No, it hasn’t dawned yet. We just watched “Hair” in my Broadway musical course and I’ve been listening to the music ever since. It’s not one of my favourite musicals, but it’s certainly unique. And it gave me a song for my own zodiac sign. 
Ever since I was a kid, I’ve been interested in both astronomy and astrology, especially the planets and the Zodiac. I think this stems from my inherent fondness for groups and categorization, and my fascination with the mysterious (which would also explain my love for superheroes like the X-Men, and the numerous ’superhero’ teams I created as a kid). While I don’t put much stock in astrology, I’m still fascinated by it, and some of the descriptions of Aquarians actually seem fairly accurate for me. Coincidence? Quite possibly.
While reading through my illustrated books on space or the Zodiac as a child, I was always captivated by the colours. When I would create fantasy characters, they were almost always differentiated from each other by colours and often associated with a particular element. Even the photographs that I take, I think, reflect my love of colour. I would even venture to say that I have a mild form of synethesia, consisting primarily in grapheme-colour synesthesia, number form synethesia, and personification.
Whenever I think of a collective categorization of things such as the alphabet, the days of the week, the months of the year, integers, or the notes of a musical scale, I perceive each group in a very specific spatial organization. I also associate each individual object within the group with a specific colour, gender, and personality.
Where do these associations come from? It’s hard to say, but if I had to guess, I’d say that they’re deeply rooted in my early childhood, when I learned the various classifications. But it even extends to some less basic groups – I also frequently associate various languages with colours, genders, and personalities as well (see also the Bouba/Kiki Effect, which might suggest that there is some neurological basis for these characterizations and has strong implications for psycholinguistics).
In fact, I wrote about this very subject over 3 years ago on my old livejournal. Here is my synethesic mapping of the musical notes, with an approximate mental colour and the descriptions I wrote back then:
A – female, “the seductress, the plagued harlot”
B - male, “the disagreeable and rambunxious young man who’s always causing trouble, but also has an air of importance about him, even though he doesn’t seem to fit in”
C - androgynous, “kind of a neutral, peaceful, balanced note, and sort of the noble leader of the group”
D – male, “either a strong, dark, warlike note or a sad, dark, troubled one”
E – female, “kind of an old, disagreeable mischievous woman who has some kind of hidden wisdom”
F – male, “a very gentle, contemplative young man…with a feminine side”
G – androgynous, “doesn’t have much of a personality, but has an air of being a busy entity”
Some of these associations probably have to do with the notes’ positions within the C major scale, others probably have to do with the letters themselves (and my pre-existing characterizations of them), while others might have to do with the physical position of the notes on the keyboard (i.e. G being in a “cluttered” spot). Nonetheless, it’s a pretty fascinating mental phenomenon.
But back to the music. Another great number from Hair:
No, I haven’t become a hippie — although I have recently developped a stronger interest in the time period. I’ve seen images of the ’60s, Woodstock, etc. all of my life, but after watching a number of video clips from the era in class, I was suddenly fascinated. I suppose it could be the realization that the people engineering this social revolution were my age. It’s amazing that young people could initiate such incredible societal change, although my generation seems more interested in instant self-gratification (not that the hippies’ values were that different…).
At any rate, I love imagining what it would be like to live in a different time era (although I tend to consider the late 60s – 70s as part of the same general cultural era in which I’ve grown up, whereas the ’50s and earlier feel much more distant). While all of the original hippies are now old geezers, seeing videos from the ’60s when they were my age makes me realize how short life really is. Maybe that’s why I’m such a nostalgic person…I like to hold on to the past. One of my greatest challenges has always been learning how to deal with change.
And on that sentimental note, I’d like to continue discussing some of the other musicals that we’ve studied in my class. Carousel, in particular, has two very moving songs, “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” and the hauntingly beautiful “If I Loved You.”
To hear the MP3 of the full version of the song (not the reprise), click here.
Another favourite of mine is the duet “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” from Gershwin’s opera Porgy and Bess, ever since I heard an incredibly beautiful instrumental version of the song many years ago.
Actually, the only show we’ve watched in my musical class that I’d already seen in its entirety is West Side Story (which also happens to be one of the best ever). While I’m sure most of you already know the music, I figured I’d share the brilliant “Tonight Quintet.”
This course has also resparked my interest in French musicals – I’ve previously mentioned “Notre Dame de Paris,” which is without a doubt the best of the bunch, and one of my favourite musicals ever – if you have any interest in the genre whatsoever, I highly encourage you to see it somehow. Next semester, I’m going to attempt to show the film on campus somehow (which might entail me taking control of the defunct French club).
I’ve also mentioned “Les Dix Commandements” and “Le Roi Soleil,” but I don’t think either can compare to “Notre Dame de Paris.” However, I recently discovered the musical adaptation of “Le Petit Prince,” with music written by Richard Cocciante (the composer of “Notre Dame de Paris”). While I haven’t heard all of the songs yet, I found one particularly lovely: “Adieu.”
While I’m tempted to go on another tangent about French music, I think I’ll save it for another post. After all, I’m staying here for the Thanksgiving break so I might have some extra free time on my hands.
Gobble gobble.
