INTRODUCTION

BEING THE ANALOGIZING OF: SONIA AND LUMIA IN GENERAL, & MUSIC AND VUSIC IN PARTICULAR

BY: J.C.ALLISON

INTRODUCTION

SONIA is: The Art of SOUND.

LUMIA is: The Art of LIGHT.

The following is an analogy that makes the correspondence between SONIA & LUMIA.

The purpose of this analogy is: To make clear the relationship between SOUND and LIGHT in the making of VUSIC (Visual MUSIC), which is but one kind of LUMIA.

VUSIC is done by a small, but ever growing group of VUSICIANS, biographies of whom are to be found at this site.There are also two pages of links to WebPages of other VUSICIANS and VUSIC instruments: Inventors, Designers, Producers, and others, who by whatever interest, are also part of this small, but ever growing group of VUSICIANS

SONIA may NOT be an already generally accepted term for the Art of SOUND in general, but for the purpose of this exposition, the Art of SOUND will be called SONIA. and the Art of LIGHT will be called LUMIA

These terms can be used whenever one is thinking about the subject and one will know what they mean from now on.

There are obviously many different uses of SOUND, some of them Artistic. One of the kinds, or types of SONIA is MUSIC.

There are obviously many different uses of LIGHT, some of them Artistic. One of the kinds, or types of LUMIA is VUSIC.

It is in the pursuit of beauty that the Arts are done, which applies to VUSIC, as well as MUSIC.

The body of knowledge of MUSIC far outstrips the body of knowlege of VUSIC. This WebPage is an effort to, in some small way, close the gap, even if it is but a modest amount.

The concept is this: VUSIC is the making of images that are seen, simultaneously with the hearing of MUSIC. But instead of just being images that are made WHILE the MUSIC plays, the images are correspondent visual representations OF the MUSIC, made WHILE the MUSIC plays.

As one can readily distinguish the difference between the crash of a Cymbal, and the shrill whistle of a Piccolo, so one can distinguish the difference in the shape of the image that is representing the SOUND of the crashing Cymbal and the shape of the image that is representing the SOUND of the shrill, whistling Piccolo.

Add to this the making of the image to be the visual representation of not only the SOUND, but whatever the SOUND is doing and you have an even more complete correspondence.

This greater correspondence has the tendency to produce a state of mind that is mystical, enchanting, entrancing, and in some instances, mind-altering. And the closer the correspondence, the more mystical, enchanting, entrancing and mind-altering is the effect.

Herein lies the real appeal of VUSIC

The endeavor to make VUSIC has proven to be an enduring quest.

It has long been known that seeing the visual equivalent of whatever audio stimuli is being heard is not only educational and entertaining, but commonly leads to a very pleasant and sometimes "Mystical State of Mind" called "Synaesthesia".

The Artistic use of LIGHT and SOUND in order to produce this "Mystical State of Mind" (Synaesthesia) has been contemplated for over four centuries and probably longer than that, if one takes into consideration the intuitive quest, which was not specifically purposeful, but rather seemed to go wherever it could and so there came to be other genres of LUMIC Arts, such as: Stained Glass Windows; Gem Cutting; and Lighted Communications, such as: Neon and Back-LIGHT-ed Plexiglas Signs; Fireworks; Movies; Television; Holograms; LIGHT Organs; Show LIGHTing; and LIGHTSHOWS, using both Lasers and White-LIGHT projectors.

In the tradition of Athanasius Kircher, Isaac Newton, Bertrand Castel, Goethe, Thomas Wilfred, Mary Hallock Greenwalt, and others, all of whom were involved with not only the study of the physics of LIGHT, but also the use of LIGHT as an artistic medium, this exposition on the subject is meant to inform and inspire those who have the ability to perceive the analogy.

In pursuit of this goal, the following pages are the distillation of years of research, refinement, and implementation by the author and an immediate group of like-minded artists who have, with great effort, through good times and bad, endeavored to produce Artistic beauty using LIGHT as the medium or Artistic substance, in the same way that other Artists have used SOUND as a medium or artistic substance.

There have been times since 1967, when the endeavor was almost totally dormant, and there have also been times when it looked as if the total realization of the goal was in sight. Alas, all of these good and bad times were but mirages... for the endeavor is ubiquitous to every age.

Many taking up the quest have occasionally thought that they had finally reached the goal due to making some advancement in the production of LUMIA in general and VUSIC in particular, when in actuality the goal is still out ahead of the effort, just as the goal of using SOUND has at times produced what seemed like the ultimate expression, only to find that new discoveries in technology, technique, and comprehension have relegated those "ultimate expressions" to the archives of "dated expressions".

Each "new" advance thus becomes a "style" of MUSIC related in the minds of men to a certain period of history.

This is as true of MUSIC as it is of VUSIC. Listen to the MUSIC of the Beatles and one hears the datedness of it as much as one hears the datedness of the MUSIC of Alan Adale or Jubal.

We are presently living in a very exciting time for those engaging in the pursuit of this goal of creating beauty out of LIGHT, because this is the first time in the history of man that the ability to produce LIGHT has been made relatively easy and coupled with another first in the history of man, we have the technology that makes it possible to record the results of the efforts of the VUSICIAN.

We are going to discuss a number of different aspects of this very interesting and almost virginal subject. We get to coin terms, we get to define them, we... are getting ahead of our story...