Is it possible to enhance music influence by colour accompaniment?
Kseniia Sapozhnikova, Roald Taymanov
D.I. Mendeleyev Institute for Metrology (VNIIM) 19, Moskovsky pr., St.Petersburg, 190005, Russia
Tel.: + 7 [812] 948-54-61 Fax: +7 [812] 713-01-14 E-mail: k.v.s@vniim.ru
Abstract
The paper deals with perception of colour and acoustic signals. Hypotheses, which relate to regularities of the relationship between music and colour, are analyzed. Some colour musical compositions and shows are under consideration too. The difference between the evolution of acoustic signals and that of colour ones is noted. The main scientific problems, which should be solved for achieving strong and adequate emotional experience under such a complex influence, is considered. These problems are of an interdisciplinary character covering neuropsychology, biology, neurophysiology, physiological optics, and metrology.
Keywords: Music, colour, acoustic signal, emotion, perception, relationships between sound and colour signals
1. Introduction
Attempts to intensify the emotional influence of music by a colour accompaniment have taken place since the 18th century. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and Sir Isaac Newton thought about this idea. In the 20th century the outstanding Russian composer A. Scriabin dealt with this problem and in 1910 he created the symphonic composition “Prometheus: the Poem of Fire”. In the score of this poem, in the line “Luce”, a special colour of light is used for each chord and tonality.
Anew the interest to the above attempts was awakened in Russia where in 1962 the SKB
“Prometheus” with Prof. Galeyev at the head began to perform a great work in this direction [1]. More than 50 years have passed since that time. New concepts of the relationship between music and colour (light) were published, e.g. [2, 3]. Occasionally, various colour musical concerts are held, but they do not generate any strong emotional impression.
At the same time, the art acquires a more and more synthetical character. For example, in Earthman’s ballets, a wonderful harmony of impressive language of dance and dramatic feelings with music and stenography causes a catharsis of the audience. This is a qualitatively different performance in comparison with Marius Patina’s ballets.
Similar processes take place in music. A characteristic example is the project of the composers A. Tanononov, S. Nesterova and others under the title “Alice's Adventures in Wonderland”, which was performed by the Novosibirsk Philharmonic orchestra in St. Petersburg in November, 2013. In this project musical fragments alternate with reading fragments of the Lewis Carroll’s tale and of Tanya Savicheva’s intimate diary (Tanya Savicheva was a girl who lived in Leningrad when the city was besieged). The combination of short literary fragments and music created a surprisingly strong impression. It is possible to
proceed with such examples.
A question arises: if the synthesis of arts is increasing, why the experiments with colour accompaniment of music carried out by talented musicians and artists do not result in a significant emotional effect?
It is desirable to receive an answer on the basis of a scientific analysis of objective laws.
However, the science studying the art, like any other science, begins, as D.I. Mendeleyev noted, when they start measuring; science is impossible without a measure.
2. Relationships between emotions and acoustic impacts
The oldest sensory system provided a tactile sensation, i.e., the perception of water medium pressure changes. Hearing is its subsequent “modification” adapted to the perception of air oscillations (density of air is less than that of water).
The Natural selection has resulted in appearance of unconditioned reflexes (foretypes of emotions) as an answer to special types of tactile changes of medium pressure. The frequency of tactile changes cannot patently exceed the frequency limit (500 Hz) of signals that can be transmitted along a sensory fiber. Actually, the frequency range of perceptible pressure changes is significantly lower. It can be conventionally limited by approximately 30 Hz. This range, hereinafter called IR, covers an infrasound and a lower part of the sound range.
In a proposed measurement model, the main parameters that should be measured are the frequency and level of IR signals-stimuli. It is known that animals and humans perceive IR oscillations as the signals carrying emotions [4-6].
Creatures living in the air medium take informative IR oscillations:
• directly by body using the tactile perception of IR oscillations;
• indirectly by a special “mechanism” perceiving oscillations of air in the sound range and selecting IR oscillations from them.
The oldest emotions are negative, in particular, fear. They are caused by a threatening danger. The genesis of a community has given rise to a need of a member of such a community to transfer information to other members of the community, which can be important for the survival of species. This information can be connected not only with negative, but also with positive emotions (e.g., the availability of food).
This proposal conforms to the publications of Jurgens, Blumstein and others mentioned in [7], where it is proved that the generality of sounds emitted by animals are caused by emotions, their most part being conditioned by a negative emotional state. If an animal is in a positive emotional state, it vocalizes significantly rarer. The human society development is connected with a more noticeable differentiation of situations and more developed palette of emotional responses.
As the number of the IR wave parameters is extremely small, the enrichment of emotional information took place by forming emotional images from small groups (ensembles) of signal-stimuli, and then integrating such images in a certain sequence. Such a picture resembles a speech structure with a limited number of sounds, incommensurably wide set of words and, practically, unlimited possibility to transfer substantial logical information.
The model linking emotions and acoustic signals which cause them is considered below. This model developing ideas [8, 9] is given in Fig.1. It includes:
• unit of controllable acoustic signals delay;
• two-channel non-linear converter characterizing the conversion function F;
• selector of sound signals, which evaluates a zone of their frequencies;
• selector of IR signals-stimuli;
• analyzer providing recognition of emotional images;
• associative memory of emotional images;
• comparator that compares images and their groups.
As it is shown in [9], the tonality of a musical composition is rigidly connected with a totality of signals-stimuli. The emotional response of various listeners to musical fragments composed in a certain tonality (without modulations) is, in general, similar.
The response to complicated acoustic impacts has been formed at comparatively late stages of evolution and depends, to a great extent, on cultural traditions.
Z = Z [Y1(x1,… xi …xr), Y2(x1, xi …xr),…, Yl(x1,… xi …xr), τ, G1,G2,…Gq], (1)
where
Y1, Y2,… Yl are the signals-stimuli;
l is the number of various signals-stimuli;
xi is the parameter measured;
r is the number of parameters;
τ is the time delay;
G1, G2,… Gq are the emotional images stored in the associative memory;
q is the number of emotional images stored in the associative memory;
Z is the complicated emotion.
Fig. 1. The model connecting emotions and acoustic signals caused them.
3. Features of the visual impacts perception
It seems that the approach that allowed the model of emotional perception of acoustic signals to be built, could be applied for an analysis of visual signals perception too. However, the colour perception has passed a very complicated evolution process. The colour sight formed on the basis of 4 opsins (special receptors) disappeared in the first mammal eyes. It appeared again, after a long interval connected with a change-over to a night mode of life and increase in the olfaction role, but this time on the basis of 3 opsins in monkey’s eyes. Under these conditions some colour could not form a certain emotion. The colour-emotion relationship appeared later and developed along with culture.
Some characteristic examples can be given: the death colour in Europe is black, but in China and Japan it is white; in Egypt – red, and in Mexico – yellow; a bride in Europe puts on a white dress, but in Japan, China, Vietnam or India frequently - a red one.
Many musicians and artists are characterized by synaesthesia. However, their colour associations, even if these people belong to the same cultural community, are different for various tonalities. For some tonalities (e.g., D-dur) the colour associations of different composers are close to each other: bright yellow (A. Scriabin), yellowish, the color of daylight (N. Rimsky-Korsakov), brightness of the sun (B. Asafiev); but for some other tonalities (e.g., Fis-dur) they are cardinally different: bright blue (A. Scriabin), grayish- greenish (N. Rimsky-Korsakov), and the color of ripe orange skin (B. Asafiev) [10].
It should be noted that colour cannot exist outside a form. Accordingly, it is impossible to harmonize music by color only. The relationship between an image change and formation of an emotion has been studied very weakly. However, the perception of the black-and-white form and its change with time is one of the oldest ways of visual perception in the evolution process. Most likely, a background of the origin of many emotions should be searched for just here. The form of colour representation can qualitatively change its emotional perception.
Besides, it is a serious danger to make a mistake here. As a rule, more that 80 % of information enters a man by vision and only about 15 % by hearing. The colour-light arrangement becomes a leading impact and suppresses emotions generated by music.
Certainly, it is possible to immerse listeners in darkness. But how is it possible to harmonize visual information with music in this case?
In other words, without a scientific analysis of emotional perception of the form and its change-over, the further development of the synthesis of music and visual images with the purpose to achieve a strong emotional experience is practically impossible.
This deduction concerning the inability to realize A. Scriabin’s dream, i.e., to create a symphonic performance with an increased emotional expressiveness on the basis of music accompanied by colour, is not of a pessimistic character. It is the authors opinion that shows like the Jeahn-Michel Jarre’s one, in which colour-graphical images are accompanied by music, can be created. Such a complex impact can cause strong and adequate emotions.
4. Conclusion
The development of arts in the 21st century is acquiring a more synthetic features. More and more often music, ballet, drama, and opera are applied to create complex compositions, which would be able to provide an emotional excitement of the audience deafened by TV (to make them “emotionally sit up”). For further development of the theory and practice of arts, it is necessary to carry out deep scientific investigations in order to extend our knowledge in the field of the emotional perception of visual images and their change. These investigations are of an interdisciplinary character covering neuropsychology, biology, neurophysiology, physiological optics, and metrology.
References
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