Touhou Music & Colors

[ElizabethK]

Do you ever find yourself associating Touhou music (it can be a stage theme, a boss theme, a remix, etc) with certain colors? Like, do any colors come to mind upon hearing them? :3 I think this is called Synesthesia and I might possibly have it but I have not been tested. I hope this doesn't come off as weird or anything. Maybe it's just me. 
Anyways~ here are some themes & colors of mine:

- Shanghai Alice of Meiji 17 ; For me, this is three different colors, all at different parts of the song. It's like this: if the song starts at 0:00 (say, on a video), then from there until 0:22 it's a darker shade of emerald green. Then, from there (0:22) until 0:41 it's blue. Then, from then (the chorus I suppose) on, it's both a blue and a yellow. Then it goes back to the emerald green once the 'fancy' part is over.

- Septette for the Dead Princess ; light pink at the start, then a scarlet red which is totally appropriate. 

- Fate of Sixty Years ; Teal

- Crimson Belvedere ~ Eastern Dream (ending of EoSD) ; this one's weird. It's like a garnet red, yet a rouge pink. :?

- Charming Domination ~ Who Done It? ; Tangerine orange. :?

- Gensokyo, Past and Present ~ Flower Land ; Not only does this song bring about emotions (it's a very strong theme in my opinion), it brings a lot of colors aswell. A caramel brown, goldenrod yellow (note: I'm not randomly picking these names, they all come to me) and basically the colors of fall.

What do you guys think? Put your opinions below If you want some more themes and colors, I'll be glad. c:

Thanks!

[ふねん1]

Synesthesia is more one sense involuntarily triggering another sense - it's not specific to Touhou music in particular, but sounds, including key signatures, can trigger associations with color like you described (this variant is apparently called "chromesthesia", as I just found out). While I don't experience this kind of association directly (sounds to colors), I can sort of do so in a roundabout way through associating the letters representing musical notes (C, D, E, etc.) to colors (while I haven't taken any tests either, I'm very confident I have grapheme-color synesthesia). However, this tends to only work for songs that I sit down and learn how play through piano, since I see the notes written in front of me over a long time. That's pretty much as far as that goes for me in terms of music.

[Mеа]

Do you feel like any of those are somewhat biased? It seems to me to be a bit too convenient and appropriate to have the colors match up perfectly to their contexts, though that could just be me.
As for me, not necessarily colour, but there's one theme in particular that makes me think of light and weight, Primordial Beat ~ Pristene Beat
1:13-1:37 - The general rising contours of this passage makes me think of a flying feeling--flying through dense clouds, upwards and upwards. The high voice of what sounds like bells to me sounds like there's still something above me, almost beckoning me, something I'm flying towards. At the end of this passage, we hit a high note, followed by:
1:37-2:02 - a high hat or something that marks the beginning of this section which strongly impresses upon me this feeling of having broken through this dense wall of clouds. This feeling is further reinforced because the texture thins out (the bell voice is no longer heard, which also means no more beckoning). And then the direction of the general contours change from upward in the last section to downward in this section, which gives me almost a weightless feeling, peering down over a massive sea of clouds that I just broke through. It's a mix between a long moment of just hovering over the clouds, relishing the breakthrough, and a feeling of falling from so high up that you can't really tell. I can't really make up my mind of what brightness level I'm seeing though. I'm probably biased because of the context (ie: Raiko) , but I see a dark blanket of clouds below and I'm surrounded by just kind of a dark, almost night-time sky.

It's probably one of my more favorite themes because of this.

[ElizabethK]

Do you feel like any of those are somewhat biased? It seems to me to be a bit too convenient and appropriate to have the colors match up perfectly to their contexts, though that could just be me.
As for me, not necessarily colour, but there's one theme in particular that makes me think of light and weight, Primordial Beat ~ Pristene Beat
1:13-1:37 - The general rising contours of this passage makes me think of a flying feeling--flying through dense clouds, upwards and upwards. The high voice of what sounds like bells to me sounds like there's still something above me, almost beckoning me, something I'm flying towards. At the end of this passage, we hit a high note, followed by:
1:37-2:02 - a high hat or something that marks the beginning of this section which strongly impresses upon me this feeling of having broken through this dense wall of clouds. This feeling is further reinforced because the texture thins out (the bell voice is no longer heard, which also means no more beckoning). And then the direction of the general contours change from upward in the last section to downward in this section, which gives me almost a weightless feeling, peering down over a massive sea of clouds that I just broke through. It's a mix between a long moment of just hovering over the clouds, relishing the breakthrough, and a feeling of falling from so high up that you can't really tell. I can't really make up my mind of what brightness level I'm seeing though. I'm probably biased because of the context (ie: Raiko) , but I see a dark blanket of clouds below and I'm surrounded by just kind of a dark, almost night-time sky.

It's probably one of my more favorite themes because of this.

That's really interesting! And if I may ask, what do you mean by 'biased', or 'convenient'? I didn't mean to annoy you, if that's what happened.  :ohdear:

[ElizabethK]

Synesthesia is more one sense involuntarily triggering another sense - it's not specific to Touhou music in particular, but sounds, including key signatures, can trigger associations with color like you described (this variant is apparently called "chromesthesia", as I just found out). While I don't experience this kind of association directly (sounds to colors), I can sort of do so in a roundabout way through associating the letters representing musical notes (C, D, E, etc.) to colors (while I haven't taken any tests either, I'm very confident I have grapheme-color synesthesia). However, this tends to only work for songs that I sit down and learn how play through piano, since I see the notes written in front of me over a long time. That's pretty much as far as that goes for me in terms of music.

Oh, that's cool! Thanks for sharing. 

[Mеа]

That's really interesting! And if I may ask, what do you mean by 'biased', or 'convenient'? I didn't mean to annoy you, if that's what happened.  :ohdear:

No no, I'm not annoyed at all. I'm just noting that your perception of colour seems too perfectly in sync with the context of the themes. For example, Septette you perceive as red; Fate of Sixty Years you think of teal, which is the colour of Eiki's hair; and bits and pieces of the rest. As I understand it, seeing-sound synesthesia is affected by notes, chords, keys, modes, timbres, melodic contours, melodic sequences, pitch, etc etc. And these can correlate to not only a certain colour, but sometimes also to size, brightness, or even shape. All of which is consistent for any given person and quite the involuntary association.
And I'm not trying to call you out on this or anything, but if you can relate to these phenoma, it would be quite the delight to me and I would want to ask you a lot of questions.
Maybe you can elaborate? Like what which themes or sections of different themes have the exact same colour to you? Also is there any kind of trend you're noticing with the colours in general?
(Also you can insert multiple quotes into your post by scrolling down and hitting the 'Insert Quote' text next to someone's name after you arrive at the reply text screen.)

[ElizabethK]

No no, I'm not annoyed at all. I'm just noting that your perception of colour seems too perfectly in sync with the context of the themes. For example, Septette you perceive as red; Fate of Sixty Years you think of teal, which is the colour of Eiki's hair; and bits and pieces of the rest. As I understand it, seeing-sound synesthesia is affected by notes, chords, keys, modes, timbres, melodic contours, melodic sequences, pitch, etc etc. And these can correlate to not only a certain colour, but sometimes also to size, brightness, or even shape. All of which is consistent for any given person and quite the involuntary association.
And I'm not trying to call you out on this or anything, but if you can relate to these phenoma, it would be quite the delight to me and I would want to ask you a lot of questions.
Maybe you can elaborate? Like what which themes or sections of different themes have the exact same colour to you? Also is there any kind of trend you're noticing with the colours in general?
(Also you can insert multiple quotes into your post by scrolling down and hitting the 'Insert Quote' text next to someone's name after you arrive at the reply text screen.)

Oh, no worries! It would be a delight for me to answer them; I'm happy you find it interesting. I was worried people would be weirded out.

And yes, I can see where you are coming from. To be honest, I honestly had no idea Eiki's hair color was teal. I always thought it was a more darker green, but maybe that's just how some artists draw it. My only guess to this is that those colors I've associated them with get help from my memories of the character. I's pretty hard to explain. I'm sorry I confused you, I had no intention.  :ohdear:

And thank you for the tip about inserting other quotes, that'll be quite helpful in the future. 

[Colticide]

While I tend to not think of color for the songs I do however have the same thing as Mea, but not just light or weight.

Eternal Shrine Maiden: Darkness, loneliness, fear, sadness. It's a song that really feels different compared to the other Touhou songs. IIRC I decided to look up any kind of comments from Zun about this and was surprised to see him say that it has a hint of darkness to it, while I do agree I feel it has a lot more darkness about it, but it "feels" like its in the background, watching you.

Ultimate True: I know it is a final stage theme, but it FEELS like a final stage theme. A sense of urgency, if whats at the end isn't stopped it could cause serious problems, but also quite beautiful, reminds me of a flower that I don't even know the name of.

Skies beyond the clouds: As the name says it feels like a air theme, but personally I think of final fantasy air ships when I hear this, a ship flying through the sky at high speeds is what I hear.

Mnt. Onigashima in the fairy land ~ Missing power: Starting out I feel a bit of pressure, but as more instruments get added I feel more and more pressure to the point where it feels like its gonna try and choke me, then once the slow parts end and the temo really begins I feel like all that pressure wants to explode and pull me in. (which just might be what I also felt while fighting Suika but the song really shows what she is about.

Night falls ~ Evening star: Just absolute Enigma, like a hidden layer of feelings as it temps you with the sweet trumpet, crawling closer and closer to you ready to snatch you up and take you away only for it to continue over and over in a cycle.

Green-eyed Jealousy: T-T... just sad really. Knowing the character and hearing this song I feel like her own power is slowly destroying her own life, Envy< distrust< loneliness< and back to envy. A sad cycle of having a power that will always keep you alone, it's beautiful... but it makes me want to give up and cry...

Dark side of Fate: Hina in fandom likes to spin, but when trying to play this on a piano however gives the same feeling, it feels like a whirlwind of emotion and a hint of darkness? It could be it represents "curse" for her.

Sorry if this sounds weird, I'm typing these as I listen to them again to best tell what I get from them. Despite what most people outside the Touhou fandom might say that these songs don't have words, but no I say! These songs tell a story of the characters themselves and their personalities. Plus it helps that Zun makes the music first before making the games and characters for the music, not the music for the characters like what most end up doing.

Sorry again I'm done talking everyone ear off, forgive me!

[ElizabethK]

While I tend to not think of color for the songs I do however have the same thing as Mea, but not just light or weight.

Eternal Shrine Maiden: Darkness, loneliness, fear, sadness. It's a song that really feels different compared to the other Touhou songs. IIRC I decided to look up any kind of comments from Zun about this and was surprised to see him say that it has a hint of darkness to it, while I do agree I feel it has a lot more darkness about it, but it "feels" like its in the background, watching you.

Ultimate True: I know it is a final stage theme, but it FEELS like a final stage theme. A sense of urgency, if whats at the end isn't stopped it could cause serious problems, but also quite beautiful, reminds me of a flower that I don't even know the name of.

Skies beyond the clouds: As the name says it feels like a air theme, but personally I think of final fantasy air ships when I hear this, a ship flying through the sky at high speeds is what I hear.

Mnt. Onigashima in the fairy land ~ Missing power: Starting out I feel a bit of pressure, but as more instruments get added I feel more and more pressure to the point where it feels like its gonna try and choke me, then once the slow parts end and the temo really begins I feel like all that pressure wants to explode and pull me in. (which just might be what I also felt while fighting Suika but the song really shows what she is about.

Night falls ~ Evening star: Just absolute Enigma, like a hidden layer of feelings as it temps you with the sweet trumpet, crawling closer and closer to you ready to snatch you up and take you away only for it to continue over and over in a cycle.

Green-eyed Jealousy: T-T... just sad really. Knowing the character and hearing this song I feel like her own power is slowly destroying her own life, Envy< distrust< loneliness< and back to envy. A sad cycle of having a power that will always keep you alone, it's beautiful... but it makes me want to give up and cry...

Dark side of Fate: Hina in fandom likes to spin, but when trying to play this on a piano however gives the same feeling, it feels like a whirlwind of emotion and a hint of darkness? It could be it represents "curse" for her.

Sorry if this sounds weird, I'm typing these as I listen to them again to best tell what I get from them. Despite what most people outside the Touhou fandom might say that these songs don't have words, but no I say! These songs tell a story of the characters themselves and their personalities. Plus it helps that Zun makes the music first before making the games and characters for the music, not the music for the characters like what most end up doing.

Sorry again I'm done talking everyone ear off, forgive me!

No, you're perfectly fine! I love hearing other's thoughts. And yes, I have those thoughts too. I get feelings for songs aswell; I should've put that in the original post! 

For example ( If you don't want to hear my rambles that's fine and you can skip this xD)


The Bridge People No Longer Cross -

This one . . Well, to start, this is one of my favorite themes. There's a sense of sadness, and it gives me an overwhelming urge to cry. There's also a hint of despair. The second part of the song (after the fancy bit) always makes me think of swaying from side to side, or jumping from one place to another. I think this is because of Parsee's midboss spell (I think it's her midboss spell, atleast): Tongue-Cut Sparrow "Egotistic Animosity to the Humble Rich Man", where there's a clone of her and their paths both criss-cross a lot. It's weird.  :X

Both Road of the Apotropaic God ~ Dark Road [MoF Stage 2 Theme] & Dark Side of Fate both give me, like you said, a feeling of dizziness. It's actually hard for me to listen to them long, because I get so dizzy! 

U.N. Owen was Her?: This one gives me a very chaotic feeling, like everywhere I go I'm trapped. It gives a feeling of sadness, especially during 0:28 to 1:11. Maybe it's the chords?? For colors, it's even more chaotic. There's splashes of literally every bright, almost neon color you can think of. Blue, yellow, red, orange, green, pink. It's crazy. And like Mea said, maybe it's because f the context of the themes that make me think of certain colors, maybe it's because of Flandre's wings.

Anyways, thank you for sharing (and of course, not making fun. I was worried people would think it's weird xD)

<333

[shockdude]

Out of curiosity, have you played the Touhou games or have you only listened to the music? Imo the gameplay and story have a heavy influence on the perception of music, and vice versa, and I'm curious if your reactions differ when listening to the music in context vs standalone.

[Colticide]

Well for me I feel about the same, most notably Suikas fight. Its chaotic, and the fact that pandemonium shatters your UI reinforces that fact. Actually now that I think on it I have stronger feelings when I'm playing compared to just listening. That's because of the way zun makes his games right? Music first and build the game around the music.

[ElizabethK]

Out of curiosity, have you played the Touhou games or have you only listened to the music? Imo the gameplay and story have a heavy influence on the perception of music, and vice versa, and I'm curious if your reactions differ when listening to the music in context vs standalone.

I have played the games, and I agree completely- the story/gameplay does really influence thoughts. 

[ElizabethK]

Well for me I feel about the same, most notably Suikas fight. Its chaotic, and the fact that pandemonium shatters your UI reinforces that fact. Actually now that I think on it I have stronger feelings when I'm playing compared to just listening. That's because of the way zun makes his games right? Music first and build the game around the music.

It is very chatioc and it makes sense; Suika strikes me as the more "chaotic" type. Not intentional, of course (or is it?  ) but more like she doesn't really know her own strength and maybe it's just how people can perceive her power (and attitude, I suppose) as very audacious and powerful.  I really enjoy this conversation, I love talking about other people's answers. Thank you!

[shockdude]

I'm the type of guy who listens to music to relax, and I honestly don't have any reaction to music beyond "this sounds good" and "this sounds bad".
For video games it's a different story. Imo video games are better at conveying emotions than any other entertainment medium, and I believe that game music plays a huge role in those emotions.

If you can, you should play the Touhou fangame Concealed the Conclusion (with English patch). It's the type of game where the music alone is decent, and the game alone is decent, but the game and music combined makes for a phenomenal emotional ride.

[Colticide]

I'm the type of guy who listens to music to relax, and I honestly don't have any reaction to music beyond "this sounds good" and "this sounds bad".
For video games it's a different story. Imo video games are better at conveying emotions than any other entertainment medium, and I believe that game music plays a huge role in those emotions.

If you can, you should play the Touhou fangame Concealed the Conclusion (with English patch). It's the type of game where the music alone is decent, and the game alone is decent, but the game and music combined makes for a phenomenal emotional ride.

I've always tried to tell others that but they don't seem to have the understanding of what music "is".

I've heard so much about that game, read the story and heard the amazing music (Huge fan of the CtC Night Falls Evening star one), but I never played it. Not sure how since I'm new to the touhou fan shooters, I hate to play a game for free that I actually had to buy. I wanna play Last Comer too.

It is very chatioc and it makes sense; Suika strikes me as the more "chaotic" type. Not intentional, of course (or is it?  ) but more like she doesn't really know her own strength and maybe it's just how people can perceive her power (and attitude, I suppose) as very audacious and powerful.  I really enjoy this conversation, I love talking about other people's answers. Thank you!

I think the fight and the song is to make you feel just how powerful a Oni really is, how dangerous they really are. Me too! Oh and sorry that I didn't respond to the ones you mentioned, I totally agree with all of them, especially about The bridge People No Longer Cross, I do like boss themes but the stage themes give the most for me. I'm trying to find a way to explain The Dollmaker of Bucuresti, but I can't explain why I absolutely love out about it or even what I get out of it.

[ElizabethK]

I've always tried to tell others that but they don't seem to have the understanding of what music "is".

I've heard so much about that game, read the story and heard the amazing music (Huge fan of the CtC Night Falls Evening star one), but I never played it. Not sure how since I'm new to the touhou fan shooters, I hate to play a game for free that I actually had to buy. I wanna play Last Comer too.

I think the fight and the song is to make you feel just how powerful a Oni really is, how dangerous they really are. Me too! Oh and sorry that I didn't respond to the ones you mentioned, I totally agree with all of them, especially about The bridge People No Longer Cross, I do like boss themes but the stage themes give the most for me. I'm trying to find a way to explain The Dollmaker of Bucuresti, but I can't explain why I absolutely love out about it or even what I get out of it.

It's fine! c: 'The Dollmaker of Bucuresti' is also one of my favorite themes. It gives me a sense of confusion; like you're asking yourself (or maybe Alice is asking herself, I suppose): which path do I take? It also gives me an eerie feeling, because of the beginning. It's also very sad, too. It gets lighter in tone and feeling, but that pinch of sadness is still there.