Jodie White & Steven McChesney
Bio: Jodie is a jack of many trades form piano technician, pianist, hornist, and music teacher, to name a few. She has been interested in painting a piano and decided that once the opportunity presented itself she would give it a go. Jodie is also one of the co-founders the Works of Mason Exhibition, or WME, which strengthens the connection between music and art here at Fredonia.
Title of Work: Polka Dot Piano
Description: I plan to cover the piano with the smallest dots of every color available. Only one dot will be different? Will you be able to find it?
Why want to participate: Fredonia is my current home. I have completed two degrees here and I would love to give something back to this wonderful community I have come to know. It would bring me great joy to see my piano played by the contra dancers from the Fredonia Grange, the many faces that come in to town to enjoy the Chautauqua County Fair in mid July, the farmers and their families from the Fredonia Farmers Market on Saturdays, the many Fredonia Central School kids who I have been honored and thankful to substitute teach this past year, and the diverse campus community of students and professors of SUNY Fredonia.
How do you hope to benefit from this project, both professional and personally: Personally, this project would challenge my ability to concentrate for long periods of time. There is a lot of space to cover on the piano and painting small dots of the same size is not a quick task. I believe this project would be fun as well as therapeutic. It would also be a personal goal for me where I could, for the first time, be allowed to paint on piano. As a piano technician, we try to preserve pianos not paint them. Professionally, I find this project would help me most in my ability to concentrate on the small details and not rush while practicing the _piano. When learning piano, there are so many things to think about. For Example: What is the most optimal movement needed to get to the next note with the least amount of tension possible? What do I want to convey to the audience? How do I memorize this passage? etc. It is important to remember and extremely easy to forget that although there are so many things to do and remember when learning piano music, things can only be done one note, phrase, or dot at a time. Single notes do not create music. It is all of the notes together that bring out the vastness of sound. Similarly, it is not ab_out the individual dots. It is about the time taken to place each dot in its place, so that when you step away you see the magnificent array of colors. And as for the hidden Mickey Mouse ears, everyone has a part of them that is a little different, even pianos. It is important to find your difference and embrace it.