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Matthew Skjonsberg

POLYCHROMATICISM (carillon)

-86.171954, 39.843087

POLYCHROMATICISM, a term coined by Matthew Skjonsberg, for this original work created for the Canal, one of Indianapolis’s six waterways, and the only one that is human-made. This work was composed to be performed on the Butler University carillon organ (an organ that contains 23 or more bells and is the second heaviest musical instrument after a pipe organ). Polychromaticism as a concept is comprised of the adjective pol·y·chrome (ˈpäliˌkrōm/) to mean painted, printed, or decorated in several colors, and the noun, chro·mat·i·cism (kroʊˈmæt əˌsɪz əm) to mean the use of the chromatic scale or chromatic halftones in musical compositions. Polychrome is related to visual art and is often used in architecture to describe historic modes of multicolored ornamentation, notably those of historic Egyptian and Greek traditions. Chromaticism, is related to music, addressing the use of the full range of the chromatic scale. The combination of these terms conveys the deep relationship between the visual and aural and is represented in POLYCHROMATICISM through this wave-based composition.

• Duration: 02:52

• Year: 2015

• Commissioned by: National Science Foundation