[Dixielandjazz] Delete if you're not interested in key/tonecolor

[Scott Anthony]

This is really neat: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia

Scott Anthony
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <dingle at baldwin-net.com>
To: "Bill Gunter" <jazzboard at hotmail.com>
Cc: <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2006 1:47 PM
Subject: Re: [Dixielandjazz] Delete if you're not interested in 
key/tonecolor


> Bill Gunter wrote:
>
>>Hi listmates,
>>
>>I have done a bit more googling on the matter and found this interesting
>>thesis regarding Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov and the way they viewed 
>>music.
>>
>>Source: Wierzbicki writings on Synaesthesia (see last sentence below)
>>
>>----->start clip
>>
>>Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov ''saw'' musical sounds, and ''heard'' colors,
>>in their own ways. That stimuli of one sense organ triggered responses in
>>another was something in which they adamantly believed. For them, the
>>so-called synesthetic reaction was both constant and consistent.
>>According to the article on ''Color and Music'' in the wonderfully musty
>>1938 edition of the Oxford Companion to Music, the two composers had very
>>specific color-music scales in mind. Here they are:
>>
>>    Scriabin
>>C      Red
>>C#   Violet
>>D     Bright yellow
>>D#   Steel gray
>>E      Bluish white
>>F      Red
>>F#    Bright blue
>>G      Orange-rose
>>G#    Purple-violet
>>A      Green
>>A#    Steel gray
>>B       Bluish white
>>
>>     Rimsky-Korsakov
>>C      White
>>C#    Dusky
>>D      Yellow
>>D#    Bluish gray
>>E      Sapphire blue
>>F      Green
>>F#    Grayish green
>>G      Brownish gold
>>G#    Grayish violet
>>A      Rosy
>>A#    ----
>>B     Dark blue
>>
>>Why Rimsky-Korsakov was unable to ''see'' the pitch A-sharp remains a
>>mystery. But he did claim to ''see'' all the other pitches. Like 
>>Scriabin's,
>>his musical scale was chromatic in more ways than one. And different 
>>though
>>they are in their details, the scales' occasional correspondences seem 
>>more
>>remarkable than their contradictions.
>>
>>-----> end clip
>>
>>These distinctions had only to do with the KEY and not the instrument(s).
>>
>>An interesting observation for me personally was that when I played a C
>>arpeggio and then a C# arpeggio on my keyboard for the lovely and gracious
>>Beverly (my beloved bride) and asked her about this she replied:
>>
>>C arpeggio -- light and airy
>>C# arpeggio -- dark, like a rainy day
>>
>>Now Bev knows zip about musical structure, but she has a great ear and 
>>knows
>>precisely what she likes and doesn't like.
>>
>>Compare that to Scriabin (C - Red,  C# - Violet), and Rimsky-Korsakov (C -
>>White,  C# - Dusky).
>>
>>I don't get these perceptions. But that don't mean it don't exist
>>(grammatical errors for emphasis).
>>
>>So Scriabin would hear the "Happy Birthday To You" song played in F as 
>>"red"
>>and played in A as green.  I think red is a better birthday color than
>>green, but then again . . .
>>
>>For further edification on this subject click on this:
>>
>>http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jameswierzbicki/synaesthesia.htm
>>
>>Respectfully submitted,
>>
>>Bill "It's a strange and wonderful world" Gunter
>>jazzboard at hotmail.com
>>
>>
>>
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>>
>>
>>
>>
> Well, Herr Doktor Gunter, I havea friend whosees things, too. He sees
> flying saucers. Flying cups and serving plates, too whenever he stays
> too long at  the happy hour  cast party.  Don't know what the classical
> lads were drinking, but that they only saw color in their music is a
> blessing. From the long  posts on this subject, it is plain that seeing
> is not always believing. It would be interesting to know if you would
> see different colors between Condon or Turk, or between Monk and Tiny Hil.
> Color me gone on t his suibject -- the open jug of Cardhu awaits and one
> must not keep it waiting.
> Don (waiting for the evening trend) Ingle.
>
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