From: "Cline, Eric" <Eric.Cline@reichhold.com>
To: F_MINOR@email.rutgers.edu
Subject: RE: [F_minor] RE: Key associations.
Date: Wed, 18 Oct 2006 10:14:03 -0400
There is a 'condition' in which certain musical keys or pitches cause the
listener to perceive color.
In my case since I was a child certain musical notes and even musical keys
have caused me to 'feel' and 'see' color. I can't explain it more than
this.
I guess you just have to experience it. I perceive B-flat major as a pastel
blue, c# minor as black. E-flat major as dark green, E major as bright
green, D major as bright red, A major as dark red, f minor as light grey, G
major as yellow etc.
I found out recently this is called synesthesia (not sure about the
spelling). This is when one sense is perceived as another. An example might
be that a color causes perception as an odor or taste. There are many
possible combinations.
I wonder if this is what the critic who reviewed the first performance of
Tschaikowsky's violin concerto meant when he wrote that the concerto
actually had a bad odor !! - I digress.
I heard about synesthesia when I saw the film 'Music from the Inside Out'
which is about the Philadelphia Orchestra. IIRC one of the musicians, a
violist I think told about how she would get headaches as a child. Some
headaches were a 'blue' headache. I realized I do the same thing with a
different combination of senses. It is not unpleasant for me like her
headaches though. I was surprised when I was a teenager that other people
didn't experience the same thing as I did. I was also surprised to find out
that others didn't have perfect pitch either - another story though.
Eric Cline
Sr. Synthesis Chemist
Reichhold, Inc
P.O. Box 13582
Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
USA
Toll Free: +1 800 448 3482
Office Phone: +1 919 990 8116
Fax: +1 919 767 8506
e-mail: eric.cline@reichhold.com
Website: www.Reichhold.com
-----Original Message-----
From: f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu
[mailto:f_minor-bounces@email.rutgers.edu] On Behalf Of paul wiener
Sent: Wednesday, October 18, 2006 9:36 AM
To: Chester Singh; bpl@umich.edu; F_MINOR@email.rutgers.edu
Subject: Re: [F_minor] RE: Key associations.
This is easily one of the best threads I've seen on this list! Keep it
going!
At 06:56 PM 10/17/2006, Chester Singh wrote:
>I find it extremely interesting how, over such a short period of
>time, one question inspired such a theoretically deepand very
>interesting "conversation".
>As for my opinion of the darkness or brightness of keys, I think
>that some keys are better for expressing some emotions than others.
>But, I cannot bring myself to put labels such as sad or happy on any
>particular key, because everyone hears them in a different way. On
>top of that, I think it is necessary to define "sad" in order to
>label something with it. How do we know what sad is? (not looking
>for a chemical formula proving sadness is caused by certain
>chemicals reacting with others inside the human body). Everyone, I
>think, feels sad about different things. And therein, in my opinion,
>lies the problem with this exchange of e-mails.
>Singh
>
>
>>From: Brad Lehman <bpl@umich.edu>
>>To: "F_MINOR@EMAIL.RUTGERS.EDU" <F_MINOR@email.rutgers.edu>
>>Subject: Re: [F_minor] RE: Key associations.
>>Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2006 17:15:09 -0400
>>
>>Alwin Tong wrote:
>>
>>> It shows a huge preference for the key of c major (as all the
>>> white keys on a piano, or black keys on a harpsichord), a Very Huge
preference
>>for Cmajor in fact, and almost all musicians start learning c major
>>first. and i think herein lies the "key" to why moods maybe attached to
keys.
>>> i believe after the years, of playing c major, what happens is
>>> that some people's ears and their theory minds, become "atuned"
>>> to C, an arbitrary blip on the circle, that everything else is
>>> judged in relation to it.
>>> in this way, it is very easy to see flat keys (such as both f
>>> (1 flat) and fminor (4 flats) ) as sadder, or more somber, as
>>> they are both moving downwards in key relative to cmajor (you can
>>> think of it as -1 for f major, and -4 for fminor). for the same
>>> reason, keys like e major tend to be bright (+4).
>>> people such as beethoven (eb being his heroic key) and scriabin
>>> (key colour) tended to use keys in this way, probably for their
>>> own flow of ideas, as each key would be a touch stone, like a
>>> smell can be, while Bach, would openly transcribe pieces back and
>>> forth among key indistinguishably..
>>> anycase, i really think it has something to do with the layout
>>> of the keyboard, and the fact that many musicians are made to
>>> learn c major for the early part of our lives.
>>> *of the minor (sadness) and major (happiness), the answer is
>>> actually quite a bit simpler (and more solid), in that a major
>>> key has a harmony where the 3rd of the chord is more "in phase"
>>> (lower in harmonic series) than a minor 3rd which is used in a
>>> minor key. (** the harmonic series is like a ladder of
>>> consonance to dissonance). this means that the major 3rd clashes
>>> less against the other chord notes. and just like how families
>>> work, less clashing equals more happiness.
>>> getting ahead of myself, but i hope that helps in some way to
>>> your question :)
>>
>>Not just the *appearance* of the keyboard's layout, but the actual
>>sound of the music whenever the keyboard is tempered in schemes
>>other than equal temperament. The keys and scales sound
>>objectively different from one another, in addition to shifting the
>>whole thing up or down _en masse_ by pitch.
>>
>>Some of my writing about this:
>>http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/informal.html
>>http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/outline.html
>>http://www-personal.umich.edu/~bpl/larips/art.html
>>
>>Typically in these tuning methods, F minor and Bb minor *are* among
>>the darkest-sounding and most melancholic keys/scales, in character.
>>
>>Another excellent book about this is Rita Steblin's historical
>>study of key characteristics in the 18th and 19th centuries. This one:
>>http://www.amazon.com/History-Characteristics-Early-Centuries-Second/dp/15
80460410
>>
>>
>>Brad Lehman
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>>F_minor mailing list
>>F_minor@email.rutgers.edu
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>
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