Whether we’re listening to Bach or the blues, our brains are
wired to make music-color connections depending on how the melodies make us
feel, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley.
For instance, Mozart’s jaunty Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major is most often
associated with bright yellow and orange, whereas his dour Requiem in D minor
is more likely to be linked to dark, bluish gray.
Moreover, people in both the United States and Mexico linked
the same pieces of classical orchestral music with the same colors. This
suggests that humans share a common emotional palette – when it comes to music
and color – that appears to be intuitive and can cross cultural barriers, UC
Berkeley researchers said.