Do people stay up at night thinking up these challenges?? WoW! This one is difficult. But, if I were doing this one, I'd use red as my accent color and make log cabin blocks. Put the red in the center and graduate light to dark values as I work my way out. Then, a thin musical border, a red border and larger musical border again.
Can't wait to see what you do with this. How long do you have to get your creation done? And, keep us posted.