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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 ?

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Lots of hits on google about this subject. There used to be an advertised course for this purpose. Ray


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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.


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Joe,

For what it's worth, the word 'chromatic' means 'pertaining to colour'.

Noel


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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 ?

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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.


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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


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