Synesthaesia

[redbaron]

Synesthaesia. Scriabin was very big on it. Musical pitches associated with colours. For a long time, whenever i heard pieces of music I got an impression of a colour in my head. Then I found out about Scriabin and his Synesthaesia. To my ears pieces of music in either C major or C minor are green. F# minor is blue. D major is red. Eb major and G minor are yellow/gold. Db exists in the red/purple end of the spectrum and to me is the 'warmest' key. I'm not sure what colour A major is represented by but to me, this is a very bright unpleasant key. This sound/colour thing also extends to instruments. I find the organ to have a vey green sound and the harpsichord is golden and sparkly. I'd like to hear other people's opinions on this.

[retrouvailles]

Actually, I heard that Scriabin supposedly did not have synasthesia. There are composers that were "proven" to have it though, such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Messiaen, and Ligeti. Their ideas of the colors associated with pitches differed from Scriabin's ideas, and it was never really "proven" that Scriabin had it. Another thing to note is that Scriabin only associated single pitches with colors. People like Messiaen associated very complex chords, not just single pitches, with more specific colors that Scriabin didn't include in his supposed chart. Of course, this is all to be taken with a grain of salt, somewhat. Do some reading on other composers ideas on the subject, especially those whose experiences with it are more "valid", such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Messiaen, or Ligeti.

[michel dvorsky]

It's clear to me that having synaesthesia is neither necessary nor sufficient for being a creative and skilled musician. I've heard that Rimsky's synaesthesia may have contributed to his skill as an orchestrator.  Sure its possible, but to what extent?  I think the artist himself/herself alone knows for sure.

[allthumbs]

I remember seeing a program quite some time ago that featured this subject. It must be strange to experience different colours when you hear various notes.

It must follow then that you have perfect pitch as when you see red, so to speak, you must be able equate that to the note 'D'.

Would that be a logical assumption?

Does the experience distract you, either specifically listening to music or, in general while listening and doing other things?

allthumbs

[jabbz]

I have it. It doesn't specifically affect me as a musician, but I think it's really high time to explore it in my music.

[Petter]

This is really interesting. I think I have it  . I just thought everyone else had it too...

[rc]

I've come to believe it's a very common thing, to be blending different sensations.  Feeling the keys evoking an image of the keys could be considered synaesthesia, no?  The opposite might be to look at an interval on the score and feel it in the hands... Or should we choose to associate the emotions evoked from music with any sort of imagery.

[lostinidlewonder]

Isn't Synesthaesia actually a form of brain damage? Where the brain incorrectly observes a sensation with another sense. It is not necessarily a sign of musical genius.

[jabbz]

Isn't Synesthaesia actually a form of brain damage? Where the brain incorrectly observes a sensation with another sense. It is not necessarily a sign of musical genius.

You hit the spot there completely. There are various types of Synesthaesia, Colour vrs Sound, Colour vrs Numbers and Thought vrs Taste. I have the sound and thought strains. It's quite irritating truthfully, but I'm only a mild sufferer.

I think there could be an element of advantage to it musically - perhaps, but there are so many masterpieces written by masters who (as far as we know) didn't have Synesthaesia that I can't imagine what it would be.

[kelly_kelly]

I don't think it's synesthaesia, but I have always associated colors with letters and numbers. I find it quite useful in memorizing passwords, phone numbers, and even whole pieces (each chord is a different color combination). I think I'm just strange...

[frigo]

I associate keys and even pieces with colours, but I think It's not the consequence of a genius mind, it's just a strategy of our brain or simply geting some space to everything, or something like that.
I do have other kind of this whatever-we-are-talking-about that instead of colours associate numbers and keys with "logical-groups", that are more a mnemonic strategy and anything you can call it, e. g., I decided one day to know the first 150 numbers of Pi, and I associated the numbers in groups that would be logical built by inside, but that from outside had nothing of logic, and I think that's what happen with Synesthaesia, it's just a way to transport feelings from a less-gifted sense (hears) to a more common sense and more usefull (eyes), the same way I transported non-logical sequences of numbers to a more useful kind of interpretation of them (logic and reason).