Martian

As suggested by Redlemon.

As recently revealed in my journal, I am a synesthete; that is to say, that I perceive songs as having colours attached to them. The colours are not necessarily what you'd expect. The blues, for example, are sometimes actually blue, but are just as likely to be green or orange or even a bit purple. A lot of bass lines are purple, but not all of them. Some are red. Yellow Submarine is mostly yellow, but the song Yellow by Coldplay is blue and green with hardly any yellow at all.

You can read about how I discovered that I have this ability (or more accurately, how I discovered that not everybody does) in my journal.

So the thread concept. Redlemon has suggested that I might create a thread about my experiences. Basically, I'll be very happy to document my experiences as they relate to specific songs requested by you, my audience. Hopefully this will give you some insight as to what it's like to be a synesthete. If we have any other music->colour synesthetes around, feel free to pitch in with your impressions as well.

I'll start off with a freebie. As I type this I'm listening to the cover of Over the Rainbow/What a Wonderful World as performed by Bruddah Iz. I posted a video of it here.

This song is absolutely beautiful. It's just such an island image; Bruddah Iz's voice is a very bright blue, while the ukulele is quite yellow. Think pastels; they're very wispy, like clouds, and sort of woven togeher. When he starts into What A Wonderful World, his voice takes on a bit more of a mauve hue and darkens a bit. The whole thing is quite lovely.

At the very end he switches from singing to a sort of scat/beatboxing (just as the song fades out); the change in his voice is a bit abrupt there in that it goes from it's pastel bright to a very rich, sort of dusky deep blue/purple colour. The ukulele continues to be a constant, pulsing trail of yellow right through to the end.

So. Anyone want to know what their favourite song looks like?

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I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

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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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

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.

Martian

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.

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.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

Reese

Do you find songs/sounds that you enjoy produce more pleasing colors than sounds you dislike?

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“It is better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick” - Dave Barry

Martian

I think it goes the other way around. I like songs that produce interesting colours. An example would be the Scriabin I listened to. The actual music is a bit dischordant, but the colours are quite fascinating. It's like an acoustic painting.

The colours can definitely affect my reaction to a song. As noted in the other thread, club music tends to annoy me because it's usually quite jagged and bright and can be quite distracting. Some music has a tendency to be too intense to listen to if I'm not in the right mood for it, while other songs are quite cool and mellow. A song that's all dark blues and greens can be quite soothing after a stressful day.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

warrrreagl

Although I don't normally advocate drug use, this is one of the instances where I think a little "perception-alteration" can be a good thing for a lot of people. When I used to experiment with acid (five or six hundred years ago it seems) I perceived musical sounds as actual physical objects. Not just colors but as three-dimensional tube-like shapes coming out of the speakers toward me. I distinctly remember watching different timbres blend together to make not only different colors but different shapes, too. Now today, all these years later, I can still partially picture sounds that way when I want/need to and it has made a huge difference in my career as a jazz band director and music professor. I firmly believe that my talent and ability to manipulate sounds comes from those experiences I had with altered perception.

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Living is easy with eyes closed.

Redlemon

(nothing to request yet, just adding a post so that I'm subscribed to the thread...)

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I can't read your signature. Sorry.