The Project: The Song Painting is the culiminating project in the Technology 1 Fireworks Unit, where the student puts all that they have learned about Fireworks and graphic art into a final project that shows their very best work.

The Song: Before starting, the student must locate the lyrics of a song which has meaning to them. This song should be a song that invokes feeling, memories, colors and sounds whenever you hear it. Don’t settle for the latest Rap Hit or Hot Artist of the Month. Please use the website called songmeanings.com to locate the lyrics for your song. You will also use the website for researching the meaning of the song.

This is a TWO PART project. In the first part, the student will analyze the song and its lyrics and attempt to figure out what the song means. In addition, the student will think about the feelings and imagery that the song invokes when listened to.

PART ONE: Song Meaning Worksheet.

Open the songmeanings.com webpage to your song. Review the lyrics. Listen to the song if you can.

(Most music websites are likely blocked on our network, so listening through your computer might be difficult. If your phone has Pandora, last.fm, Spotify or a similar app, you might try that. If necessary, listen to the song at home.   Just because you can't listen to your song in the Tech Lab DOES NOT mean you don't have to complete this project!)

Read the message boards on songmeanings.com discussing the meaning of the song. 

Then, complete Mr. B.'s Song Meaning Worksheet. This is an online form that asks a number of questions about your song. Fill in each blank. Please use complete sentences and paragraphs on the longer sections of the form. When you "SUBMIT" the form, the results of your work will be compiled and sent to Mr. B. for grading. YOU MUST COMPLETE EACH QUESTION OR YOU CANNOT SUBMIT THE FORM! This part of the project is worth 100 points towards the final project score, please take it VERY seriously.

PART TWO: The Song Painting.

Getting Started: Create a folder on your network space called “lastname_song_painting.” Save all original files including your final product file to this folder.

The Project: Next, the student will use their ALL of their Fireworks skill and their understanding of the lyrics of their song to illustrate their music. This should include, but not be limited to:

The student will try to recreate the meaning and the mood of the song as best they can with color, shape, lines, photographs, etc.

There are no right or wrong solutions here, as long as the student conveys their understanding and feelings about the music on their canvas and fully demonstrates their Fireworks skills in the meantime. YOU MUST INCLUDE AS MANY OF THE ABOVE SKILLS AS POSSIBLE TO RECEIVE A HIGH GRADE ON THIS WORK!.

Labelling Your Artwork: Please place your NAME and the YEAR in the lower right hand corner of your artwork. Use small fonts!

Sample Projects from Years Gone By: There are a couple of galleries of Song Paintings from years gone by in the highlandtechnology.org student gallery. Here is one from the Technology Classes of 2007-2008 and here is one from the Technology Classes of 2008-2009.

In addition, Mr. B. has saved a .PNG file of his "Eye of the Hurricane" Song Painting that you can review if you wish. You can use the Layer Eyeballs to turn on the layers to demonstrate some of the possible techniques you could use on this project.

A Word of Warning About This Project: This is the culminating project that should demonstrate ALL of your creativity and skill with the Fireworks program. If you "crank out" some piece of "artwork" in 3 minutes for this project and think you are done, you are mistaken. Such an effort will almost certainly result in a failing grade.

Grading This Project: This part of the assignment is worth 200 points and will be judged on creativity (50 points), work ethic (50 points), demonstration of Fireworks skills (50 points) and quality of the final product (50 points). A work that is submitted WITHOUT the proper name and year label in the bottom right hand corner will automatically receive a 20 point deduction to their grade!