BnB Column: Art, Music & Frequencies

Written by Saar Amptmeijer Thursday, 02 September 2010 09:01

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Frequencies play a bigger role in our daily lives than you may think. BnB's Art & Lifestyle editor Saar Amptmeijer takes a closer look on the way various frequencies affect our senses, perception and emotions...

 

 

The perception of the definition ‘frequency’ is different to anyone of us. Music wise, you could say that everybody has his or her own personal frequency. Let’s just say I have a frequency level of 653 and you, the reader, are leveled 670. Every artist who is in the process of creating something new also has his own frequency. In fact, everything you do or create is done through this personal frequency (or whatever you wanna call it). It decides your reaction towards things, what kind of people you like, and what kind of music you love. Your every movement is being controlled by this frequency. Thus, a piece of art can tell you a lot of things about its creator’s frequency, and what attracts you as its beholder.

Let’s take my frequency level as our starting point. If I would encounter a piece of art with a frequency of 660, I would be fairly attracted by this. It would be near my personal frequency and I would probably stay around longer to watch it. That is, until I ever get to go to an exposure that featured an art object that utterly touches me, something I would never ever forget as long as I live. This object would have to have a frequency of exact 653, or maybe 652. It would be as if it were a story-telling object, something that personally addresses you and you alone. That is what art means to me. Communication. An image that tells you something about yourself, the world, that shows you something beautiful. It can sometimes tell you more than an endless discussion with your best friend. Visuals can say things what men can not.

Both audio and visuals are about about one thing: communication. Words are a concrete form of communication but sometimes there’s an barrier between the source and its receiver. For instance, if I mention the word ‘light’, one can interpret this as a fluorescent lamp, candlelight or the sun. Lots of things pop up that may cause miscommunication. It’s in fact rather surprising that we often understand each other well if you look at it that way. Contrary, an image does not necessarily have the urge to be understood in a literally sense, as there’s often much more room for your own imagination. And that imagination can lead to a new form of communication that you may never have experienced before. You may even feel ‘understood’.

Now, what happens when you combine two different frequencies? Let’s say audio and visual. Will that result in a parallel flow of two separate frequencies, or will it lead to an all new one? This is often experimented with at music events. The combination of audio and visual is an interesting element at these kind of events. It does no longer attract just a small group, as we’re dealing with two different frequencies that each have their own audience. In some cases this combination expands, attracting a larger following but it may also turn out to aim towards a much more select group. The combination of various images and music may result in very interesting things. Try it yourself: just turn on the TV and play an aggressive, a happy or a sad song in the background. The images you see will get a new meaning on the spot. This in turn creates new frequencies, attracting again other people. Working with two different forms of media basically creates all new levels of frequencies, which each time pertains to new audiences.

So what would be the perfect frequency level, and why would it be perfect? Of course there’s no real answer to this question. I live on a completely different frequency than my next door neighbor, my friends or you, the reader, so to say. But it appears to me that it would be absolutely fascinating to look at this from an arty point of view.