My younger brother is visiting us this week. It is really good to see him. We’ve been talking up a storm about music, performance and visual arts. Dave is a pianist. He’s given me insight about expression within the constraint of the page of written music that, in the case of some pieces, has been played through the century by thousands of musicians.

We talked about the similarities between visual arts and music. He wondered if there was a visual equivalent to the musical ‘octave’.  Are multiples of the frequency of green (400 nanometers), for example analogous to multiples of the note ‘A’ (440 Hz; 78.41 centimeters).  I may have known this earlier in life, but I have forgotten much of the wave/particle duality, from physics; I’m not sure that light behaves in precisely the same manner as sound. (It might be worthwhile looking that up again.)

Dave demonstrated some of his theories by playing a number of pieces for me. I especially enjoyed those of Nicolai Caspistan.

I drew a quick sketch of Dave at the piano surrounded by the thoughts that he turned into music.

Music Thoughts to Keyboard
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block