PARALLELA WORLD OF YOUR OWN
PARALLEL ORIGINALS / Listening guide

A sound sketch for Spring

Translate changes in sound into lines rather than drawing objects that make sounds.

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Listen as you read

The Four Seasons · Spring · I

Antonio Vivaldi · The Modena Chamber Orchestra · Recording source · Public domain dedication

Give your lines a simple rule

Choose a simple personal notation: a rising line for a lift in attention, dots for small changes, and a long line for a sound you want to keep following. The marks serve this exercise, not formal musical notation.

Draw through one listen

Play the first movement of Spring and let the drawing be imperfect. Avoid stopping repeatedly to improve the page. You are recording the path of one listening, not mapping every sound accurately.

Listen with the page beside you

Choose a place where your drawing changes clearly and revisit the feeling that prompted it. Your interpretation may change. Keeping both readings on the same page can be more revealing than erasing the first.

Make it a small practice

  1. Give dots, short lines, and long lines personal meanings.
  2. Draw through a listening without aiming for accurate notation.
  3. Revisit a passage and add a note to the drawing.

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