My Color Music

Besides maybe war, poverty, and disease, there’s nothing worse than forgetting the idea for a really great song. Seriously … it’s happened to me more than I’d like to admit. Sometimes, I would be out on a hike, or in the car—or anywhere, really—when I’d think of a cool lyric or melody. But by the time I got home, I just couldn’t remember how it went. In fact, this happened so many times, it was painful … especially if the idea I lost was really good.

So finally, I got wise. And I decided to make a music emergency kit … for those times when I definitely want to remember a great idea. This kit has everything I need. And best of all, it’s easy to take anywhere.

For starters, the simplest thing you can do is just carry a small voice recorder. That way, you can sing or hum a melody right when inspiration strikes. If you’re in the market, prices range anywhere from $20 (USD) on the low end to hundreds of dollars on the high end. I’d personally go with something cheap … but if you want more bells and whistles, a more expensive recorder will also do the trick.

And if you really want to get the ideas flowing, I recommend buying a small notepad and pocket pen. Moleskine® brand notepads are pretty awesome (I bought mine at Barnes & Noble bookseller). These little notepads come in a variety of sizes and page types … like blank pages, lined pages, pages with grid lines, and even pages with music notation staff lines. The best pen I found is the Fisher® Space Pen (which I got at Office Depot—an office supply store).

To be honest, my brother did all the research on these items … he’s been carrying around an idea notepad for a long time. (I think he got the idea from Leonardo da Vinci, who took a notebook with him everywhere he went.)

Anyway, this music emergency kit has been very good to me. I seem to come up with cool ideas a lot more often. And the nice thing is, I never forget them anymore. My notepad and pen are always with me … even when I go for a jog.

In fact … maybe this is over-the-top, but my wife just custom designed an easy-to-reach carrying pouch for me that I take on my jogs. That way, I can quickly stop, write down an idea, and then keep going. I’m pretty sure the people I jog past think it looks awesome (!) Pretty cool, yes?

Music is so easy to play when you can actually see what you’re doing. So that’s why I’ve always been amazed by people like Stevie Wonder. I mean, how does he do it … seriously? I am totally impressed by blind musicians. Talk about real skill….

But I’m just as amazed by musicians in general. Because when it comes to seeing sound, they don’t have any real advantage. In fact, they might as well be blind, too … which is why it takes a lot of time and patience to practice as much as they do. But, hey, people haven’t had choice … until now.

You can use Color Music on any instrument (they use all the same notes, you know). But since we’ve been looking at the piano a lot lately, I thought it would be nice to include some photos of my keyboard.

It’s pretty smooth, actually. I guess I could just ignore that row of colors at the top. But they’re just staring me in the face … showing how things work.

Unlike Stevie Wonder, I don’t have to just feel my way around the keyboard. Each note jumps out and is easy to see.

I sort of feel bad saying this to musicians who have spent years taking lessons, but you really can master music … fast. It just takes these 12 colors.