Painting to the Music: A Music and Art Activity

The Painting to the Music art activity is an excellent method to incorporate music and art in a fun and engaging way for adults and children alike. Whether you are an art or music educator, working with retirees, are retired yourself, or just want to find an interesting way to teach your child about art and music, this art activity will open up your imagination.

What you will need for the Painting to the Music Art Activity

You will need art materials of your choosing. This can be anything from watercolors or acrylics to crayons and pastels. Choose an art medium that is fast acting. For example, you would choose watercolor over oil painting. Have several sheets of paper or several canvases ready. For a classroom setting, I recommend heavier drawing paper that can easily soak up watercolor or any dry medium. If you are trying this activity for yourself and are not restricted in any way, then you can choose whatever paper or canvas you choose and simply dedicate more time to creating a finished art piece. Adapt the art activity to the age and abilities of the participants.

You will also need a way to play music and several music albums of differing music styles. Being a music educator, I incorporated various classical composers from Debussy to Stravinsky to Schoenberg to Oliveros, but you can choose the music that you feel most comfortable with or that fits with your art or music curriculum. The key is to have music of drastically different styles and to have music tracks that are anywhere from five to twenty minutes in length.

Painting to the Music

Play the first music track. Listen before you begin to paint. Visualize the music and the colors, gestures, and shapes that come to you as you listen. I often encouraged my students to paint in the air before beginning their art piece. Once you have familiarized yourself with the music style, begin painting or drawing on your paper. Do not stop until the music ends.

Choose a music track of a different style. Begin the music track and begin on a new piece of paper. Continue creating new art pieces with every different type of music style you hear. Write the name of the music composer or music work on the back of the art piece.

Art Discussion

If you are in a classroom setting, you might have the students engage in a guessing game, trying to match the art piece to the music played. Replay the music. Discuss how the music style is reflected visually in the art piece. Compare and contrast each person's response to the music. Avoid oversimplification and generalizations, and instead encourage each student to explain why they create the art that they did in terms of gesture, music tempo. music style, color (of the art and the music), tone (of the art and the music), and line.