Graphic Score Sound Exploration

• Sarah Fairfield
• Posted 12/20/21
• 0 comments

Experience Art Soundscape with a Masterwork

Suggested Grades: 3-5

National Core Arts Standards

#4 – Select, analyze, and interpret artistic work for presentation.
#7 – Perceive and analyze artistic work.

Objectives

• Develop vocal flexibility and encourage vocal resonance
• Engage in creative thinking

Materials

• A piece of graphically scored music (in the public domain, or purchased) and/or
• A piece of artwork (in the public domain) such as “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh
• Variety of un-pitched instruments

Suggested Teaching Process

Lesson 1: Understanding the Work of Art

1. Display the graphic score
2. Give students a few minutes to visually explore the piece.
3. In a collaborative grouping, ask students to discuss what they see using music and art vocabulary.
   • Texture
   • Shape
   • Line
   • Movement
   • Subject
   • Space
   • Etc….
4. Lead discussion about elements in the piece that might represent sound.
5. Some discussion questions that you might use are as follows:
   • What visual objects could be chosen to represent sound?
   • Are there visual elements that represent sustained vs short sounds? Dynamics? A specific mood or expression?
   • If you were to choose one object to represent in sound, would you use vowel sounds or consonant sounds? Why?

Lesson 2: Translating Art into Sound – Whole Group Model

1. After discussing options, lead the group in a performance of the piece.
2. Each person chooses an instrument to represent one or more objects in the painting and plays when the line crosses the object.
3. It might sound messy…why?
   • Because there was no communication about what each person was doing, they just made an individual choice.
   • Do musicians typically work in this way?
   • How do we fix it?
4. Make some community choices about what the sounds mean or who performs a sound and try again.
5. Discuss how this changes the piece.

Lesson 3: Translating Art into Sound – Small Group Model

1. Break students into large groups of 6 or 7 (if working with younger grades, fewer would be better).
2. Students choose a piece of artwork from available options
3. Next, each group creates their own performance to the work.
4. Share with the large group.

Suggested Artwork

“Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh
“The Great Wave off Kanagawa” by Katasushika Hokusai
“Irises” by Vincent van Gogh
“Broadway Boogie Woogie” by Piet Mondrian
“Ancient Sounds” by Paul Klee
“Succession” by Henri Matisse

---

Shop this Lesson