Colored music notation is a technique used to facilitate enhanced learning in young music students by adding visual color to written musical notation. It is based upon the concept that color can affect the observer in various ways, and combines this with standard learning of basic notation.
Basis
Viewing color has been widely shown to change an individual's emotional state and stimulate neurons. The Lüscher color test observes from experiments that when individuals are required to contemplate pure red for varying lengths of time, [the experiments] have shown that this color decidedly has a stimulating effect on the nervous system; blood pressure increases, and respiration rate and heart rate both increase. Pure blue, on the other hand, has the reverse effect; observers experience a decline in blood pressure, heart rate, and breathing. Given these findings, it has been suggested that the influence of colored musical notation would be similar.
Music education
In music education, color is typically used in method books to highlight new material. Stimuli received through several senses excite more neurons in several localized areas of the cortex, thereby reinforcing the learning process and improving retention. This information has been proven by other researchers; Chute (1978) reported that "elementary students who viewed a colored version of an instructional film scored significantly higher on both immediate and delayed tests than did students who viewed a monochrome version".
Color studies
Effect on achievement
A researcher in this field, George L. Rogers is the Director of Music Education at Westfield State College. He is also the author of 25 articles in publications that include the Music Educators Journal, The Instrumentalist, and the Journal of Research in Music Education. In 1991, George L. Rogers did a study that researched the effect of color-coded notation on music achievement of elementary instrumental students. Rogers states that the color-coded notation used in this study was not meant to replace the present notational system; rather, it was intended as a pedagogical aid for beginners.
The subjects used for this study were 92 fifth- and sixth-grade beginner wind instrument players who attended two different schools. The experimental group used color-coded method books and supplementary materials in which each different pitch was highlighted with a different color using felt-tip markers. The control group used identical materials, but with the notation uncolored. The students were then tested in three different parts: Students performed a 26-note melody from memory (The materials were presented either in color or uncolored notation). Students sight-read two 12-note melodies (One melody was presented in color-coded notation, the other uncolored. The students were then asked which notation was easier to play). Students named the letter names of the notes in two 7-note melodies.
The results of this study are as follows: Subjects in the experimental and control groups performed much the same on the task of playing music from memory. For the task of sight-reading, the experimental group scored higher than did the control group. However, the control group (without color-coded notation) scored higher when sight-reading uncolored notation. In fact, the students who learned using color-coded notation scored significantly lower when sight-reading plain notation.
A possible theory regarding these results is that the students in the experimental group memorized the colors instead of the notation. The third task of note naming seemed to be less of a challenge for the control group who learned to read notation than the experimental group who learned which color is which fingering on their instrument. In regards to which type of notation was easier to read, in the experimental group all but three found the color-coded notation easier to play, in the control group 18 out of the 46 chose color-coded notation also easier to read. This is a deviation from standard findings, as most students prefer the method they were first introduced to.