From Piet Mondrian to Libby Larsen An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Boogie-Woogie Mr. Rathgeber MUS_ED 345-0: Music and the Interdisciplinary Curriculum CM

Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red Piet Mondrian, 1942 Composition No. III Blanc-Jaune Piet Mondrian, 1942

Piet Mondrian Dutch Painter and creator of the Arts should not represent anything in the real world. - Uses only straight horizontal or lines - Uses only black, white, and primary colors verticalvertical RED YELLOW BLUE Neo-Plasticism Style

Broadway Boogie Woogie Piet Mondrian, 1943 Composition with Yellow, Blue, and Red Piet Mondrian, 1942

What happened to Mondrian? It had something to do with music… In 2 groups, create music that could go along with this painting. Try to create music that you think would have inspired Mondrian to create Broadway Boogie Woogie It had something to do with music… Try to create music that you think would have inspired Mondrian

William “Count” Basie Famous American jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Mondrian was inspired to paint Broadway Boogie Woogie after hearing music like Basie’s in the jazz clubs of New York.

Created between 1942 and Mondrain moved to New York after living in London. moved to London to avoid the fascism he found in France at the time. Discovered a love of New York on his evening. The fast pace, the racing taxis, Soon fell in love with jazz and the style of boogie-woogie. Wanted to express the syncopation of the music and the bright lights of the city. Lines of the buildings New York City Night Life & Boogie-woogie Jazz What is being expressed? Bands of colors made up of yellow, gray, red, blue, and white rectangles. Some larger rectangles disrupt the bands. Painting (Oils on Canvas) What techniques did the creator use to help us understand what is being expressed? Piet Mondrian A Dutch Painter and creator of the Neo-Plasticism Broadway Boogie Woogie

Discuss Boogie Woogie….. Play a “walking” bass line and improvise a “riff” over the top Walking Bass Line“Riffing” Teach a 2 bar representation of boogie-woogie Syncopation

What aspects of Count Basie’s Boogie Woogie do you see in Mondrian’s Broadway Boogie? What ideas or themes was Mondrian trying to express?

Compare your composition to what you now know about boogie-woogie? Are there any similarities? Did Mondrian effectively express boogie-woogie visually?

Now that we have seen boogie-woogie in art work we have heard it in music and we have performed/improvised some boogie-woogie of our own, Let’s hear what a modern classical composer did with boogie-woogie we have heard it in music Let’s hear what a modern classical composer did with boogie-woogie

Composed in 1983 Commissioned by the Minneapolis Artists Ensemble. Name refers to a stick-shift car (4 gears and the shifter on the floor) Breakneck is theme of the piece, an America that is speeding up Faster and faster, jazzing into eternity” - Larsen (1983) What is being expressed? Piano, Violin, Cello, and Double Bass in an ABA form. Piano plays a walking bass line while strings provide the melodic and harmonic elements. Some use of Double Bass as a rhythmic instrument. Pizzicato A classical work for Piano and Strings. Distorted ABA form…. Intro A B A riffing What techniques did the creator use to help us understand what is being expressed? Libby Larsen A living American composer born in Four on the Floor

In your groups, compare and contrast Broadway Boogie Woogie and Four on the Floor. Broadway Boogie WoogieFour on the Floor - Did Mondrian’s painting effectively express boogie-woogie and the fast-paced life style?

In the end, what does Mondrian’s painting and Larsen’s composition have in common? Foundational ElementsThematic Elements Both share common: Texture Rhythm Syncopation Boogie-woogie Cars Fast-Paced Life Others?