Connecting the Meaning Project 2
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Synesthesia My topic choice from Douglas Kahn's book "Noise, Water and Meat" is synesthesia. Synesthesia can be defined as "a condition in which one type of stimulation evokes the sensation of another, as when the hearing of a sound produces the visualization of a color." Kahn in his book describes different synesthetic systems over different periods of time. One such system was found with Arthur Rimbaud's poem "Voyelles" in which he claims "I invented the color of vowels!- A black, E white, I red, O blue, U green."
The study of synesthetic systems in Kahn's "Noise, water and meat" prompted me to think about color and sound associations. It is a fascinating theory to hear different pitches, keys or notes as blue, red, yellow, etc. One might be able to create a rainbow of sound. A rainbow is divided into many colors, though with the synesthesia concept we might even be able to say that it is divided into many sounds. However, associating the colors of the rainbow with sound and using that as a synesthetic system does not give me any closure.
Sound for me is best described in the form of a musical concept, that is "the art of arranging sounds in time so as to produce a continuous, unified, and evocative composition, as through melody, harmony, rhythm, and timbre." Moreover a combination of aesthetically pleasing notes or sounds. This made me think about absorption, mixing of sounds into one, just how maybe a rock quartet would do with a guitar, bass, drums and vocals. These instruments may or may not be in the same key. The absorption concept got me thinking about white light. Light is a form of energy visible to the human eye that is radiated by moving charged particles. Whereas, color is the physical phenomenon of light or visual perception associated with the various wavelengths in the visible portion of the electro- magnetic spectrum. Any color sensation can be duplicated by mixing varying quantities of red, blue, and green. These colors, therefore, are known as the additive primary colors. If light of these primary colors is added together in equal intensities, the sensation of white light is produced. Most colors seen in ordinary experience are caused by the partial absorption of white light. The colors that absorb light of the additive primary colors are called subtractive primary colors. They are red, which absorbs green; yellow, which absorbs blue; and blue, which absorbs red. Thus, if a green light is thrown on a red pigment, the eye will perceive black. These subtractive primary colors are also called the pigment primaries.
But I do not want to play around with pigment primaries. For this project I want to create a sound piece by meshing together the primary colors of red, green, yellow and blue into white. As a synesthetic system I want to give each of these primary colors a sound or a combination of sounds and the end product which is the mixture of every sound is the sound of white light. In a sense these colors will be my instruments to create a musical experience.
I would associate red with something of high importance, vibrant like that of a fire alarm. Green would be something fertile, like the sounds of nature (water crashing, leaves rustling). Yellow would be something lemony, sour. Blue would be something sad, crying out, like maybe the cry of a wolf. Using this synesthetic system and the idea of absorption of light I hope to create something very interesting.