Hi there!

Well, I myself have synaesthesia and since it doesn't seem to be as rare as commonly assumed, I just wanted to know whether there are any others here who percept things differently from 'normal' people.

For those who don't know it, synaesthesia is not a disease, at least not in the common sense. It means that normally separated senses are connected, so for example, there are synees (= short for synaesthesists) who can smell colors or hear smells. I myself have several forms, my graphemes all do have colors, the numbers have personalities and relationships, I have a coloured timeline and so on.

What's it got to do with music? Well, the most common forms of syn seem to be colored hearing and colored graphemes - and colored (or smelled, seen, moving, tasting, tactile, etc.) music is suitable in a music forum, I hope B)

If the are others, could you tell a little about how you percept music synaesthetically?

I myself percept most music as colored shapes that move, but I'm only associator which means that I don't project - I don't see the colors with my eyes but with the 'inner eye', just like a memory or something like that. I also have textures, sometimes, for music, once I had a taste ("Hey you" by Shakira is like apple sauce) and if I listen with headphones, I know 'where' the music is, i.e. violins are often right behind my forehead, cellos near my neck, the bass right above my ears and such. Once, a piece was like twinkling green spots right on the tips of my ears!

~*Kjesta*~

I knew someone would bring up this topic one day! :P

In my own opinion, I think it's cool to have synaesthesia. It's just like having perfect pitch, but more um... Realistic? Yeah. And interpretting colour with music can be very useful for many artistic purposes.

Like Scriabin's little fantasy in the Himalayas that never happened? ^_o

Meh, I have relative pitch, terrible colour sense and subpar smell and vision... I want my money back! Seriously, I wish I had such an ability like yourself, Kjesta.

I get feelings when I hear things [nothing sick, lol]. Like when I listen to the piano, my whole shoulders tingly, when its cello my feet get a massage, flute would be like some pressure is put on my temples and big grand electric guitar is my whole body [feels a bit tingly all over] and more :O

I don't know if those kind of things count.

Haha, we'd joke about the cross-senses with my friends. Some dude said he could "physically feel what he saw" (we thought it was pure crap, but that's not the point).

He'd look at you, and we'd be like "nooooeeess....don't touch me there!!"

Good times.

I probably don't have what you have there, but I might have a relation to that though. I picture sound with movments and colors. This is obviously really common, and might not even be a relative. But when I hear some songs I picture colors and the movments with them at times, but mostly it's just a scene (alter-ego, making it up or w/e).

But for anything rare, I do have perfect pitch. Thing that sucks, my inner pitch is all screwed up--thanks to an untuned piano for the, almost, two years. Everything I hear that's in tune to me, is sharp--it sucks too because I can't proove I have perfect pitch in public.

Like Scriabin's little fantasy in the Himalayas that never happened? ^_o

:huh: Sorry, is this an insider or something? I actually don't who's Scriabin and what his fantasy is/was ^^"


Meh, I have relative pitch, terrible colour sense and subpar smell and vision... I want my money back! Seriously, I wish I had such an ability like yourself, Kjesta.

Maybe you do? Seriously, maybe you do have syn and just don't know. I've seen a girl with syn on a TV show and got interested, so I searched for it on the internet and found a gorgeous community about it. I was SO envious of those people! But when browsing around there, I often had the thought: "Hey, I also haver that! That's syn?!" Up to now, I discovered about 60 forms of syn within me and I don't know if I'm finished yet ^_^ Unfortunately they're all rather weak (except for my graphemes and time, they're very very clear and vivid - if anyone wants, I could post my alphabet for example) and for some types I have only one stimulus -> syn combination which is a little frustrating.
And I don't have perfect pitch myself, I just know some synees who have it. As I said, pretty much all my syns are associative and if I don't pay attention to the music, I don't even notice the colors. They're there, for sure, but it's like wearing glasses - you don't notice it so often because you're totally used to it.
Syn can be pretty annoying, too - once my violin wasn't tuned right and because I just started out, couldn't yet tune it myself. So I had with a terribly greenish and bright D which was just a torture! It's SO not D's nature!


I get feelings when I hear things [nothing sick, lol]. Like when I listen to the piano, my whole shoulders tingly, when its cello my feet get a massage, flute would be like some pressure is put on my temples and big grand electric guitar is my whole body [feels a bit tingly all over] and more :O

I don't know if those kind of things count.

Is it involuntary and constant? If so, it's probably syn! My friend has it too. She, for example, likes it when I sing the sopran voice "There are people dying" from "Heal the world" because it feels like there's a nice feeling going up and down her back, shoulder and arm. She also feels what she plays on the piano and she was really spacing out when she may try to play on my violin a little and kept stroking G and D because they gave her such a nice feeling. I think she said it was like 'satin ribbons wrapping around one's spine'.


Haha, we'd joke about the cross-senses with my friends. Some dude said he could "physically feel what he saw" (we thought it was pure crap, but that's not the point).

He'd look at you, and we'd be like "nooooeeess....don't touch me there!!"

Good times.

That's not very nice :( I mean, of course you didn't know, but it's not nice to be made fun of because of one's synaesthesia. I was quite heavily insulted when I told others about my syn and one boy even got convinced I'm taking drugs and such. (Syn can be caused by drugs but that's only temporarily and not worth it because you damage yourself heavily and maybe destry your existent syns.)


I probably don't have what you have there, but I might have a relation to that though. I picture sound with movments and colors. This is obviously really common, and might not even be a relative. But when I hear some songs I picture colors and the movments with them at times, but mostly it's just a scene (alter-ego, making it up or w/e).

That's interesting - do you imagine the pictures and such yourself or are they just there? Do they change from time to time or are they constant? (f.ex. 'Für Elise' is bright blue and moves, does it always move the same and such? Did you choose the blue or is it blue because it just is blue?)

That's interesting - do you imagine the pictures and such yourself or are they just there? Do they change from time to time or are they constant? (f.ex. 'Für Elise' is bright blue and moves, does it always move the same and such? Did you choose the blue or is it blue because it just is blue?)

Yea, most the time I'm in those fantasies, and depend how I am playing or hearing the song, it sort of goes along differently everytime and rarely ends differently though.

And for some odd reason, blue is the color of Fur Elise. Lol. Though it changes to yellow in the B section, and to a fiery red in the C section for a few measures.

Weird. x_x

Sorry, is this an insider or something? I actually don't who's Scriabin and what his fantasy is/was ^^"

Russian pianist, late 19th century, half insane, claimed he was God...

but he wanted to have a 2-week long concert called "mysterium" in the Himalayas with strobe lights and crap...died before did so.

i think it was performed in new york with coloured lights once...

I might have synaesthesia. I have certain colours that I associate with certain words/names. Like, my school's name reminds me of the colour yellow. I associate most words with yellow, orange or green. But your name reminds me of purple, lasagna and drunk Spaniards.
I also have this strange thing where I associate certain objects with other random objects. Like, I associate skipping ropes with pineapples.
:mellow: oÔ
I must be a delinquent. If I were to add that my imaginary friend is the number 2015 and his name is Friedrich, then it would most definetely be certain.

And for some odd reason, blue is the color of Fur Elise. Lol. Though it changes to yellow in the B section, and to a fiery red in the C section for a few measures.

Are these colours constant according to which version of Fur Elise you hear? What I mean is, there are lots of different performances and interpretations out there, so I'm interested in knowing if you still see the same colours regardless of how it's played.

Al - My own playings. Since I have a stronger and faster approach to many songs, they might differ from most performances. Like the C section, I play it loud and tend to speed it up with the cresendos (just the way my expression goes, I guess).

I'll probably brush up on the piece again and post it some time again.

I'm always tasting things when I shouldn't...and names, places, and people always have colors, sounds, and scents related to them...the earliest example I can think of, when I was around five, was that the word "thing" would give me a very *green*, *minty* vibe. I didn't actually taste the mint, but I knew damned well that's what "thing" tasted like. Nowadays, I actually *do* taste things when I see or hear certain things... fat girls (this is an evil example; sorry, its just the most common one I can think of.) give me an awful taste in the mouth, sometimes even making me kind of *gag.* It makes me look like an asshole in public, I have to mentally restrain myself. :heh:

But eh...I think I must have this. I thought it was something *everyone* had though, or at least people with active imaginations....
I'm a freak and I didn't even know it! X3

Oh, and the things music makes me see in my head are so beautiful. Its light, sound, smell, taste, and texture, all rolled into one! (Sound, light, and texture being the most prevalent...follows by smell and then taste [taste is pretty rare with music for me..]) It makes me so happy! :'D

It makes me happy, it does, to know there are strange people in the world like me.
In my world, certain people have certain "theme" songs; and certain bits of certain pieces remind me of certain people.

So who else has an imaginary friend that's a number, eh?

I don't have any friends that are numbers, but all my friends have theme songs. :3

And this just made me laugh out loud. I was reading about this, and they said that "people who have (the name of one of the types of synaesthesia) Synaesthesia commonly see the letter A as being [line break here] red."

And as I was reading that sentence, I said to myself "I KNOW this one. A IS FUCKING RED!." and then I read "red" and I was all "YEAH, I GOT IT RIGHT!!!! XD " Right after that, I realised that 7 has always been green to me...I wish they had a list of the most common "colors" for each number, so I could compare for fun now. :3

And this is a cool thread. I always thought that *everyone* had synaesthesia, and that this condition didn't even have a name. It's cool to know that I'm special now. Haha ;)

A is a nice scarlet colour. B is blue-green. C is yellow. D is yellow. E is green-blue. F is purple. G is green.. H is red. I is lilac. J is dark purple. K is also purple. L is yellow. M is blue. N is green. O is lavender. P is pink.. Q is orange. R is red.. S is green. T is green. U is yellow. V is purple. W is red, pink or yellow. X is black. Y is white or yellow. Z is green or black.

Whee~ And yes, there is a difference between blue-green and green-blue.

:'D

Half of those made me laugh out loud, because I totally knew them and agreed with them. The other half I've never really had strong feelings for, so I didn't really agree or disagree. Haha :3

It makes me happy, it does, to know there are strange people in the world like me.

That's part of what I wanted to achieve with this thread - to inform and find fellow synees. It's always a great relief to find out one isn't a freak or a mishap or something but there are other people like oneself. At least it was like that to me.


A is a nice scarlet colour. B is blue-green. C is yellow. D is yellow. E is green-blue. F is purple. G is green.. H is red. I is lilac. J is dark purple. K is also purple. L is yellow. M is blue. N is green. O is lavender. P is pink.. Q is orange. R is red.. S is green. T is green. U is yellow. V is purple. W is red, pink or yellow. X is black. Y is white or yellow. Z is green or black.

You give me the creeps - how in the world could B EVER be blue-green? It's so totally yellow! :P (Never mind me... Just a little silly today.)

My alphabet looks like this: (they're almost all male)

A red
B yellow with a small orangey tint
C bright yellow with a greenish tint, very lemony
D green like grass
E a green very much like D
F blueish, tends to turn white in words (f (not the capital one) is the only letter I percept as cursive instead of block letters!)
G olive green
H the form is sort of brown, tends to turn white when spoken
I like lemon ice cream, strong yellow, tends to turn white in words (the lower case i is always white)
J yellow and a little like apple souce ("Hey you" by Shakira is a little like J! Same taste.)
K strong red, can't tell if it's darker or brighter than A though
L had a color once, but now it's an indistinct memory of white, glitter, blue and violet
M as capital letter it's bright and strong blue, as a lower case m it's more male and darker
N a beautiful grey, n is brighter and gets brighter if there are more than one next to each other
O weird-looking, it's often black in words (like "tokio" which is black and white) but the shape is white, green, black, red, flickering, opaque and transparent at the same time, it's kind of hanging in an infinite white, misty space
P also a weird one, a little like bright wood but has a different texture when spoken
Q is beautiful! made of dark turquoise glass, 3D, in front of a black background
R is a weird mix of red and grey
S kind of yellow, a little sandy (s is more yellow than S which is a little brownish sometimes)
T navy
U had a color once, now I only have a distinct feeling of darknes, indigo, black and blue
V is definitely a round, fluffy cloud of apricot glitter!
X a wonderful one! made of black glass with diamonds on the brims, 3D, white background
Y violet, y is more delicate than bold Y
Z kind of white and yellow at the edges, a little like a lightning

My numbers are more interesting, though. They at least have personality, my letters don't.

I associate numbers with genders: evens are female and odds are male...

I think it's really cool. my friend read a book about a girl who was like that.

i don't have it tho...