Robert P. Taylor's Musicians: Reflections of Music Making

Humans have always created visual images of their defining interactions and events, to underscore their importance to the people involved. The four drawings imbedded in the text here as thumbnails are examples. The 4500 year-old granite statue (top left) from the tomb complex of Pharoah Menkare was carved to reflect that culture's beliefs about interaction with humans and gods in life and afterlife. The 4000 year-old, carving of a seated Gudea (top right), ruler of the Mesopotamian city of Lagash, was created to record his judicial power and accomplishments, summarily noted in text carved into his robe. The 2500 year old Greek vase painting of a young woman playing a double flute at a drinking festival (lower left), was created to signify the importance of such events in that society. The 3000 year old Egyptian tomb painting of a young woman making music with a stringed instrument (bottom right) was included in the tomb to underscore the importance of the tomb's occupant. These four images are fairly representative in that the first two focus on events or "official moments" and the latter two on slightly more spontaneous interaction.
 
Musicians is a digital extension of this tradition of creating images to record events and associated encounters, one that focuses on contemporary musicians experiencing these events and encounters. The 320 drawings it is based upon were made over six years, and cover music making in a variety of venues by a variety of musicians. Together, they reflect the events themselves (concerts and scheduled performances) and the associated encounters among the musicians that sprang from participation in the events (the encounters are sometimes in performance, sometimes in rehearsals and and sometimes in waits between performances). The site presupposes that rapid sketches done on-the-spot can convey a dimension of the life-defining process of participation in such music making that complements performer vitas, published programs, photographs, CD audio recordings, or other records of it.