…or a wall of sound?
When I listen to music I automatically see structures, shapes, forms, and colors moving and developing through time. A simple melody bursts forth in my mind as a glittering artifact in four dimensions. Tempo, rhythm and beat set the foundation and spacing of the structure. Musical phrases build a myriad of components, some solid and bold, others branching and tenuous. Nuances in tempo and pitch alter facades as they spin, twist and evolve overhead. …And the colors…. each note a varying hue, from bold, deep blues and purples to soaring oranges and yellows. Even colors I cannot name. Volume elicits a sense of tint, tone, and shade. Broad swaths of strong colors that boom out in intensity, nuanced variations that discreetly whisper, and high contrast tones that shriek and soar like spider’s webs.
It works in reverse as well. On viewing a given structure, I often hear music. The more elegant or refined the structure, the more developed the music is in my mind. If it’s a truly awful structure, the music I hear is likely to be a cacophonous mess. Simple structures yield simple sounds, a line might be a pure musical tone, and a staccato note or single drumbeat a quick flash of color. Mathematical and geometric diagrams can be a real trip! This might sound like it could be a huge distraction, but either through self training or some fortuitous disconnect, I can turn it off or ignore it at will. I suppose it’s similar to “tuning out” an annoying sound, where over time you get used to it. I really don’t know for sure, I’ve done this as long as I can remember. In fact I thought that was how everyone experienced music, sound, color and shape. This blending of senses is not common, but it’s not that rare either. It’s called synesthesia, and I have it in spades.
I also experience a connection between color and font style letters/symbols, and another occurrence between color and scent. The color and letter/symbol connection I’ve self analyzed and believe it’s actually an extension of my structure/music state. Letters in font form, not handwritten, have been designed and have a calculated structure. When I synesthetically connect color and letters, I’m actually connecting the STRUCTURE of those letters. Symbols hold their own fascination, and I have to say, actual musical notation can be dumbfounding as the synesthesia of symbol to sound and sound to symbol intermingle. The structures interact, and the result is indescribable.
The color and scent connection is a separate and slightly less intense experience. Only a few distinct colors trigger a few distinct scents. The reliability varies according to my emotional state at the time, and predictability is hit or miss. I do have a “red smell”, a “blue smell”, and a “green smell” that are reliable, but cannot be matched to any known scent. One of the few colors that always triggers an identifiable scent is a pale brown. It invariably triggers the scent of a wet newspaper.
Science can’t say whether synesthesia has legitimate neurological basis, or it its a learned behavior. Evidence points toward both, opening the way for years of neurological studies and thesis papers.