Method & colours methodcoloursdegrees September 24, 2026

Reading the colours: the note, its place in the scale, or nothing

Reading the colours means answering three independent questions: what the colour says, whether shared notes split apart, and whether chords are drawn. Three settings, valid on an acoustic handpan and an electronic one alike.

Whether your handpan is acoustic or electronic, a colour can say two things.

It can say which note you have under your fingers. Or it can say which place that note holds in your scale.

These are two different readings of the same instrument, and both are right.

The app doesn’t choose for you: it lets you choose. It’s a setting, it takes one click, and it’s called ChromaKeys.

To see this language in motion, here is the first video of the series about the app.

Un nouveau langage visuel pour apprendre le handpan grâce aux couleurs, la géométrie et les émotions

On a handpan, the note in the centre is domed: that’s the ding. The other notes are hollowed into the metal. Here, they are all simply called notes.

Two screenshots side by side, Starry Night theme. At the top of each, the ChromaKeys island from the Display menu: ChromaKeys On, “The colour tells you…” set to “the note · chakras”, Shared notes On, and the line “Chord drawing · the eye on each chord draws its constellation”. Below, the pan. On the left, an acoustic D Kurd 10: the D3 ding orange, D4 orange, A3 and A4 blue, C4 and C5 red, F4 green, E4 yellow, G4 sky blue, Bb3 indigo; several notes carry a thin ring in the colours of other chords. On the right, a 19-note Neotone Mutant (the handpan's screen reads “D Kurd 19 – David Lesage · Neotone Mutant”): the same colours for the same notes, from the orange D3 ding to the small notes A5, F5, G5, E5, D5, F3, G3, C3 and Bb2. — Colour set to *the note*, on an **acoustic** pan and on an **electronic** pan. Ten notes on one side, nineteen on the other, and the same rule: one note, one colour.

And what if the colour said nothing? Under the ChromaKeys name there is an Off / On switch. On Off, the colours go out and the pan is bare metal again. On On, they come back.

The same acoustic D Kurd 10, twice side by side, with the ChromaKeys island above. On the left, ChromaKeys Off (red button): the ten notes have the colour of the metal, only outlined in gold, and all look alike. On the right, ChromaKeys On, the colour tells the note: the D3 ding and D4 orange, A3 and A4 blue, C4 and C5 red, F4 green, E4 yellow, G4 sky blue, Bb3 indigo. — The same D Kurd 10, ChromaKeys **Off** on the left, On on the right: without colour every note looks alike; with it, you tell them apart at a glance.

The same Neotone Mutant, twice side by side, with the ChromaKeys island above. On the left, ChromaKeys Off: the nineteen notes are grey on the wood, only outlined in gold. On the right, ChromaKeys On: each note takes back the colour of its name — the Ds orange, the As blue, the Cs red, the Fs green, the Es yellow, the Gs sky blue, the B flats indigo. — The same test on the **electronic** pan: on **Off**, nineteen notes without colour; on On, each takes back the colour of its note.

On an eighteen-note pan, the difference is even more striking.

David's D Kurd 18 (the handpan's screen reads “D Kurd 18 — David Lesage Signature”), twice side by side, with the ChromaKeys island above. Twelve notes on the shell and six bottom notes laid out as a star around it, outlined with dashes. On the left, ChromaKeys Off: eighteen metal-coloured notes. On the right, ChromaKeys On: each takes the colour of its name, the Ds orange, the Cs red, the Fs green, the Gs sky blue, the As and B flats in the blues. — My **D Kurd 18**, Off then On: eighteen grey notes blur together, eighteen coloured notes sort themselves into families.

At the top of the screen, the 🎨 Display button (Affichage) opens the tool palette. Inside it, an island with a multicoloured outline: ChromaKeys. It asks two questions, and a third one is set elsewhere, on the chord cards. All three are independent: you can answer one without touching the other two.

Colour says… → the note · its place in the scale. For it to say nothing, you don’t need a third choice: that’s the Off switch under the ChromaKeys name. Switch back to On, and the last reading you chose comes back.
Shared notes → Off / On
Chord drawing → there’s nothing to click here: the eye lives on each chord card, at the bottom of the screen, not in the island.

You’ll notice that the two choices of “Colour says…” each carry two labels: the plain word first, and the theory word in small type right beside it. The note is what others call the chakras. Its place in the scale is what’s called the scale degrees. I say it once here, and after that I use the plain words.

Screen demo, on a Neotone Mutant: the ChromaKeys island opens in 🎨 Display, then the notes of the scale light up one by one, each in its colour. The app is shown in French.

”Colour says the note”: a C always red

First possible answer. Here the colour is glued to the name of the note, and it never moves again.

A C is red.
A D is orange.
An F is green.
An A is indigo.

All twelve notes have their colour — sharps included, each with its own shade. Change scale, change instrument, change key: nothing moves. Red stays C.

The ChromaKeys creation palette: an arc of twelve round dots above the acoustic D Minor / Kurd 10 handpan. From left to right: C dark red, C sharp bright red, D dark orange, D sharp light orange, E yellow, F dark green, F sharp light green, G sky blue, G sharp light sky blue, A indigo, A sharp light indigo, B magenta. Under the arc, a curved band runs from red to violet and carries the marks Octave 2, Octave 3, Octave 4, Octave 5. — The twelve colours, in order. The seven notes, and between them **the semitones in a lighter shade of the same colour**: that's the only thing to remember.

The most immediate benefit is the octave.

With nothing else turned on, every D on your shell is orange: the low one, the high one, the one up on the right. At a glance, you see they are the same note at different pitches.

That’s the kind of thing that takes months to absorb by ear, and becomes obvious in a second through colour.

Two pans side by side, the colour tells the note, without the settings island. On the left, the acoustic D Kurd 10: the D3 ding and D4 are the same orange. On the right, the Neotone Mutant: D3 in the centre, D4 at the lower left and the small D5 note are orange too. The As are blue on both sides (A3, A4, and A5 on the Mutant), the Cs red (C4, C5, and C3 on the Mutant). — **The Ds are the same orange**: the D3 ding and D4 on the acoustic pan, D3, D4 and D5 on the electronic pan. The octave becomes visible before it becomes audible. Same for the As and the Cs.

What is a scale degree?

Before the second answer, one word is needed. Just one.

A scale is seven places, from the first to the seventh. Like the steps of a staircase.

Each note of your scale sits on one step, and only one. The degree of a note is the number of its step. Nothing more.

What’s lovely is that the steps have a character — always the same one, in any key. I gave them names:

I — Balance: home, where everything settles.
II — Momentum: it starts, it pushes gently.
III — Adventure: you leave the known behind.
IV — Relaxation: you breathe.
V — Tension: it pulls, it asks for what comes next.
VI — Nostalgia: sweetness with a sting.
VII — Mystery: suspended, it can’t stay there.

Each one also has its vowel, to sing: OU · O (as in “beau”) · O (as in “or”) · A · E · I · M. That’s the bridge to singing, and it’s worked on in the 🎤 Sing menu (Chanter) — a subject of its own.

”Colour says its place in the scale”

Second answer. Here the colour no longer looks at the note’s name: it looks at the chord it serves in your scale.

On an electronic handpan, in Logic mode, this colour is the colour of the chord’s degree. The I chord is always red, the II orange, and so on. If your scale is in D, it’s the notes of the D chord that turn red. Colour follows the place, not the name.

A visible consequence: two notes with the same name can carry two different colours, because they don’t serve the same chord.

And the pattern of the seven colours stays identical from one key to another: that’s what lets you play the same thing elsewhere without relearning anything.

In Logic mode, on the Neotone Mutant

To see it, I set a Neotone Mutant to Logic mode, anchored on C (I Balance, C), and switch on one chord’s eye: only that chord stays in colour, the rest of the pan turns grey. On the left the colour says the note, on the right its place in the scale.

The same Neotone Mutant, twice side by side, same framing, in Logic mode anchored on C. Above each pan, the Chromakeys island On, Shared notes On. The eye is on for the “I Balance C” chord: a red line links C2, E3, G3 and C4, numbered 1 to 4; the other notes are grey. On the left, “The colour tells you…” is set to “the note”: C2 and C4 red, E3 yellow, G3 sky blue. On the right, set to “its place in the scale”: C2, E3, G3 and C4 are all red. — The I chord (I Balance, C). On the left, each note keeps the colour of its name: C2 and C4 red, E3 yellow, G3 sky blue. On the right, **the whole chord is red**, because it is the I.

Same setting, the eye now on “V Tension G”: a sky-blue line links G2, B2, D3 and G3, numbered 1 to 4; the other notes, the C2 ding included, are grey. On the left, “the note”: G2 and G3 sky blue, B2 magenta, D3 orange. On the right, “its place in the scale”: G2, B2, D3 and G3 are all sky blue. — The V chord (V Tension, G). On the left, D3 is orange, like every D, and B2 magenta, like every B. On the right, G2, B2, D3 and G3 are **all sky blue**: D3 is a D, but here it serves the V chord.

Outside Logic mode — in Scales, in Create › A scale (Une gamme), and always on an acoustic handpan — the button keeps the same name, but each chord takes the colour of the note it is named after. You still see at a glance which notes go together, but it is no longer the reading by degrees.

On the D Kurd in the screenshots below, F4 and A4 take on an orange slice, D’s: they aren’t Ds, but they belong to the D chord.

The two readings, side by side

Here is the same handpan, photographed twice: on the left the colour says the note, on the right its place in the scale. Nothing else has moved.

The same acoustic D Kurd 10, twice side by side, same framing, outside Logic mode, Shared notes On. On the left, “the note”: each note has the colour of its name (D3 ding orange, A3 blue, F4 green…), with a thin ring. On the right, “its place in the scale”: the notes split into slices, one per chord they serve, each in the colour of the note that names the chord. F4 and A4 carry an orange slice, the D chord's; C4 turns red and blue, E4 red, yellow and blue, Bb3 indigo, sky blue and yellow. The D3 ding and A3 keep a single colour. — The **same** acoustic handpan, twice, outside Logic mode. On the right, each note takes the colour of the chords it serves: **F4 and A4 carry an orange slice**, the D chord's, even though they aren't Ds.

The same Neotone Mutant, twice side by side, same framing, Shared notes On. The handpan's screen reads “D Kurd 19 – David Lesage · Neotone Mutant”: the pan is read here as a scale, not in Logic mode. On the left, “the note”: each note has the colour of its name. On the right, “its place in the scale”: the notes split into slices in the colours of the chords they serve. D4 turns sky blue, F4 orange, the D3 ding becomes half indigo, half orange, C4 red and blue, G4 red and sky blue. — The **same** electronic pan, twice, read here as a scale (outside Logic mode). Same rule as on the acoustic: on the right, each note takes the colour of the chords it serves. Watch **D4 turn sky blue and F4 orange**.

When there are a lot of notes

Ten notes, you can remember. But my stage handpan has eighteen. Here are the two readings you’ve just seen, on that big instrument.

When the brain has a lot of information to handle at once, it stops sorting: it just takes the hit. Colour does the sorting for it.

David's D Kurd 18, twice side by side, same framing, Shared notes On. On the left, “the note”: each note has the colour of its name, with a thin ring in the colours of its other chords. On the right, “its place in the scale”: the notes split into slices in the colours of the chords they serve. The D3 ding becomes half indigo, half orange, Bb5 turns yellow, A3 is shared between blue, orange and green, C4 between red, blue and green, D4 between sky blue and orange. — My **D Kurd 18**, twice. On the left, each note has the colour of its name; on the right, the colour of the chords it serves — watch **Bb5 turn yellow and A3 split into three**. It's the same instrument: only the way of reading it has changed.

”Shared notes”: when one note serves several chords

Third idea, and it’s a setting of its own.

One and the same note can belong to several chords.

When Shared notes is On, that note splits into slices — a pie, one slice per chord it takes part in, each slice in the colour of the chord concerned.

When the colour says the note, sharing takes another form: a thin ring around the note’s colour, which keeps the note recognisable.

Three things to know:

On an acoustic D Kurd 10, eight notes out of ten split. That isn’t a textbook case: that’s nearly your whole shell.
In Logic mode too, on a Neotone Mutant in C major, many notes are split: the seven degrees share notes.
The slices disappear as soon as a chord eye is opened. The two never coexist on screen: either you look at the network of shared notes, or you look at a drawn chord.

Two captures side by side of the same acoustic D Minor / Kurd 10 handpan, colour set to “the note”. On each half, a copper ring circles the “Shared notes” setting as well as F4 and E4. Left, Off, each note has a single colour. Right, On, a ring of colours appears around most notes: F4 and E4 carry three arcs each; the D3 ding and A3 stay without a ring. — **Shared notes**, on the same acoustic pan: off on the left, on on the right. Each arc of the ring names a chord the note belongs to: look for example at **F4 and E4, three arcs each** (circled). Only the ding and A3 stay bare. (Screenshot of the French interface.)

Two captures side by side of the same Neotone Mutant, in Logic mode anchored in C major, colour set to “its place in the scale”. On each half, a copper ring circles the “Shared notes” setting as well as G3 and F3. Left, Off, each note has a single colour. Right, On, G3 and F3 are cut into three slices; E3, B3, D3, B2, A3, C3 and A2 into two. — The same test on the electronic pan. **Here too notes are shared**: G3 and F3 in three slices (circled); E3, B3, D3, B2, A3, C3 and A2 in two. (Screenshot of the French interface.)

”Chord drawing”: the eye that traces the constellation

On each chord card, at the bottom of the screen, there’s an eye.

You open it, and the chord’s constellation is traced on the instrument: a path linking its notes together.

That drawing is what stays the same when you change key — and that’s where Logic mode becomes a machine for understanding.

What you see depends on your answer to the first question:

With “its place in the scale”: the whole chord takes the colour of its degree in Logic mode — the I entirely red — or, outside Logic mode, the colour of the note that gives the chord its name, as in the screenshots below; and the rest of the instrument dims to grey.
With “the note”: the constellation is traced just the same, but each note keeps its own colour. The rest dims too.

Two ways of looking at the same chord: its function on one side, its geography on the other.

The same acoustic D Kurd 10, twice side by side, the eye of the Dm chord open on both, with the ChromaKeys island above. The constellation is drawn between D3 (1), D4 (2), F4 (3) and A4 (4), joined by an orange line; the rest of the instrument dims to grey. On the left, “the note”: D3 and D4 orange, F4 green, A4 blue. On the right, “its place in the scale”: the four notes are all orange. — The eye of the Dm chord open, on the same acoustic pan. The constellation is drawn between D3, D4, F4 and A4, and **the rest of the instrument dims to grey**. On the left, each note keeps its colour; on the right, the whole chord takes the orange of D, the note that names it.

The same Neotone Mutant, twice side by side, the eye of the Dm chord open on both; the handpan's screen shows the D minor chord D → F → A → D. The constellation is drawn between D3 (1), F4 (2), A4 (3) and D5 (4); the rest of the pan dims to grey. On the left, “the note”: D3 and D5 orange, F4 green, A4 blue. On the right, “its place in the scale”: the four notes are all orange. — The same gesture on the electronic pan, read here as a scale (outside Logic mode): on the left each note keeps its colour, on the right **the whole chord takes the orange of D**. Shape and colour say the same thing.

You have nothing to set: the presets by level

If all that sounds like a lot, good news: you have nothing to do. Your level answers for you, and you can always come back to it later.

Level	Colour says…	Shared notes
Discovery	the note	Off
Apprentice	its place in the scale	On
Musician	everything visible and adjustable	your choice

In Discovery, the island shrinks to the essentials: a single switch, Off or On. The other two settings are put away: you can’t knock them out of place by accident, and they come back at Apprentice level.

The same acoustic D Kurd 10, twice side by side. On the left, at Discovery level: the ChromaKeys island holds only an Off / On switch, set to On, and the note names are hidden on the coloured pan. On the right, at Musician level: the full island, ChromaKeys On, “The colour tells you…” set to “its place in the scale · degrees”, Shared notes On; the notes show their names and split into coloured slices. — The same D Kurd 10, two levels. At **Discovery**, the island shrinks to a single switch, Off or On, and the note names disappear. At **Musician**, every setting is there: here, place in the scale, and shared notes on.

The same Neotone Mutant, twice side by side. On the left, at Discovery level: a single Off / On switch, set to On, and the note names are hidden on the coloured pan. On the right, at Musician level: the full island, “its place in the scale” selected and Shared notes On; the notes show their names and split into coloured slices. — The same pair on the electronic pan: a single switch at Discovery, every setting at Musician.

And next

Once you read the colours by place in the scale, something unexpected happens: the drawing of each chord no longer depends on the key. The I has the same shape in C, in D, in A. It is exactly the gesture of a guitarist putting on a capo — except that on an electronic handpan, the capo is a button. That’s the subject of the next article: The handpan capo.

The words don’t change from one instrument to the other — acoustic or electronic, it’s the same screen, the same three questions. That’s the point.

Ready to make your colours sing?

Try the app for free, or discover the electronic Neotone handpan.

Discover Handpan Constellation Studio The Neotone

The ChromaKeys menu: three questions, not one