Tree

The Sound of Picture Books

Introduction

For Matt creativity is creativity. He’s never made much of a distinction between painting and writing music, and from his earliest memories he has always created music in his imagination. It seemed natural that he would eventually be a composer as well as an artist and author. To help people understand his creative process, and to give them an insight into the way words, images, and music can be combined to create a far greater and richer sensory experience, Matt devised The Sound of Picture Books.

The Sound of Picture Books is a series of unique intermodal workshops/performances, featuring music composed by Matt, that bring the published books Matt has either collaborated on, or written and illustrated himself, to life through a journey of sound and imagery, working with various music ensembles nationally and internationally.

Below is a trailer from one of the 2023 Sound of Picture Books performances of Afloat in Venice by Tina Wilson, performed by members of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra at The Literature Centre. 

Workshops/Performances

The Sound of Picture Books provide students of all ages, and adults with an innovative learning experience that leaves them excited about the boundless possibilities of music, art and literature. Each performance ranges from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours and is tailored to the specific audiences’ needs, so the same show can be adapted for young children, family groups, older children or for adults.

Below are two videos that provide a brief overview. The first is from a performance of “Tree” in 2014 with WASO, the Literature Centre and Yamaha. The second is a snippet from the “Parachute” DVD. Both books were written by Danny Parker and he was instrumental in helping create the original format of the workshops.

In many of the performances Matt is fortunate to work with the author, to provide further insights into the creative processes involved in creating picture books.

The Inspiration

In 2007 Matt composed music to accompany his award-winning book Requiem for a Beast, which was the beginning of something special for him. Matt was surprised to find that people assumed that he wrote the music after writing and illustrating the book, but in fact it was the other way around. The pictures and layout for the book all came directly out of the musical score. For Matt, music and images are integral aspects of the same thing.

Often Matt’s drawings and paintings begin from musical compositions in his head and he turns these into artworks, other times a drawing inspires notes and arrangements for a specific piece of music. Matt has been told that this is rather unusual, but it is something he has been doing all his life.

The Sound of Picture Books Scores

Matt has composed and performed music for the following books as part of The Sound of Picture Books initiative:

Performance Schedule (upcoming & previous)

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