DISCORD 1

THEME: LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, ENJOY ITS COLOURS (DISCORD).

TITLE: DISCORD 1 (melody with seven voices at a quarter of a key of distance from the first voice to the second voice, from the second voice to the third and so on).

TECHNIQUE: Mixed technique on wood.

SIGNED: 18 / 6 / 2007

DIMENSIONS: Wood 117x48 cm. 1 cm. thick.

COMMENTARY: Have you ever heard a melody with seven voices off key?, well in this painting you will see my pictorial representation of the discord. Seven voices interpreting a melody (major scale going down and up in zig-zag) at a distance of a quarter key between them. As you see in the painting, and following my theory of the music-colour relationship a contrast of complementary colours forms between the notes (rectangular), and a contrast of tones between the first voice and the last, given that being of a distance of a quarter key, the voices superimpose between themselves creating some dirty darker colours, and only leaving half the notes of the first voice and the seventh in their pure colour not having any other voice above or below respectively. The background with some lines in zig-zag which form stairs represent the waves which produce this discord, black colours which illuminate the clean, brilliant colours of the notes, different tones of greyness and whites which show up the dirtier colours.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PAINTING: DISCORD 1


In this, my first painting in the section “DISCORD” within the theme “LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, ENJOY ITS COLOURS”, as I have explained to you in the commentary, I want to represent a melody (major scale going down and up in zig-zag) with seven off key voices, a quarter distance from the first voice to the second voice, from the second voice to the third and so on.
I will begin by explaining the positioning of the geometric figures (musical notes) in the painting, which I call a pictorial stave. The geometric figures (rectangles 3 cm. high and 6 cm. wide which represent each musical note), are exactly placed, according to the same “mathematical” relationship of notes in the musical stave, within a metre and respecting the distances (intervals) between the notes, positioning them at a distance of a tone, semitone or quarter tone as is in this case.
The distance of a tone between the rectangles (notes) has the value of its height, that is on placing them in the painting as following a rising or descending melody or representing various voices one above or below the other, between the notes (rectangles) there will be a space of 3 cm. In the distance of a semitone there is no space between the rectangles. These are positioned in the case of the various voices, touching each other above or below, and regarding the melody, they are placed correlatively. To finish up the distance of a quarter tone between the voices I represent as invading the half of a rectangle, that is to say, the second voice is above occupying half of the first (occupying 1,5 cm. of the height of the rectangle),the third voice is above the second and so on.
Knowing that the standard tuning is A 4 central of 440Hz and basing myself on the frequences of the notes of the piano following the chromatic scale, we begin with the first note of the melody and we find the first voice in the key of E flat Major (E b 5) and with the colour of emerald green according to my music-colour theory, it has a tuning of 622.254 Hz, and at a distance of a quarter tone it follows below the second voice in the same musical tonality, but with an tuning of 604.792Hz (I have taken away the frequences of the first voice (note) and the third to know the distance of the semitone which is between them, then I have divided by two the result in order to know the distance of a quarter tone, and finally I have taken this away from the first note of the first voice, repeating the operation between the third and fifth in order to know the forth, and between the fifth and the seventh in order to know the sixth) occupying half of the first and the third voice with a greyish, dirty colour, mixing the emerald green of the first voice and the red (D Major) of the third (being a quarter tone from the first voice and from the third, that is to say in the middle of the two voices, logically I mix the colours of these for this second voice) which lets the emerald green and the red be seen. Following on comes the third voice which is in the key of D Major, red in colour and with a tuning of 587.33Hz with the greyish colour of the second voice occupying its upper part and a purple colour in its lower part, result of the mixture of red and marine blue (C sharp Major), which would be the fourth voice in the key of D Major, but with a tuning of 570.847Hz. It follows the fifth voice in the key of C sharp Major, marine blue in colour and with an tuning of 554.365Hz, it has an intense blue colour in its upper part produced by the purple colour of the fourth voice and a dark greyish green colour in its lower part because of the mixture of marine blue and yellow (C Major) of the sixth voice, in the key of C sharp Major and with an tuning of 538.808Hz. Lastly we have the seventh voice in the key of C major with a tuning of 523.251 Hz, yellow in colour in its lower part and greyish green in its upper part because of the colour which the sixth voice has. I have only given you the tuning frequences of the first notes of each voice, but it is to be supposed that the other notes of the melody within their corresponding voice are in harmony following the theoretical relationship with the tuning that its first note has.
As you can see in the painting, a contrast of complementary colours forms between the notes (rectangles) and also a contrast of tones between the first voice and the last, being at a distance of a quarter tone, the voices superimpose on each other creating darker, dirtier colours, allowing glimpses of the pure colours of the in-key musical tones in their real frequences following the chromatic scale, and only leaving half of the notes of the first voice and the seventh in their brilliant colour not having any voice above or below respectively.
In the background with some lines in zig-zag which form stairs, they represent the waves that produce this discord, black colours which illuminate the clean colours of the notes, different tones of greyness (blues, violets, greens) and whites which make the dirty colours stand out.