmark.
He has had Lucinda Williams, Neko Case, Victoria Williams, and Polly Jean Harvey all sing backup for him.

I am a big Flaming Lips fan as well.
And Marvin Pontiac, who is really John Lurie, of the Lounge Lizards.

My favorite new music of the week is white rapper Tim Fite, whose new cd makes fun of rap, with an especially funny song called "I got Shot" in which he tells how much better your career will be if you get shot- "not every rapper does it, but every rapper should".

Lots of local bands around here are great as well, some getting pretty well known- Laura Viers and Karl Blau are both touring worldwide constantly, along with The Blow, another homegirl makes good.

My life would not be complete without the Pixies, Pere Ubu, The Jazz Butcher, The Ass Pony's, Critters Buggin, Tom Waits, D+, Dub Narcotic Sound System, The Beastie Boys, Doug Sahm, Gogol Bordello, The Afghan Whigs/ Greg Dulli, Dan Hicks, Mogwai, Neil Young, Ornette Coleman, Pavement, Quasi, Richard Thompson, Loudon Wainwright, Warren Zevon, MIA, Lady Soverign, Lily Allen, Ani Difranco, Jefferson Airplane, the Minutemen, Eno, John Cale, Gomez, The Beta Band, Funkadelic, and many others.

[evaldart]

Ries, I knew you were a well of knowledge but not regarding music as well. We share some common ground (Eels Beautiful Freak - great) but much of what you listed has evaded my constantly music-famished ears. I'm gonna look em up.

The last 10 cd's I bought: Tiger lillies, Gogol Bordello, The Black Keys, Old Scratch Revival Singers, The Poppy Family, Mainliner, The Black Carrot Secret Orchestra, Guild of Funerary Violinists, and Tiny Tim, Bolt Thrower.

Its quite possible thgat I could not function in the studio without music blairing.

[Tired Iron]

I am low tech with just a cheap radio that gets plugged in while I'm out puttering. Mornings I like the " Bob and Tom " syndicated jocks. The rest of the time the oldies are playing. That is if I don't need the socket to run the salamander or something else temporarily. A lot of the old stuff mentioned above are my favorites too. Nobody mentioned Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Three Dog Night or my favorite the Eagles. The funniest post was by Don Dougan.. read these quotes....

"Listening to music as part of the studio environment has always been important — but not essential — to me"
and

"I like variety, so I currently have 10,853 tracks on my hard-drive and have it wired out to the studio speakers so the music can shuffle-play or be listened to in broad categories as my mood varies." :confused: :D Don, I'd say it WAS essential to you! :)

[Aaron Schroeder]

My Dad was into short wave radio while he was growing up in Chicago. When I was a kid he always had a number of nice radios scattered around the house, alway on and always tuned to the local public radio station. Even though we moved a number of times ( Illinois, Alaska, Florida,South Carolina,Kentucky) Public Radio was a constant. One late Saturay night half way through my senior year in High school (1984 )I started listening to a program called " Beyond The Edge " Hosted by Jumping Joe Haynes and Kevin King. It was a program devoted to new wave, techno, punk, rockabilly,ska and what ever else they could get their hands on. A couple of weeks later me and my buddy Ross Bolin went up to the station ( WKMS )on the top floor of the Price Doyle Fine Arts Building ( The tallest building at Murray State University in Murray Kentucky, Home of Nathan B. Stubblefield the true and first inventor of the radio ( Marconii got to the patent office first ). Ross and I took over the show which we then hosted for four years. I also became the arts producer in the news department where I produced art features from interviews that I did with visiting artist, faculty and regional arts professionals about numerous topics and events. During that time I majored in art and focused on sculpture and functional design. The combo of working at the radio station and making things resulted in a body of work that involved spinning radios, spinning stereos, spinning stereo chairs and a few other kinetic sculptures with and without lights and sound. That body of work got me into Ohio sate University with a full tuition waver and a teaching assistantship and while I was there I made more stuff along the same lines. Since graduate school it's been more or less about survival. Every now an then I make a sonic installation but mostly I focus on fullfilling the wishes and desires of my clients who seldom share my personnel artistic interest.

That all said, music is important to me. My musical interests are all over the dial. It's all good, especially at high volume, spinning at 33 to 64 revolutions per minute around my head. I like being saturated with sound from all around.

After I figure out how to turn tifs into jpegs I'll post pictures of my 14 foot diameter gold geodescic dome with spinning stereo, slide cinema and hanging swing chairs. More later, I'm back to the studio.

[robertpulley]

I cannot see a relationship between my music and sculpture, but like others I have my studio wired for sound and it is rare that I am out there without something on. Like Evaldart I sometimes keep harmonicas or mandolin in the studio in case I feel like putting my two cents in (thats probably more than it is worth). I have always suspected that when I am grooving in my studio I get into a "Alpha state" (do people talk that way anymore or is that just 70's pop science. It sort of greases the sensibilities and helps the imagination flow for me, not to mention just giving me some energy.

I listen to old rock, alt country, jazz, folk, singer songwriter, international music, music that defies description, bluegrass, blues. Rarely to chamber music or classical on the radio, not into rap or hip hop, nor straight country, nor excessively heavy rock.

bob

[juniperburl]

Interesting subject. I've solved it a bit like dondougan. I have a few thousand mp3s on my HD and they are played randomly. I mostly have Jazz there, lots of Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespi, John Coltrane, Frank Zappa, Stan Getz, Chet Baker, Billie Holyday, Bill Evans and many others.
Second there is lots of classic...Bach is very inspiring for me.
I like Miles Davis and Zappa when carving breakthroughs and rough hammering :), Classic is good for sanding and fine carvings.
Also Vollenweider Andreas, Latin Jazz like Sergio Mendes, Mongo Santamaria etc,
and some Funky Stuff from the 70s...

Dino

[evaldart]

Since I'm impossibly behind on a deadline I decided to bring my turntable down from the attic and into the studio. Hitching it to the existing entanglement of cords and wires took a good 45 minutes. Then I had to go back up to the attic and sort through 2000 record to find the one I was looking for, another 30 minutes. Pacific Gas and Electric, man thats some good hippy blues. The singer always says "have mercy" before a guitar solo just like Billy Gibbons does, and no mercy is granted. Fired me right up. I lost 75 minutes finding that "charge" but what I gained in intensity carried me well past what would usually be the end of the day.

[anatomist1]

When sculpting, I mostly listen to whatever I'm currently listening to. I buy new CDs in a steady stream. I regularly listen to KCRW and CBC3 online and fish around through the clips and reviews on Amazon.com to find new music. Most of the music I like is considered "depressing" by people who don't share my tastes. I often get hooked on a particular album, song, or band, and listen mostly to the same thing or few things, sometimes for days straight. I now have all my CDs on an 80gb ipod, which I can plug in wherever.

For me, listing all-time favorites would be too tedious, as there are too many, and I am constantly churning through new stuff. However, I have to make an exception to mention Neko Case, as she is also sort of my artistic hero - the craftsmanship, the power, the uncompromising vision... I have driven many hundreds of miles on many occasions to hear her sing. I have never recovered from the first time I heard her live.

I guess I should also mention some of my "old school" favorites for working the steel when I need an agressive edge in the music to spur me on. Given my attitude as illustrated below, I only use them sparingly these days, but they were with me when I was gutting it out years ago: Sleater-Kinney, PJ Harvey, Tool, Chris Whitley's "Din of Ecstacy", ZZ Top's first few albums, Son Volt's "Trace", Black Sabbath's first four... I guess those are the only ones that come to mind on the spot.

***

An interesting music issue is the converse of what I like. I work at a sort of community shop now and sometimes guys are in there listening to a commercial classic rock station, or a station that plays only the most popular hits from the 70's and 80's. Hearing this makes me want to kill myself, and I simply can't work in that environment. The commercials and submental dj blather are bad enough, but the latter station in particular plays many songs that I was so sick of they made me want to chew my own arm off decades ago. I found that hearing one of these songs even once can lodge it in my head on infinite repeat for days. I really cannot fathom how people can be so reactionary about music, listening to the same few songs over and over again for years, only wanting what is numbingly familiar.

[evaldart]

Aaron, didn't know you were a rock star. Tryin to hide it from us.aaronschroeder.com

[Aaron Schroeder]

Yes, as a transdimensional entity, I've manifested numerous Aaron Schroeders to work accross the full spectrum of creative expression. It takes many nodes to make a net. Each aaron schroeder is seperate yet connected. I'm not trying to keep my rock star status a secret, it's just that it's difficult with todays primative communications technologies to convey the activities of all my alternate selves.

[Duck]

Aaron, didn't know you were a rock star. Tryin to hide it from us.aaronschroeder.comI like your music Aaron, I hear a mix.. Lennon and Dylan..??
I’m a little confuse about your age though, born and graduated the same day?

[Rick Clise]

Hi all, Interesting thread! Back in high school I was learning both music (instrumental) and visual art and thought I had to make a choice between the two - I chose art, 'because you didn't have to practice!' And the world is probably a safer place because I don't play an instrument now.

I've been wondering about the difference between music and art and have evolved a very simplistic explanation that music is about emotion while visual art is about contemplation - I react to music, and I think about good art. It's an enormous generalisation as some art evokes an emotional response for me. I don't mean to demean the wonderful work of composers and performers - I just react differently to visual art and music. And some of my best friends are musos.

Music has always played a big role for me in my visual arts practice - listening to all night jazz on the FM radio in San Diego while wedging clay at UCSD's ceramics studio in the '70s as a casual arts student made the physical work effortless, and the popular radio shows keep me company at my workshop these days.

I also wonder if there are subcategories of interaction between different forms of the visual arts and music. For example, while doing part-time studies at art school here in Adelaide everyone in the sculpture class talked while working, listening to the radio and chatting away; while in the drawing classes no one talked yet the same music was playing on the radio. Is a different concentration used when drawing and sculpting? Give me time and I'll develop another overly simplistic theory about that difference!

Rick Clise

[cmustard]

Rick,

This thread seemed to go automatically in the direction of what's your favorite music or what's listened to while working, that was cool with me but.....I think you're the first one to address what I was getting at to start with.
I like your "simplistic" explanation. I always want my work to have the same feeling visually as I get when listening to certain pieces of music. I don't know if that's possible...or like you say maybe visual art is more about contemplation....and maybe the response to it is, although not unemotional, is a different form of experiencing that emotion.

[dondougan]

Hi TiredIron,

RE: "The funniest post was by Don Dougan...I'd say it WAS essential to you!"

I didn't say music was essential to me in the studio - but it IS essential in my life.
And yes, when I'm working in my home studio I like to listen.
But when I am working in communal outdoor carving studios (bi-annually) and not grinding, I just listen to the sounds of the place (wildlife, passer's-by, nuts falling, etc.) while most of the other carvers are usually plugged into MP3 players and oblivious to their surroundings.

But I agree, it's funny. It was meant to bring a smile into the thread.
<grin>
Don

[Darkcloud]

... I listen to EBTG, Bloc Party, Marley, Camille, Tuck & Patty, Prodigy, Barbers, Satie ... Cardigans, Breeders etc. or some super mushy tracks depending on mood...

Eric

[evaldart]

The other night 2-4 am, over in the studio backgrounding the insomnia with a scratched Dusty Springfield record blairing while painting pictures of urban/indistrial decay. The good times just happen.