CSA Western Australian Division Meeting: Colour and Music 2

We had 2 guest speakers programmed and the first, Professor Alan Harvey, opened our meeting. Alan is a Neuroscientist and musician with a keen interest in folk music. Alan gave an informative talk based on his book ‘Music, Evolution and the Harmony of Souls. He spoke about the importance of music throughout human evolution and emphasised its importance for human welfare and potential therapeutic benefits for the aging brain.

During morning tea, Mike Dixon entertained us with a selection of YouTube videos from the pulsating disco dance floors of The Bee Gees to the psychedelic colours and patterns of Pink Floyd. Many disco floor memories there!

Our 2^nd speaker and CSAWA member Georgina Noble, pursued our topic of Colour and Music through the eyes of the artist Paul Klee. Klee used colour and pattern in his abstract expressionist paintings that drew heavily from his love of music. Georgina’s presentation sparked a very interesting discussion on the parallels of painting and music.

Paul Green-Armytage closed our morning session with a collation of the work produced in the 1^st session back in March. As Paul replayed ‘The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra’ he overlayed a collage of the palettes produced in Session 1. All agreed that it was difficult to see any clear similarities across the palettes when it came to matching music to colour. Much more to explore here.

Our afternoon session was led by our 2^nd guest speaker Dr Ashley Smith (UWA) who delivered a fascinating lecture entitled ‘The Art of Orchestration - Painting with Sound’. Ashley’s presentation explored the mechanics of orchestration, it’s evolution through history and the complicated process of layering instruments to produce a composers desired sound. Ashley gave practical demonstrations of his concepts by his exquisite clarinet playing. A wonderful presentation by a very gifted musician.

Our final meeting for the year will be held on Friday 26^th November the details of which are yet to be finalised.