Malinowski’s Visualization of the Bach piece Fugue in A minor
This post references this YouTube video of one of Malinowski’s visualizations.
In their visualization, Malinowski is able to make what would otherwise be a purely auditory experience a visual journey as well, introducing an additional suspense as the viewer can see upcoming notes. Outside of the visualization’s entertainment value, it is actually quite helpful for helping untrained ears separate the instrument types.
Beginning and Variables
The first section of Malinowski’s visualization deals with a number of variables. The x and y positions are used to denote the pitch and position in time on the notes respectively, while color is used to separate different instrument types. Each note is denoted by a circle, the size of which shows the volume of the note. Between each note of an instrument type are lines which show the length of the note at the start of the line. When a note is played, the corresponding circle follows the line, gradually fading visually as the not fades auditorily. When no note is being played by that instrument type directly after the first, the circle instead decreases in size, with its rate of decrease matching the note’s length.
Saccadic Rectangles
Around two and a half minutes in, we shift to a less flowing piece of the music and the visualization shifts to accomodate this change, with rectangles to show the saccadic changes in notes. In this section, the heights of the rectangles are uniform, corresponding to the notes being played at the same volume.
Merging the Two Styles
Around the four minute mark, the two visualization styles of flowing circles and saccadic rectangles merge to reflect the gradual addition of smoother instrument sounds.
Finale
The final notes of the piece are shown both by the circle decreasing in size and a rectangle of length correspomding to the length of the note. This finale completes the merge of visualization styles.