I shot and edited the video that comprises the visual track for Elliott Grabill's musical composition "Pranayama". Elliott describes the process he used for developing his music:
"Pranayama is my longest and most ambitious piece to date. I took the name from a type of meditative breathing - prana, in this case, represents life energy. Each of the four movements is centered around a single note: C, G, D, and A for movements I, II, III, and IV respectively. As each movement progresses, a profusion of other pitches and sounds begin to ornament the base notes.
"While most of the sounds come from the piano, in Pranayama I also experimented with blending in other sounds at critical points in the piece. Listen for an ecstatic, sliding glissando in the first movement, a foreboding bass figure in the second movement, and a garden variety of synthesizer sounds in the third, all subtly woven into the music."
While Elliott's music stands on its own, we decided to experiment with possible approaches to visualizing the music on the occasion of a concert Elliott had in October 2010 in Washington, D.C. The visual sequences derive from abstracted television images and water reflections, though most contextual associations have been removed by shooting the video through a large fabricated lens. The intent is to create images that focus primarily on various amorphous qualities of color, shape, and movement, thereby suggesting appropriate connections to the music.
