Mickael Luis

Literature as well as music is one of the most creative form of communication and can provide a immersion in a fictional world. Implicit reference of the relation between music and literature is evocation. It appeals to the recipient's imagination. A creativity with no hamper which can be enhanced by an interdisciplinary connection. Picture books can encourage the development of creativity and be the foundation of a musical project. The main goal is to compose music for guitar from children's books that raised my curiosity and to form a bridge between literary and musical art.

 

This interdisciplinary project started during my Master's degree. I had the opportunity to do a research, and I choose to work on children's literature. I translated into music three different children's albums that inspired and evoked me something.  What makes this work interesting is that a singularity can appear in each composition in relation to the complexity of the text (more or less simple, wordless), the pictorial art proposed by the illustrator (media and style used) and the plot, climate, tone, rhythm of the children's book.

Different ways can be find in the elaboration of the composition. The space and time suggested by the illustrations and text of the book can be used to find a rhythm and tempo in the music. A notion of time appears during the reading. But this would not prevent the music from having sometimes the first role and propose its tempo, its duration, and its silences. One other link between music and picture books is colour and tone. "Colour in the visual arts can be seen as similar to timbre in music" (Xiyao Zhar, 2017). Different colours can give a totally different atmosphere and feeling. In composition, different guitar timbres could be used to illustrate a theme, action, plot and specific objects in the chosen children's book. A technical and research work can be done with the guitar. But should we always try to represent what we see, couldn't we use "ironic music", which deviates from what we perceive from the book?

If a real tension is created by an illustrator using "dissonant colours" that bring a feeling of instability, how to react musically? "Tension can be produced by repetition, dynamic increase, progressive movement to a higher or lower pitch, or (partial) syncopations between consonance and dissonance" (Kliewer, 1975). Tension is a point that creates a similar response in both arts when we talk about dissonance. "In both literature and music there are symbols that can be encoded and decoded" (Hall Suzanne, 2017). We can think that not only music reinforce literacy, but literacy can reinforce music. We can find many similarities between both arts.

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I'm currently looking for residencies, in order to continue this work of composition, using new picture books previously chosen, and form a complete show of several stories. The goal being to bring this project to stages and events dedicated to young audiences. This is more than a personal project, it is also an educational one. A real potential emerges for my composition work as well as for the development of the child. Children are fascinated by the synergy between reading and music. This project can be used as a tool to make connections and produce a better understanding of reading and musical practice. Music for literature's sake and literature for music' sake.

Before this project, I had done some interdisciplinary work combining music with painting, dance, smell and olfactory memory. Adding my research on children's literature to these earlier works, I remain convinced that interdisciplinarity is a force and can awaken creativity. It is the potential of this interdisciplinary project that prompts me to apply for residencies.

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