VIDEO: Musician Turns Pet Portraits Into ‘Sympawnies’ to Honor the Memory of Furry Friends

An accomplished musician has made it his profession to turn animal portraits into unique symphonies in honor of loved pets.

Noam Oxman is a 31-year-old Jerusalem-based musician who also loves animals. He was born in Yuvalim in northern Israel. Leehe Oxman, his wife, rescued three street animals: an 8-year old and a 10-year-old. “momma’s boy” O’Malley, 6-year-old “fluffy cushion” Michael is a 7-year old feline. “runs the house” Mazie. This cat was the inspiration of Oxman’s first book. “sympawnies.”

Oxman attempted his first attempt early in 2021. His delight when an Oxman drawing of Mazie using musical staves turned into a lovely song was priceless. He is a true animal lover and uses his artist platform to share his messages of compassion and respect for all creatures. At least 20% of Sympawnies profits are donated to the care of over 100 cats living in his community.

You can listen to Sympawny No. 1 – Mazie:

(Courtesy o Noam Oxman/@sympawnies/Sympawnies)

The Epoch Times reported that Oxman, a musician who is also able to play the piano, told The Epoch Times. “draw a little bit,” He came up with several ideas to help create portraits of pets using his skills.

“I came up with several [ideas], including a portrait made of a spectrogram,” He stated. “But there was one thing that popped into my head and inspired me to eventually create portraits made of stylized notes: Bach’s handwriting. Bach wrote music almost as if he was drawing.”

Sympawnies was the first to go public for Oxman Facebook, InstagramAnd YouTube Commissions began rolling in.

Michael speaks. “sympawny”:

(Courtesy o Noam Oxman/@sympawnies/Sympawnies)

O’Malley is the cat’s owner “sympawny”:

(Courtesy o Noam Oxman/@sympawnies/Sympawnies)

Oxman has provided a list of portrait formats that vary according to the dimensions and details. “slightly different” Approach for every type of format

“However, they all start pretty much with the same preparation process,” He stated. “I read about the portrait’s subject in the description that my clients send me, look at the subject’s images, and try to get inspired before I make some decisions that will determine some significant aspects of the piece, such as the instrumentation, the tempo, and the musical style.”

Oxman usually begins with a portrait of his pet. “almost completely random notes” General time signatures or textures. Then, he transliterates these random notes onto the piano using Sibelius scoring software and then moves them around in order to create coherent music. A solo pianist or multi-instrument ensemble can create small- to medium-sized pieces.

“When working on my ensemble pieces, I love to use randomness to my advantage. It generates unexpected musical elements that I wouldn’t have come to otherwise,” Oxman claimed. “Randomness can be a very powerful creative tool in music and art in general.”

Oxman, however, prefers to draw while composing small-scale silhouettes for pets and larger pieces for solo piano because it allows him to be more random. “too messy.”

“I am a pianist,” He stated. “I sit at the piano and advance slowly from bar to bar, making sure every note fits both the image and the music.”

A typical commission takes between 2 days to 2 months depending on how complex it is. Oxman can work on many projects simultaneously. Some days the music is easy, others he has to struggle. A pet can help with this. “long, curly fur” can make the music complicated—but Oxman’s clients are always happy with the result.

“That, of course, brings me much joy,” The artist spoke. “Some of my clients express deep emotions when seeing and hearing their piece for the first time, especially when the piece is for a deceased best friend. One of the comments I will never forget was when a lady who commissioned a piece in memory of her deceased dog told me that she felt like I brought him back home to her.”

Making music has always been second nature to Oxman, who learned harmonica and piano and constantly played with intervals and harmonies as a child. Jazz inspired, Oxman began transcribing jazz melodies to piano music at age 11.