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Originally Posted by roachboy
i wonder if music that is organized synesthetically conveys more color information differently ordered than mousic organized otherwise. the most famous example is scriabin--have you tried out any of his work? i like alot of the piano music and find it pretty hallucinogenic...
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I have never previously encountered Scriabin; my knowledge of Russian composers is woefully inadequate. I have just finished listening to
this; the sound is unlike anything I've ever heard (seen?). I closed my eyes about ten seconds in and didn't open them until at least a minute after the piece was finished. I will attempt to document my impressions.
The entire piece is quite spiky and punchy; this seems to be a trait common to classical piano. The first movement is chaotic and
very bright, but there's an odd order to it. It's like cascades of colour; the best I could do is to say it's like raindrops running down a pane of glass. The predominant colour is a very bright, penetrating red.
The second movement, on the other hand, is almost entirely blue. It's very melancholy. It's quite lazy in comparison with the first movement. There's movement up top, but it mostly stays in place.
The third movement is the most intense of all of them. I actually winced when it started; it was so strong and sudden that it was actually a bit painful and sent a shiver down my spine. But then it became fascinating. It's reds and oranges, like the first movement, but it's also blue. The blue is inside the red and they move independently. At 7:30 the whole thing reorganizes and becomes very square and ordered like a march; then it quickly falls back to the original shapes. It does it again at 8:07 and holds the pattern very briefly once more before going back to it's original form.
As an aside, I should imagine that this would be a very difficult piece for a pianist to master, whether he's synaesthetic or not.
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Originally Posted by vanblah
I also have this form of synesthesia.
I usually "see" colorful terrains while I'm playing music ... especially when I'm in the zone. Some songs have mountains and others are flat. The color of each song varies wildly. So far it has nothing to do with the key or style of the song that I can tell.
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That's interesting to me, moreso because of the ways in which it differs from my experiences than how it's similar. I don't see landscapes, as such. What I perceive is more like shapes. I wouldn't characterize them as being within a void - it'd be more accurate to say that they're either there or not. It's as though you were to look at nothing. There's not anything noticeably lacking when it's quiet.
I don't have to be in the zone to perceive it, although I can easily ignore it and if I'm distracted I may not notice it at all. I've noticed that the colours are more insistent if I'm actively listening to the music, although that's by no means essential. I attach colours to all music and many outside sounds, although most of the stuff that I hear in my day to day life is very thick and muddy, and not at all attractive. Music tends to be much clearer and more defined, although birdsong is an exception and the beep my headset at work makes when I have an incoming call is a very bright dot of yellow, similar in colour to a dandelion.
Colours do vary from one song to the next, as do shapes, but I've noticed that a lot of bands and/or composers have certain standard palettes that they prefer. I can't think of any songs that consist solely of one colour, although there is usually one that is 'bigger' and more predominant than the rest. It's as though that colour provides a base and the rest are in and around it.
I've never attempted to tie my perceptions to any specific musical device and I doubt I ever will. I prefer to enjoy the colours of a song rather than over analyze them. I'm not the type of guy who looks at a Rembrandt and wonders why he used a particular shade of green.