Stuff & Things

Introduction

Chromesthesia is a type of synesthesia in which heard sounds automatically and involuntarily evoke an experience of colour. Of these people, some see individual notes as different colours, others see musical keys as different colours. This article is primarily about the latter: the association of specific colours with specific musical keys.

There is no real agreement between chromesthesiates as to precisely which colours go with which keys although there are a few general principles that seem to be consistent. One doesn't need to be a true chromesthesiate to appreciate the association of music with colour. We can all make some attempt at this even if we don't actually see the colours.

It is interesting that there are 12 keys that progress in the Circle Of Fifths through all the sharps and flats and come back again to the beginning and likewise there are 12 major hues in the Martian Colour Wheel that progress through the blues, greens and reds and come back once more to the beginning. It's probably just a coincidence but one might as well make some use of it.

I don't know why it took me so many years to put the two together... No doubt it had been bubbling away in my subconscious all this time but at last it bubbled to the surface and I thought it out and produced a wheel that combines the two. I am not the first to do this but hopefully my version is a bit better based that the others and hopefully will be more useful.

If children are taught the scheme at an early age perhaps they will develop a stronger and more consistent association between colour and music, and if chromesthesiates are likewise taught then perhaps their key-colour associations can be trained to be consistent with the others. Then at least we will all be on the same page!