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Page:Colour-Music, The Art of Mobile Colour (Rimington, 1911).djvu/204

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COLOUR-MUSIC

cheerful and light; while to him the more pleasing and exhilarating colours, such as red, have the lowest vibrations. In reply it may be said that this is a purely personal impression and cannot be taken as a normal one. In the construction of the forms of colour-organ provided with a keyboard, the upper octaves are paler and lighter than the lower ones. If, therefore, there is anything in the contention that cheerfulness and light are intimately associated, that association is taken account of in the arrangement of the colour scale in these instruments. But, as a matter of fact, few people would agree with this critic in thinking that low-toned reds such as are found at the red end of the spectrum-band are the most cheerful colours. Nothing is much more cheerful and exhilarating than the strong or opalescent blue of the sky or of many flowers.

With regard to this point, in the careful researches which have been carried out in Germany as to the relatively pleasant effect of different colours upon the eye, satisfactory results could of course only be obtained by

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