Off the Staff

Seeing music

I can't read music but I can parse it. The talent of reading music has always escaped me which is a little ironic considering I grew up in a musical family. However, I've always enjoyed how sheet music looks so I took a shot at visualizing the notes from musical scores and the result is this series of posters. How they were made »

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**Allegro**
*Eine kleine Nachtmusik, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart*

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**Allegro con brio**
*Symphony No. 5, Ludwig van Beethoven*

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**Canon in D**
*Johann Pachelbel*

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**The Four Seasons**
*Antonio Vivaldi*

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**The Four Seasons: Autumn**
*Antonio Vivaldi*

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**The Four Seasons: Spring**
*Antonio Vivaldi*

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**The Four Seasons: Summer**
*Antonio Vivaldi*

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**The Four Seasons: Winter**
*Antonio Vivaldi*

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**Hallelujah**
*Messiah, George Frideric Handel*

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**Symphonie fantastique**
*Hector Berlioz*

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**William Tell Overture**
*Gioachino Rossini*

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Black and white

Some scores were composed only for one instrument so only a black and white version was made for them.

**Für Elise**
*Ludwig van Beethoven*

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**Goldberg Variations**
*Johann Sebastian Bach*

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**La Cathédrale Engloutie**
*Claude Debussy*

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**Moonlight**
*Sonata No. 14, Ludwig van Beethoven*

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**Prélude**
*Cello Suite No. 1, Johann Sebastian Bach*

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**Rondo Alla Turca (Turkish March)**
*Piano Sonata No. 11, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart*

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**Toccata and Fugue in D Minor**
*Johann Sebastian Bach*

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How they were made

Each dot represents a note in the score. Pitch is indicated by the distance from the center of the image, while the time at which the note occurs is given by the angle from the 12 o'clock position. The size of the dot indicates the duration of the note, and the color of the dot is different for each instrument. The colors of the dots are different for each instrument, and are selected from a complementary palette designed to reflect the theme of the piece.

Scores for single instruments use a single color. See Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star for a simple example below.

How images for single instruments were made

Scores for multiple instruments use color as an added dimension to differentiate instruments. See the variation on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star below. Single color versions are also available.

How images for multiple instruments were made

Continue reading » More about how they were made including early versions and tools used.

Sources

Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 MuseScore
La Cathédrale Engloutie MuseScore
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Mvt. I. Allegro (Full Score) MuseScore
The Four Seasons (Complete) MuseScore
FUR ELISE MuseScore
Goldberg Variations (A=440Hz) MuseScore
Messiah| No.44: Hallelujah MuseScore
J. S. Bach - Cello Suite n° 1 BWV 1007 - 1. Prélude MuseScore
Pachelbel's Canon-original MuseScore
Rondo Alla Turca (Turkish March) MuseScore
Sonata No. 14, Op. 27, No. 2 - Ludwig van Beethoven MuseScore
Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz): Mvt. 1 "Rêveries - Passions" - arranged for concert band MuseScore
Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz): Mvt. 2 "Un Bal" - arranged for concert band MuseScore
Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz): Mvt. 3 "Scène aux champs" - arranged for concert band MuseScore
Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz): Mvt. 4 "Marche au supplice" - arranged for concert band MuseScore
Symphonie fantastique (Berlioz): Mvt. 5 "Songe d'une nuit du sabbat" - arranged for concert band MuseScore
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor BWV 565 By J.S. Bach MuseScore
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star MuseScore
Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star (Suzuki Book 1) MuseScore
William Tell Overture MuseScore

Press

A Designer Reimagined Classic Music Scores as Colorful Data Visualizations, September 8, 2016, Slate
See Classical Music Scores Re-Imagined As Colorful Art, September 8, 2016, SheetMusicDirect
Klassische Musik als Datenvisualisierungen, September 8, 2016, Nerdcore
Check out what some great compositions look like in pictures, September 19, 2016, CMUSE
Showcase, September 21, 2016, Information is Beautiful Awards 2016 Longlist, shortlist
Classical music visualized, October 5, 2016, FlowingData
Seeing Music, October 5, 2016, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Stories
Off the Staff, November 12, 2016, Staccato, KMFA
The 45 Most Creative Infographics of 2016, November 29, 2016, Column Five, also Visual News
Seeing Music, December 7, 2016, Brands of Tomorrow
Best of the visualisation web... October 2016, December 9, 2016, Visualising Data
WIRED Magazine, December 2016 issue
Infoporn: Sprawling graphics help you 'see' how beautiful the music in Vivaldi's Four Seasons is, December 15, 2016, WIRED UK

Off the Staff

An experiment in visualizing notes from music scores

$27.80 / 24″ × 36″

Seeing music

Black and white

How they were made

Sources

Press

More work