Experience Synaesthesia – Colours And Shapes Of Music

I have a rare neurological condition – synaesthesia… No, it is not a disability, it is a remarkable sensation that I consider a gift.

In this post, I would like to share with you some aspects of this experience and show you how I sense and see the energy of reverberating sounds of drums.

For a start – what is synaesthesia?

Synaesthesia is an anomalous blending of the senses in which the stimulation of one sense simultaneously produces sensation in a different sense.

In other words and literally: Synesthetes hear colours, feel sounds and taste shapes.

I have always been blessed with Synaesthesia; I can hear music when looking at colours, sounds evoke the sense of taste, I see letters and numbers in colours; 

It is as if I can sense the energy of the world, of objects, smells, music, people, animals, and translate this energy to colours and shapes…

Experience Synaesthesia – colours and shapes evoked by the sounds of drums, rattles, triangles…

I would like to share with the one of my experiences of synaesthesia. I wonder if you can see these sounds too after reading this story ⬇️

This is HOW I SEE the reverberating SOUNDS of drums 🥁 🎵 🎶

Some time ago, I went to a great drumming session at Victoria Park in Nelson, organised by Building Bridges Pendle @bbpendle and facilitated by amazing artist Filomena Ianni

The sound of drums resonating across the park evoked in my mind the vision of colours and shapes and helped me to create this composition:

This is exactly how I see it:

1. The base sound of the drums themselves is a heavy sound… dark and deep in colour, warm through to purple and violet.

Its shape is heavyweight with solid form and sharp edges, smashing through the air with a loud, dull thud. It is flat and layered, like a loose pile of paper…

2. There are softer sounds of drums and they are red and pink. They float higher up in the air, spread open like flowers at the sunrise, like irises…

3. Then there is the sound of a rattle and this one is green. The rattles are like zigzags, wiggling in the air…

4. And finally the sound of a triangle invokes the image of crystals. They are light blue, semi-transparent, they spread through the air like droplets 💧 of water 💦

What do you think?

I wonder if you can see these sounds too after you read my description? I’m curious to find out! Let me know if you do!

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