Surprise Symphony

For this project, I explored the symbols of western music notation. Specifically, I am interested in combining music and design as I study musical notation for my design thesis project here at UIC. I changed and distorted the symbols to emphasize the different elements of the composition--both visual and auditory. The piece I analyzed was Haydnís Symphony No. 94, which is more commonly know as the Surprise Symphony. When I changed the various elements of the layered composition, it became less readable and more expressive. The idea is to be able to understand parts of the music without necessarily being able to read the notes. I wanted to show the scale of the poster, so I took a picture with myself as the scale.