It might seem an odd thing to start such a history with a look at ancient mathematicians and astronomers, but some of them offered important initial cornerstones to later theories on synaesthesia. Around the year 550 B.C., to begin with, the Pythagoreans offered mathematical equations for the musical scales, showing that musical notes could be seen as relationships between numbers. A musical scale, for example, could be divided into eight notes, an “octave” scale, which repeats its sequence as the musical notes proceeded higher or lower. To use a basic example, this could be the C-Major scale on the piano, consisting of just the white keys: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C. This is also the basic “do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do”.
Almost 200 years later, around 370 B.C. or so, Plato wrote Timaeus, in which the soul of the world is described as having these same musical ratios. A cosmology was emerging in which the planets’ radii (the planets’ order actually varied, depending upon the author) were set with a ratio sequence of 1:2:3:4:8:9. Later, ratios would emerge with the following ratio sequence: Moon = 1; Venus = 2; Earth = 3; Mars = 4; Jupiter = 14; Saturn = 25. This sequence approximated the Greek diatonic musical scale’s ratios, thus the planets were tied to music, and a concept of “the music of the spheres” was initiated.
Plato and Aristotle in The School of Athens, by italian painter Rafael.
Shortly after Plato, around 350 B.C., Aristotle wrote to maintain that the harmony of colors were like the harmony of sounds. This set the stage for a later equating of specific light and sound frequencies, as Aristotle’s works were translated and incorporated into European sciences. At about this same time, Archytas of Tarentus (c. 428 – 350 B.C.) introduced the «chromatic» (12-tone) scale to Greece. This was seen as a compliment to the two main scales: the diatonic (a whole-note or full-tone scale); and the enharmonic (quarter-tones). Around 1492, Franchino Gaffurio was re-introducing colorized Greek modal music to Europe, with the following system: Dorian = «crystalline» color; Phrygian = orange; Lydian = red; and Mixolydian = an «undefined mixed color» (which is, admittedly, somewhat vague). By the late 1580’s, the painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo was formally equating «dark» with high pitches and white with low pitches (see Dann 1998) – which is the reverse of the more «normal» trend of low being dark and high being white. Athanasius Kircher, around 1646, developed a system of correspondences between musical intervals and colors, based basically upon complex traditional symbolisms, as follows:
Sean A. Day is a fairly unknown composer, who has written few works in his spare, hobby time. Sean synesthetically "sees" colors corresponding to musical timbres; each instrument has its specific color.
20 thoughts on “A Brief History of Synaesthesia and Music”
Thanks for an informative article. It has given me lot’s of names to follow up on.
I am a painter and teach Colour and 2D Design at an art college and am researching for a section on synaesthesia for my classes. I’m really looking forward to exposing the students (and myself) to some experimental music to go along with the abstract painting that we will explore.
cheers
Nicole Collins
I have just given a talk at the MET as part of the Art Beyond Sight Multimodal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication on ArtMusic. I would be interested to hear what you think of my approach. You can view and listen to a number of art works as music at http://www.drsrl.com/artmusic.
This is one of the most comprehensive treatises I’ve ever read about the phenomenon of synaesthesia. The depth and breadth of the research is stunning.
I am a synesthesiac with perfect pitch, and I always see different notes as colours, not keys. For example, a C major chord consists of a C – red/yellow, E – pink, and a G – brown. When I hear this chord, I see all of these colours ina picture that I can’t describe. It has been very interesting to see how other people conceive things, and also how they can find it difficult to describe. I also see the texture of sounds; a c major chord played quite long on a stringed instrument reminds me of something in a very sticky substance, amber or resin, for example.
i also experience notes and sounds as ‘textures’ and sometimes colors. Dm is a deep midnight blue, Dmaj more purple in hue. the ‘textures’ are akin to a ‘feeling on the skin’ but on some other skin that doesn’t exist – somehow outside of spatial dimension.
the curious thing, for me, is that these effects generally only occur at high volume levels, or intensities. and they are not neccessarily ‘logical’ at all: the white needle of a test pattern whine is somehow also blunt and smooth and chrome and cool.
somehow, somehow: this has led me to a love of noise music and experimental artists who work with high-volume soundscapes. i just hope i don’t go deaf anytime soon 😉
yea
i dunno
when i hear an individual note
i see a flurry of colors that act in different ways
like
a low E flat
i see a flashing of lights
and i feel weightless and extra heavy at the same time
but as soon as i hear more notes together
like in a song
in my mind
i see places
these places are usually more vivid than the real world
but i can’t help but wonder if i really have synesthesia
or if i just have a wild imagination
I can never pinpoint the exact color of the notes i hear and they usually mix with sort of image that is difficult to describe.
When distortion or overdrive is added to guitars, i get this static or grainy type of image. this is the only somewhat describable image and it varies from degree of overdrive to degree.
It’s not only color, but i “see” the sound or note. If something is played on a violin, i see the note drawn out and i usually see it in a tan color.
Piano notes seem to have a more percussive and black and white image to them, like the keys.
High to mid-range guitar notes are almost always yellow and the guitar screech from Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” is very purple and grainy with overdrive.
bass guitars have colors in the black to purple range, incorporating other dark yellow tones as well.
This is the best description i can give. It’s really impossible to communicate the “sensation” or “image” that reflects the music but there’s definitely something weird about it.
It makes music more interesting and adds “dimension”.
I have just found out about this wonderful thing called synaesthesia and i think it is beautiful the way you picture songs colers places and things. I found out about this just yesterday and i am eager to learn more about it all. I read the book ” A Mango Shaped Place” and typed up synaethesia to learn more about it and came across this.
i can see all the write coloures of music.im sure i can see the music pictureill give u examples:piano:white/guitar:yellow/flute:pink and im sure there is blue and green and i can give you the colour of the sound exactly/and there is some sounds composed of 2 or 3 coloures and i can see the picture of the musical sentence clearely thats why i can play any musical sentence while i cant read the notes of music how can i help?i can differentiate between these coloures without any confusion in the degree of the colour for example i can find the pink colour degree not any pink which is in some instruments become darker in the higher octave in some instruments but the colour become lighter in the other instrument
My name is Huw Clarke from Wales in the UK and I recently discovered that i have this version of synasthesia, I am doing a major creative project on it this year for my final year at university studying popular music. Could i ask for some peoples e-mail addresses cos i would absolutely find it so helpful if i could speak to some of you about your versions of it, the colours/textures you see so you could contribute to my work so to say.
I developed a musical linked Synesthesia after an accident many years ago. It took me 15 years to realise it was not just me…. That was only three years ago. Never told anyone as I thought they would not understand until 3 years ago.
I first realised it when I told a friend how good an LP looked???
My Synesthesia turns on and off dependent on whether I open or shut my eyes. It is difficult to explain as “sight would be to explain to someone that cannot see”. Anyway…. I see a range of varying colours in soft and sharp shapes, but unlike some of you the colour and shape is determined by volume and depth of the music. For example, electric guitar is generally sharpe and bright in colour, such as yellow and a bass guitar deep purple and rounded.
I cannot read music as the notes dance around when music is playing but I can learn to play instruments fairly easily.
This may sound stupid, but does anyone think this makes them more “understanding” or “deeper thinking”?
I also have synesthesia, and I understand what you mean. Half the time I need to have my eyes closed to actually see the colours and patterns, but then other times I can also see it with my eyes open. If I can’t see it with my eyes open, I can generally ‘sense’ the colours around me and such. Does anyone else experience it like that?
And sorry if this is messy, I am new to this forum thing and don’t know if this is how I reply to a post xD
I like the opening and shutting your eyes thing…. I wish mine was that way. When I play its happening always. It can be more prevalent when I close my eyes but as I mentioned before I “feel” the colors and much as hear them. Its a color that has a feeling and a texture…. make sense??
On stage one summer night playing the Jones Beach Theater Long Island I hit a chord I gravitate to but added a 9th on the lower register. It had a tone that resonated my equipment and me. I saw 10,000 people illuminate like a bursting firework and I felt the heart Chakra release breath taking like emotion. The night sky turned indigo blue while my guitar felt like it was more fluid than solid. And NO I do not take any drugs….not even aspirin LOL!
It was not a singled out experience. It has happened under less dynamic circumstances as well. The simple meeting of a person and their voice has caused similar events. Not very often, but it has happened. I met a woman whos voice and color upon meeting triggered a smell that I could not mistake. Fortunately it was a good aroma, and for me (as I keep mentioning) I could feel the smell and it resided in me with good emotion. Are you still with me? LMAO!
Scale systems seem to have a second, latent tonal center
If you graph where the various tones are in any given scale, most of them have a surprise in store for you. Their pattern of placement will nearly always be symmetrical, yet the axis of symmetry will seldom go through the tonic. It seems that most scales have, in essence, two tonics: one for each of the brain’s hemispheres. Erasmus Darwin seems to have been right on the cusp of discovering what lies at the heart of much of music’s affective power. His system of tone-color correspondence places Green at D, the note which is right on the axis of symmetry for the C major scale. And putting Green at the axis makes sense, as Green is right in the middle of the visible spectrum, perfectly placed for anchoring a symmetrical tone-color palette.
Wow this is so interesting. I think I have a mild form of this. I have always associated written music notes with particular colours, which also correspond to the respective piano keys. I was stunned to read the reasons why D is green (it has always been green for me!) and I too see C as yellow, E as pink and G as brown! Incredible to discover others see it the same way.
LOVEY KATE! I dont see the same colors but thats common among Syneths…. As I mentioned in my writing above I see F as green… we could never write music because our color representation would be having us playing different chords and notes! LOLOL
Do you still see the same color when its an octave higher? And what about harmonics? I begin to see a variegated gradient once we are outside standard tuning.
i believe that i have this also , my first experience was about a year and a half ago maybe two. i was at my friends house and he and another friend were playing Tony hawks skate when i came over, i was just sitting there when i felt really weird and i couldnt be in the same room as them,and these are good friends of mine. i went into the other room and picked up a guitar then started playing. all of a sudden it just hit me as i was playing. i felt something that felt like the perfect pitch it sounded that way to not matter what i did, and the color red slowly filled my vision.
i wasn’t looking down either or i would have tried to recreate what i was playing. but i was to distracted by this blast of color that filled my eyes.
the only way i can portrey it is:
take a mental picture of everything in your line of vision, and take in the periferals also, now let red slowly mix in that picture until you see nothing but the color of a bright neon red.
my second experience was when i was talking to a counselor and as we conversed everything turned green. i just let it go and felt fine as we were talking, i thought it was just lack of sleep or something normal.
i seem to be able to trigger the color black through silence aka static.
does this mean that i am a synesthete?
either way right now i am eightteen, trying to get money to go to school for music so that i can teach music or guitar. and move into music therapy in the future where i might be able to find the answers to synesthesia.
i cant trigger it through music willingly, yet, but i hope to in the future so that every one and myself can experience this through my music.
if your a researcher and interested in talking leave a comment ill be checking back to this.
Dear John, I am publishing a magazine for a symphony orchestra. Would you please email me so we can chat? I might like to publish your story. mattandcindee@comcast.net
There is a lot to be learned about this and I dont know if it just shows up in your life unless a traumatic accident has occurred. That we know is an invariable that causes or creates a lot of awakenings.
I always has synesthesia. I see colors in music, letters and numbers and people and things. I also have an emotional attachments (feeling) that can occur with them. I never learned notes or any traditional means of musical education. I felt and saw colors ever since I could understand the enjoyment of sound. And all sound has a color feeling and flavor. Peoples voices, intruments, noise etc. Music is a cascading fireworks show and you move through gradients of color rapidly and with great emotion. (for me)
I was a touring guitar player for 12 years and I wrote as well for many acts. I play by emotion and color not by notes and time, and I write by means of colors and feelings as well. For instance I dont play a G chord after the D because it musically is correct or sounds right, I play it because it feels correct as does the color. F is a key I like to use and the color in the lower harmonics is like an emerald green. Harmonics change colors for me, and I believe that the Fibonacci Sequence is somehow tied into the way synesthesia works in our brain. Thats a whole other level…LOL
Im also paint and take photography on a pro level. Again, I use both the brush and the camera when I “feel” the picture or color, not see it. I dont choose a color on the palette I just paint and begin combining emotions until I like was my eyes feel…LOLOL. Its nuts I know… but I dont know another way.
I also have the common cross wiring of seeing colors in numbers and letters…. A is red, 3 is black and equations equal a color not a numeric result ETC. Its something you need to understand and use to your advantage with help of others. Otherwise you can easily become a misfit in the world. Embrace it, learn about it, and express it. Art is the best means of creating something from what you have. MANY are artists or become one. I struggled for years, then found how music allowed me to be “normal” in my own skin. I evolved quickly and became something others could not due to my perception of how I approach things. My unique view and ability of creating gave me an unprecedented edge that I used to flourish not fail. Billy Joel has Synesthesia as well as many impressive artists in music, paint, poetry and more.
Thanks for allowing me to share here. Be well all!
Chris
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Thanks for an informative article. It has given me lot’s of names to follow up on.
I am a painter and teach Colour and 2D Design at an art college and am researching for a section on synaesthesia for my classes. I’m really looking forward to exposing the students (and myself) to some experimental music to go along with the abstract painting that we will explore.
cheers
Nicole Collins
Nicole,
I have just given a talk at the MET as part of the Art Beyond Sight Multimodal Approaches to Learning, Creativity and Communication on ArtMusic. I would be interested to hear what you think of my approach. You can view and listen to a number of art works as music at http://www.drsrl.com/artmusic.
Regards,
Marty Quinn
This is one of the most comprehensive treatises I’ve ever read about the phenomenon of synaesthesia. The depth and breadth of the research is stunning.
I am a synesthesiac with perfect pitch, and I always see different notes as colours, not keys. For example, a C major chord consists of a C – red/yellow, E – pink, and a G – brown. When I hear this chord, I see all of these colours ina picture that I can’t describe. It has been very interesting to see how other people conceive things, and also how they can find it difficult to describe. I also see the texture of sounds; a c major chord played quite long on a stringed instrument reminds me of something in a very sticky substance, amber or resin, for example.
i also experience notes and sounds as ‘textures’ and sometimes colors. Dm is a deep midnight blue, Dmaj more purple in hue. the ‘textures’ are akin to a ‘feeling on the skin’ but on some other skin that doesn’t exist – somehow outside of spatial dimension.
the curious thing, for me, is that these effects generally only occur at high volume levels, or intensities. and they are not neccessarily ‘logical’ at all: the white needle of a test pattern whine is somehow also blunt and smooth and chrome and cool.
somehow, somehow: this has led me to a love of noise music and experimental artists who work with high-volume soundscapes. i just hope i don’t go deaf anytime soon 😉
CAN YOU HEAR, SMELL, TASTE OR FEEL COLOURS OR SHAPES?
http://theartbeyondsight.blogspot.com/
yea
i dunno
when i hear an individual note
i see a flurry of colors that act in different ways
like
a low E flat
i see a flashing of lights
and i feel weightless and extra heavy at the same time
but as soon as i hear more notes together
like in a song
in my mind
i see places
these places are usually more vivid than the real world
but i can’t help but wonder if i really have synesthesia
or if i just have a wild imagination
I can never pinpoint the exact color of the notes i hear and they usually mix with sort of image that is difficult to describe.
When distortion or overdrive is added to guitars, i get this static or grainy type of image. this is the only somewhat describable image and it varies from degree of overdrive to degree.
It’s not only color, but i “see” the sound or note. If something is played on a violin, i see the note drawn out and i usually see it in a tan color.
Piano notes seem to have a more percussive and black and white image to them, like the keys.
High to mid-range guitar notes are almost always yellow and the guitar screech from Jimi Hendrix’s “Foxy Lady” is very purple and grainy with overdrive.
bass guitars have colors in the black to purple range, incorporating other dark yellow tones as well.
This is the best description i can give. It’s really impossible to communicate the “sensation” or “image” that reflects the music but there’s definitely something weird about it.
It makes music more interesting and adds “dimension”.
I have just found out about this wonderful thing called synaesthesia and i think it is beautiful the way you picture songs colers places and things. I found out about this just yesterday and i am eager to learn more about it all. I read the book ” A Mango Shaped Place” and typed up synaethesia to learn more about it and came across this.
i am speechless
i can see all the write coloures of music.im sure i can see the music pictureill give u examples:piano:white/guitar:yellow/flute:pink and im sure there is blue and green and i can give you the colour of the sound exactly/and there is some sounds composed of 2 or 3 coloures and i can see the picture of the musical sentence clearely thats why i can play any musical sentence while i cant read the notes of music how can i help?i can differentiate between these coloures without any confusion in the degree of the colour for example i can find the pink colour degree not any pink which is in some instruments become darker in the higher octave in some instruments but the colour become lighter in the other instrument
Hey whats up!
My name is Huw Clarke from Wales in the UK and I recently discovered that i have this version of synasthesia, I am doing a major creative project on it this year for my final year at university studying popular music. Could i ask for some peoples e-mail addresses cos i would absolutely find it so helpful if i could speak to some of you about your versions of it, the colours/textures you see so you could contribute to my work so to say.
My address is hellchild_66618@hotmail.com if anyone wants to add me.
Thank you
Huw
Wow, it’s good to know I am no the only one.
I developed a musical linked Synesthesia after an accident many years ago. It took me 15 years to realise it was not just me…. That was only three years ago. Never told anyone as I thought they would not understand until 3 years ago.
I first realised it when I told a friend how good an LP looked???
My Synesthesia turns on and off dependent on whether I open or shut my eyes. It is difficult to explain as “sight would be to explain to someone that cannot see”. Anyway…. I see a range of varying colours in soft and sharp shapes, but unlike some of you the colour and shape is determined by volume and depth of the music. For example, electric guitar is generally sharpe and bright in colour, such as yellow and a bass guitar deep purple and rounded.
I cannot read music as the notes dance around when music is playing but I can learn to play instruments fairly easily.
This may sound stupid, but does anyone think this makes them more “understanding” or “deeper thinking”?
I also have synesthesia, and I understand what you mean. Half the time I need to have my eyes closed to actually see the colours and patterns, but then other times I can also see it with my eyes open. If I can’t see it with my eyes open, I can generally ‘sense’ the colours around me and such. Does anyone else experience it like that?
And sorry if this is messy, I am new to this forum thing and don’t know if this is how I reply to a post xD
I like the opening and shutting your eyes thing…. I wish mine was that way. When I play its happening always. It can be more prevalent when I close my eyes but as I mentioned before I “feel” the colors and much as hear them. Its a color that has a feeling and a texture…. make sense??
On stage one summer night playing the Jones Beach Theater Long Island I hit a chord I gravitate to but added a 9th on the lower register. It had a tone that resonated my equipment and me. I saw 10,000 people illuminate like a bursting firework and I felt the heart Chakra release breath taking like emotion. The night sky turned indigo blue while my guitar felt like it was more fluid than solid. And NO I do not take any drugs….not even aspirin LOL!
It was not a singled out experience. It has happened under less dynamic circumstances as well. The simple meeting of a person and their voice has caused similar events. Not very often, but it has happened. I met a woman whos voice and color upon meeting triggered a smell that I could not mistake. Fortunately it was a good aroma, and for me (as I keep mentioning) I could feel the smell and it resided in me with good emotion. Are you still with me? LMAO!
All the best!
Chris
Scale systems seem to have a second, latent tonal center
If you graph where the various tones are in any given scale, most of them have a surprise in store for you. Their pattern of placement will nearly always be symmetrical, yet the axis of symmetry will seldom go through the tonic. It seems that most scales have, in essence, two tonics: one for each of the brain’s hemispheres. Erasmus Darwin seems to have been right on the cusp of discovering what lies at the heart of much of music’s affective power. His system of tone-color correspondence places Green at D, the note which is right on the axis of symmetry for the C major scale. And putting Green at the axis makes sense, as Green is right in the middle of the visible spectrum, perfectly placed for anchoring a symmetrical tone-color palette.
Wow this is so interesting. I think I have a mild form of this. I have always associated written music notes with particular colours, which also correspond to the respective piano keys. I was stunned to read the reasons why D is green (it has always been green for me!) and I too see C as yellow, E as pink and G as brown! Incredible to discover others see it the same way.
LOVEY KATE! I dont see the same colors but thats common among Syneths…. As I mentioned in my writing above I see F as green… we could never write music because our color representation would be having us playing different chords and notes! LOLOL
Do you still see the same color when its an octave higher? And what about harmonics? I begin to see a variegated gradient once we are outside standard tuning.
;O)
Chris
i believe that i have this also , my first experience was about a year and a half ago maybe two. i was at my friends house and he and another friend were playing Tony hawks skate when i came over, i was just sitting there when i felt really weird and i couldnt be in the same room as them,and these are good friends of mine. i went into the other room and picked up a guitar then started playing. all of a sudden it just hit me as i was playing. i felt something that felt like the perfect pitch it sounded that way to not matter what i did, and the color red slowly filled my vision.
i wasn’t looking down either or i would have tried to recreate what i was playing. but i was to distracted by this blast of color that filled my eyes.
the only way i can portrey it is:
take a mental picture of everything in your line of vision, and take in the periferals also, now let red slowly mix in that picture until you see nothing but the color of a bright neon red.
my second experience was when i was talking to a counselor and as we conversed everything turned green. i just let it go and felt fine as we were talking, i thought it was just lack of sleep or something normal.
i seem to be able to trigger the color black through silence aka static.
does this mean that i am a synesthete?
either way right now i am eightteen, trying to get money to go to school for music so that i can teach music or guitar. and move into music therapy in the future where i might be able to find the answers to synesthesia.
i cant trigger it through music willingly, yet, but i hope to in the future so that every one and myself can experience this through my music.
if your a researcher and interested in talking leave a comment ill be checking back to this.
Dear John, I am publishing a magazine for a symphony orchestra. Would you please email me so we can chat? I might like to publish your story. mattandcindee@comcast.net
There is a lot to be learned about this and I dont know if it just shows up in your life unless a traumatic accident has occurred. That we know is an invariable that causes or creates a lot of awakenings.
I always has synesthesia. I see colors in music, letters and numbers and people and things. I also have an emotional attachments (feeling) that can occur with them. I never learned notes or any traditional means of musical education. I felt and saw colors ever since I could understand the enjoyment of sound. And all sound has a color feeling and flavor. Peoples voices, intruments, noise etc. Music is a cascading fireworks show and you move through gradients of color rapidly and with great emotion. (for me)
I was a touring guitar player for 12 years and I wrote as well for many acts. I play by emotion and color not by notes and time, and I write by means of colors and feelings as well. For instance I dont play a G chord after the D because it musically is correct or sounds right, I play it because it feels correct as does the color. F is a key I like to use and the color in the lower harmonics is like an emerald green. Harmonics change colors for me, and I believe that the Fibonacci Sequence is somehow tied into the way synesthesia works in our brain. Thats a whole other level…LOL
Im also paint and take photography on a pro level. Again, I use both the brush and the camera when I “feel” the picture or color, not see it. I dont choose a color on the palette I just paint and begin combining emotions until I like was my eyes feel…LOLOL. Its nuts I know… but I dont know another way.
I also have the common cross wiring of seeing colors in numbers and letters…. A is red, 3 is black and equations equal a color not a numeric result ETC. Its something you need to understand and use to your advantage with help of others. Otherwise you can easily become a misfit in the world. Embrace it, learn about it, and express it. Art is the best means of creating something from what you have. MANY are artists or become one. I struggled for years, then found how music allowed me to be “normal” in my own skin. I evolved quickly and became something others could not due to my perception of how I approach things. My unique view and ability of creating gave me an unprecedented edge that I used to flourish not fail. Billy Joel has Synesthesia as well as many impressive artists in music, paint, poetry and more.
Thanks for allowing me to share here. Be well all!
Chris