F Minor. RE: keys and color

[Name Withheld Upon Request <usmitc01@mcl.ucsb.edu>]

In response to the posts on keys and color,

I think that it can be said that there are color differences between
different keys, even if we are talking about equal-temperament in which
the difference in frequency of a semi-tone is the same in all keys. It is
the absolute frequency that some people say gives the key its specific
color, not the specific intervals between the different degrees of a
scale.  It may be difficult, or even impossible, to talk about the color
of d-minor; but what we can talk about, and what I think people mean when
they talk about a specific color, is the color of d-minor with 'concert A'
at 440 Hz, i.e., **today's** d-minor.  This is not so much the color of a
key as it is the color of a specific frequency, or a key based on that
specific frequency.

It is true that the color will change as 'concert A' goes up, but this
does not mean that there is no color in the first place.  In the same way
that the color yellow (a specific EM frequency that is analogous to a
specific sound frequency) affects us in a different way than the color
orange does, a key rooted in d affects us in a different way than a key
with e as its root does.  Staying with the color analogy for a moment, I
have noticed that many people connect certain emotions with certain visual
colors in the same way that some people feel that certain keys have
certain colors.  Even if the range of frequencies that we call blue had
changed from what it was in the past, it would still, for some people,
evoke certain feelings.  In the same way, musical keys can still have
certain colors associated with them even if the frequency of the key's
tonic has changed because the color is associated with the specific
frequency and not with the name that we give to that frequency.

I do not think, either, that it is a problem if the specific feelings or
colors associated with particular keys are not consistent, if Bach's
d-minor did not have the same color to him as the equivalent key in
Mozart's day had to him.  These colors are subjective in the
same way that visual colors are subjective:  some people do not get any
feeling from visual colors, and those who do often get different feelings
from the same color.
 
I think I have rambled on for long enough and hope that what I am trying
to say is understood.  I extend my apologies if this seems more
complicated than it needs to be.  It is clear and simple in my mind, but I
have trouble getting it out of my mind in an intelligible manner.  
I am looking forward to feedback and comments.

Calvin Smith<usmitc01@mcl.ucsb.edu>