the color you thought you thought | stereo playback & video or projections | 5″ | 2018
premiered | LOEB Hall, Columbia MO
the color you thought you thought ties auditory and visual data together in an exploration of color and sound memory. Our brain often simplifies color data into broad categories (e.g. blue, red, etc.), which inhibits our ability to distinguish and remember the subtle differences between hues. I suspect that this neurological phenomenon, dubbed “color bias,” extends to other sensorial domains as well.
Like the communal categorization of color, Westerners most often discuss music in terms relating it to the twelve tone equal tempered system. Western music has been composed in this system since the 18th century, and the language surrounding classical music practice is built on this premise. Like color, I suspect that this results in “pitch bias,” which inhibits our ability to identify and remember minute differences in pitch.
The senses are also an area subject to conceptual separation, but recent findings in neuroscience and anthropology suggest that the strict separation of sensorial data (e.g. sight, hearing, etc.) leads to an incomplete understanding of how we consume, process, and experience media—neurologically, culturally, and individually. In this piece, the correlation between sound and visualization are concrete.
Additional Performances:
K I N E S T H E S I A (showing) @ Studio 4, McKee Gymnasium, Columbia MO
Let (installation) @ Padnos Student Gallery, Grand Valley State University
All solo, chamber, and large ensemble works have score, parts, & relevant media available for purchase. Please contact me at nikodschroeder@gmail.com with inquiries. I’m happy to get my music in your hands!
Niko D. Schroeder 