If you have five minutes to spare, listen to this episode of the BBC World Service programme The Srand on music from Iceland, and specifically to the segment which starts at 11.20. In it, composer Hafdis Bjarnadottir explains how she has written a piece of music based on a knitting pattern. Taking a chart for a lace shawl, Hafdis has translated both its colours and stitch sequences into sections of the orchestra, notes, chords, rests and so on. If you were a speedy knitter, could you knit the shawl in time to the music, I wonder, and along the same lines, I'd love to know what music might emerge if based on the colours and rhythms of a fine piece of Fair Isle.
By the way, for more on knitting in Iceland, see this post.
I heard this too. Wonderful!
Posted by: Georgina | 18 March 2013 at 06:02 PM
The programme as a whole was very interesting, but what a clever idea to interpret a set of instructions for one medium in another very different one.
Posted by: Cornflower | 18 March 2013 at 09:09 PM
Fascinating! Thank you for this.
Posted by: Freda | 18 March 2013 at 09:46 PM
You're welcome, Freda.
Posted by: Cornflower | 18 March 2013 at 10:35 PM
Thanks for that link! What an interesting segment.
Posted by: MelD | 19 March 2013 at 08:07 AM
Hafdis sounds like a very engaging person, doesn't she?
Posted by: Cornflower | 19 March 2013 at 09:20 AM
I've tried posting this 4 times now and it always gets deleted!!!
You might find this interesting!
http://ro.uow.edu.au/era/348/
Posted by: Dark Puss | 19 March 2013 at 11:46 AM
Thankyou for the link.
(I've no idea why your comment wasn't published first time - very strange!)
Posted by: Cornflower | 19 March 2013 at 01:52 PM