Aug 30


I feel blue … but only in B flat major

by Terry 30 August 2006


In freshman ear training class, I amazed my professor with my ability to name any scale or chord upon hearing it. Yet I couldn’t do it with a single note, as someone with perfect pitch can. That’s because I didn’t identify it with my ears–I did it with my eyes.

For a few of us, notes have colors. Note sequences, particularly as scales and key signatures, even more strongly so. For years I thought I was the only one, until I ran across an article in a magazine describing it. No psychedelic drugs involved; it’s just a quirk of how my brain works. (I wonder if the LSD phenomenon may have something to do with allowing people to access that normally undiscovered part of the brain?)

In compositions, the colors I see have subtle hue and density variations based on the key, the structure of the music, the texture and the orchestration. For example, most Egyptian classical music is a rich burgandy purple, because of both the traditional modes and the common lown.

So I was thrilled when a friend alerted me to a program–Colour Player–that will allow me to assign colors to songs and sort them based on it. Most of the music I listen to while working is red (E major) and is driving simple rock. So instead of building long playlists, I could tell the player to pull up everything red in my collection, and let it run.

It’s so exciting to think there are enough of us out there that someone would create this. It’s going to take me awhile to import all my music into it, but I’m looking forward to it. If you’re curious, download it and give it a try.

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5 Comments

5 Responses to “I feel blue … but only in B flat major”

  1. Laura Moncur on August 31st, 2006 9:35 am   (Quote)

    It is a common occurence, actually. Among mathematicians, many have intimate feelings about the numbers: i.e. I feel that odd numbers are male and even numbers are female.

    It happens in every discipline.

  2. Terry on August 31st, 2006 11:02 am   (Quote)

    That’s fascinating, Laura. That makes perfect sense to me. Since music is my field, I didn’t know it occurred outside of it. Thanks!

  3. dustbury.com on August 31st, 2006

    eyeTunes

    I’ve read about synaesthesia, and it’s always seemed somewhat remote a concept to me: my own sensory apparatus comes up with questionable interpretations now and then, but it’s difficult for…

  4. Lisa on August 31st, 2006 12:40 pm   (Quote)

    You’re only the second person I’ve encountered who did this. The other didn’t assign colors to notes, but people. Her brain assigned a color to how she felt about a certain person after getting to know them, and every person had a different hue. I found it fascinating.

  5. Terry on September 1st, 2006 10:46 am   (Quote)

    Lisa, I’ve read references to people who can read auras by seeing the color around something. That sounds a lot like what your friend does. Thanks for sharing it.

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