Musical Variables and Color Association in Classical Music

Abstract

As studies between behavioral neuroscience and music have become increasingly popular, color association with music has grown as a topic of interest. Many studies analyze color correlation with individual musical variables such as the speed of the music or the notes used. However, there has not been significant research comparing the influence of these variables or exploring instrumentation. Due to this apparent gap, this study addresses the question: to what extent do tempo, key, and instrumentation affect variation in colors associated with classical music created from 1750 to 1910? Data was collected from approximately 150 participants, ages 11-18, who all had musical experience. Responses were recorded through a Google Form that asked participants to listen to a 20-second clip of music and choose 1 of 14 offered colors. A Chi-Squared test was utilized to test the statistical significance of the influence of the variable groups on the tonality and brightness of color choices. It was found that only one group, instrumentation, did not have a statistically significant effect on brightness. Previous studies were reaffirmed as major keys were heavily correlated with light colors and minor keys with dark. When grouping colors by neutral, warm, and cool, tempo was found to be the most influential variable for color choice tonality. Instrumentation in both color groupings yielded similar results as there was not much variation in the colors, indicating that instrumentation does not heavily influence the color choices of the listener.