Inside the Music: Sunlit Sea

Sunlit Sea - Frederick Judd Waugh (c.1908) Oil on canvas. In the permanent collection of Newport Art Museum, Newport RI

Frame Drum

Pangi Seed Pod Shaker

Native American Style Flute

Art inspires art. An art creation in one form (music, dance, visual art, literature, etc.) can inspire a new creation in the same form (such as music inspired by music) or another form (such as art inspired by dance).

A couple of years ago my wife Lisa and I visited the Newport Art Museum in Newport, Rhode Island. It's a small museum packed with lots of history and variety. A painting on display from the museum's permanent collection mesmerized me, "Sunlit Sea" by Frederick Judd Waugh. I returned to it several times during our visit and its effect on me only got stronger.

When I began recording music for my second album of music for Native American style flute, Light on the Leaves, I decided to create a song inspired by Waugh's painting. First, I recorded two percussion tracks, one with a frame drum and the other with a pangi tree seed pod shaker. Next, I improvised a melody with my Native American style flute. The result is Sunlit Sea, inspired by the painting of the same name.

See below for a fun and educational eight-minute video from the Kennedy Center about dance inspiring music inspiring art.

Also, an article from Daily Art Magazine - The Sound of Colour: Music Inspired by Visual Art.

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From the Kennedy Center an eight-minute educational video of dance inspiring music inspiring art.