hey, im just wondering, which do you prefer on altom a bright sound or a dark sound?
thx

honestly, i dont see how people call them bright or dark sounds, i prefer calling them by colors. like a yellow or a blue sound. i prefer a neon orange sound, if you dont understan, just look at a color wheel. you want a sound that speaks for what you are playing. so if you are playing somthing slow and mornful go for a grey or an earth tone, but if you are playing somthing rejoyceful play a red or yellow. how do you get the color sound you want? well all you have to do is think about it, and the way i found to work the best is to wear that color underpants, it just gets me in the right mood. so from now on try thinking about color instead of bright or dark, it will make you a better player overall, trust me.

I`ve heard about people who hear in "colors". It`s absolutly amazing to me. Can`t you like identify chords and stuff because you hear the colors? I have yet to meet a single person who can do that. Heard about `em though.

Saxofone, I really don`t understand at all how thinking in colors can make you a better player.
But, back to the topic at hand... I prefer on alto a tone that`s just a speck more dark than average for most music.

Obviously hearing colors doesn`t make you a better player, but it sure could give you an edge. For some things, anyway, like improv, or auditions like that. Thats because you hear the colors to; not just think them. Literly. (spelling?) Im sure you know BGM, its like red = Bb major (not true, but just an example)

people that hear colors are said to have synaesthesia. composers alexander scriabin and rimsky-korsakov were synaesthetes. It wouldn`t really help as far as improvisation is concerned. You don`t need to hear colors in order to hear chord qualities and chordal relationships, but it is a cool idea.

Wildband,

It`s an interesting idea, but I don`t think it`s possible. I have perfect pitch, and I can identify "chords and stuff" without needing to reference them to a colour. That would get pretty complicated, don`t you think? As for improvisation, I am not a very good improviser, either. It`s not something that you`re born with; you need to practice it a lot.

Let me also explain a few things about perfect pitch, just so nobody has to ask. Also called absolute pitch, perfect pitch is the ability to recognize one or more pitches without reference to a known pitch. Perfect pitch and relative pitch work in conjugation with each other, they are not completely separate entities. For example, someone with relative pitch can tell the interval between two notes. Someone with perfect pitch can tell the interval, and tell what the notes are.

Perfect pitch is not some amazing gift that few people have, either. Everyone is born with it, and exploring and developing it takes much musical training. I have been taking piano lessons since age 7, and have been involved in various other musical activities since then. Since I had a piano that I could just "bang on" as a young child, I was able to develop my musical ear very well from that point on. The setting is the most important thing. If you are constantly exposed to music from an early age, then chances are, you can develop perfect pitch.

Thomas