OT: Romilly's Q. re: Synaethesia (was Re: OT CHAT: Asperger'ssyndrome)

Jonathan Chang wrote:
>
> In a message dated 2000/06/24 03:45:54 AM, you wrote:
>
> >Jonathan Chang wrote:
> >
> >>    I have really strange one: synaethesia... I sometimes see certain
> >>"sounds" as neon-like colours (like after-images) in the fringes -
> >>periphery - of my field of vision.
> >>    The musical terms _sound-colour_ and _timbral colouration_  have real
> >>deeper meanings to me.
> >>     Prob'ly this why I am so much into sounds & music.>
> >
>     Romilly then writes:
> >
> >An amazing gift.  Are you familiar with Scriabin?  I wonder if you would see
> >the same colors he did......
Musical synaesthesia doesn't really work that way. Scriabin and
Rimsky-Korsakov, the two most famous musical synaesthetics (both
Russian...makes you wonder), disagreed on which colors were associated
with which pitches. They both thought Wagner was an idiot, tho, for
using the wrong key in the Magic Fire music in Gotterdammerung (he
should have used G). Here's Scriabin's color wheel (all major keys):

C: Intense red
G: Orange
D: Yellow
A: Green
E: Sky blue (moonshine or frost)
B/Cb: Blue (or pearly blue)
F#/Gb: Bright blue or violet
C#/Db: Violet or purple
Ab: Violet or lilac
Eb: Flesh (glint of steel)
Bb: Rose (or steel)
F: Deep red

This is vastly different from my own color-key associations (for both
major *and* minor keys (and some modes)):

C maj: yellow or white                  A min: deep blood red
G maj: orange                                   E min: deep blue
D maj: dark vivid green                 B min: black green
A maj: intense red                              F# min: purple-red
E maj: bright blue                              C# min: black or white
B maj: black-orange (halloween-y)       G# min: bright orange
F# maj: maroonish-red                           D# min: forest green
Db maj: light pale green                        Bb min: dark gray
Ab maj: rose                                    F min: lilac/lavender
Eb maj: light blue/baby blue            C min: white/yellow
Bb maj: pleasant light gray             G min: neutral
F maj: darker gray (not too dark)       D min: dark forest green

E phrygian: grayish-greenish-blue
any mixolydian: adds an orangeish-yellow tint
D dorian: washed-out gray-green
lydian: yellow-red mix

I could go on, but I'm sure noone really cares. ;)

I just recently realized a few months ago that I also subconsciously
associate sets of pitches and colors with people that I know really
well. My ex-fiancee is represented in my mind's eye by the cluster
Db-Eb-F, and the colors light green-light blue-lilac. I'm A-C-C#-D, or
red-yellow-green. I don't think I'm just making this up; it came to me
spontaneously and complete one day while driving. Go fig. I must be
crazy or something. ;)

>     It is different everyday... I think it has to do with diet, stress or
> lack of stress,
> perceptual openness to it's "visual interference", etc.. & Yes, I am familiar
> with Scriabin, but like Messiaen more... My musical tastes tend to lean
> heavily to - shall we say - the Asian & the "semi-civilized" with a strong
> aesthetic preference for raw improvisation &/or "ambient" soundscapes)
Messiaen is some great stuff! Two years ago, I wrote a paper on the
Turangalila, Cinq rechants, and Harawi. Good music!

>     zHANg
--
Daniel Seriff
microtonal@sericap.com
http://members.tripod.com/microtonal

Si iterum insanum me appelles, oculum alterum tuum edem.