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A Brief History of Synaesthesia and Music
by Sean A. Day
February 21, 2001
Sean A. Day is a fairly unknown composer, who has written few works in his spare, hobby time. Sean synesthetically "sees" colors corresponding to musical timbres; each instrument has its specific color.
Page 5
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Alexander Scriabin.
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Alexander Scriabin probably was not a synesthete, but, rather, was highly influenced by the French and Russian salon fashions. Most noticeably, Scriabin seems to have been strongly influenced by the writings and talks of the Russian mystic, Helena P. Blavatsky, founder of The Theosophical Society and author of such works as Isis Unveiled and The Secret Doctrine (see Dann 1998). The synesthetic motifs found in Scriabin’s compositions – most noticeably in Prometheus, composed in 1911 – are developed off of ideas from Newton, and follow a basic mathematical musical algorithm, called a circle of fifths (see ???; ???; and, of course, ???). The score of ??? contains a line designated «Luce»; this was for a light organ, playing two lines: one to correspond to Scriabin’s concepts of the «correct» colors for each musical key, as he modulated from key to key; the other, to counter the first lines colors. Scriabin and others were unable to realize a light-music performance of Prometheus until its premier performance in New York, in 1915, where, rather than using a color organ, colored light was projected onto a screen set above the orchestra performers’ heads, using a system designed by Preston S. Millar, W.F. Little, and William McKay (see ???).
Scriabin's system of colored musical keys:
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C#
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Purple
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F#
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Bright Blue/Violet
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B
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Blue
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E
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Sky Blue
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A
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Green
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D
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Yellow
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G
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Orange
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C
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Red
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F
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Deep Red
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Bb
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Rose/Steel
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Eb
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Flesh
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Ab
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Violet
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Db
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Purple (same as C#)
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Gb
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Bright Blue/Violet (same as F#)
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Amy Beach.
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Amy Beach (1867-1944), American pianist and composer, who flourished c. 1900 - 1920's, was unquestionably a true synesthete. It turns out that Beach had both perfect pitch and a set of colors for musical keys.
"Other interesting stories about Amy's musical personality and her astounding abilities as a prodigy are recounted in almost all previous biographical writings. One such story is Amy's association of certain colors with certain keys. For instance, Amy might ask her mother to play the 'purple music' or the 'green music.' The most popular story, however, seems to be the one about Amy's going on a trip to California and notating on staff paper the exact pitches of bird calls she heard" (Brown 1994: 16).
"Amy's mother encouraged her to relate melodies to the colors blue, pink, or purple, but before long Amy had a wider range of colors, which she associated with certain major keys. Thus C was white, F-sharp black, E yellow, G red, A green, A-flat blue, D-flat violet or purple, and E-flat pink. Until the end of her life she associated these colors with those keys" (Jenkins 1994: 5-6).
Comment List
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Alice Crossroads
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06.02.2008 23:16
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I have just found out about this wonderful thing called synaesthesia and i think it is beautiful the way you picture songs colers places and things. I found out about this just yesterday and i am eager to learn more about it all. I read the book " A Mango Shaped Place" and typed up synaethesia to learn more about it and came across this.
i am speechless
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Phil Nyce
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11.12.2007 21:19
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I can never pinpoint the exact color of the notes i hear and they usually mix with sort of image that is difficult to describe.
When distortion or overdrive is added to guitars, i get this static or grainy type of image. this is the only somewhat describable image and it varies from degree of overdrive to degree.
It's not only color, but i "see" the sound or note. If something is played on a violin, i see the note drawn out and i usually see it in a tan color.
Piano notes seem to have a more percussive and black and white image to them, like the keys.
High to mid-range guitar notes are almost always yellow and the guitar screech from Jimi Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" is very purple and grainy with overdrive.
bass guitars have colors in the black to purple range, incorporating other dark yellow tones as well.
This is the best description i can give. It's really impossible to communicate the "sensation" or "image" that reflects the music but there's definitely something weird about it.
It makes music more interesting and adds "dimension".
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T P
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30.08.2007 16:38
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http://theartbeyondsight.blogspot.com/
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sam burrell
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16.11.2007 08:35
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> http://theartbeyondsight.blogspot.com/
yea
i dunno
when i hear an individual note
i see a flurry of colors that act in different ways
like
a low E flat
i see a flashing of lights
and i feel weightless and extra heavy at the same time
but as soon as i hear more notes together
like in a song
in my mind
i see places
these places are usually more vivid than the real world
but i can't help but wonder if i really have synesthesia
or if i just have a wild imagination
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lance h
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07.04.2006 07:03
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i also experience notes and sounds as 'textures' and sometimes colors. Dm is a deep midnight blue, Dmaj more purple in hue. the 'textures' are akin to a 'feeling on the skin' but on some other skin that doesn't exist - somehow outside of spatial dimension.
the curious thing, for me, is that these effects generally only occur at high volume levels, or intensities. and they are not neccessarily 'logical' at all: the white needle of a test pattern whine is somehow also blunt and smooth and chrome and cool.
somehow, somehow: this has led me to a love of noise music and experimental artists who work with high-volume soundscapes. i just hope i don't go deaf anytime soon ;)
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Cecily s
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08.01.2006 15:06
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I am a synesthesiac with perfect pitch, and I always see different notes as colours, not keys. For example, a C major chord consists of a C - red/yellow, E - pink, and a G - brown. When I hear this chord, I see all of these colours ina picture that I can't describe. It has been very interesting to see how other people conceive things, and also how they can find it difficult to describe. I also see the texture of sounds; a c major chord played quite long on a stringed instrument reminds me of something in a very sticky substance, amber or resin, for example.
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Kip Rosser
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21.01.2005 08:52
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This is one of the most comprehensive treatises I've ever read about the phenomenon of synaesthesia. The depth and breadth of the research is stunning.
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Nicole Collins
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16.11.2004 07:55
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Thanks for an informative article. It has given me lot's of names to follow up on.
I am a painter and teach Colour and 2D Design at an art college and am researching for a section on synaesthesia for my classes. I'm really looking forward to exposing the students (and myself) to some experimental music to go along with the abstract painting that we will explore.
cheers
Nicole Collins
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marty quinn
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17.10.2007 23:23
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Nicole,
I have just given a talk at the MET as part of the Art Beyond Sight Multimodal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication on ArtMusic. I would be interested to hear what you think of my approach. You can view and listen to a number of art works as music at www.drsrl.com/artmusic.
Regards,
Marty Quinn
>
> Thanks for an informative article. It has given me lot's of
> names to follow up on.
> I am a painter and teach Colour and 2D Design at an art
> college and am researching for a section on synaesthesia
> for my classes. I'm really looking forward to exposing the
> students (and myself) to some experimental music to go
> along with the abstract painting that we will explore.
> cheers
> Nicole Collins
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