Kiss the Rain

Intention/Audio

For my project, I selected "Kiss the Rain" by the Korean pianist Yiruma. I chose the piece because it has a very unique, recognizable sound, and is one of the first that comes to my mind when I think of beautiful piano pieces. The song is slow and delicate, with trickling high notes and very smooth transitions. It is played in a major key, and has a very calm, soothing feel, yet also a kind of sad feeling to it. In creating my project, I wanted to capture the delicacy and beauty of the piece in a physical form, while maintaining the same mood that the song evokes.

Kiss the Rain

Listen to file directly

Yiruma

Product

My final product was a circular representation of the audio waves of the piece using flower petals, set on a white background. I used flower petals to capture the feelings of fragility of "Kiss the Rain," and used mostly rose petals for their beauty and romantic connotations. I added in a few petals from other flowers to make the final product more interesting and make certain parts of the circle stand out.

Approach

I was inspired by the pieces shown in the article, "Notations 21: Musicians Visualize Sheet Music in Imaginative Ways Inspired by John Cage," where artists visualized various pieces musical pieces in drawings or paintings. I liked how there was so much creativity and variety in the final products, and how each one communicated a different feeling and made me imagine what piece inspired its creation. For my project, I wanted to similarly represent my piece with simple materials, but in a 3d environment.

Process

When I first started the project, I focused on trying to represent the trickling, falling sound of the high notes in the piece using flower petals and string. I wanted to make the petals seem like they were trickling down, and I did so by hanging them on a cork board with pins. I didn't like how the pins and the string detracted from the aesthetics of the petals, so I decided to get rid of them and use a white background instead, so that the petals would stand out more. Now instead of making the petals seem like they were falling, I decided to represent the piece more generally by using a digital representation of the audio waves from "Kiss the Rain." I found a generator online, and fiddled with the sound wave representation until I got it to a point where it was more aesthetically pleasing to me. I then tried to arrange the petals to match the shape of the digital representation, but ended up having to tear the petals apart to get more detail. After arranging the rose petals, I decided to add a few small drops of color to make the final product more interesting, and show how the mood of the piece changes slightly as it progresses.

first draft

Digital representation of "Kiss the Rain" created using SoundViz

Reflection

I think overall my project does a good job of capturing the feelings I have when I listen to "Kiss the Rain," but perhaps not specifically the song itself. If I had more time, I think I might have tried to convey the piece more literally, by analyzing the specific musical patterns more, instead of just the mood. I also learned that one's ideas of how a project should turn out may be changed completely during the process of creation, and each draft helps you refine what your vision is for the final product.

2 comments · Latest by Tian Zhao

Hi! I really like the way you turn this beautiful audio into physical media. The flowers are nicely arranged, and the red and yellow petals give me a harmonious feeling. When I looked at your work with the audio, I felt as if the petals were falling down slowly from the sky, and they really fit the piano tone. I also appreciate how you improve your work from the first draft.
I would suggest that you add some "water" elements to the work, since the clear and smooth audio reminds me of the raindrops.

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Tangible Translation

Courses

62-150 Intro to Media Synthesis and Analysis

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About

My goal is to create a physical representation of the piano piece "Kiss the Rain" by Yiruma in under two hours.