Harmonic coloring assigns twelve colors from the artist's color wheel to the twelve pitches of the musician's circle of fifths.
In the chart above and the examples that follow, blue is assigned to the tonic
pitch (I).
The notes of a major scale (above) are contiguous on the circle of fifths --
five notes are found directly clockwise from the tonic, and one directly
counterclockwise. (In a minor scale, the balance would be reversed, with more
notes lying counterclockwise from the tonic.)
In both the major triad and the minor triad (above), the root and the fifth are
adjacent on the wheel, and the third is more distant. The third, whether major
or minor, adds the note to the triad that is most distant harmonically from
each of the others.
Examples of harmonic coloring in (static) Music Animation Machine notation:
Above are the first four bars of Chopin's Prelude, Opus 28, No. 3 in G major,
rendered in Music Animation Machine notation using harmonic coloring. This
excerpt remains entirely in a single tonal area, that of the tonic.
Above are four bars (23-26) of Chopin's Nocturne, Opus 27, No. 2 in D-flat
major. This excerpt modulates chromatically, ending with a V-to-I cadence
(violet-to-blue in the bass line).
Back to Music Animation Machine main page
For information about the MAM video (Note: only the
2nd demo reel features Harmonic Coloring)