Some people have what’s called synesthesia, where they actually see colors while listening to music, but what if it was the other way around? Have you ever wondered what colors would sound like??
Robert Starer has!
In 1985 he published a collection of 7 very short piano pieces where each piece has a different color (or set of colors) for its title: “Purple,” “Shades of Blue,” “Black and White,” “Bright Orange,” “Grey,” “Pink,” and “Crimson.” I remember playing these pieces when I was younger and absolutely loved them! Frankly, I still do. There’s something about them that really does capture the color, at least for me, and it’s such a cool concept!! My favorite is probably “Purple” (but I could be biased because purple is my favorite color…)
…but honestly I love every single one of them.
For any music nerds out there, some of the pieces are based on different, specific 20th century compositional techniques like the 12-tone scale. They’re good teaching pieces to introduce kids to atonal music in a way that’s fun and intriguing!
Here’s a link to all 7 color pieces. Seriously, they’re all worth checking out!!
So I’m curious: does “Purple” sound like purple to you? “Crimson” like crimson? And if you were to compose a piece about a particular color, what color would you choose and what what would the piece sound like?
Thanks for reading!
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Classical Music Stories: Beauty and the Beast
Repetition in Pop Music, Classical Music, and Poetry
Your Brain, the DJ (When Songs Spontaneously Combine)
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