Interval Colors

[franco6719]

tritone is what i like the most. Satans sound in music and all the churchys dont like that interval. I want my b5

This was probably true for most of Western history. But don't forget that Gospel music obviously uses a lot of blues notes and sounds. So, for some religions, it seems to have become part of of the churchy experience (see the Blues Brothers, for example).

[Joe Dalton]

Also it's still very unsure whether perfect pitch could be learned through early exposure to notes. It's a theory but for ethical reasons as of yet untested.
Relative pitch you can learn to a great extent going as far as identifying every interval in a chord you hear. But you will hear 1 3 5 7 b9, you won't know the notes without a reference.

As for the enharmonics being relative to context I was refering to the rules in notation. Though whether note colors could change because of context would be fun to know.
Also enharmonics are not always the same note, it depends on what note system you use.

[franco6719]

Yes, that's true. It may never be known for certain because of the ethical problems associated with testing very young children. I have heard of people who claim to have developed perfect relative pitch, so that they can identify any note, tune pianos perfectly by ear and so on, if they can have just one note for reference. Not the same thing, of course, but if your "ear" is that good it seems that perfect pitch is not such a big deal.

Sorry, I didn't follow you about the different notation systems. But I take your point. I just meant the same in so-called standard, Western notation.

[verdellfinnamore]

I see the enharmonic thing as related to proper spelling of words.
Playing A - Db - E will result in an A major chord, but it is confusing in the same way as a miss-spelled word.

[darrenj]

But what I don't like is that C# is a diatonic note in the key of A so why does it have to be expressed as a sharpening of a note that's non-diatonic?

And something like the key of Db is even worse - Db is the root note yet it's expressed as being a semitone below another note (D, which isn't even part of the key - the flat second in Db is Ebb).

We're listing scales by doing offsets from the diatonic note names in a completely different key which was chosen by historical accident. The whole thing is madness.

But it's extremely unlikely to change because we're all used to it. A bit like the Imperial unit system (we've been toying with metrication in the UK for a couple of hundred years but it's still not fully in place).

[Joe Dalton]

It's simple like I said earlier it's to do with notation.
A scale can't involve the same note twice, otherwise notation would be madness.

If you mean our note system A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# is flawed, I suppose you can say it's a bit odd but hardly something to worry about or that hinders playing.
I am more interested in imprinted ideas about composition than about notation.

[franco6719]

It's simple like I said earlier it's to do with notation.
A scale can't involve the same note twice, otherwise notation would be madness.

If you mean our note system A A# B C C# D D# E F F# G G# is flawed, I suppose you can say it's a bit odd but hardly something to worry about or that hinders playing.
I am more interested in imprinted ideas about composition than about notation.

Saying that a notational system is flawed, when you think about is, is a lot like saying that the formal English language or the formal German language is flawed. The written (syntactic) system, with its grammatical and spelling rules, is just one among many possible systems that could have developed by historical circumstances. Notation (language or music) comes after
the spoken or played or sounded patterns. What is important is the communication itself and the way that is codified is really a secondary matter.

"English grammar has weird rules and the spelling system is strange". Yes. So what? The Italian language is weird too. What about the Chinese? They all work though and are not objectively wrong, in some sense.

[Joe Dalton]

I was replying to the guy before me and saying the same thing :P

[franco6719]

I was just expanding on the thought.

[darrenj]

I don't think it's flawed or wrong. I just don't like some aspects of it.

I can see the benefits of using something like this - Integer notation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But that's probably just me - other systems like tab, solfege, roman numerals etc. all add different things that appeal to different people.

[bobsguitars09]

what color would a perfect 4th be? would it be a different color going from C to F and D to G?

[M-ster]

...and I'd sell my soul to the devil to have this gift. Thanks for the site.

Bruce Swedien (grammy winning producer & audio engineer) has this condition and claims that it's very distracting and not at all a "gift," with respect to working on music.

[cosmic gumbo]

if we take a concert A (440Hz) and go up 40 octaves we get an A which is orange light
Bb is yellow, C is green

Gumby is green also, just saying...

[monk]

I have no trouble seeing C and D, but damned if I can find an H, O, or R on my fretboard.

A musician that can't find a HOR. Now that's a new one.

[JonR]

A musician that can't find a HOR. Now that's a new one.

Well, he did say he was looking on his fretboard, probably not the best place...

[pingu]

@derek "Now THAT is very interesting."
Do I detect a note of sarcasm there Derek?

Here's another thing that I find a bit interesting
Vision is parallel type info ie you can freeze a movie and get a meaningful thing out of it ........ a still photo

But sound is serial info , if you freeze sound you get no info out

(Those freeze pedals are playing a short crossfaded loop)

[timscarey]

Im not sure what they would be for others, but for me...

C=blue
D=yellow
E = black
F=brown
G=green
A=red
B=orange

Sharp/flat and major/minor kind of change how much they get mixed etc.. for example Ab is purple-ish and Bb is sort of reddish orange.

Its been that way my whole life. I dont have perfect pitch but I use it to memorize tunes and keys of tunes. For example blue bossa is dark blue (C minor) and goldish yellow (Db major). Not sure if it helps me at all, but I cant help it.

[JonR]

Its been that way my whole life. I dont have perfect pitch but I use it to memorize tunes and keys of tunes. For example blue bossa is dark blue (C minor) and goldish yellow (Db major). Not sure if it helps me at all, but I cant help it.

What happens if someone suggests doing blue bossa in a different key? Does that throw you (hey the colours are wrong!)? Or do you just enjoy the different colours?

BTW, I don't know if this is relevant, but do you use D'Addario strings? Their colour code has some resemblance to yours:

e - silver
B - purple
G - green
D - Black
A - Red
E - Brass

- coincidence?

FWIW, I always thought A was red too, but I don't have strong colour associations with other notes or chords. I guess if I thought about it, I'd say E was kind of dark grey or dark blue (not far off black); D would be yellow or green; F would be a kind of deep yellow or orange (something warm). I just think of C as white. I don't get anything much from G or B. (I might think of G as green, but probably only because "green" begins with G...)

It's all subjective, of course. (Shared perceptions are mere coincidence.)

[timscarey]

Yeah, since it's a subconscious thing, Its doesn't mess with my ability to transpose or anything like that. However, Blue bossa in "Am" would definitely give me a sense of dark red (Am) and orange-ish red (Bb maj).

I play bass so the ends of all of my strings are the same color, and when I play guitar it's nylon string with tied ends, although in my younger years I definitely used those strings... you never know. ; )

[Double 07]

In response to the OP, ALL PURPLE. LOL