I am very glad to come back to writing new articles after a long time, and hope you will enjoy this one. Today I want to share with you a little experiment that brought me joy and opened new possibilities, and I thought it was very interesting to share here, hoping it inspires you as well.
To contextualize this improvisational experiment, I want to tell you a bit about a summer camp that I am taking part in that is quite unusual: it’s called Flute Xpansions Sonic Immersion, and it happens entirely online. The international faculty and community are incredibly inspiring and supportive 🙂 I will be posting more about it in further articles to follow.
To come back to the my improvisation on painting, I got inspired by Camilla Hoitenga.
She presented during one of the group sessions her technique that she calls parallel media improvisation, in which you get inspired by visual art to trigger your creativity.
She suggested three different methods: using the painting like a graphic score, using the actual technique of the artist as an inspiration by analyzing the material, the type of paint or the number of layers of paint, also maybe what mood or energy the gestures of the artist communicate (think of Jackson Pollock). You can also try to connect to the artist’s philosophy (think of Kazimir Malevich and his Black Square).
Here I took an abstract Belgian painting I had in my home and tried to use it a bit like a graphic score: multiphonics and singing along with playing are here to express the complex use of layers of paint that creates complex texture with chunks and brush strokes. I wanted to use the bass flute for its possibilities of wooden, what I like to think of as « nature inspired » tone because of the complex greens, brown and blues that evoked to me the colors of a vibrant landscape. As you can notice, I alternate between calm and more nervous musical gestures synchronized with the different color blocks.
Can’t wait to make more of these! Now grab your instrument or tune in with your own voice and see what your preferred art can inspire you!
If you liked this stay tuned for the virtual gallery of Flute Xpansions Sonic Immersion!
