Strongly Worded

The Color of Sound

Stronglyworded readers, I am just so cultured I can't even stand it. On Friday night I saw the Broadway musical Wicked, which is the unofficial prelude to The Wizard of Oz, a biopic of Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West, and their pre-Dorothy friendship (who knew?). It was a beautiful production, and clever in a Harry Potter way. My friend E. and I scored $35 box seats, deemed "slightly obstructed". We could only see about 75% of the action at any given time. So during intermission E., schooled by years of ushering, zipped down to the sixth row, where we co-opted two empty seats far superior to the ones we had paid for. Very impressive.

Yesterday, I taught my second work-related class, and got very good reviews, thank you very much. The chick with the issues about the disrespectful course materials has apparently overcome them. I was completely spent when I got home, but was lured by last-minute tickets to see the Color of Sound, which is a concert based upon the premise of synaesthesia, in which the stimulation of one sense (like sight of the color teal) gives rise to the experience of another sense (hearing pure tones, like bells). Apparently one person in every 2,000 has this ability. A woman in the audience did--she sees colors when presented with numbers, and claimed to see green when the conductor presented her with the number seven. (I don't exactly understand that--did she "see" a green-colored numeral at the mention of the word? Or does she see seven objects of any color in a green light?).

The chorus performed a "color wheel" performance (one song for every color), while an artist interpreted the sounds into a painting that was later auctioned off for $750. This all may seem far-fetched, but the concert was very, very skillfully presented, and informative (the conductor explained a lot about tone, pitch, and sound). With coaching I really started to experience yellow when the chorus sang a light, cheerful piece, and red when they sang another that was buzzing and resonant. Amazingly, the artist kept pace with the concert. By the end, her painting incorporated all of the colors in a cohesive depiction of a tree.

Today's weather is brilliant, and yet I am uselessly revved. I have Stepped N Scuplted at the gym, prepared and eaten lunch, talked to my mother, and blogged. Now what?

Posted by Dori at 1:49 PM