Sophie Serafino - A Review

Sophie Serafino, a MySpace friend of music2work2, is a violinist, singer and songwriter from Sydney, Australia. She began playing the violin at age 3. Her music seems to be a mix of several genres - pop, rap, funk, rock, classical; these are evident just in the sample music on her MySpace page. Of the four songs available to hear on her page, my favorite is "Liquid Crystal." It is an upbeat, melodic piece with touches of classical and rock.

In addition to her solo performances, Sophie also plays with The String Angels and The String Selection.

I recommend checking out the sounds of this very talented musician.

Yiksiuchit - A Review

One of music2work2's MySpace friends is Yiksiuchit from Hong Kong. His music is classified as Pop/Trip Hop. Yiksiuchit "does it all" as far as his music goes - composing, arranging, recording, synthesizer, mixing. His MySpace page contains 5 very short samples of his music; I wish the samples were a bit longer. All five songs sound like beautiful, melodic pieces. I enjoyed listening to all of them, however, I think "Shadow of the light" is my favorite. This may have something to do with the fact that it is also the longest sample of the five - about one minute in length.

From these short demos, it is clear that Yiksiuchit is a talented musician. I am looking forward to hearing more of his music.

What color do you hear?

I was reading about an interesting phenomenon called synesthesia, in which “stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.” This cross-over of senses often allows individuals to see letters, numbers, even days of the week in color; regardless of the color the letter is written in, individuals with this ability see a distinct color – “L” may be blue, “M” may be red. Some people with synesthesia also “hear” colors – sounds or music have a distinct color.

When I listen to music, it often evokes an emotion or feeling in me but definitely not colors. The emotion is usually tied to a past experience the music or song reminds me of. Research has shown that synesthesia is not the result of memories. There are several tests on a web site from the U.K., BBC - Science & Nature - Human Body and Mind, that one can take to determine if they have this blending of the senses. I definitely do not have it; I scored poorly on every one of them.

This entire web site is interesting and fun. It examines functions of the mind, personality, etc. in short surveys and psychology tests. And, the best part is that it actually gives you the results.