The title of this latest music box is “Love Theme.” The Upper canvas mounts this artwork onto the wall. Written in cursive Italian across the upper canvas are letters and words deliberately made difficult to recognize. Those words are from the artwork’s cover music. The lower larger canvas than hangs from the smaller canvas using a coated wire. Using cursive writing, the repeating flow of words written on the main canvas represents the lyrics that the artwork is sampling. Rising above the canvas, held onto the artwork with magnets, is the artist’s own form of notation. Its up and down flow represents the melody of the words written on the canvas. This artwork exists to present to a viewer a short cover music of a great song. A song that stands out in its use of melody, harmony, and lyrics if you understand Italian.

Scott Von Holzen

I should explain that on my website scottvonholzen.com and on my Portfolio for EmptyWallsArt, I edit down my cover music to 30 seconds. Both sites I define as commercial websites and to meet (any ones guess) copyright rules I provide only a sample of the artworks music. But, this .org site purely exists to tell and document the story of this art. That is its sole purpose that began with the first post in early 2010, onward. And since there is between nothing and near zero public interest in this story, I am going to put it all out there in the details of this art and in my words. Just in case someday this art finds its light.

If I would offend the owners of the music on my .org site, of course I will comply. It is not my music. I did not write it. And yet this art is solely mine. It states clearly my passion for great music. As an art I have always defined it as creating a portrait of a song. Maybe over many years from now, a viewer will find one of these artworks, and by some miracle he or she will press the green button and the music will play. And they, as I do each time I listen, maybe feel the same sensation as I do: “Wow, that was good.” And therefore a song, maybe long forgotten, will again be a harmonic curiosity for a new generation of music appreciators. A piece of music that rings in their heads. This art will reach forward because this art presents itself to the listener in multiple ways.

The artist’s choice of music begins as always, with his attention to three major give-and-take components of a song: melody, harmony, and lyrics. These three features awaken this artist’s interest in a piece of music. But other features of music, such as rhythm, originality, emotional impact, the story of the music, or the story of the artist who created the music, provide additional support. If everything adds up, I can then justify my time, money and effort. That is all there is to it. Unlike 100 percent of artists around me (I have never met another me), this art is not about money. This art has always been about the music, and using my time, my money, and my effort to continue what was so in 2006 still is in 2024.

Scott Von Holzen