Hi all,
I've been making some scale and chord charts for myself, - and I love to color code things. Often, the word 'color' itself is used in describing certain scale tones - probably no coincidence.
For example - for minor chords, I tried highlighting blue, while majors were yellow - maybe dominants 'red' for tension.
Has anyone done the same - or heard of this discussed before - does anyone think it might be helpful ? or have some other color ideas ?
Lots of hits on google about this subject. There used to be an advertised course for this purpose. Ray
One such advertised course was to develop perfect pitch, in which tones had 'colors'. I think it's still offered; I see it advertised in the Musician's Union monthly magazine. The author is David L. Burge. As Ray mentions, the theory is not new.
Joe,
For what it's worth, the word 'chromatic' means 'pertaining to colour'.
Noel
Now the most important question - has relating the sounds to colors actually helped any members on this site improve their musical ear ?
I've always considered myself not to have a 'natural ear' - yes I know it can be developed, but when you meet someone who actually has one, you know what I'm talking about - it seems that the same level of ear training and practice has resulted in much more progress on their side than yours.
In my case, I can hear the difference between two chords played on the same instrument one after the other - but in 'isolation' - I can't tell the chord quality. Also, in a song - where there are multiple instruments and melody notes, quite often I can't here the chord quality.
Has anyone else had this particular 'big challenge' in their music education ?
25 years ago, I listened to the first two cassette tapes of the perfect pitch lessons using 'colors' and did not hear them, so abandoned the effort. My relative pitch is quite sufficient though.
Many years ago I took an ear training college course. It helped beyond measure. That's what you should take to develop your ears. Ray