Rachel's less than 2 weeks away from taking her grade 7 double bass exam. She's practising a huge amount (I know every single note and rest of all four pieces) and focusing on the performance now rather than "just" the sound, notes and rhythm. I can't hide my bodily reaction to a flat or sharp note, so she doesn't like to be able to see me when she's practising. But she wants me to be listening so that she gets used to playing the pieces as a performance. Plus she sometimes likes feedback. Yesterday we were talking about how the pieces "feel" - whether the way they make me feel is similar to how she feels when she plays them. I've noticed that she gives off different emotions when she plays each piece, there are subtle but obvious changes in the energy I get from her. I suggested that I could paint my response to the pieces as she played them and then see if those paintings spoke to her about the pieces at all. I was surprised how different colours came through each piece. I can also hear sections of each piece in different parts of each painting now I see them. I don't know how I thought Rachel might react but she really connected to the process and the art. She had a particularly strong response about the fourth piece (which she's been playing the longest - well over a year); apparently the colours are wrong, they should be more orange (similar to the third piece). She's so clear about this that she wants me to try again. Anyway, I thought you might be interested to see these so here they are, four paintings for the four pieces of music: A Largo by Bach A Minuet by Beethoven An Aria by Verdi A concert piece by Furtok
