For Duke Ellington, the note D looked like dark blue fabric, and G felt like light blue satin. Pharrell Williams saw colors like burgundy or baby blue when he listened to Earth, Wind & Fire as a kid. Kanye West experiences pianos as blue, snares as white, and basslines as dark brown and purple. Frank Ocean associates his music with the color orange.
For some, synesthesia can be tricky, like when colors or tastes don’t match up with what others experience or make reading hard. But many people with synesthesia see it as an extra sense, not a problem. If you’re not familiar with the feeling, let’s explore synesthesia music in more detail.
What Is Synesthesia?
Synesthesia is when your senses get mixed up in a surprising way. For example, you might hear a piece of music and see colorful shapes, or hear a name and immediately think of a specific color. It’s as if your senses blend together so that experiencing one thing makes you experience another. You could hear the name Alex and see the color green or read the word street and taste something like lemon.
The term “synesthesia” comes from Greek and means “to perceive together.” People who experience this are called synesthetes. It’s not a disease or a mental health issue, and it doesn’t harm you. In fact, some studies show that people with synesthesia might have better memory and thinking skills. It’s a real condition, and there’s proof that it exists.
How Many Types of Synesthesia Are There?
People experience the world in different ways through something called perception abilities. Here’s a simple breakdown:
- Sight — You can recognize colors, patterns, textures, and shapes.
- Hearing — You can sense volume, pitch, and how high or low a sound is.
- Touch — You feel temperatures, pressure, textures, vibrations, and pain.
Your senses also help you understand abstract ideas, like time, numbers, and language, and sometimes, they work together to create a synesthesia effect.
There are many possible ways your senses can combine. Researchers have found at least 60 synesthesia types, and some think there might be over 150. This variety means many people with synesthesia might not even realize it’s unusual.
Here are some common types of synesthesia:
- Auditory-tactile synesthesia — Sounds make you feel touch sensations, like changes in temperature or pressure.
- Day-color synesthesia — You see or associate certain colors with specific days of the week.
- Grapheme-color synesthesia — Letters, numbers, or symbols appear in different colors.
- Hearing-motion synesthesia — Sounds are linked to seeing things move, like hearing a swoosh when something passes by.
- Mirror-touch synesthesia — Seeing someone else being touched or hurt makes you feel it, too, as if it’s happening to you.
- Time-space synesthesia — You visualize time, numbers, or sequences in unique patterns or shapes, like a calendar or a series of numbers arranged in a special way.
- Sound-color synesthesia — Certain sounds make you see specific colors. Seeing colors with music is the most common type.
Famous People With Synesthesia
There aren’t many records of people with synesthesia in the past because it wasn’t well understood or widely recognized, so a lot of information was lost. Still, there are a few historical accounts of people experiencing it. Along with these, we’ll also look at some contemporary musicians with synesthesia to complete the list of those we’ve talked about.
Franz Liszt, the renowned Hungarian composer, frequently used his synesthesia in his music. It’s said that he would ask orchestra members to adjust the colors of the notes, like making them “a bit bluer,” which created a unique dynamic during performances.
Painter Vincent Van Gogh was not known for his synesthesia. But his piano teacher noticed that Van Gogh associated certain musical notes with colors early in his career. Unfortunately, he sometimes found it more challenging than beneficial.
Singer-songwriter Lorde has mentioned in interviews that synesthesia is a driving force behind her music. She experiences music colors, and she has shared that if a song’s colors seem off to her, it can affect her willingness to work on it.
Singer and pianist Billy Joel has talked about seeing colors when he plays music, too. He associates slow or soft melodies with blues and greens, and strong melodies and rhythms bring vivid colors like reds and oranges.
Billie Eilish has described how her synesthesia blends her senses. She links colors, textures, and shapes with numbers, days, and music. Both she and her brother, Finneas, experience the world in this colorful and multi-sensory way.
What Causes Synesthesia?
We don’t fully know why synesthesia happens, but experts have identified two main types:
Developmental synesthesia
People with developmental synesthesia have brains that process information in a unique way, which is different from how most people’s brains work. Here’s what we know about it:
- Some studies suggest that everyone might experience synesthesia as infants, but it usually fades as we grow up. This could explain why it’s less common in adults.
- People with synesthesia often have extra connections between brain areas. This might explain why they experience multiple senses from a single stimulus. It might also be why synesthesia is more common in people with autism.
- Synesthesia often runs in families, suggesting a genetic link. However, the exact type of synesthesia varies between family members.
Acquired synesthesia
Some people develop synesthesia after a brain injury or trauma. This type occurs because the brain’s connections can change as it heals. Here’s how acquired synesthesia differs:
- People with acquired synesthesia might not experience it all the time. It may only occur in certain situations or may go away over time.
- Unlike developmental synesthesia, acquired synesthesia isn’t usually triggered by things like music.
- The effects are usually brief and simple, unlike developmental synesthesia, which is more complex and long-lasting.
Can You Get Tested for Synesthesia?
Yes. Synesthesia tests aren’t perfect and shouldn’t be seen as definitive, but they can be useful if you think you might have synesthesia.
For example, Synesthesia Battery is an online test that checks for different types of synesthesia. It’s a questionnaire with about 80 questions, fairly simple, and takes around 15 minutes to finish. You’ll answer mostly multiple-choice or sliding-scale questions.
You can also try the Grapheme-Color test. This test is for people who link colors with letters or numbers, which is a common type of synesthesia. It can be a quick quiz with about 20 questions or a longer one that might take up to an hour. You’ll be asked to match colors to letters or numbers based on how you perceive them.
Another test is the color consistency test. This is an offline test that shows all the letters and numbers with a set of colors. You’ll choose the color you associate with each letter and number and repeat the process three times, with the choices shuffled each time.
What to Do With Your Results
Synesthesia isn’t considered a mental health issue and usually doesn’t affect daily life. If your test results suggest you might have synesthesia but you’re not facing any problems, enjoy your unique way of experiencing the world.
If you do have issues, like feeling overwhelmed by sensory input or feeling self-conscious about your perceptions, talking to a therapist might help. They can support you in understanding your experiences, boosting your self-esteem, and finding ways to manage sensory overload.
How to Learn Synesthesia Music Colors
For some people, synesthesia, especially music synesthesia, is actually seen as a positive trait, and they actively seek it. Combining music and color is a fun and effective way to learn. This method links the seven colors of the rainbow with the seven musical notes.
Here’s the idea: put colorful stickers or markers on the keys of a piano or keyboard. This makes it easier to understand and play music by associating each note with a specific color. You start by playing simple tunes using these colored notes. For example, if you see a note like C, you can play it and notice how even a single note can make a melody. Over time, you’ll learn to play songs with two notes, then three, and so on.
For instance, you might start with a basic song that uses just two notes, and as you progress, you might play more complex pieces with six or more notes. You can also use a xylophone with colored keys.
At the end of the day, nobody can tell you that you’re experiencing synesthesia wrong — it’s a personal feeling. So, if you have it, you’re among the fortunate. If you don’t, you can either let it be or practice associations in a way that feels almost natural to you.
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