The area of music and art appreciation has been absent in many school systems nationally. Too many of today's students do not look at the effect of music on today's society. Although we are bombarded with pop music and pop culture, we tend to overlook the influence of music in our everyday lives, yet music gives us a sense of belonging. It gives us a sense of connection with the popular world and ourselves. Music allows people to feel as if they are not alone. Music shares our good times and bad, and with that, we see how it affects our emotions. While there are distinct levels of understanding about how music influences society, this unit looks at it as it influences visual art in the Twentieth Century. It attempts to provide students with a concentrated look into music as it affects artists' lives and the art they produce. Many artists related their work to the music they heard and how they felt. I want my students to learn that there is more to music than what they hear. As music produces these strong emotions, I would like for the unit to heighten their awareness and give them ideas of how music not only influences themselves, but others as well.
In writing this unit, I am going to plan it to coincide with my Music Appreciation class. It could also be used in an Art Appreciation class. Using the history of specific musical selections and music's impact on emotions (our emotions and the artists' emotions), discussion of music and related artwork is a unique approach to the study of visual art. For many artists, music helps them reach their deepest feelings and their philosophies of life and in turn, use those feelings in their work. Then, as we look at the artwork, we are able to see how the music affected them enough to paint how the music was making them feel. I think that being able to interpret music and the feelings that it incurs will help us interpret and understand Twentieth Century visual arts to a fuller extent.
In this unit, I would like the students to listen to various musical selections and gain different perspectives on them. The students should tell the class how it affects them and everyone should listen and take note of each students' comments. They will be asked how they think the music affected each artist emotionally. After listening to each selection, the students will then look at the comparable artwork and they will be asked questions concerning how they think the music influenced the artist in that particular painting.
In order to learn about the influences of music in Twentieth Century artwork, I am using an object analysis approach. Object analysis concentrates on an object from a particular time or culture. We are using both art and music as the object in this approach. In studying these different objects thoroughly, conclusions about their influences on each other can be reached.
Professor Jules Prown of Yale University has developed a method of studying objects. It engages the average art viewer in a step-by-step approach to grasping an understanding of things. He describes the three major phases of object analysis as description, deduction, and speculation.
In the descriptive phase, the observer is limited to what can be seen in the object itself in its simplest sense. Being objective, you are making a general observation about the art. Description begins with looking at the physical dimensions and moving further to looking for lines, patterns, colors, light, and texture.
The deduction phase uses the information from the first phase. We begin to interact with the object and draw conclusions, constantly asking questions of the image. What just happened or is about to happen? Where is the light source? With our interaction, we engage ourselves intellectually and emotionally. This phase relies on our senses and our responses to the object.
The final phase of object analysis is speculation. In this phase, we are using as much creative imagining as possible. We are reviewing what we have observed in the previous two phases and forming theories and hypotheses based upon them. Through research, we look for validation so our questions can be answered satisfactorily.
As a member of "Art as Evidence: The Interpretation of Objects," I have begun to have a better knowledge of art's purpose and portrayal after using his methods. Using Mr. Prawns' approach, I believe that it is applicable to music as well as art. I believe it can be used effectively as means for better understanding art and the musical cultures which produced these art forms.
