Art, Motives & Composition

As we wrap up the last few weeks of summer, I’d like to take a moment and fill you in on our Summer Piano Project!

This summer, Relative Keys students had the opportunity to create anything. Yes, anything! Art, Motives and Composition was a project I designed that merged the worlds of art and music. Students were instructed to create a piece of art. A sketch, landscape, cartoon. Anything! Then, students used their artwork to inspire them to create a short motive: a small melody that describes a recurring theme or character (think Darth Vader: Imperial March or JAWS). After students came up with their motive ideas, we worked as a team to transcribe the music on staff paper!

The most fun part of this project came after transcription! We used this as an opportunity to work on arranging a full song. Students played their motive while an App called Tin Pan Rhythm played the bass, drums and guitar parts so students could experiment hearing their motive with a backing track! 

Often times we focus so much on note-reading and basic technique that we forget to be creative and use music as a way to express ourselves. That was the goal with Art, Motives and Composition! Before summer winds to a close, see if your child can play their motive or describe their artwork to you!

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