What does the sound of a marimba look like? For someone with synesthesia — a neurological phenomenon where senses like sight and hearing are interlinked and experienced simultaneously — the tones of a marimba might appear as bursts of colour.

The McMaster Percussion Ensemble is exploring this blend of colour and music with Swatches, a newly commissioned piece by percussionist and composer Josh Gottry.

Inspired by the descriptive names on paint swatches, Gottry translated the colours into music, combining them with the sound of the marimba and emotional cues.

“I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of synesthesia,” Gottry explains.

“Independent of that condition, but inspired by the idea, I wanted to figure out how I can represent colours in music, and I ended up picking out swatches at a paint store that were meaningful to me.”

 “Any piece of music I write, I hope that it evokes emotion, or a picture, or that you can hear a story or a process in there.”

These colours became the five movements in Swatches: “Gentle Violet”, “Evening Blue”, “Winter White”, “Peppermint Leaf Green” and “Sun Kissed Yellow”, with each movement evoking the mood of the colour.

“‘Winter White’, for example, captures the feeling of a snowy day — just incredibly peaceful and tranquil, like a forest in the backyard freshly covered with snow,” Gottry says.

The percussion ensemble has already recorded the first three movements, including “Winter White,” performed by undergraduate students Cindy He, Tienchee Liu and Colin Bruce.

Directed by Michael Schutz, professor of music cognition and percussion in the School of the Arts, the percussion ensemble brings together students from across campus.

“One of the more impressive things about the group is that it’s mostly not music majors,” explains Schutz.

“They’re often in science or engineering, with heavy course loads. But they’re passionate about this broader experience with the arts, which is so important at a university like McMaster with such a focus on STEM.

 “These students are not unidimensional. They want broader arts experiences.”

This was the case for Bruce, who is balancing percussion with his studies in electrical and biomedical engineering. Now in his third year with the ensemble, Bruce found Swatches to be a rewarding challenge.

“Most of the pieces I’ve been a part of were either drum-focused, experimental, or arrangements of classical tunes,” Bruce says.

“This is the first time I’ve ever been a part of a keyboard-centric piece originally written for the instrument. As we’ve progressed through the movements, I’ve definitely gained a deep appreciation for the rhythmic and melodic aspects and how they’re structured between the three players.”

Schutz also directs the Music, Acoustics, Perception & Learning (MAPLE) Lab, where he studies the psychology of the musical experience. And he co-founded the Canadian Percussion Network and serves as director of a SSHRC-funded grant building bridges between percussion research and performance

For Cindy He, a student in Psychology, Neuroscience and Behaviour who specializes in music cognition, the connection between research and music became clear through a research practicum in the MAPLE Lab last year.

“I was helping with a project analyzing triangle sounds, and then going to practice the next day and playing the triangle,” she recalled.

Other studies in the MAPLE Lab explore how music conveys emotion and how gestures change music perception.

And that research does, in fact, make its way into performance, says He.

“While performing Swatches, I found myself subconsciously moving to the music and striking the marimba in a certain way to sound smoother or gentler during performances, knowing about this research,” she explained.

The performance also benefited from guidance from Gottry, who provided feedback during rehearsals to help shape the ensemble’s interpretation of the piece.

“It’s really cool to have the composer listen and give his own feedback, to get the sound he wanted in his mind, which is not as easy to capture on paper,” He said.

While “Winter White” has been He’s favourite to play so far, she is looking forward to performing “Peppermint Leaf Green” and “Sun Kissed Yellow” when the ensemble performs the full piece at the Spring Concert on March 29.