Color

(1) ("koh-LOR") a pattern of pitches (longer than a motive) in an isorhythmic voice which is repeated verbatim one or more times, though perhaps in different rhythms. One refers to the number of "statements of the color." See isorhythm. (2) (or coloration) the use of ink color to indicate a shift from duple to triple (or triple to duple). First proposed by Philippe de Vitry (1291-1361). During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, coloration was often used as shorthand for dotted figures (e.g. notes that could be transcribed as dotted-eighth plus sixteenth or as dotted-quarter plus eighth).