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From:
EggyToast
To:
Date:
Thu, 19 Jul 2001 15:42:31 -0500
Subject:
Re: [idm] Re: The Colour of Music
Msg-Id:
<5.1.0.14.2.20010719154040.00b16090@youn0394.email.umn.edu>
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<F774nhrKtzcbLDiKBsu00000c10@hotmail.com>
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At 12:29 PM 7/19/2001 -0700, Matthew Korfhage wrote:
quoted 27 lines Ok, this may seem really far out... but do any of you imagine >colours>>Ok, this may seem really far out... but do any of you imagine >colours >>when you listen to music? I am a very visual person, and >sometimes when >>I listen to music I arrange the sounds and melodies in my mind so I can >>remember them or listen to the different things going on. For example, >>layers of sound with the beat on the bottom and melodies on top, or if >>the bass is prominent it is bigger in my mind. (Compare to the layout of >>a sequencing program). Then of course I think in color, not in black and >>white, so to me certain songs have different colors. > >Actually, even if you literally "see" the colors as you listen to the >music, it's not all that unheard of, although I don't know if that's what >you meant. The clinical term for it is synesthesia, not to say that it's >really a disorder in any respect. Nabokov, for example, associated or saw >colors for each letter of the alphabet, and was convinced that most people >were born synesthetic but that they divested themselves of the natural >associations due to societal/parental influence. I also have a friend who >is able to paint what music very concretely "looks like" to her--the same >way, presumably, that some current computer programs apply algorithms to >sound frequencies in order generate images in time with music. > >But, as to your direct question, I personally don't associate colors to >music very often other than in terms of very general mood, and even so am >usually unduly influenced by the color of the album and whatever explicit >social context the music seems to fit into. As in: most of BoC feels pale >blue to me because that's what color their early sleeves were, and also >because I associate them with faded colors due to the nostalgic haze they >call up for me.
A lot of the color association stems from the basis that most humans are very visual-oriented. Personally, there's enough interest in music alone that I don't need any senses but hearing to appreciate it. Your association with colors is just your human conditioning shining through. Congratulations! :D cheers, /derek ------- eggytoast.com ------- now on the interweb --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org