A while back, in a thread that’s since been lost, the EP had a brief debate about the visual aspects of musical sound. Several of our members (those with musical backgrounds) insisted that certain tunes should naturally produce certain mental imagery in those who heard them - “correct” responses to the sound. I disagreed, claiming instead that it is entirely conditional. Since the subject matter was difficult to elaborate, the discussion ended without any resolution.
This sort of thing has been on my mind a lot in recent days for a number of reasons, and I want to test it. So, I’ve devised a little forum game to see how much visualizations have in common. I will post a short list of links to various pieces of music. Listen to the music and say what it makes you imagine/visualize. If you don’t picture anything coherant, or don’t want to share it, or the link doesn’t work, please say so.
This isn’t very scientific, but if possible, reduce the number of ‘biases’ on the piece. If the link is to Youtube (which is often the only thing that’s guaranteed to work) run it in a minimized window/tab and don’t watch the video. You probably shouldn’t read other posts in this thread until you’ve posted your own, either. I’ve tried to find pieces that are nonlyrical or with non-English lyrics.
If anything, the first piece makes me think of a dancer dancing on a beast’s skeletal spinal cord with a crescent moon in the background. Almost as if she’s dancing on the ridges of the spine, and the beast is pretty much in recline, half its skull buried in red-brown sand.
For some reason, the next piece reminds me of rubble, but as the music turns vibrant, it “flashes back” to a ballroom, similar to those in a common 1930’s dance picture. Lots of people waltzing in fancy clothes, etc. Pretty fun place to be, I’d imagine. Except for the guns blazing across the horizon - when the second half of the piece comes ominous. Then, when the music turns sobering, it reminds me of it fading back to rubble. Reminds me almost of a ballroom in Warsaw during the nazi blitzkrieg for some reason.
The next one’s easy. A caravanesari, or Arabic for a long caravan across the desert consisting of camels. Evening time, but an arrival into a still awake stopping point on the journey. Almost exactly looks like an Iranian town. If I can remember the name, that’s it.
Must go to labs now. But I’ll do the rest when I return.
Alright. So this will sound strange, but, I don’t auto-visualize something when listening to a song. Instead, I go through a movie-maker like process, trying to determine a scene that’d go well with the music. So…I’m not sure if this works but this is what I’ve got.
Cantara – The visit of a Westerner to a foreign nation that has a foreign culture. As the song picks up, I imagine the Westner finding something, seeing something extremely unusual (for his culture but not necessarily the foreign culture), or reaching a plot climax.
Valse Triste – This is an opening song. I’d imagine the beginning credits playing through the slow part, then it fading into a scene. It’d need to be something grandeur – this song wouldn’t fit well with anything less (unless it was a comedy movie, in which case, anything goes).
I’ve got to run to class, but, I’ll hit the rest of this later.
I’ll update this as I go… And forgive any weirdness.
As it starts off I imagine some…thing, skeletal in nature. Dancing alone at nighttime in a ravine or near a cliff. The moon is high in the sky. Generally a feeling of sadness. As the song picks up I imagine a battle, I can’t really go into detail because so much is going on. Somewhat Roman-esque. The initial drum beat and vocals is 2 cavalry charges meeting. Then infantry… So on.
Shady dealings in some Arabic town. Involving three men - One of them is somewhat clueless and a liability and the other two keep trying to lead him to doing things that would accidentally end his life like stealing from various shops and insulting “police” officers. Alas, he does not die and the other two “facepalm” at several points throughout the piece.
Reminds me of some dark church. Almost like the ‘Temple of Shadow’ in Link Ocarina of time, if anyone’s ever played the game. Maybe with Arabic undertones. But definitely a darker theme, almost reminiscent of that temple. Dark, older, maybe even a bit sandy… lol.
Dancing Rasputin and Hitler. Quite comical. And no, they dance alone. Background is blueish-grayish, but flows like a silky cloth.
This one’s easy. Almost exactly, note for note, reminds me of a piece I wrote a few years ago back when I was into writing short stories about a vulpine nation named ‘Uno’ (not the card game, lol). During its middle ages, it fought for independence, and the fair city of Cavask was the first to free itself from opposition. The song is how I’d imagine Cavask - proud, celebratory, excited, but at the same time cautious. Could also be the deep ‘Celtic’ undertones of the setting as well - decidedly God-centered, green scenery, and not too militaristic. The piece is actually written about a Lord’s castle coming under siege, but not in the typical blood-and-guts montage. It’s highly Romanticized.
Reminds me of something like a movie preview, like this: They took his congregation. They took his church and his collection plates. Now, it’s time for him to rise above the ashes, to cleanse the masses, and deliver sermons capable of bringing his enemies to their very knees! From a tiny Polish village comes a simple priest, but with a big plan. (He rises from the ruins f a burning church, rolls up his sleeves and says, "It’s time… time to burn the chaff… to kill the goats… pick the weeds. They’ve gone too far! AS God as my witness… THEY’VE GONE TOO FAR!) SUPER PRIEST II: Judgement Day.
Reminds me of something like a movie preview, like this: They took his congregation. They took his church and his collection plates. Now, it’s time for him to rise above the ashes, to cleanse the masses, and deliver sermons capable of bringing his enemies to their very knees! From a tiny Polish village comes a simple priest, but with a big plan. (He rises from the ruins f a burning church, rolls up his sleeves and says, "It’s time… time to burn the chaff… to kill the goats… pick the weeds. They’ve gone too far! AS God as my witness… THEY’VE GONE TOO FAR!) SUPER PRIEST II: Judgement Day.
— End quote
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: We need a regional ad for this movie.
Since this has been running for a while, I might as well give my own wacky interpretations. How I view music has a lot to do with what I was doing, thinking, or reading when I initially listened to a piece, although that imagery may be discarded if a “better” one comes along. When I read or write things I try to run an appropriate piece in the background, although finding the right one can be hard.
I see horses and riders, drawn swords and banners floating in the wind. For some reason, my interpretation is that the riders are a vampire prince and his knights, cursed to ride across the steppes forever.
As some of you have probably guessed since I keep posting the link, I posted this thread after finding the http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cjCPZaZe8Q of Italian cartoonist Bruno Bozzetto’s 1977 film Allegro non Troppo. It seriously depressed me, which is odd since I’m usually very unemotional. Upon reflection, I realized that Bozzetto had made a cartoon that perfectly represented the imagery of abandonment and loss that I had always attached to all slow violin music, which got me thinking about how people visualize music, and…thus this thread.
Needless to say, the above video is what I picture when I hear this piece. Interestingly, Bozzetto’s interpretation is pretty close to Todd’s in a lot of ways, so I have to wonder if there was some intent by Sibelius to convey as such. (EDIT: Apparently Sibelius’ original context Kuolema - Wikipedia either)
I see a police detective in turn-of-the-19th-century British Hong Kong, investigating a murder and unraveling the web of lies and intrigue that has built around the case.
I see the entrance of an Emperor and his court. Not quite Featured Content on Myspace, though - it’s more like some dark-fantasy version of the court of imperial China or Japan. It has more in common with the sort of sinister, intrigue-laden Court that a reader of sensational American dime novels might imagine than anything resembling historical reality.
The name does it for me - I see a collection of figures dancing furiously by firelight, when I see anything at all.
I see wind blowing in the autumn-tinted trees of Appalachia. I see fields, streams and fences, rustic little hamlets and dirt roads. I see an old fiddle player and occasionally a dulcimer player, and people in simple clothes dancing in a simple wood-hewn hall.
This is probably because I first heard this piece at a very young age, as a part of dulcimerist Tony Elman’s excellent album http://www.acornmusic.com/shakin1.htm, which my family was fond of playing on the home stereo. While this piece is originally Celtic, much of the album (and Elman’s other albums) were Appalachian, and the mountain dulcimer is an Appalachian instrument if ever there was one, so in my mind the piece is Appalachian and not Celtic.
I see iron and steel, gears and pistons. I see satellite dishes and radio tower lights winking against the night sky. Beyond that, it’s not entirely clear. It’s Science, but too secretive to be Benevolent and too orderly to be Mad.