Reading Response 6 from Joyce

Graphic score

Inspired by the graphic score from Concert for Piano and Orchestra by John cage, we started our graphic score from the top of the picture with a combination of piano and flute. The length and color changes of the rectangles reflect the change of rhythm and pitch made by the flute. Since our project audio is The Butterfly Lovers which is a traditional Chinese story, we came up with the idea of using Yin and Yang as the frame of our score. The main melody appears many times in the song, so our graphic score inside the Yingyang circle cannot be interpreted in a linear way anymore. With the repetition of the melody and mixture of sounds of rain, thunder, wind, stream, and birds, different stages of the story are able to be understood at the same time. The graphic score in Yinyang also shows a balance, even if music reaches its climax, it will eventually flatten out. When the chorus is over, it goes out of the circle on the graphic score. The extended calm line above indicates the quiet, ethereal end of the song, accompanied by the two endless curves, which represent the end of the song and the long echo.

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