Pairing Music With Visual Images

Have you ever had certain thought or phrase stick with you for years and years? For me, it was the first time I played the opening movement of Prokfiev’s Romeo and Juliet.

I was 12 years old and at my first summer music camp set in the redwoods of northern California. I had never heard of Prokofiev or his ballet. But if you know the piece, you know there’s a part in the first movement where the cellos play repeated quarter notes that outline the harmony. It’s marked fortissimo and in order to make us play it the way he wanted, the conductor turned to us and bellowed, “pretend you’re ironing cement pants!”

To this day, that’s what I think EVERY TIME I play that opening movement. While it may be slightly irritating to be responding to a direction that is more than 50 years old (ahem!), it’s amazingly effective in how it instantly communicated to us exactly what to do - and still does.

Pairing music with a visual image is not a new idea. But finding one that tells you exactly how to play a phrase is magical.

Imagination is the key to great phrasing. And whenever we can expand our capacity to see, taste, and feel the notes on the page, we become more adept at creating something extraordinary in the phrase.

So here’s a fun exercise for you this week. Hear in your head a phrase that you’ve been working on. Let your mind imagine a color, a smell, a scene, a story that fits that phrase. Say it, name it, really follow the thread of your thoughts. Let yourself get lost in the scene.

Allowing our brain to wander down this path can help us discover nuances we don't normally find when our eyes are glued to the page.

So have fun with this one! And happy daydreaming!