meditation on music

In a white room you can find a grand piano covered with a white cloth, on it are a few sheets of music and a mechanical toy bird
On the walls of the room Grygar drew what he calls acoustic drawings.
The drawing consists only of linear structures.
The line is not used here to specify the volume of an object but as a time-indicating element.
The line therefore images time.
The colour of the line indicates a certain sound.
All lines are within geometric shapes; a parallelogram in this case and two triangles.
In these shapes the lines are parallel, but some are changing direction suddenly and signify a variation in sound.
Contrary to the music, the signs are not determined by certain codes we have to learn, the signs speak a direct language.
The public can determine the sound and the time.
The drawing is a visualisation of the sound.
On the sheet music the mechanical bird has drawn some dots.
The movements of the toy bird are put down on paper this way.
The ‘notes’ can be played on the piano but can also, when you look at them, be” listened to” directly.

[Milan Grygar, 1926 Zvolenu, Tschechoslowakia, installation on Chambres d'amis Gent 1986]

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