Instructions: Pick 10, tell us which ones you pick, and explain what parameters and criteria you used to choose them. Three to five thoughtful sentences will suffice for your justification.

Well, the instructions certainly seemed easy enough, but the more I listened and read, the more complex the selection process became. How could I curate Earth’s playlist?!

After considering, key, instrument, composer, singer, musician and country of origin, I was at a bit of a loss. I wanted to find a way to think more abstractly, and that’s when I began to think about colour. Through my research, grounded in the correlation between sound and colour, I began to learn about a condition called Synesthesia — the blending of sensory cognitive pathways. Melissa McCracken speaks about her experiences living with this condition, particularly a form called Chromesthesia, which blends sound and colour.

I decided to create a playlist based on colour, ultimately representing warm and cool colours equally. A body of research exists examining the way composers with Synesthesia blend colour and sound; however, through this, researchers have discovered that there is no universal pairing. The ways in which colour and sound correlate, are unique to the Synesthete (a person with Synesthesia). The table below compares the sound/colour correlations of composers, Scriabin and Rimsky-Korsakov.

For the purpose of creating Earth’s Playlist and in keeping consistent, I’ve decided to use Scriabin’s color associations to guide my selections. In addition, I’ve used the key of each musical piece (this took some research) to connect to the colour gradients.

Scriabin’s Color Associations

Warm:

Bb : Georgian S.S.R., chorus, “Tchakrulo,” collected by Radio Moscow. 2:18

Bb- : Azerbaijan S.S.R., bagpipes, recorded by Radio Moscow. 2:30

D: “Dark Was the Night,” written and performed by Blind Willie Johnson. 3:15

F :  Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 2 in F. First Movement, Munich Bach Orchestra, Karl Richter, conductor. 4:40

G- : Japan, shakuhachi, “Tsuru No Sugomori” (“Crane’s Nest,”) performed by Goro Yamaguchi. 4:51

Cool:

Ab : Beethoven, Fifth Symphony, First Movement, the Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer, conductor. 7:20

A- : Mexico, “El Cascabel,” performed by Lorenzo Barcelata and the Mariachi México. 3:14

A- : Bulgaria, “Izlel je Delyo Hagdutin,” sung by Valya Balkanska. 4:59

E : Zaire, Pygmy girls’ initiation song, recorded by Colin Turnbull. 0:56

E : Bach, “Gavotte en rondeaux” from the Partita No. 3 in E major for Violin, performed by Arthur Grumiaux. 2:55

Connecting Synesthesia to Multiliteracies

The New London Group’s discussion of multiliteracies highlights the way in which forms of representation are more than text-based, and that they are actually quite dynamic in the way they interact with cultural contexts (Dobson & Willinsky, 2009). In thinking about Synesthesia, I believe it does have a place within the context of multiliteracies, given that it’s another example of diverse representation. Circling back to Task Eight, selecting 10 pieces of music from the Golden Record with multiliteriatices in mind, better illuminates the diverse way human beings represent meaning. Through my selection process, non-humans might come to understand that music can be represented and understood both auditorily and visually.

References

Dobson, T. M., & Willinsky, J. (2009). Digital literacy. (pp. 286-312) Cambridge University Press.