# Synaesthesia.



## Mark Harwood (Mar 5, 2007)

I'd like to know about your experiences with sensory mixing, if you've had any. It may be on any level, such as the way you choose to describe music in terms derived from other senses, through imaginative sensory play, to pieces evoking a non-aural sense, right to full synaesthesia, in which the senses are really mixed. 
Perhaps, conversely, you experience sounds or even music from non-aural inputs. 
If any of this applies to you, please share it. It's not freakish or abnormal!


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## Keemun (Mar 2, 2007)

I definitely have spatial-sequence synaesthesia, described on Wikipedia, as follows: "In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a three-dimensional view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise)." As for synesthesia relating to music, I'm not really sure if I have that. I'll have to try to pay attention and see if it happens.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Keemun said:


> I definitely have spatial-sequence synaesthesia, described on Wikipedia, as follows: "In spatial-sequence, or number form synesthesia, numbers, months of the year, and/or days of the week elicit precise locations in space (for example, 1980 may be "farther away" than 1990), or may have a three-dimensional view of a year as a map (clockwise or counterclockwise)."


Same here, Keemun. I also have grapheme-colour synesthesia, but not as dramatical as described in this article.

As for music, sometimes certain pieces and sounds make me smell scents that seem coming from nowhere in particular, but it happens quite seldom.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

I've heard Sibelius had tone-to-colour synaesthesia. Sounds amazing!


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Rimsky-Korsakov was a synaesthetic - is that the right word? - too!


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## Josef Haydn (Mar 23, 2006)

I'm amazed that someone has actually started a thread on this condition. I saw a documentary on TV of it a while ago and until that point, i thought what i experienced was absolutly normal but realsied its something quite rare. 

I have Synesthesia relating to numbers, dates, times etc having a spatial arrangement. I sometimes feel that i exibit some forms of colour-music synesthesia however its nowhere near as predominant as the number one. As a maths student, i find synesthesia a very helpful skill and i feel am able to 'see' very complex diagrams and tables from information given to me by text and out of this, i produce correct observations and calculations etc.

I find it a very interesting condition and if any other 'suffers' (for want of a better word) would wish to say more about their experiences, i'd love to know. Despite the length of my answer, there are many aspects of my own which i haven't mentioned.

I heard that Beethoven once described the key of Bminor as 'Black', whether he experienced synesthesia, i don't know exactly.

please, get in touch if you have any other information relating to this!


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## Edward Elgar (Mar 22, 2006)

I'm a bit sceptical about composers with synesthesia, firstly because we only have their word that they did have the condition, and also that if music was colour, it would be many complex and varied colours - too much for the mind to comfortably concieve! Saying that, Beethoven's Violin Romance No.2 does have quite a rich shade of blue to it, wouldn't you say?!


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## Josef Haydn (Mar 23, 2006)

but, we do know people who experience colour-audio synesthesia and the experiences vary with each individual, it is a very personal thing for example, my perception of the alphabet, it curves after M and begins to come towards me however the curve isn't a 90 degree angle or anything like that. What i'm trying to say is, we cannot say that all people with this condition should see the colour 'burgundy' when listening to the first movement of mozarts eine kleine nachtmusik for example, it is not a stanard thing but a very personal, changing condition.

Whether some composers experienced synesthesia, i guess we will never know but we can only apreciate their music and see the rainbow for those of us that experience that certain 'branch'!!


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## avrile (Apr 25, 2007)

Try reading about Scriabin! He actually has a colored keyboard with colors to match every chromatic step!


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Yes, the famous _clavier a lumieres _he uses in the 'Prometheus'...


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## avrile (Apr 25, 2007)

Thus, we can say that music after all encompasses all senses. It's not only an aural experience but a visual one as well. Interesting, isn't it? Hmmm... there goes the dynamism of the definition of music!


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

avrile said:


> Thus, we can say that music after all encompasses all senses. It's not only an aural experience but a visual one as well.


Definitely! Good music, and a good listener of course, make this experience universal. All of us have favourite pieces that seem to transport us to an another world, or simply link us to all the worlds we can imagine.


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## avrile (Apr 25, 2007)

*Good music?*

Define good music. What is ok and what is not - or does this really matter?


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

Good music is simply that which can inspire emotions and impressions in us, no matter what - it's different for everyone.


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## Morigan (Oct 16, 2006)

I've been reading this discussion lately and it seems to correspond to something that happens in my head for some reason. Tchaikovsky's symphonies all have a distinct colour for me. I can't tell why or how, but in my mind, whenever I listen to or think about one particular symphony, I'm like "oh yeah, the 5th, the blue symphony". It goes like this

1st: white (probably because of the winter theme...)
2nd: green (no idea why)
3rd: red (idem)
4th: yellow (ibid)
5th: blue (ibid)
6th: pink (ibid)

I really can't explain why.


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## Lisztfreak (Jan 4, 2007)

That sounds great, Morigan! Are the symphonies really of distinct colour to you, or do they sort of 'mingle', so you get smudges and various nuances? It happens to me often.

In my case this is all connected to my number synaesthesia - since number 8 is deep blue to me, most 'Nos.8' are also blue (Beethoven's, Shostakovich's, Bruckner's).

Other works that are intensely coloured in my mind are Sibelius' 1st (magenta) and 5th(white), Liszt's Faust Symphony (deep red, burgundy), Elgar's Cello concerto (green with black), etc. 

What a colourful world music is (literally)!


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## zlya (Apr 9, 2007)

The BBC did a study on this some time ago. There's an online sound-color synaesthesia test here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/derek_prog_summary.shtml

I distinctly don't have synaesthesia, but the results may be interesting for those of you who do.


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## Eric (Apr 14, 2007)

wow, this is an actual condition!

i usually think of different musical pieces as having different color _schemes_, with many different colors.

i don't know why, but also numbers seem like different colors to me sometimes, one being white, two yellow, three red, four is not always the same usually a green or black, five purple, six blue, seven green, eight orange, nine purple also but a bit darker.

Beethoven's works i view as a dark green or black, much like i view the number 4
Liszt reminds me of a fiery orange/red combo, and Tchaikovsky is a mix of blue, white, and purple most of the time. Stravinsky is green, red, yellow.

aside from actually looking at things this way, I am also a bit skeptical about this.


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## Eric (Apr 14, 2007)

zyla's link was quite interesting


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## Mark Harwood (Mar 5, 2007)

There's an article about recent research here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/12/071226003600.htm


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## tenor02 (Jan 4, 2008)

i took the tests on the BBC link and i deffinately do not have this skill, however im listening to some pieces now and im finding out that i create pictures for a song and somehow mold the song with the phrasing...i dunno..it's hard to explain


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

I might have a touch of tone-color synesthesia, but I seem to relate music more to textures than to colors. I relate key signatures to colors and moods quite a lot. Like f minor really sticks out in my mind as a really dark purple in some way, not quite black, but really dark and brooding; C minor is black. F major is green, A major is red... you know, stuff like that, but not necessarily full-blown tone-color synesthesia. Maybe it has to do with my perfect pitch somewhat... that would be kind of interesting, how that would work out.
Hey!!! This is my 100th post!


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