by Olive Pea
I recently learned I had synesthesia. I was talking to my piano teacher about what the color C was on the piano. She thought it was the color yellow, and I thought it was blue. She said she used to have arguments with her brother (who is also a musician) on what color certain notes were. A few days later my mom said to me there was a Jeopardy contestant describing something called Synesthesia and it sounded similar to the conversation with my piano teacher, so we researched it.
So, what is synesthesia? Synesthesia is a scientifically studied neurological condition where two or more senses are blended together. Some researchers suggest that about one in 2,000 people have it, while others say that as many as one in 20 people have it. The most common form of synesthesia is hearing in color, which means that when a synesthete (a synesthete is a fancy word for someone that has synesthesia) hears a note played on a musical instrument, it makes them think of a color. For example, when a synesthete hears the note C played on an instrument, it might make them visualize the color yellow. Some people can physically see color when they hear music. This type of synesthesia is called Chromesthesia.
Another common form of synesthesia is when a synesthete sees a number or a letter, it makes them think of a color. This doesn’t necessarily mean that they see the letters any differently than a non-synesthete, in fact they can most likely see it the same way, it just makes them picture a color in their mind’s eye (this is the case for me). But some synesthetes can actually see a projection of a color. This is what all the letters in the alphabet look like to me:
For me this also happens with numbers:
It’s not just individual letters that I see in color, I see whole words as colors too. For example, the word synesthesia reminds me of the color yellow. This is not the same case with numbers, because when I see the number 86, the eight is a light green, and the six is still orange. This type of synesthesia is called graphemes.
Some synesthetes associate genders and personalities with letters or numbers. For example, they might see the letter R as a loud and bossy little girl with red hair.
You might be thinking “why does this happen to some people and not others?” Imagine a mind with tunnels that move information from place to place. For example, audio information follows the audio tunnels and visual information follows the visual tunnels. For a synesthete, there are shortcuts that connect these tunnels, allowing the information to pass between them.
I found it interesting that there are a lot of artists with synesthesia. Here are some famous synesthetes you may know:
· Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish uses her synesthesia to help her create her music videos. Eilish explained it as “a thing in your brain where you associate random stuff to everything. So for instance, every day of the week has a color, a number, a shape. Sometimes things have a smell that I can think of or a temperature or a texture.”
· Tori Amos
Tori Amos is a singer that sees songs as strings of color.
· Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington was a jazz pianist that had an unusual version of Chromesthesia. He didn’t just think of colors when he heard notes, he also said that when different musicians played the same note, they each had a different color. He also didn’t just think of color. He described D as “dark blue burlap.”
· Billy Joel
Billy Joel likes having synesthesia, claiming that it brings color into his life. Music makes him picture different hues of color.
· Pharrell Williams
Pharrell Williams is one of the most well-known synesthetes of today. He uses his chromesthesia a lot to help him create his music.
· Franz Liszt
Franz Liszt was a famous Hungarian composer that used his synesthesia to help him compose his music. When he used orchestras to improve the sound of his compositions, he would sometimes say to the musicians “a little bluer!” to get them to play the notes just how he heard them in his mind.
· Vincent Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was taught at an early age that his synesthesia was a disadvantage. When he was learning musical composition, his teacher realized he was connecting musical notes and colors, he thought he was going insane, and refused to teach him.
I have had a lot of fun learning about this fascinating phenomenon. I hope you have enjoyed this as much as I have enjoyed researching it.
The Lighthouse 