More on the colors

So, in our last post we left you with:
Cmajor- being the yellow color- and its complement Gbmajor being Violet (just like the colors)
If you follow the circle of fifths in music and correspond them with the colors you will see

Gmajor being the yellowgreen color on the right
F major the yelloworange- lets keep it going down the left side.
Bb major being orange
Eb red-orange
Ab red
Db red-violet
which of course brings you to Gb.
Now do the same for the sharps- after G you have
D Green
A BlueGreen
E Blue
B Blue Violet
which brings you once again to Gb- violet.
It really is an astounding correlation when you think about it.

Colors Colors and more Colors

As referred to in our earlier post about Synaesthesia, (yeesh, hard word to say)
we composers often look at sounds in terms of colors.

While the concept maybe old, no one seems to be able to agree on a specific set of colors/key correspondence.
We thought we'd add our unsubstantiated, but educated notions.

Yellow at the top would correspond to C major- Brightest of all keys(no sharps, flats etc.)
Violet at the bottom (complementary color) - is Gb Major- Darkest of all keys.

We'll be back with more... have to keep you on the edge of your seats.

Synaesthesia- try it.

A few years ago I went to a Smithsonian exhibition on the subject of Synaesthesia- combining the process of 2 or more senses-
In this case it was on Visual Art and Music as one. This is not a new topic as Sir Isaac Newton and others have postulated on the connection between the two for centuries.
Some folks have even gone so far as to assign a color for every note of a Bach partita to come up with a painting.

I tend to look at it much more in terms of colors and Key centers.
For example-
the key of C major- no flats or sharps corresponds with a white/yellow to me. While the key with the most Gb major would be the complement-A dark purple.

Since there is no direct scientific correlation established yet, why not try a completely random experiment.
Try closing your eyes at the piano- hit some notes and see what feelings and sounds it evokes.

One of the reasons I associate dark colors with more flats and sharps, is because it brings a dark feeling to play in some of those keys.

See how it works for you.