Learned something about my teenage son: synesthesia

[Pacifist Patriot]

My youngest son is a musician. Primary instrument trombone, but also plays euphonium, tuba, trumpet, and piano. He plays in both jazz bands and classical wind ensembles/symphony orchestras.

I admire both his talent and his dedication. Plays/practices hours and hours a day. I'm in awe.

He disclosed to me last night that he has sound to color synesthesia (chromosthesia) based on key signature. Realized it about a year ago when he stumbled on a YouTube video and learned as a result that not everyone experiences music that way. Up to that point he thought it was just how everyone was.

I'm blown away. How freaking cool is that? What a unique gift. Thanks for letting me share.

[dewsgirl]

1. Very cool, I have heard of it before, likely on YouTube.

[greymalkin415]

2. Sweet!

[Newest Reality]

3. Cool!

If you want to learn more about synesthesia, I recommend a great book on the subject: The Man Who Tasted Shapes, by Richard Cytowic.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Tasted_Shapes

[Pacifist Patriot]

10. Thanks!!!

[Leghorn21]

4. Wait, does this mean he perceives the sounds of music in color????

I’m so pleased that you have such a special youngster who is SO TALENTED!!!

But - does he see colors when he hears music?! Because that’s simply psychedelic, I tells ya!!


On edit: yeah, I guess he does!! WOW

“ Chromesthesia is a type of synesthesia. An acoustic perception evokes a visual experience. Some people see music in shapes and colors, they may have a perception of taste and smell, and in their fingertips, they may even feel a texture. These synesthetic experiences are automatic and involuntary.”

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. Not sure how he experiences it, but ...

He said that key signatures are related to his experience of color. So it isn't like a specific note generates a color (which could aid perfect pitch), but he can tell what key signature a piece is in by the color... and tell if music changes key signatures or a musician is out of synch with the key signature. Apparently there is a flat saxophonist in one of his bands who drives him crazy.

I can't wrap my head around it, but it is making me feel cognitively deprived.

[Leghorn21]

12. I, TOO, AM DEEPLY COGNITIVELY DEPRIVED which I NEVER KNEW TILL I READ YOUR POST

I AM INCONSOLABLE NOW

Seriously, P, music is a huge part of my existence, and if I could see it in any kind of color whatsoever, all I would EVER do is listen to music!!! EVER!!!!

Oh noes, that flat saxophonist! - well, it’s a part of life, I guess, these off-key, out-of-tune musicians— your son will be okay, I’m sure (poor thing - it probably sounds/looks like nails-on-a-chalkboard to him, eeeek!)

Still astounded to learn that this is a “thing”!!! WOW

[Pacifist Patriot]

16. I never thought of myself as missing out sensory-wise...

until now. After learning this I feel like I'm deficient or deprived. My mom was a musician. Music has always been a huge part of my life even if I am not particularly skilled as a musician. I am flipping out about this. Lucky kid!

[3catwoman3]

21. Interesting about the flat saxophonist. That would make me bonkers.

Weird story - my husband and I have electric toothbrushes by Phillips. Mine hums at a different pitch than his and I absolutely cannot brush my teeth at the same time my husband does because the dissonance is unbearable. Even if we are in the 2 upstairs bathrooms at opposite ends of the hall I can hear it. I think the brushes are about a quarter tone different, and it is pure tonal torture. My husband notices nothing.

In the small choir at my very small Unitarian Universalist congregation, the loudest female singer is consistently off key. She is a rather shrill soprano, and it is tough to listen to her.

[leftieNanner]

24. Ugh! The out of tune soprano!

I sing soprano in our church choir and I have already given our choir director (who is also the choral music director at our local college) full permission to boot me if I ever become one of those! I'm 67, so hopefully it won't happen for a while.

[MyOwnPeace]

28. This couple made a fortune........

being "off-key" and "off-beat!"

It's Jo Stafford and her husband Paul Whitman, popular musicians from the 40's & 50's. They started this as a party gag and it went on from there! Because of this "Sing-Along" album they actually got sued by Mitch Miller!

[SCantiGOP]

33. I like that better

than most of what my 15 year old grandson listens to

[Pacifist Patriot]

31. That is fascinating about the toothbrushes. And...

as a UU, I uh, well, um, can't recall a service with, uh... okay, not going to discuss music in the context of a worship service. Nope, just not going there.

[emmaverybo]

5. Shares with some greats. Nabokov for one.

[Pacifist Patriot]

7. Of course I went straight to Google...

Franz Liszt, Billy Joel, Pharrell Williams, etc. I love brain stuff. The geek in me is well-satisfied/intrigued.

[FirstLight]

8. very cool!

I think I know ONE other person who has it too...and they are also a musician and very talented, can play almost anything

[Brother Buzz]

9. Way cool! My son, the brainiac, had a rather mundane old school attraction to music

Numbers and patterns, Baby! Your son brings texture to music, so that's a genuine gift.

[Chipper Chat]

11. Certain keys have evoked colors.

D-orange.
A-red
E-flat - blue
C-white; translucent.

[Pacifist Patriot]

14. The funniest part of his disclosure...

He said that when he watched the YouTube video it dawned on him that while it wasn't the way everyone experiences music, the guy in the video had the colors all wrong.

I gather the note to color or key to color correlation is unique to each synesthete. According to my son, the B flat key signature is red. Um, okay then. LOL!

[blm]

27. Neat

[3catwoman3]

13. That is very freaking cool is how cool that is!

I wish I could experience it in it is various manifestations.

[Pacifist Patriot]

15. I know, right?

[Lochloosa]

17. Damn. I have to use drugs to do that.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

18. I have a little touch of it.

I often see d minor in blue and A major in gold. Mozart is almost always blue. Gabrieli and Monteverdi tend toward red and gold. Some organ music, like Franck and Durufle, is dull orange or olive green. It doesn't work with everything, though. I'm listening to a Schumann symphony right now and it's no particular color. I also see time as round.

[Pacifist Patriot]

19. Fascinating!

[Mr.Bill]

20. Music has made me see colors

but that was in the 60s.

[Ptah]

26. Are all submarines yellow?

Is Floyd pink?

[Mr.Bill]

29. Funny you should mention that.

I have a rather large animation cell from the Yellow Submarine movie framed and hanging in my bedroom.

Actually it is made up of many colors, one of which is yellow. The largest portion of it is more of an orange.

[royable]

22. I'd be curious how he responds to...

Western scales, but modal, such as Phrygian, Lydian, Mixolydian, and Locrian
Non-Western scales (see below)
Whole-tone scales
Scales with quarter-notes, or even twelfth-tones--i.e., microtonal music (See quarter-tone music of Charles Ives and many "modern" composers)
Scales with more than 12 evenly-spaced tones per octave, that aren't multiples of twelve (some fall under "non-Western scales," such as ones found in India)
Scales like an ancient Greek scale, the "Archytas Enharmonic Genus," with both steps larger than a whole tone and steps of a about a Quarter-tone (and what's the effect of that scale with one tonic vs. that scale with a different tonic?)
Modern music, including some 12-tone serialized music, with no key center
Compositions in which the tonal center shifts very frequently (very late Romantics), and ones which are very fluid harmonically (Scriabin)
Melodies in which the tonal center has purposefully been left ambiguous by leaving out notes of the scale which would pin it down
Compositions in a major or minor key which is a quarter-tone off from a note in the A-440 equal-tempered scale
Distinctions between equal-tempered tuning and just intonation in, say, an a cappella choir

I once worked with someone who acted as though the colors he personally attributed to scales were an immutable fact and "of course" obvious to any thinking being, and it really, really irritated me. Needless to day, I don't have synesthesia. I'm glad your son has realized that not everyone experiences music the way he does. Thanks for sharing with us.

[rickyhall]

23. I hear music and close my eyes to see colors in a wave pattern.

I thought everybody did.

[blaze]

25. I am so envious!!!!

Years ago, I read an article in Smithsonian about synesthesia and was immediately sorry that I didn't have it!

What a wonderful gift!!!

[wendyb-NC]

30. Wow, what a gift!

Thank you for sharing about your incredible gift.

[Happyhippychick]

32. My nephew (on the spectrum) has this too!