Anyone here experience Synesthesia? Do you find it helps your writing?

marxski

Been reading up about some musician’s experience of their ability to perceive music as different tones of the colour spectrum - known as Synesthesia. 

Curious if any FBers have experienced this and if it helps them creatively…

John Frusciante claims he experienced it for most of his earlier life where he could freely improvise outside of normal conventions but lost  the ability around the point of his serious addiction issues in the early 90s and it never returned. I recently heard another musician mention it in passing as a matter of fact but didn’t claim it helped in any way. 

I think I associate passages of music in shades of dark and light according to minor/major but feel it’s more descriptive than actual perception. So in my case not at all.

distressed

1. Yes I do.

2. Not really. It's just tones loosely associated with certain colors (and then some, such as fruity, springy, etc)

distressed

For example, I perceive majors as orangey/zingy/citrusy/apricot jam-like stuff. Minors are dark pink and overly sweet and sugary.

marxski

distressed said:

For example, I perceive majors as orangey/zingy/citrusy/apricot jam-like stuff. Minors are dark pink and overly sweet and sugary.

That’s interesting! Sound like wine tasting.

blobb

Yes. It's not so strong now as it was when younger. Ed Ozric also says he has it, and you can sort of tell when you listen to his creations.

merlin

I have mild colours and shapes moving when I hear stuff if I either close my eyes or look at a pale background. 

I also have very strong tingling on my skin when I taste, occurs when I eat or drink. I also get the colours stronger than music when I eat, my flavour/touch systems are linked up

I've had it since I can remember and thought everyone was the same until I was in my early 20s. 

Roland

marxski said:

Curious if any FBers have experienced this and if it helps them creatively….

If anything it interferes. I associate C with white, E with yellow, G with green, A with red, and B with blue. This is OK with simple harmonies, interferes when I play chromatically, and comes back when I sweeten notes by bending away from the Western tempered scale. Like tinnitus I’ve learned to ignore it.

distressed

My A is red definitely. C is light blueish white, E and G pretty similar (though I can't tell precisely), B is dark (possibly blue).

stickyfiddle

I have it too. I don't feel it anywhere near as strongly as I used to, possibly because I have so much else in my head due to being middle aged! 

I don't do it so much with individual elements of music, but tend to form strong links between specific songs and colours.