Michelle Shin

Listen With Your Eyes

Abstract

A music score reads as a natural language. But what if it was read in a different language, by another person, or in another translation? Could a score be mirrored with the English alphabet, color-coded just like text color in typography, or could each note, sound, or pitch be symbolized as an image, symbol, or object to express a new meaning? Through abstraction, the translation of music notation is explored.

An original music score inspired a series of visualizations that were abstracted through form and color. The score was codified into four stages with assigned textures, images, and hues. Photographs of a violin are deconstructed into strips and puzzled together into shapes reminiscent of a sound wave. Synesthesia is not the primary research, but it is suggested through colors and abstract visual representations in the project. My experiments use a new way of translation and communication to encourage others, whether musicians or non-musicians, designers or non-designers, to dream of creative forms and surround themselves in a world of colorful imaginations with sound.

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