The Color of Music?

[The Rose Dragon]

Does anyone else associate certain pieces of music with colors?

For example, Opeth in general is green, with the exception of Ghost Reveries, which is black. Among the albums of Tori Amos, Midwinter Graces is blue, the Beekeeper is green (except for the song the Beekeeper, which is blue), Scarlet's Walk is rainbow colored, Under the Pink is midnight, Little Earthquakes is white. The Wall of Pink Floyd is entirely black, while The Dark Side of the Moon is gold and green.

Am I weird in making such associations?

I don't think this is synesthesia, by the way, because it only happens with certain pieces of music, and not all sounds.

[Dragor]

No, I don't think that's weird at all. Now it's got me thinking, it brings a new sphere of enjoyment to music to associate them with colour. I believe that there is somebody with Asperger's Syndrome who links numbers and colours (I forget his name; his book is called 'Born on a Blue Day', if I remember correctly), so linking music and colours is a logical step too.

As for myself, I've never thought about it. I might think about it some more now. :smalltongue:

[Zocelot]

I don't really feel like music has a colour, but there are colours that I associate with genres and subgenres. Black metal is black and the blues are blue obviously, but there are some where I am not sure where the association comes from like power metal being gold and rap being purple.

[Moff Chumley]

I definitely know where you're coming from. I can't think of any off the top of my head, though...

[Starfols]

It sounds like synesthesia to me, it doesn't necessarily have to be continuous or complete.

Hurt is usually black, but sometimes is pink or turquoise. Morphine is purple. The Fray is various colors of yellow and gold. Franz Ferdinand is sometimes grey, sometimes red, and sometimes multiple colors. Chumbawamba depends on the song, I've had everything from off-white to dark blue.

[Dogmantra]

I don't think it's weird at all. While I don't so much associate songs or bands with colours, certain instruments will be a particular colour, depending on the sound.

Everybody gets this to some extent. I've had numerous conversations where people agree with me that Thursday is yellow, the Spanish language is orange and a percussive knocking sound is best represented as a sort of rounded tick (this kind of tick, not a lousey thing: ✔)

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

So, you are all synaesthetes?

I don't associate colour and music, though words conjur up images, and things like calendar dates and days of the week seem to suggest colours for themselves in my mind's eye.

[blackfox]

Yes, BUT it definitely is synaesthesia for me. Sound -> sight, grapheme -> color and personality -> sight. I'd elaborate/give examples of what music is what color if I wasn't so ded. Feel free to bounce questions off me or whatever.

[Zanaril]

I sometimes do this too. With some songs it doesn't happen, but then with some songs: yep, that's definitely turquoise.

[Marillion]

No, Rose Dragon. You are the only person this happens to.

:smalltongue:

[The Rose Dragon]

I also think certain words are delicious. Such as murder, succulent and mythological. They always make my mouth water.

[Fifty-Eyed Fred]

murder, succulent

I agree with you on these, except I picture my mouth watering with blood; probably due to the word murder preceding succulent, as "succulent murder" makes me picture licking my lips whilst holding the knife (which I have in my mind's eye used to kill someone triumphantly - strange, I know).

[Icewalker]

When you say it isn't synesthesia, I believe you are correct in that it is not music-color synesthesia. However, synesthesia can apply to huge varieties of things, and I think this as an idea-color connection counts in some smaller way.

[Xyk]

I have colors of tastes. Chocolate is a deep purple, apples are bright blue, etc.

It makes cooking really awesome and creative because in general if two colors go together, the flavors will too.

Some music has colors but not as many.

[Mauve Shirt]

Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue is, strangely enough, orange. An American in Paris is blue.

[Raistlin1040]

Just from my most recently played songs. The Doors' Soul Kitchen is a copper brown. Rush's Dreamline is silver. David Bowie's Space Oddity starts out kind of orange, but gets into purple. Judas Priest's Last Rose of Summer is a light blue with some yellow.

So yes, sometimes, but I have to think about it for a moment.

[Winter_Wolf]

My understanding is that synesthesia is rare, and I hardly consider myself a rare person. I taste colors, associate certain music types or sounds with colors, and sometimes "feel" color (some things just feel green), but don't think it's really the same thing as what I understand synesthesia to be. For me there's an association based on past experiences, not so much a short circuit of synapses.

But all that aside, my workout music feels red, with a little purple and some green: starts with Rammstein, goes into Slot, and finishes with Kid Rock. I avoid black or blue for workout music because it goes against the whole principle of getting pumped and drains the energy I'm trying to keep up. My wife's yoga/meditation music feels really blue and green to me.

[SpiderMew]

I dont usualy think of just a color when i hear music. I often get storys and emotions flying into my head.

Often the music will inspire my art.

I got this image idea from Iron Man by black sabbith


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y214/SpiderMew/MastersOfEvilVSAvengers.png

I ended up creating an alternate version of a marvel universe after making "Iron Man" and i ended up making everyone else and creating an alternate WWII. All because someone went back in time to save the world and then became twisted after realizing he became imortal because of the axident durring time travel that prevented him from going home and made him one with his time mechine

[The Succubus]

I have colors of tastes. Chocolate is a deep purple, apples are bright blue, etc.

It makes cooking really awesome and creative because in general if two colors go together, the flavors will too.

Some music has colors but not as many.

It's the other way around for me - sometimes I'll be taste testing a recipe or putting one together in my head and I won't be happy because one of the notes is not quite right or absent. In a manner of speaking.