You know how when you watch a movie or TV show of humans with extraordinary abilities and just think "oh if only that could be real". I recently discovered there is something similar that really DOES exist. It is known as Synesthesia. I started being curious about what Synesthesia really was, so I did a little studying on it. Before I continue, I would like to mention that Synesthesia is not a form of illness, desease or any sort of medical condition but merely a gift certain individuals are born with, it is merely their way of looking at the world. Synesthesia is a condition where the brain of an individual mixes up the senses. From what I know Synesthesia is a gift where the brain links certain information with colours. People with this gift are known as Synesthetes. Because I was curious to know more about Synesthesia, I found and started talking to a couple of Synesthetes, hard to find but I managed. Synesthesia is a gift where around 1 out of 500 are born with. Some Synesthetes actually do not know that their gift is, in a way unusual until they find out that other people do not have it. Others on the other hand feel like it's a secret they hide from others. There are several types of Synesthesia. One of which is where a Synesthete recognizes a specific person's name or a day with a specific colour. Like say if they were to meet a person named Matt for example, they would somehow think of maybe.. Blue when they hear that name and from then on everytime instead of knowing that person at Matt they would think of blue instead. Another example is days, like monday COULD be blue, tuesday could be yellow, and maybe thursday could be a darker or lighter shade of yellow. It is just a way their brains work which I think actually helps with going through daily tasks. Another type of Synesthesia is known as Chromethesia. This is where a Synesthete is able to see music, yes I said SEE music as colours or shapes. In fact Mozart is said to have had to had this form of Synesthesia. He mentioned that the key of a D-major had a warm 'orangey' sound to it, where a B-flat minor was blackish and an A-major was a rainbow of colours to him. This may explain why he wrote some of his music using different colours for different music notes. Moving on, I asked some Synesthetes I met online through youtube of their experiences being a synesthete. Now THIS is where things begin to get interesting, this is all true experiences from real life Synesthetes. First person I talked to was a girl I shall call her "A" to respect her privacy. Her greatest synesthetic experience was when she was 12, she began taking violin classes and during her second week of classes she notices as she was playing she could see faded shades of colours illuminating her vision. The colours she saw would differ as the notes she played changed. She mentioned then on she loved playing the violin because she felt special playing. Sadly she doesn't play the violin anymore. Next person, I shall address as "B" is a engaged man, I managed to find the conversation we had so I will put his EXACT words here "I'll tell you about my strongest synesthetic experience. It was years ago, and I was visiting my girlfriend, who was in an African drum ensemble class. I couldn't drum myself, so instead I sat and listened to the music they were making. When I closed my eyes, I saw circular explosions of colored light, that differed depending on the pitch of the drum being hit." I can't imagine what he sees everytime he is around musical instruments and closes his eyes. Last person I talked to, "C". Yes I only managed to find 3 Synesthetes. "C" is amazingly a 6 year old girl, actually I talked to her mom, not the little girl herself. Her mom mentioned that her daughter was Synesthete, so yea... According to her mom, "C" once mentioned to her mom that when they attended a piano performance, she could see colourful lights radiating out of the piano. It is one of those GRAND piano's that have a sort off opened hood.
Yea, this kind of grand piano. She said that the coloured lights would radiate out of the piano and the colour of the lights would disappear when the notes silent and it would changed when the note changed. How amazing is that? Can you even imagine what that little girl saw? It seems like such a magical gift to have. I believe people who are born with Synesthesia are truly blessed. AND did you know not only Synesthetes can have synesthetic experiences? We ordinary people can too. For example if we were taking drugs or are drunk. Another way is for example, when you are REALLY really really tired and somebody suddenly slams a door, do you realise that you actually see colours coming from the door in this case? I remember something like this happening before but never knew exactly what it was. With further digging I managed to find a video of someone having a synesthetic experience, this is from the TV show "Heroes" and is merely a depiction of what Enhanced Synesthesia would be like.
I felt so magical as I watched that but remember that it is nearly this dramatic in real life. But from what I was thought, it's pretty close.
Well hoped this post was a good read and I sure hope I can find out more things like this to write about again. Have a good day :]
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