Simon and Garfunkel began writing songs together in 1955, recorded their first single in 1957 and between 1964 and 1970 recorded 5 studio albums. They have accumulated an impressive list of successes for this work - 16 of their singles made it to the US Billboard Hot 100 singles list, they gained Grammy Awards for their song Mrs Robinson, have a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and won a BRIT Award in 1977 for the best international album of the past 25 years (for Bridge Over Troubled Waters).
For EBWers who listened to Simon and Garfunkel music in the 1960s and 1970s choosing one of their songs to inspire their beadwork might come easily. On the other hand, it might be daunting because you have so many favourites. For EBWers not born when Simon and Garfunkel were at their height and/or for one reason or another are not familiar with their music Olga’s challenge might seem daunting for quite different reasons. If you feel a little daunted by this challenge, read on.
Tactics to ‘de-daunt’ and get beading
- Choose a song alphabetically – what is the first letter of your name, your partner’s name or your pet? Look up the Simon and Garfunkel songs that started with this letter (see link to an Alphabetical listing below) and just choose the one that speaks most to you. Then try googling Google images using the song title. I have tried this with a couple and found some inspiring images emerge. I've included one in this blog that 'Bridge over troubled
water' found. - Choose your favourite album cover – visit the image bank of their album covers (link below) and choose the one that you are most attracted to. Then you can click on it and be taken to the album tracks so that you can listen to them. Let the album art inspire you – what colours, shapes, style does it suggest? How might they come into your beadwork?
- Choose one of their really hot singles from the USA Billboard Hot 100 singles list. That narrows your choice to just 16 songs. Then let your imagination run wild. What title intrigues you? Which one do you least know? Go with the unknown for a journey into creativity with your beading. Close your eyes when you listen to the song and see what shapes and colours flow.
- Scan the track list for each album (link below) and choose one that has the most unusual word in it that you know. Maybe that word could be in your beadwork.
- Scan the track list and think about the song that most reminds you of your favourite colour. Line up the beads you have in that colour, listen to the song and start beading.
- Print out the track list and stick a pin it – agree with yourself to use whatever song your pin lands on. Serendipity sometimes brings the most creative moments in our work.
- Take the Quiz below that tells you what Simon and Garfunkel song you are - it's fun and quick to do.
However you make your choice good luck with and I look forward to see the inspirational work that flows from Olga's inspirational theme.
Links to resources sites
- Images of all of the Simon and Garfunkel albums. When you click on the image it will take you to Amazon where you sample tracks from each album. http://www.simonandgarfunkel.com/albums.html
- An alphabetical list of their songs. http://sglyrics.myrmid.com/alphalist
- A Quiz to answer the question:Which Simon and Garfunkel song are you? http://sglyrics.myrmid.com/quiz.html
- A good brief biography of the duo and a list of Singles in the Billboard Hot 100 positions http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/Simon_%26_Garfunkel
- Track list for each album http://sglyrics.myrmid.com/contents.html
Music and creativity, they always come together!
ReplyDelete