> Somewhere I saved James Scott Skinner's list of colours which he > assigned the various keys on the fiddle. Where did I put it? Heaven > knows, but I'm sure I put it somewhere absolutely logical and I'll > probably find it one day when I'm not looking. In the meantime, does > anyone else have that list and can let me know?
I don't have Skinner's but I can give you mine. People who don't do synaesthesia will doubtless find it completely batty, but for me, this is all absolutely in-your-face obvious and I use it when perceiving the key fiddles are playing in a session (the associations are more to do with timbre than pitch and are much weaker for other instruments). For some of the keys, there is a certain amount of agreement between us synaesthetics. E acid yellowy-green A emerald green D bright yellow G reddish-brown C sky-blue F rather nondescript; brown, orange or wood-coloured Bb yellowish-brown F# minor shriekingly garish multicoloured tie-dye B minor light whitish-blue E minor pale green A minor deep muddy green D minor polished copper G minor purplish-brown C minor deep red F minor bluish-black Tonal ambiguity makes the colours shift and run all over the place. The colour change in "The Laird o' Thrums" is pretty dramatic, green A to an F# minor that's mostly watery-blue in this context. Every folk session ought to have a Scriabin-style colour organ in the lineup. (BarFly supports writing ABC source using coloured text; Phil's own attempts to use it look deeply weird as he's colour-blind). ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760 <http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack> * food intolerance data & recipes, Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music. ----> off-list mail to "j-c" rather than "scots-l" at this site, please <---- Posted to Scots-L - The Traditional Scottish Music & Culture List - To subscribe/unsubscribe, point your browser to: http://www.tullochgorm.com/lists.html
