Abstract Art as Sheet Music of the Heart
Lessons From Exploring Emotions Through Abstract Forms
What if the act of making art is to create a non-linear sheet of music of the heart?
As someone with a background in music and art, I’ve always felt like my paintings were musical. For instance, the key of D feels blue and the key of G feels green, and so on.
I struggled with sheet music when I was a kid learning to play piano. So, despite numerous attempts to learn classical music notation, I didn’t do well learning sheet music and didn’t return to it until years later. Eventually, I was able to fill in some music theory gaps in college that would help me in being a professional musician; however, I still didn’t understand sheet music.
However, one day, when I randomly decided to start reading about the history of notating and visualizing music and different other approaches from around the world, I was deeply inspired by this idea of using notes to “visualize” music even though I didn’t fully understand it. It helped me find words to describe the ways I had been visualizing music through my art.
As I look at a piece of sheet music I don’t know how to read and put it next to abstract art in particular, I’m increasingly inclined to see the art piece as a form of non-linear sheet music of the heart, as each dot, scribble, and brushstroke conveys an emotion I’m seeking to “sing.”
Since music is defined differently in different parts of the world, I’m becoming more curious about what other types of “sheet music” are out there. And what other music might emerge as a result of this?
I’m inspired by sheet music to think about how describing what we’re thinking might look like music sometimes, and other times, it might look like scribbling dots on a page or humming to a loosely-structured tune.
Of course, we have words for emotions and ways of talking about them, but looking at the history of sheet music has helped me consider the ways in which I’m allowed to try to explore other ways of communicating what’s in my heart, and one of the ways I can do that is through art. — Morgan Harper Nichols
Note: One thing I didn’t mention in the main body of the post is the concept of synesthesia. Many of the descriptions of synesthesia seem to fit me, so I think I might have it. But whether or not someone has synesthesia, for the purpose of this post, I wanted to speak more specifically to the problem of struggling to communicate how we feel and finding new ways of exploring that. Thank you for reading! :)
