Bringing Music to Art
[Written by Debbie Jensen; January 2005]
"Today, I find myself interested in graphic arts and multimedia; albeit with music written upon my heart and soul."
As a very young child, I began a long journey of piano playing which has followed me all
way through my adulthood. From childhood lessons to adult lessons, and after decades of musical education which included reading notes, chords, scales, music theory, and composition, you would think I'd feel like I had achieved my musical goals. To contrary, I still have so much more to learn! However, once any pianist reaches an expert level, it is difficult (and expensive) to find musical instruction required to keep going. From this experience, coupled with other twist of events, I have drifted away from playing music. Today, I find myself interested in graphic arts and multimedia; albeit with music written upon my heart and soul.
Music has been one of strongest influences to my artistic expressions and has helped me understand how to express beauty, rhythm, and movement. From my photography background (from which I photographed thousands of images), I learned seven wonders of photography, importance of framing and composition, and how to create emphasis. So you might wonder, how could music influence artistic expressions of a different medium?
When I used to play piano, sometimes I would reach to fasten my seatbelt, but of course, it was not there. This often happened right before I started to play, and perhaps this occurred because I felt as if I was about to travel through space. From my mind's eye, and at point I was lost in my music, I could easily envision colorful, geometric forms. The forms were beautiful. Other times, I would see imaginary birds flying, and possibly those birds are manifesting themselves through my graphic designs today. My sketchbooks are filled with endless imaginary birds; and I often wonder, where is this imagery coming from? There seems to be no end to it.
