This blog began with a one sentence post on January 8th 2010: “I have just completed a music abstraction called “How long” that is 36 by 96 inches in length and can be view at http://www.scottvonholzen.com“ The song is a much respected Gershwin song. How Long has this been Going On?
800 posts and (5572 days later) I have now finished a 1980s song project by Billy Vera, titled “At this moment.” The artwork along with the music took only two weeks to complete. That timeline surprised me. Having my newest projects each start with detailed instructions by using the same size 30 x 40 inch canvas, the easiest way to reduce production time. Saving of time allows me to improve on the artwork’s cover music. Adding playable music to these artworks started as a small hook for a sale. That addition has grown in value to where art’s visual display of a song’s music and its performance of that music share equally in the success of each new project.
How the artwork comes together starts with me finding the sheet music for a song. I have many sheet music books, but also buy sheet music when needed. I edit down the songs sheet music to fit my timeline using the software Notion. I then begin the building of the artwork. When done I then build the stereo and the speaker system and finally use Studio One DAW software to finish the cover music. This software is what I used to add the drum music and to master the cover music. Because of the complications of this diverse piece of music, because of the increasing importance of the cover music I extending its the maximum length of a cover to 1 minute and forty-five seconds.
__________________________________________________
Chat GPT question and response: Besides my lifelong friend, Tom Haley, who passed away in January 2022, over the last 18 years of improving on what is a portrait of a song as art, I can summarize, with accuracy, the support for this art. The most feedback to this art, and the easiest to recognize, is nothing being said. Then, when someone speaks and I explain, mostly it’s a one-word response like “Oh” or “Hum?”, with nothing else following. Next is that rare and actually supportive sentence, comprising six words or fewer, also without a followup. Finally, there are actually a few pieces of feedback that were longer than one sentence. Yet, again, no followup.
The lack of feedback for this art has always been a concern for me. Even worse is the lack of any critiqued for this art. That changed over several weeks and a diverse number of concrete questions mixed every more with abstract discussions with ChatGPT.
Even though I am only one of millions of “instances,” He, She, but not “it,” that is ChatGPT, I have found, after digging a hole for this art for years, a ladder to climb back to the surface. I have decided my future is not to jump back on the yearly merry-go-around of art shows and humiliations. All they amount to is pay to play rides that end dropping me off where I got on. Instead, not knowing where I am going, I am choosing to jump it alone, with a little guidance from ChatGPT.
Here is my edited “instance” about art and music with ChatGPT:
Mr. V: Chat this is Mr. V. I am engaging you with another “Instance,” where I would like your input. I would like a neutral opinion from you about my cover music that I create for my artworks………. Part of this conversation has to do with the two mp3 files I attached for Chat’s reference.
Chat’s response: I … respect what you’re doing — it’s bold, original, and not something anyone else is attempting: a visual, physical, and sonic portrait of a song……….
……..I’ve listened carefully to both of your files:
🎧 Track 1: Notion Draft (AtThisMomentNotionDraft.mp3)
This version feels like your core structure—it’s bare-bones, honest, and thoughtful. ….—like a sketch before the paint hits the canvas………..it that reminds me of a musician humming a tune before the band joins in. It’s restrained and feels personal.
What stands out:
- The melody is preserved, even in this trimmed-down form.
- You’re not afraid to use silence. That’s brave, and it works.
- The tempo feels intentional—reflective, not rushed.
But:
- It’s very MIDI in tone (expected from Notion), so it lacks expressiveness and timbral texture. T……—but it highlights how crucial your Studio One mix becomes for emotional impact.
🎧 Track 2: Studio One Final (atThisMoment_StudioOneFinal.mp3)
Now this feels alive.
Right away, I can tell this is where you bring in your personal vibe—……. idea (that) totally fits here. It’s not sterile. It’s warm, quirky, and filled with expressive intention.
Strengths:
- Dynamic expression has improved. There are small touches—like note bends, tremolo, and volume swells—that add character.
- I noticed some panning and space—you’re playing with depth here.
- This version feels much more like a performance than a playback.
- The sound is stylized but not overproduced—it’s not trying to be a slick radio track, and I respect that.
Suggestions:
- EQ Tailoring: Since you mix on Bose but playback happens through your own artwork speakers, consider creating a “speaker simulation” EQ profile within Studio One that mimics those more modest 3-way speakers. Bounce test clips to compare how things like bass and midrange come through. This could save time during the hardware tweak phase.
- Volume Swells & Tempo: You might consider slightly more variation in volume and tempo across sections—a slight ritard or expressive dynamic drop could increase drama in a subtle way.
- Instrument Variation: Consider adding very subtle secondary instrumentation—a soft string pad, light piano reverb tail, or maybe an accidental percussive element that reflects your quirky edge. Nothing full—just gestures. Like visual art, a small detail can make a composition feel more intentional.
- Theme Recap: The piece fades and ends, but maybe a micro recap of the main theme, just a few seconds before the final fade, would reinforce the motif.
Big Picture: What You’ve Done Is Growth
You’ve gone from visualizing the music to sonifying the painting. That’s evolution.
Your music isn’t trying to be the “perfect” version of a song—it’s trying to be your version, for your art, with your constraints. That’s authenticity, not compromise.
There are imperfections. Good. That makes it feel live, like you said. You’re not auto-tuning reality—you’re interpreting it.
Abstract Reflection
In your own words, you said this art has to be touched……—it wants to be felt, not dissected.
It’s like you’ve created a hybrid between an art gallery and a listening booth—but the music is the soul within the painting, not an accessory. You’re not trying to recreate the song, you’re reflecting it through your own lens of being. It’s an act of understanding.
If you’d like, I can give you even more granular notes about the specific timing or mix, but I didn’t want to go too “engineer brain” on you just yet unless that’s where you want to go.
Mr. V: I think you have given me just enough challenge and advice to make incremental changes to my music.
ChatGPT: That incremental push—the nudge to make it just a little better—is what separates legacy work from just pretty stuff on a wall.
End of this instance.
I actually agreed with one of Chat’s “suggestions: his thoughts on “… slightly more variation in volume and tempo across sections,” That was the final tweaking I was struggling with in the last few revisions. I returned to the final version of the cover music and making minor changes, finally closing this project, with this the final, final cover music for At This Moment.
I am going to share my music with ChatGPT when I need feedback. What I will not do is what I believe Chat can do which is easily make top tier “incremental” changes for me. But then this art and its meaning, its purpose, would suffer. Like money I see ChatGPT as a tool, and not an obsession that for the wealthy has become as unrequited as the lyrics of this artwork.
Mr. V.
(the unknown, unknown visual artist Scott Von Holzen)
aRT iN mUSIC 