Drawing to music

This lesson was inspired by the Introduction to Art Therapy class I took in the summer of 2005 at the University of Northern British Columbia in Prince George BC.

The purpose of creative expression is often to convey a feeling through sounds, shapes, colors, and movements. This activity can be used for an entire class or as students become accustomed to doing this quickly it can be an activity to focus students or as a lead-in to a related subject.

Introduce the activity, talk about how different types of music and art make us feel depending on the sounds, shapes and colors the composer/artist uses.

For this lesson I play the songs twice for the children- the first time is just for listening and picturing and the second is for drawing and putting the pictures on paper. (If students are restless, I ask them to begin drawing before the first playing is finished.)

Ask the children to think about the types of movements that they think would match the music. Ask them to put all that motion into their hands and into the colors and lines they use as they begin to draw. (If you have room you can let the students move while they listen prior to drawing.)

During the first playing also ask the children to focus on the sounds that are repetitive- What will this mean for their movements and drawings?

I did a series of drawings with students in a variety of classes and made a bulletin board of the most successful drawings.

Outcomes
Children will:

• (begin to) acquire an interest in music;
• explore visual art materials while listening carefully to the music;
• attempt to identify and use patterns found in music to inspire mark making on paper
• examine their marks on the paper to see how they relate to the beat or rhythm of the music selection;

Materials

• CD Player
• A CD containing a variety of music types for students to work from
• Drawing paper and markers/pencil crayons/crayons

Some of my favourite songs to use are:

1. Te Vaka- Pato mo tou agaga -For more about this band www.tevaka.com however, content on this site may not be appropriate for in school use.
2. Ashley MacIsaac- Rusty D-con-STRUCK-tion -The artist’s website is http://ashley-macisaac.com/ , however, content on this site may not be appropriate for in school use.
3. Albinoni- Adagio in G Minor- For more about this composer see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomaso_Albinoni .
4. Pachabel- Canon in D- Form or about this composer see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Pachelbel .
5. Zombie Nation- Kernkraft 400* More information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Nation_%28band%29 and the group he website is http://www.zombienation.com/home01.php , however, content on these sites may not be appropriate for in school use.
6. Darude- Sandstorm -The artist’s website is http://darude.com/demo/ , however, content on this site may not be appropriate for in school use.
7. Tom Waits- A Little Drop of Poison*- You can find more about this artist at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Waits . (His website is www.tomwaits.com but I couldn’t get it to do anything.)
8. Afrocelt Soundsystem- Any of their songs- You can find out more information about this band at http://realworldrecords.com/afrocelts/ however, content on this site may not be appropriate for in school use.
9. Peter Gabriel- Passion (Whole CD)-The artist’s website is http://petergabriel.com/ however, content on this site may not be appropriate for in school use.

Jazz and some blues also work very well for this lesson.

* Students should recognize these two songs- Kernkraft 400 is often played at sporting events and Tom Waits performed A Little Drop of Poison with Nick Cave for the Shrek 2 Soundtrack.