A while back I was drinking and thinking with a good friend and we got on to the subject of perceiving different keys as being particular colours. OK a fairly odd idea I know but bear with me. The really odd thing was that we had the same colour in our heads for most keys!!!! When I found the scrawled list from that night the other day I suddenly wondered if this was a freaky coincidence or whether there was any more of it out there. And figured that you guys might be the ones to ask. I'll keep my colours to myself for now so as not to give any hints.
I haven't thought of keys as colours, but instead as being soft or hard, rounded or angular. For instance, Bb to me has always been a soft, warm, rounded key.
Well, there you go.
E, F & C would have to be really vivid bright colours. I've must admit, I've never thought of keys in such terms - it sounds like thinking like these may be verging on experiencing synthaesia (the condition - not the band).
Julia - would you happen to be a box & flute-player, with a partner called David?
Ron P
In the words of the legendary song - two out of three ain't bad
But that may not help........
In fact its two out of three on both counts - spooky eh?
It depends, but if I think of only the letter itself, not the sound of the key that the letter represents, it would be like this (My first thoughts)
C: Blue or black. Ehm..or red.
D: Yellow! (Definitely yellow!)
E: Red (maybe) No, violet or blue!
F: My first thought was brown or purple/violet, but it could be yellow as well
G: Green, or maybe blue
A: Red!
I haven`t checked it with the sound of the keys, I think this was associations considering the look or sound of the letter..
Ron P
I wasn't I'm afraid. unless it was without realising....... The sea urchin nurseries on Spanish Point are fabulous however.
Coelina
Thanks for commmiting your thoughts to cyberspace.
Interestingly:
C was Black
D was orange
E was blue
F was purple
G was Green
A was definitely red
B was probably yellow but we were not totally convinced about this
How about that then............ Thanks for that. Maybe I should write a book lol !!!
Ceolina, I thought of the two keys I most fiddled in, D and A, and the first two colors to come to mind were:
D--sunshine yellow
A--flaming red
This was without looking at your choices. Very interesting...
I'm not sure I see keys as colours, but sometimes tunes as colours. And Julia Delaney is kind of orangey. Odd, because it's one of my favourite tunes, but I'm not that big on orange.
I see D (does that include Dm?) is orange on your list.
Key of A major is a sunny yellow, or possibly white. Am more silvery gray.
Hi - this is a very old (and odd!) idea - they were talking about this in the 1800's and Beethoven etc, all had their ideas about what key was what colour. Still interesting, tho'.
Mine are
C=Red
D=Yellow
E=Light Blue
F= not sure
G=not sure
A=Greeny Blue
B=Browny
Hmm. Better not get these colors mixed up with the Homeland Security Alert System. It wouldn't do to be playing "yellow" when the Terror Level is at "yellow" as well. You'll get all those black helicopters landing next to the pub.
Or wait a minute: Was "Yellow Alert" the supreme level of danger on those "Star Trek" episodes, or was it "Red Alert"?
Ptarmigan, you have it right, and I really need to buy you a cold one. All keys sound the same to me; I don't hear "colors"; just a utilitarian function.
We string players learn at an early age that E, A, D, and G are going to sound brighter than Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, etc; all those overtones and sympathetic vibrations around us have a lot to do with it.
Beyond that, I envy those who hear specific "colors", cuz I don't and I must be missing something...
Ah dmarie, you must have had a deprived upbringing! I suppose you guys on the other side of the pond will wonder at the juxtaposition there & wonder what a Butt has to do with Bacon! Well, I can assure you it's nothing weird or sordid. Let me explain!
There is nothing quite like the smell of Bacon sizzling in the pan on a Sunday morning! Once cooked, you butter a 'bread roll' (butty) & stuff the bacon into that - & stuff that in your mouth, with the butter dribblin' down your shirt!
Hey, speak for yourself Ron, I ain't finished yet! Surely this is just another wind up thread anyway - isn't it? I mean to say - the Colour of Music? - Come on - PLEEEZ!
I like nonsense as much as the next man, but aren't we getting just a bit too Hippy & "Hey Man, see the Colours!"
Odd! Like Ptarmigan, the keys are smells to me. But as a Veggie, D is like dry roasted peanuts. I steer clear of the Bacon butties. What colour are those winds again?
Well, the colour of the wind obviously relates to whether the bacon is crispy - or just cooked. i.e. Brownish or pink. Now, correct me if I'm wrong Dick - you like your bacon half-way between, 'cos the wind was a brownie-pink colour - yes?......
She Ron P, don't talk about bacon flavoured tunes while 'Veggie I B' is about. You know how he hates the smell of all those big, meaty tunes. You know the type of tune I mean, those big, juicy 5 part reels, with the juices & fat just dripping all over the place!
He's more into all those 'Salad Slip Jigs' & 'Lettuce Mazurkas'!
Ooops Sorry, I didn't mean to call you a She Ron, Ron!
Och well, the truths out now, so you might as well come clean, they'd all have found out eventually, anyway. Those High Heels would have given it away at next years MOK!!
P.S. The word I was looking for was, of course, Sh!
Thanks for the Bacon Butty info---you're right about deprived childhood; breakfast consisted of oatmeal, artificial sweetner and (gag) skim milk. To tie this in, none of the keys would tasted or smelled like that. Hittin' the grocery after church to buy some bacon,YUMM!
Dmarie, in case Ptarmigan's explanation didn't make sense, a Bacon Buttie is a Sandwich made with bacon - although you can use a roll. The nefarious "Chip Buttie" was sometimes made by hollowing out an unsliced white loaf and filling it with chips and gravy.
Ptarmigan, yer dead on the button with the Salad Slip jigs! I'm just learning "The Butterfly" and a big Thank You to whoever it was mentioned it lately and recalled it to my attention. But I am doing my best to get around "The Queen of the Rushes".
Tell me, are you the fella they wrote "Killing me softly with his song" about?
Okay, the Chip Buttie just topped an Oklahoma favorite, french fries and gravy (white, or course) fondly known as FFandG---oh no! could those be keys? Innocent Bystander, the Butterfly is one of my all time favorites, What an absolutely lovely melody. Enjoy it.
Och is wikkle I B getting upset that I'm destroying this thread?
Come on Man, surely it was a joke, & doomed from the start - I've just brightened it up a little, & given it a bit of colour!
dmarie - interesting!
Our group are called 'Scad the Beggars' - named after a local delicacy - which is oatmeal fried in bacon fat!
A staple around here years ago.
I believe the same dish is called 'Mealie Crushie' back home in Scotia!
Now dmarie, that's a personal, & if I may say so, a very leading question! After all, what Ron P does is in the privacy of his own country mansion, is his business - & nobody elses!
For some bonkers reason, all this discussion of cross-dressing (as in, "Damn, where did I put those f***ing socks") reminds me of my favourite bit of career advice:
"Animal husbandry is a great way of earning a living... as long as no-one catches you doing it"
Ah yes, synaesthesia coming up again. http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3237
Several websites dedicated to this, eg: http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jamie.ward/synaesthesia.htm
As I said in the above link, I visualise contours of tunes but in terms of colours, it's more the timbre of certain instruments that I can see colour in (not literally "see" the colour, except when I close my eyes and a colour sensation is perceived...sorry, Barmy-Ptarmy, you won't get that as you keep your eyes open all the time...it isn't illegal to close them, you know.)
For example the sound of Uilleann pipes is always orange (!) and the drones brown, whereas fiddle is green, blackwood flute big fat purpley velvet, tin whistle a white or pale blue thin line, banjo a triangle-shape on its side of indeterminate yellow or orange hue, depending on the tone of the individual yoke. Bodhran black to brown or red spots, like a Jackson Pollock.
BTW, I don't actually *see* the colours, but visualise them in my minds eye. Otherwise I'd go straight across the road from here to the Maudsley Hospital and get an out-patients appointment.
"BTW, I don't actually *see* the colours, but visualise them in my minds eye. Otherwise I'd go straight across the road from here to the Maudsley Hospital and get an out-patients appointment."
Awww..................
And I thought it might be some new type of Guinness.
Myself, I wouldn't associate colors with keys, but I would associate them with modes. Major keys get the red end of the spectrum, minor get the blues and violets, and modal stuff sits in the middle with nice friendly yellows....
Just a different way of looking at it.
The Colour of Music
The Colour of Music
A while back I was drinking and thinking with a good friend and we got on to the subject of perceiving different keys as being particular colours. OK a fairly odd idea I know but bear with me. The really odd thing was that we had the same colour in our heads for most keys!!!! When I found the scrawled list from that night the other day I suddenly wondered if this was a freaky coincidence or whether there was any more of it out there. And figured that you guys might be the ones to ask. I'll keep my colours to myself for now so as not to give any hints.
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by tallulah
Re: The Colour of Music
A - .............
B - ............
C - ...........
D - .............
E - .............
F - .............
G - ............
I'm keeping my colours to myself too!
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
I haven't thought of keys as colours, but instead as being soft or hard, rounded or angular. For instance, Bb to me has always been a soft, warm, rounded key.
Well, there you go.
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by maxF
Re: The Colour of Music
Oh go on ptarmigan. Just one??
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by tallulah
Re: The Colour of Music
E, F & C would have to be really vivid bright colours. I've must admit, I've never thought of keys in such terms - it sounds like thinking like these may be verging on experiencing synthaesia (the condition - not the band).
Julia - would you happen to be a box & flute-player, with a partner called David?
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
I keep on typing too fast & not checking to see what I've typed - excuse the pidgin English!
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Ron P
In the words of the legendary song - two out of three ain't bad
But that may not help........
In fact its two out of three on both counts - spooky eh?
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by tallulah
Re: The Colour of Music
It depends, but if I think of only the letter itself, not the sound of the key that the letter represents, it would be like this (My first thoughts)
C: Blue or black. Ehm..or red.
D: Yellow! (Definitely yellow!)
E: Red (maybe) No, violet or blue!
F: My first thought was brown or purple/violet, but it could be yellow as well
G: Green, or maybe blue
A: Red!
I haven`t checked it with the sound of the keys, I think this was associations considering the look or sound of the letter..
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by ceolina
Re: The Colour of Music
Just a very important note...
D could be a kind of orange as well, not bright yellow, but a bit like the background of this page
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by ceolina
Re: The Colour of Music
Now, which one did I get wrong....?
Could it have been all that guiness that's blurred my memory?
Yes, spooky it is, right enough......
If you're the Julia I was thinking that you are - were you in Miltown this year?
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Ron P
I wasn't I'm afraid. unless it was without realising....... The sea urchin nurseries on Spanish Point are fabulous however.
Coelina
Thanks for commmiting your thoughts to cyberspace.
Interestingly:
C was Black
D was orange
E was blue
F was purple
G was Green
A was definitely red
B was probably yellow but we were not totally convinced about this
How about that then............ Thanks for that. Maybe I should write a book lol !!!
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by tallulah
Re: The Colour of Music
Ceolina, I thought of the two keys I most fiddled in, D and A, and the first two colors to come to mind were:
D--sunshine yellow
A--flaming red
This was without looking at your choices. Very interesting...
# Posted on September 24th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
I've always pictured C Lydian Pentatonic as the most delightful shade of ultraviolet.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by fidkid
Re: The Colour of Music
I always thought G was Green and I would say you have F and E mixed up but that is my opinion.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Unseen122
Re: The Colour of Music
I'm not sure I see keys as colours, but sometimes tunes as colours. And Julia Delaney is kind of orangey. Odd, because it's one of my favourite tunes, but I'm not that big on orange.
I see D (does that include Dm?) is orange on your list.
Key of A major is a sunny yellow, or possibly white. Am more silvery gray.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by kris
Re: The Colour of Music
A = GREY
B = BLACK
C = GREEN
D = BLUE
E = PURPLE
F = YELLOW
G = BROWN
Signed - Anonymous
(cause I don't wish anyone to know I was daft enough to contribute to this nonsense!)
Doh!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Hi - this is a very old (and odd!) idea - they were talking about this in the 1800's and Beethoven etc, all had their ideas about what key was what colour. Still interesting, tho'.
Mine are
C=Red
D=Yellow
E=Light Blue
F= not sure
G=not sure
A=Greeny Blue
B=Browny
There are probably lots of sites about this out there - http://www.andrewyoon.com/interactive/color/ has a playable keyboard which has different images.
And I'm sure there have been books about this.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Mark Harmer
Re: The Colour of Music
I should finish mine:
C: Blue
D: Yellow
E: Violet
F: Brown
G: Green
A: Red
B: Orange
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Just noticed I didn't see RED - the happy colour! Guess I must be a Grouse after all.
Is any of this making any sense????????????????????????
I know, I think I'll start another thread.
What smells do you associate with KEYS?
C = Melted Cheese on Cabbage
C* = Lemons
D = Bacon Butty
E = Anchovies
F = Pizza
F* = Feet
G = Beans on Toast
A = Socks
B = Bread & Butter Pudding
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
I remember starting a thread about this a while back http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/4869.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Dow
Re: The Colour of Music
Well as you know JD I close my eyes when I play and all I see is Black, black, black, black, blaaaaaaaaaaaaaack.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by curlew
Re: The Colour of Music
Hmm. Better not get these colors mixed up with the Homeland Security Alert System. It wouldn't do to be playing "yellow" when the Terror Level is at "yellow" as well. You'll get all those black helicopters landing next to the pub.
Or wait a minute: Was "Yellow Alert" the supreme level of danger on those "Star Trek" episodes, or was it "Red Alert"?
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by sts
Re: The Colour of Music
What is a Bacon Butty?
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Ptarmigan, you have it right, and I really need to buy you a cold one. All keys sound the same to me; I don't hear "colors"; just a utilitarian function.
We string players learn at an early age that E, A, D, and G are going to sound brighter than Eb, Ab, Db, Gb, etc; all those overtones and sympathetic vibrations around us have a lot to do with it.
Beyond that, I envy those who hear specific "colors", cuz I don't and I must be missing something...
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Greg the Piano Tuner
Re: The Colour of Music
I still want to know what a Bacon Butty is.....sounds like an insult, like LardButt--"Hey! Bacon Butty! You wanna piece 'a' this??"
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Is it too late to enter?
A Red
B Blue
C White
D Black
E Orangey-brown
F Dark green
G Red .. no, wait I meant orange!!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by grego
Re: The Colour of Music
Ah dmarie, you must have had a deprived upbringing! I suppose you guys on the other side of the pond will wonder at the juxtaposition there & wonder what a Butt has to do with Bacon! Well, I can assure you it's nothing weird or sordid. Let me explain!
There is nothing quite like the smell of Bacon sizzling in the pan on a Sunday morning! Once cooked, you butter a 'bread roll' (butty) & stuff the bacon into that - & stuff that in your mouth, with the butter dribblin' down your shirt!
You can sleep easy now!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Mmmmmmm.........
Haven't had my breakfast yet - damnit! No bacon in the house.
And I was convinced I could hear the smell of bacon cooking!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Yeah, you can Ron. I've a fry on & my kitchen window is open!
Sorry I'll just close the window - can't have you sufferin'.
That blasted South Westerly!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Right enough - now I thought I saw a few notes of a polka flying past the window - were you playing a tune on your concertina when it was cooking?
Apologies Julia - couldn't resist some nonsense here - I'll stop highjacking your thread now!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Hey, speak for yourself Ron, I ain't finished yet! Surely this is just another wind up thread anyway - isn't it? I mean to say - the Colour of Music? - Come on - PLEEEZ!
I like nonsense as much as the next man, but aren't we getting just a bit too Hippy & "Hey Man, see the Colours!"
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Odd! Like Ptarmigan, the keys are smells to me. But as a Veggie, D is like dry roasted peanuts. I steer clear of the Bacon butties. What colour are those winds again?
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Innocent Bystander
Re: The Colour of Music
OK then Ptarmie.....
Well, the colour of the wind obviously relates to whether the bacon is crispy - or just cooked. i.e. Brownish or pink. Now, correct me if I'm wrong Dick - you like your bacon half-way between, 'cos the wind was a brownie-pink colour - yes?......
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
She Ron P, don't talk about bacon flavoured tunes while 'Veggie I B' is about. You know how he hates the smell of all those big, meaty tunes. You know the type of tune I mean, those big, juicy 5 part reels, with the juices & fat just dripping all over the place!
He's more into all those 'Salad Slip Jigs' & 'Lettuce Mazurkas'!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Ooops Sorry, I didn't mean to call you a She Ron, Ron!
Och well, the truths out now, so you might as well come clean, they'd all have found out eventually, anyway. Those High Heels would have given it away at next years MOK!!
P.S. The word I was looking for was, of course, Sh!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Thanks for the Bacon Butty info---you're right about deprived childhood; breakfast consisted of oatmeal, artificial sweetner and (gag) skim milk. To tie this in, none of the keys would tasted or smelled like that. Hittin' the grocery after church to buy some bacon,YUMM!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Dmarie, in case Ptarmigan's explanation didn't make sense, a Bacon Buttie is a Sandwich made with bacon - although you can use a roll. The nefarious "Chip Buttie" was sometimes made by hollowing out an unsliced white loaf and filling it with chips and gravy.
Ptarmigan, yer dead on the button with the Salad Slip jigs! I'm just learning "The Butterfly" and a big Thank You to whoever it was mentioned it lately and recalled it to my attention. But I am doing my best to get around "The Queen of the Rushes".
Tell me, are you the fella they wrote "Killing me softly with his song" about?
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Innocent Bystander
Re: The Colour of Music
P.S. I knew a She/Ron in college. Always annoyed me, looked prettier than me at concerts and could walk in heels.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Okay, the Chip Buttie just topped an Oklahoma favorite, french fries and gravy (white, or course) fondly known as FFandG---oh no! could those be keys? Innocent Bystander, the Butterfly is one of my all time favorites, What an absolutely lovely melody. Enjoy it.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Och is wikkle I B getting upset that I'm destroying this thread?
Come on Man, surely it was a joke, & doomed from the start - I've just brightened it up a little, & given it a bit of colour!
dmarie - interesting!
Our group are called 'Scad the Beggars' - named after a local delicacy - which is oatmeal fried in bacon fat!
A staple around here years ago.
I believe the same dish is called 'Mealie Crushie' back home in Scotia!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
P.S. - I. B. Shurely She Ron, in those high heels of his, could be that 'Queen of the Rushes'!
Boy, am I glad that ferry isn't running yet!!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
HEY DICK - What's all this high heels PISH!!!
See when that bloody ferry does get going - I'll send the lads round to sort you out.
We're no cissies in Argyll A'll huv yi know. GRRRRRR..........
Then maybe you meant "High Reel" - if so, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Yup that's it. Course I meant High Reel all the time!! I did, honest I did.
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Ron P can you walk in High Reels?
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
Now dmarie, that's a personal, & if I may say so, a very leading question! After all, what Ron P does is in the privacy of his own country mansion, is his business - & nobody elses!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
Don't worry Ron, I won't tell anyone where you live! Well, you know what the 'gutter press' are like with a story like this!
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ptarmigan
Re: The Colour of Music
I dance to high reels, with my better half, of course! (What are high reels anyway?).
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
I'm off to church; my checkered soul needs it. Pray the lightning bolt striking me in the balcony doesn't harm innocent people......
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by dmarie
Re: The Colour of Music
For some bonkers reason, all this discussion of cross-dressing (as in, "Damn, where did I put those f***ing socks") reminds me of my favourite bit of career advice:
"Animal husbandry is a great way of earning a living... as long as no-one catches you doing it"
# Posted on September 25th 2005 by Mark Harmer
Re: The Colour of Music
Ah yes, synaesthesia coming up again.
http://www.thesession.org/discussions/display.php/3237
Several websites dedicated to this, eg:
http://www.psychol.ucl.ac.uk/jamie.ward/synaesthesia.htm
As I said in the above link, I visualise contours of tunes but in terms of colours, it's more the timbre of certain instruments that I can see colour in (not literally "see" the colour, except when I close my eyes and a colour sensation is perceived...sorry, Barmy-Ptarmy, you won't get that as you keep your eyes open all the time...it isn't illegal to close them, you know.)
For example the sound of Uilleann pipes is always orange (!) and the drones brown, whereas fiddle is green, blackwood flute big fat purpley velvet, tin whistle a white or pale blue thin line, banjo a triangle-shape on its side of indeterminate yellow or orange hue, depending on the tone of the individual yoke. Bodhran black to brown or red spots, like a Jackson Pollock.
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: The Colour of Music
Wow Pingu! - what do you drink at sessions - & where can I get some of it?
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
I'll email you some, Ron.
BTW, I don't actually *see* the colours, but visualise them in my minds eye. Otherwise I'd go straight across the road from here to the Maudsley Hospital and get an out-patients appointment.
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by Key Maniac Lad
Re: The Colour of Music
"BTW, I don't actually *see* the colours, but visualise them in my minds eye. Otherwise I'd go straight across the road from here to the Maudsley Hospital and get an out-patients appointment."
Awww..................
And I thought it might be some new type of Guinness.
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by Ron P
Re: The Colour of Music
Myself, I wouldn't associate colors with keys, but I would associate them with modes. Major keys get the red end of the spectrum, minor get the blues and violets, and modal stuff sits in the middle with nice friendly yellows....
Just a different way of looking at it.
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by AlBrown
Re: The Colour of Music
steve cooney uses a mad colouredy thingy to write music
see:http://www.csis.ul.ie/imedia/dawn04/im_ShanePhelan.htm
# Posted on September 26th 2005 by flanum