Impossible Acoustic

    Tim Prebble over at “The Music of Sound” has been hosting a series of music projects he calls “Synesthesia”.  He posts a picture and asks his readers to translate the image into music.  Simple in concept but challenging in application.  How exactly does one translate an image to music?  

  After deciding to give it a shot, my first impulse was to try to directly translate visual elements to sonic elements much like how I imagine someone with synesthesia would.  Synesthesia is a rare condition in which stimulation of one sense results in sensations from another.  Hearing or even thinking about words for example, could cause involuntary taste sensations.  In some cases, people perceive color when they hear sounds or perceive sounds when they see colors.  I have no idea what it looks like when someone with synesthesia “sees” a sound, but it’s not hard for me to imagine that it might look like the picture above.  

The question is then, what is the system of representation from sonic to visual and back again?  Since there are three prominent dots in this picture, it seems logical that each dot would represent a pulse of sound or a note.  I chose to use phrases of three notes throughout the song and three instruments harmonized like the blending of colors.  Also, in both the picture and my translation of it, there is the suggestion of detailed activity in the background but buried beneath all the haze and blur.

The main problem with translating image to sound is the issue of time.  A photograph is static, unmoved by time, whereas music is inexorably linked to it.  At first, I thought the music could represent the image as it is scanned by the eye from left to right or top to bottom.  It wasn’t until I read comments by the other contributors that I realized I was overlooking the obvious – while the image itself is static, our relationship to it is not.  

When you I first look at the image I see three dots on a blurry background.  Then, the longer I gaze, the more details I see.  As I become more focused, I become more emotionally engaged as well.  There is the initial emotional response, then an appraisal of the pieces aesthetic qualities and then, if I’m open to it, a deeper identification.  The piece of art becomes for a moment an extension of my psyche and a mirror of my emotions.  The progression of the music, the addition of instruments and the building climax of emotion, parallels my relationship with the picture.    

Here is my musical interpretation of Tim’s photograph.  You can check out the other contributions here.  As usual, this song was made with all original instruments which I have included for free on the download page.  

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