As I stated in my tiny musical biography, I set
out to learn music theory completely on my own, with only books to help.
Not one of these was exhaustive, though (as might be this intro, I'm
afraid!). So, I had no other choice but to try and dig everything out
myself. As I scrutinized every song I could lay my "ears" on, tracking
mode/mood (=scale/lyrics) relationships, a pattern eventually started
to emerge.
Bit by bit, I became
convinced that our own Great Masters tended to use the numerous scales
at our disposal as if they were colours. (Here, I need to stress on
the fact that, in this Scale/Colour notion of mine, I'm not trying
to establish any relationship of a "physical" nature; i.e. I'm not
after proving that such and such scale corresponds to such and such colour
based on any resemblance between the intervallic structure of the former
and the wave length of the latter. Mine is merely an empirical description
of a historical tendency.)
It thus became
clear to me that a given scale would, quite normally, be used to express
a given positive frame of mind as well as another negative one. For example,
just as the colour "red" may remind some people of "roses",
while the same colour might just as well remind other people of "fire",
and still others of "blood", the same phenomenon is equally
applicable to any given scale.
To make your
life easier, as well as mine, I'll use "tetrachords" (=
four strings, from Greek) to show you what I mean. Tetrachords are
the building blocks of scales; an octave, in fact, is composed of two superimposed
identical/non-identical tetrachords. (Traditionally, a tetrachord is
called a "Wing" in Arabic; so, a scale, much like a bird, has two
"wings".)
I should add
that we have a curious variety that one is tempted to call a "pentachord"
(penta = five). The reason is that while tetrachords are confined
within a perfect fourth, certain scales of ours simply defy consistent,
thus scientific, analysis without introducing the notion of a pentachord;
i.e. a group of five, consecutive notes confined within a perfect fifth.
Tell me if I'm being too subjective...
You might notice that the wider the bottom intervals of a tetrachord the
brighter it sounds. The opposite is equally true; it's as if one is closing
the shutters!
A couple of months ago I couldn't be bothered about the origin of this
Scale/Colour
relationship. After all, who cares if there is a relation between the word
"lion" and the animal thus designated? Then, as I was reading a book about
computer graphics (I'm a webmaster, after all), I realized the following
amazing, interwoven relationships as perceived by graphics people:
The blue colour reminds them of right angles, sqaures and cubes.
The red colour of curves, circles and spheres.
The yellow colour of acute angles, triangles, pyramids and cones.
Next, I couldn't help noticing that:
Within the bluish group of tetrachords, the contrast between a whole tone
and a semitone is like walking in a straight line (180º), then turning
to the right or to the left (90º); one interval is half of the other,
as it is the case with the two angles.
Within the reddish group, the contrast between the whole tone and the three-quarters
forms the equivalent of an obtuse angle. (Let's not forget that a curved
line is in fact formed of an infinite number of obtuse angles.)
Within the yellowish group, the contrast between the semitone and the one-and-half
(the augmented second) is as pronounced as the change of direction
in the acute angle.
Next, as the inter-domain relationships unfolded, I noticed that the most
basic vowels have very similar relationships among them. Thus:
The "A" (in almost all its morphemes/varieties) has the mouth wide
open, in a square-ish shape.
The "O" is not only rounded in writing; it has the mouth rounded, too.
As far as I'm concerned, it reminds me of the warmth of holding someone
in my (rounded) arms.
The "E" is as acute and prominent as a shriek or a squeak.
`Agam (1-1-½)
Personal happiness, Satisfaction, Morning/Sunrise, Wonder/Amazement,
Military/Anthems
Nahawand (1-½-1)
Brooding, Lost hopes, Disillusion, Gentle blame, Anything in between
the two extremes (above & below)
Kord (or Kurd)
(½-1-1)
Anticipated/Faked happiness, Sad memories, Rhetoric questions (=refusing
to believe), Submission/Resignation
This next tetrachord
is rather weird, though one of the most popular, as it contains
both the three-quarter-tone and the one-and-half-tone intervals.
This gives it the warmth of the reddish and the poignancy of the yellowish
varieties, all in the same time.
One Problematic Tetrachord
Saba (¾-¾-½-1½)
Weeping, Bleeding pain, Agony, Extreme joy for something
or someone deeply cherished, Repentance, Sincere regret
Bit by bit, I became
convinced that our own Great Masters tended to use the numerous scales
at our disposal as if they were colours. (Here, I need to stress on
the fact that, in this Scale/Colour notion of mine, I'm not trying
to establish any relationship of a "physical" nature; i.e. I'm not
after proving that such and such scale corresponds to such and such colour
based on any resemblance between the intervallic structure of the former
and the wave length of the latter. Mine is merely an empirical description
of a historical tendency.)
