BITS + PIECES is a series of eight miniatures for solo piano in colored pencil and graphite. These pieces are the first in a large collection of hand-drawn piano works exploring the impact of score design on the compositional process.
Before this series, I had explored stave shapes very subtly in wide arcs in HALO SCOPE, and undulating waves in LOVE NOTES and HUMAN. This was my first time using small closed shapes—small circles and teardrops in forget-me-not and wings, tight curves in amoeba and cashew, and sharp corners in green juice and squish.
I expected that I’d be writing the piece directly onto the art, letting the limitations of each design guide me: the length of the staves, touching staves that left no room for notes above the top line, etc. Instead, surprisingly to me, I composed each piece on regular staff paper and as I wrote freely, intending to create tiny, distinct sonic worlds, the shape to which each piece belonged became apparent, as if each piece already knew what shape it wanted to dwell within.
Drawing the notes onto the page with graphite shaped each composition as well. I’m very meticulous but human and I let each mistake surprise and delight me. Notes can’t be erased over colored pencil stave lines so each “mistake” became a destined part of the piece. This is a common practice in my work now. It’s a reminder to me that the creative process is a collaboration with a mysterious higher power. It’s a spiritual communion. —Thérèse-Marie Chaix
THERE’S AN ART FORM LOST TO TIME CALLED EYE MUSIC, OR AUGENMUSIK. IN THE EARLY RENAISSANCE, MUSIC COULD BE FOUND HAND-DRAWN ON ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPTS IN THE SHAPES OF CIRCLES AND HEARTS. ARTIST AND COMPOSER THÉRÈSE-MARIE CHAIX TAKES THIS ANCIENT ART FORM TO CONTEMPORARY WHIMSICAL EXTREMES CREATING SCORES IN THE form of a MUSICAL GAME OF CONNECT THE DOTS, RAINBOWS ON PUFFY CLOUDS, SATURN’S RINGS, AND NOODLES TANGLED AROUND GIANT VIOLET CHOPSTICKS. SHE METICULOUSLY HAND-DRAWS HER ORIGINAL COMPOSITIONS FOR SOLO PIANO WITH GRAPHITE, COLORED PENCIL, WATERCOLOR, AND PASTEL. HER PROCESS BEGINS WITH THE DESIGN OF THE ARTWORK FULLY FORMED EXCEPT FOR THE NOTES. THE LENGTHS AND SHAPES OF THE STAVES THEN DICTATE THE LENGTH AND SHAPE OF THE MUSIC. THIS VISUAL APPROACH TO MUSIC COMPOSITION IS INTEGRAL TO THERESE-MARIE’S CREATIVE PROCESS. EACH PIECE TAKES BETWEEN TWENTY AND TWO HUNDRED HOURS TO COMPLETE FROM THE CREATION OF THE HAND-DRAWN ART SCORE TO THE COMPOSITION OF THE MUSIC ITSELF. “IT’S puzzled ME FOREVER that CLASSICAL MUSIC IS DEFINED AS ‘SERIOUS MUSIC’ AND YET MUSIC IS SOMETHING WE PLAY. WITH MY WORK, I TAKE PLAY VERY SERIOUSLY.”
