Correlation

[Faust06]

Do any of you believe that the 7 modes of the major scale are in correlation with "harmonies" of colors? If visual art can reflect music and vise versa, then we should be able to dissect it right?

I'm thinking of picking out music tracks (or creating them) based on those modes, and then try to sync them out with some visual art based on the intervals. It would be easier to put theory into practice if the visual art was also in movement though.

Before I start any of this I have to define intervals and harmony with colors. I still have a dilemma about it, since I have to decide whether to associate the colors to the letters of the major scale, ABCDEFG, or to assign them something more specific.... the question really is, does a color by itself reflect a specific "feel", or is it just the harmony shared with other colors? (which would suggest that one color is the equivalent of one note).

Thoughts?

[Conan]

Well they are both the result of frequencies, one of light and the other of vibrations in the air. I read that people with perfect pitch recognize the "colors" of the different notes, the way most people recognize visual color. For most people I suppose we just hear in black and white.

[Lee]

Here is an interesting point to consider.

The human mind experiences deep violets and deep reds as more similar, despite being at the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of electromagnetic wavelength. However, there is no similar cognitive illusion for sounds, which at there most extremes freqency or intensity are experienced as such.

I think sound maps onto brightness and hue better than colour, because brightness and hue share sounds' dichotomous mental representation.

That being said, there are many other associations humans make about colours, such as that red indicates danger or blue representing calm. These are likely arbitrary, much like the words of any language, useful as long as we all share the same symbols to communicate.

[Pan]

Start here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synesthesia#Music_.E2.86.92_color_synesthesia)

One musical synesthete I interviewed (while creating a concert) associated colours with major-minor flavours as well as absolute pitch - ie a chord with prominent Eb and G would come across a Eb majorish and also, say, brown. The colour mapping seems to be unique to each individual, though. I can't see why a mapping of colour to modality wouldn't also work.

People with perfect pitch do not necessarily have this condition.

However, you may find it more practical to just assign colours more or less arbitrarily - or pick the pieces and visual art you want to use and then see what fits.

[Faust06]

I'll keep it simple.. the modes will be represented by color. Therefore harmonies/intervals will be represented by one color each. The higher the octave, the lighter the color.

EDIT: Here's an idea for some participation from you guys.

Post the album covers that you feel reflect the music best.

[macr0]

It's an interesting analogy, but here are a few points:

- modes in and of themself have feelings. No color is inherently sad like the Aeolian mode. I suppose you could say blue is sad and yellow is happy, but I don't think the emotional dyanism of the two systems are close together.

- All of the colors are useful. The modes not so much. How many songs do you like that uses Locrian a lot?

[Faust06]

Okay, so I'll borrow more from my first idea. I'll represent every single interval with a color. Modes only really sound like modes when they're harmonized with notes of the major scale.

[A sunny moo]

One synesthete artist you might be interested in checking out is Wassily Kandinsky (sorry, post count isn't high enough for links). He believed that: "Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul."

Disclaimer: I'm not an art buff; I just think some of his stuff is pretty.