Tag: Elton John

This is the third and last of my cover music rough cuts using the notation software, Notion. The sheet music will be the worksheet that will guide me through the building of this artwork.

My artwork musical covers are about the music and not so much about the lyrics. It is about creating a portrait of a song, melody first, not the lyrics, especially with these music boxes. My thinking was different for this project.

My cover of Your Song begins with the third verse. That start was chosen because of the lyrics “I sat on the roof and kicked off the moss….” When I hear those words, I flash back to a wonderful artwork I did in 2013, and sold, through the help of my cherished brother Roger Von Holzen. That artwork was, Up on the roof. Here is the search link to the artwork’s story. It was Lady Gag’s updated version of Your Song, and those words that reminded me of Up on the Roof, that convinced me to paint this music. It is hard to explain my connection to Up on the Roof, but it was then, and still today, it remains meaningful.

I built my cover music of Your Song by first connecting the original piano intro to the third verse. From there it was about capturing the character of the song while editing away everything that either got in the way or was repeating what my cover already covered. My editing can be harsh. I have to be to keep my music under the one minute thirty second limit. Of course, quality is a loss with my slash and burning off of a 4:04 minute Elton John’s song, down to less than 1:30 minutes. That is a price. The return is the challenge and teaching lessons with each of these portraits, and the growing connection between the visual and performance arts. This is an opportunity I am thankful to have. So it is.

Scott Von Holzen

This song by Elton John goes way back to my college years. I probably would not have thought of painting it until it popped back into my head from the 2001 musical Moulin Rouge. Certainly Lady Gaga’s recent cover and live performance at the Grammies made me think that this music had legs. Finally, I am a fan of Elton John’s music and Your Song’s prominent use of the piano, gives me a foundation for the creation of the sheet music that is my music box production guide.

Every new artwork starts out with the music that I selected to portrait. I put together the cover sheet music using the notation software, Notion 5, and its instruments. That sheet music, which takes days to create, is not only is the visual guide for the artwork that I will sample to paint, it is also the musical arrangement for the music box.

My notation software follows rigid rules when creating the sheet music worksheet. I don’t when I put together the visual up and down flow of the song’s music. Changes often occur where needed. For example, I may combine notes to better fit the artwork.

This musical arrangement will also change once I import it into my digital production software, Studio One. This software offers the music tools and third party instruments that will eventually allow me to produce a professional sounding song. I am not there yet. But with this software, I have higher quality and control over the instruments than anything the notation software offers. Still, creating that cover sheet music is my critical starting guide to my project’s success. Changes will occur, but what will not change is the cover sheet music’s up and down flow and the timeline rule: less than one minute, thirty seconds.

Scott Von Holzen