Now this is something that has made me wonder over the years.
To preface, I possess the 'curse' of perfect pitch. Curse, you say? Stop whining, Mike, you say? OK.
Perfect pitch is sort of like perceiving musical notes the way others see color. Easily identified for most eyes. Completely tonedeaf is like being colorblind, I'm guessing.
Like color, then, notes, and their keys and modes, have 'shades' some of which are pleasing to the sonic "eye". Assuming that artistic response is a sort of direct translation of emotional state into an artistic expression, with no 'middleman', then some 'shades' make you feel nice, while others irk the soul. That's why rap (I feel safe in saying) makes me feel irritated the moment I hear it.
OK. Now there are keys that I find emotionally dead. G is such a key. It moves me emotionally (and artistically) like a burden. Odd, because the two main companion instruments, the guitar and the B@|\|J0, are based in G when not capoed.
When I hear people playing in G, say, at a jam, I subconsciously sink into a funk. When playing mandolin, I tense up at the thought of G.
Which isn't to say I can't PLAY in G, But the effort has been huge, to overcome the aversion to that tonic. It took me a month to overcome 'G aversion' and lay into "Bluegrass Breakdown" a la Mon.
Anybody else have similar reactions to different keys?
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