Final Reflection

We finally finished our abstract functional peacock! After weeks of constructing, painting, gluing and facing a number of challenges we managed to complete our project. On Wednesday we finally assembled the whole peacock and on Sunday it will go on  display in the high school foyer. I'm really excited for our project to be shown as I am extremely proud of it. Our group has come a long way and after many weeks of arguments, laughs, failures but certainly successes. From the initial PowerPoint all the to actually displaying our peacock, we have come to the end of our music journey in year 9.

Our Final Product

Success

I must say that this project was extremely successful as the project actually WORKED! In my opinion this was the best project I have ever created in any art and music class. I personally think our entire group put in a lot of effort with the whole creation and no one was left out or had nothing to do. A success of ours was the our team work and collaboration skills as we wisely split up different jobs for each group member.  For example, if I was in charge of building the tail, ATM would be spray painting the boxes, Michail would be creating the music and Aria would be painting the head; no one was ever left out . Another success was our communication skills. If we had problem we would ask for help, we shared our ideas and listened to others, not judging them but being open minded and taking them into consideration. We even created a WhatsApp group so we could communicate out of school to share pictures, information or reminders for the next day. Our time management skills were good as we planned out time wisely and for each lesson, we had certain aims and goals that we had to complete. The tail was the first thing we had to finish - we gave ourselves 2/3 weeks to finish it and we repsected the deadline. We never fell behind with our work and even if we had an obstacle or if there was a problem, we would solve it in the lesson so that next lesson we wouldn't have to worry about it. We brought all the material we needed on time, so that during lessons we wouldn't have nothing to do. Meanwhile, not only was the artistic side of our project a success, so was the music. The music that Michail had created sounded beautiful and represented our sculpture really well. The music and sounds that played from under the box fit the whole theme of the project and reflected the idea behind the peacock. Whilst sounding very delicate and nature like, it also was very abstract and unusual. In addition all the musical elements that we had originally planned for the peacock to have worked and functioned really well. The music coming out from the golden box played, the tail created abstract sounds with the bells and metals clashing against each other and lastly the 'guitar' strings (which turned out to be elastic bands) created a fitting sound effect for the peacock. Overall the main success was the whole project. It turned out to be colourful, fun and fits exactly the target audience (children). It reflects the aim of recycling, abstract art and functional sculpture.

Challenges

There were several challenges that we faced as a group and as individuals. For example, we faced several challenges/ obstacles when actually putting all the pieces of the peacock together. We didn't know how to attach the tail of the peacock to the big golden box, since we obviously couldn't stick it as the tail was too heavy and the glue wouldn't work. We were stuck on what to do, so we asked Ms Jewanjee and she suggested that we use nails to attach the plastic top of the tail to the box. We used several nails and after a lot of screwing, the tail was attached. It was very secure and didn't detach itself from the box. Another problem we had was when ATM and Aria started spray painting the box, because the colours they were using and the texture wasn't nice and completely ruined all the boxes. So we had to restart again, cut the big box again and spray paint them. However this time, we borrowed golden spray paint from the art department and Aria took the boxes home to finish spray painting. A main problem which I have mentioned in my weekly updates was the guitar strings in the box. The issue with that idea was that we didn't realise that guitars or violins needed a certain piece at the end of the strings for them to play. We clearly didn't have that so we had to use a different material instead. Aria came up with the idea of placing the strings horizontally, vertically and diagonally to form an abstract look. Instead of using guitar strings, we used elastic bands that when stretched out, still create a sound. We had problem with the head being too heavy and the neck being too thick so we placed rocks on the bottom of the big box to balance out the weight. We had a last minute issue with the music not playing on the speaker as it wasn't connecting to Michail's iPad. The music teacher suggested that we had to change the file format to mp3, which I had previously done so I could upload the music onto my blog. Also to bring a spare speaker on the day we had to display our sculptures, in case the original speaker wouldn't work. There were more personal challenges that also had to face during the creation of the sculpture. Examples of these were if you had an idea but the group didn't like it and thought it was bad, then you had to deal with it and forget about it. This could hurt certain people's feelings, even though we tried to be really nice when rejecting an idea. Another one was that when we started assembling the peacock, some the parts weren't sticking or staying in their place. As this occurred several times, especially for me, I got really frustrated and angry but I had to be positive and logical solve the problem.

Improvements

There are a few things that we could improve on our project if we were to do it again. For instance, the head of the peacock, kind of looked like a swan, with the white neck and the orange beak. Next time, we would certainly make the neck and head smaller, maybe paint them a different colour and make the beak smaller and more petite. Instead of using the grey material we used for the body, I would be curious to see if using a Styrofoam ball would give the same effect and would still work. Lastly I would probably change the way the body was made, maybe make it more round, rather than an oval shape and what I really didn't like about the peacock was the ugly extra material and excessive flowers below the neck. So I would certainly find a way to fix that.

Art & Music

I think this term, Art and Music collaborated really well. Even though it was a challenging project to make something functional, we managed to achieve that goal. We made a good decision when choosing our group as we had a girl and a boy from music and a girl and a boy from art. Not only that, but each of us had skills that we could share and use in creating the project. For example Aria is really creative and can draw really well, so she did the sketches and came up with most of the solutions. I am quite bossy and like to be in control of things so I took control of the team and told each of them what to do and managed the group. Michail is really good with electronics and technology, that's why he created the music using garage band on his iPad. Whilst ATM is really good at physically building things, so a lot of the time, he was in charge of sticking things on or spray painting. We had a good balance between art and music in our project, as we had 3 musical elements in the peacock - the music coming out of the box, the strings in the box and the wind chime tail. Even though our peacock may not have looked exactly like a peacock and wasn't perfect, we made it abstract and very colourful. We got several compliments from different students stating how they loved our peacock and thought it was a really creative way having built it like that. In addition the story that goes with our sculpture is really sweet and especially an inspirational message for anyone around the world.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this peacock, I worked with the people I had never worked with before and created new memories with friends. It was an interesting and enjoyable task. 

Finalising the Last Parts of Penny the Peacock

This was the final week in music constructing our functional audio sculpture. Since it was due on Wednesday, our plan was to finish constructing and finalising all the individual parts of the peacock on Monday so that on Wednesday we would put them all together.

In Monday's lesson, Aria and Michail finished tying up the strings to the box and securing them whilst ATM and I stuck the head of the peacock in the body. However that part we found EXTREMELY challenging. Our original idea was the stick the head with super glue, making sure that it wouldn't fall but when we tried, the glue took way too long to dry and it wouldn't stick. After that disappointment, we tried using hot glue, yet the same thing happened and the head wasn't sticking because it weighed too much so the head kept falling. Our last option was to make the neck as thick as the can so that it would be 'stuck' in the body. To make this, I firstly inserted the neck in the can too see how much of the neck I had to cover with tape. Using masking tape, I taped the bottom part of the neck around 7 times, until the neck fit inside the can without it falling. Just to make sure that the neck would certainly be secured we filled the bottom of the can with small rocks so the weight of the body balanced out with the heavy tail.

Our next focus was the green base. I had gone to Daiso the day before to buy some fake plants and flowers. So in the lesson, I started cutting up some leaves and flowers and positioned them on the green box. My greatest worry was if the flowers wouldn't stick as we were using glue gun. However I had nothing to worry about. It looked really nice and it fit the whole theme of our project - a lot of greenery and flowers. This is what it looked like.

Lastly, the final part of our project was the assembling. I was terrified! I had the fear that the body of the peacock was too heavy and it wouldn't stick on the golden box. Basically since the moment we started the project, I feared that the peacock wouldn't work and that everything would be a mess. But I had nothing to worry about! We attached the body on the horizontal golden box using glue and held it on for a couple of seconds. Then we placed the big box with the peacock on it, on top of the small golden box where the speaker would later be placed. We didn't stick them together as we still had to place the speaker in the small box. The last part of the assembling was placing the whole project on the green box. Aria and I had a feeling that the whole project would be too heavy for the green box to hold, however it didn't break or fall. The green box was strong enough to hold the peacock.

Transforming the Box and Building the Peacock

During this week our main focus was the music. As most of the peacock had been constructed and finalised, the last parts of our project was the musical elements. We were all a bit nervous to see if the speaker and guitar strings would work. In the first lesson, our focus was to check if all the boxes would fit on top of each other and most importantly if we were able to listen to the music through the speaker. I was so fortunate to receive a speaker as a prize in the Tech Fair as we really needed one for our project.Luckily it was the perfect size!

We cut open the small gold box using scissors (I even cut my finger open haha). I connected the speaker using Bluetooth from my phone and opened the music file. The music played beautifully! We placed the speaker in the box and closed it, however the music didn't sound very clear. To solve the problem we cut out two wholes in the box and poked small wholes on one side of it. Clearly the poked side of the box will be the back side. When displaying our peacock, we will be using a school iPad and connect it to Bluetooth to play the music as I REALLY don't trust leaving my phone there is display.

In the second lesson of the week we focused on the guitar strings on the box, however we had a very big problem. We couldn't tie the strings of the guitar because they would be strong enough. Aria and I asked Ms for help but she made us realise that for a guitar to work it needed a little piece at the end where the strings were attached. Obviously we didn't have that so we had to think of another plan. Also we had already made wholes in the box so we had to come up with a solution that would cover those ugly wholes in the box.

We came up with the idea of using rubber bands, as they would have a lot more resistance in them. In addition to that Aria had the genius idea to place them horizontally, vertically and slanted to make the box look abstract. As soon as we attached the strings, our box finally looked good. The rubber bands worked and they even created sound. We poked wholes in the sides of the box and tied each end to them. In the next lesson, we are planning to stick bells on the strings to create an even stronger sound.

In the second lesson, Michail and ATM worked on the body of the peacock. We listened to Ms Jewanjee's advice and placed a metal can in the whole we made for the neck of the peacock to give it more support. I was worried the can would be too big but the whole was big enough. They covered the can with the same material we build the body with and spray painted it white. However during the process of spray painting it, the spray paint ran out and there was no more white. Fortunately though ATM had covered most of the material in white so it didn't look bad. The teacher also advised us to bring small rocks to put in the can so the head would not move and remain quite high and not sink in the can.

Starting to Put Everything Together!

This week was the most challenging till now as we attached all the strings to the lid, and after that we attached it to the box. However when we started attaching the strings to the lid, we found out that it was very heavy and the box is very light. As the tail will be on one side only, all the weight will be towards that side. Also we had the dilemma of how to attach it, because the lid needed to be attached to the box as well as the peacock. In the end we poked nails in the lid and poked them in the box, using a screwdriver we screwed the nails through the box so it was secure and didn't move. We attached the strings to the lid by poking holes in it with a protractor and sliding the strings through it. Then tying the strings on the other end and using a glue gun to make it extra attached and making sure they wouldn't fall off.

Aria made the beak using plastic bag and tape - the same method we used to create the head.

The guys decorated the head of the peacock by creating a little crown out of feathers and bells - which also adds to the musical element of the sculpture. I added two beads for the eyes and when the beak will be finished, we will attach it was the mouth and the head will be completed next week.

We also realised that the whole sculpture will be very heavy and will need extra support so to solve that we will be adding another box on the bottom which will be decorated with fake leaves and flowers to resemble a graden. Michail and I started painting it but it was going to take too many coats of paint for it to be fully covered, so we decided to tape the whole box with masking tape which is easier to paint over. Next week we will be finishing.

We completed the music that will be playing from the speakers in the box. The music consists of a melody based of different instruments such as piano and guitar with a mix of peacock sounds added in using garage band. The music is a tropical abstract melody which represents the theme and the sculpture of our project. . Here is the final music:

Spray Painting the Body and the Box

When spray painted the body and the boxes during the lesson. There will be two boxes since the big vertical one will have holes in it for the strings, we needed a second one to balance the whole sculpture out as well as to put in the rocks and stereo for the music. We went downstairs near the rainbow corridor to spray paint the boxes. We spray painted the body white, however it didn't completely turn white as some of the 'wires' was still kept white. Even though, in the beginning it was annoying because we wanted it completely white, in the end, it actually created a really nice effect. ATM had brought green and red spray paint as well as this textured paint. We decided to spray paint the bottom box green and the top box with the textured paint. Unfortunately though, the textured paint didn't work out and it turned out horribly. So to resolve that issue, we changed the box and took another box and will spray paint it gold instead. So Aria, took it home and spray painted. Now it looks so much better and very clean.

Completing the Head & Starting the Body

During this week we completed the head and started the body. We came to the conclusion that using paper mache would've taken too long so we used modroc instead. We started the head last week, however since it needed to dry, we did the second layer in this lesson. The head of the peacock is very hard and sturdy which is exactly what we wanted, however now we are worried that it will be too heavy when we will go and assemble the whole sculpture, it will fall. This is the completed head (we still need to add the decoration on the top, beak and its eyes.

Instead of using a Styrofoam ball, ATM found this grey wire type of material that is easy to mold into a shape, so that is what we will be using to create the body of the peacock. Since its grey, we will be spray painting the body white. The only downside to using that material is that the guitar strings will be stuck onto the box instead of the body and also the body turned out quite fat which I don't really like. However most of my group likes it so the majority wins. I took pictures of the body but some images got lost so I can't post any.

Finishing the Tail and Starting the Head

This week my group completed the tail by creating around 15 decorated strings. Our idea of creating sound worked, as a lot of the materials consisted of beads, bells, plastic and keys. The only materials that wont create sound are the feathers because they are just for decoration. Here are the finished strings:

After finishing the tail we started the head of the peacock. We created it by using plastic bags and shaping it like a head, once we were happy with the shape and taped it all together we used modroc with water to smoothen out the rough edges and harden the head so it looks professional.

Creating the Tail

As this was the last week of term 2, Aria was absent so the whole group wasn't here to discuss goals and deadlines. However in the lesson, Michail worked on the music using garage band on his iPad as we figured out mixcraft would be too complicated. Meanwhile ATM and I worked on the tail. We cut out different sizes of the bead string and using the glue gun we stuck on a mix of materials trying to recreate the pieces of the wind chime. It was really fun as ATM and I had a nice conversation whilst creating them. At the end of the lesson, we sent Aria the pictures of the tail and she really liked them. Here is a picture of what we created during the lesson:

Next Term we will be completing the tail an the rest of the body.

Our Idea

Our idea is to create a 3D abstract peacock in which the tail and the box will be the musical elements by incorporating the concept of recycling as well as abstract art. It will be a functional sculpture with a piece of music, composed by Michail and I, coming out of it as well as a sound based melody from the peacock's tail. The sculpture is targeted towards children as it encourages recycling at the same time demonstrates to children how you can re use plastic and paper to create something beautiful and colourful. The peacock is going to be separated into two important parts of this special type of bird: the tail and the stand. The tail is going to symbolize a wind chime made using recycled materials that with wind will create unusual sounds. Whilst inside the stand there will be a speaker projecting the music created by the music students.

Materials:

Since our project is based around re using materials, many of the components to our peacock will be made from recycled materials

• Styrofoam ball
• Newspaper
• Tape
• Metal/ Plastic caps
• Soda cans
• plastic spoons
• beads
• bells
• keys
• invisible string
• rocks
• paint
• feathers
• soda cans
• flour and water for paper mache
• glue gun
• lid
• spray paint

Music

The music plays a different role twice in the peacock sculpture. It's first appearance is in the wind chime. All the materials such as plastic, metal, bells, beads etc. all create sounds when they collide against each other. Even though the sound created by these materials, may not be pleasant and chaotic to the ears, people still consider it music. For the chime to work there needs to be wind or a physical touch. The second appearance is in the cylinder building where the peacock will be placed on. Inside the building there will be a speaker playing a tune composed by the music students. It will consist of a background melody played by a piano or a guitar and during the piano is playing there will be a peacock and bird sounds. We may also include forest noises. This will be created using mixcraft.

Sketch 1

Sketch 2

PowerPoint Presentation & Proposal

During this term of Music, we will have the task to produce a sculpture which creates sounds and music. The sculpture can be based off an animal, an object or a person however the main challenge will be figuring out how to transform it in a musical piece and give the sculpture life. I had to choose a group that I would be comfortable with and know that they would work hard, be independent and creative. The group needed 2 music students and 2 art students, however there had to be mix of both boys and girls which I find fair and very interesting as sometimes I find that working with an opposite, you not only work better but have more creative ideas as they think differently than you. My group consists of Michail and I, the music students, and Aria and ATM, the art students.  We have around 10 weeks to complete an abstract and functioning project and present it to the class.

The task this week was to create a PowerPoint presentation about 2 artists and 2 musicians that created sculptures which produced sounds and music. We had to show examples of their work, how they created their sculpture and the materials they used and link all the information to our idea and how we will used it when creating and constructing our model. The second part of the PowerPoint consists of our proposal and our idea for how we will be creating the sculpture. We will inform the class on the materials, the original idea and sketches for a more visual understanding, the link between artists and our project as well as how we are going to make it functional and the music behind the sculpture.

We presented our PowerPoint to the class, and got some excellent feedback from my peers and teachers. They liked the way, we had a variety of media such as videos, pictures, sketches, music and sound samples. We were well informed on our  information and no one read off the board which is always a sign of great understanding. To improve our presentation, we had to have less writing on each slide and not repeat the same points over and over again. However our presentation was well presented and I am very proud of my team.

Here is our presentation: