Music

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Music is an essential element of the TPwP program methodology.

Music's ability to elicit vivid and highly subjective associations with colour, emotion and memory has long been seen as an ideal catalyst for initiating painting, particularly in an art therapeutic context.

Artists immerse themselves in the process of expressing their creativity through the connection to melody and rhythm. 

In 2012 The Colour of Sound exhibition displayed a cohesive and powerful body of artwork that had emerged from a collaborative project, spanning 12 weeks, between musicians at the Australian National University (ANU) School of Music and the artists.

Funded by Arts ACT, the Colour of Sound program was the inspiration of TPwP program Coordinator and Facilitator John Pratt and the ANU School of Music represented by lecturer, musician and composer Jim Cotter.

Several musicians from the acclaimed Canberra Symphony Orchestra regularly share their musical mastery at sessions in Canberra.  Harpist Meriel Owen (pictured) was the first musician to play for the group in 2013.   The CSO is supported in their ability to play every four weeks for the TPwP program in Canberra at no charge to the program, with support by ACT Government and the Australian Council for the Arts. 

Musical Composition

In 2018 CSO musician and composer Camilo González composed 'Suite Del La Montana' (Mountain Suite) comprising three movements, each with a distinctive auditory experience, for  exclusive use by the TPwP program.

The world premier was played on the day with members of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra (CSO). On the guitar was Camilo, accompanied by Teresa Rabe on Flute, Sam Payne on Cello and Rachel Best-Allen on Clarinet.

In Camilo’s words, 'Suite Del La Montana' was inspired by the NSW Bega Valley Highlands, a region similar to the Andean region of Antioquia in the composer’s native Columbia. "The composition aims to provoke feelings and ideas for artists in the program and encourage them to produce diverse visual art.”