Music As Colors

I do not only hear music but I see music as colors in my head, it’s called synethesia. Hearing any type of music gives me some sort of an experience, anything to what you hear on the radio, to documentaries, to movie scores. I first heard of this a couple of years back watching a documentary on Daniel Tammet. A savant who has synesthesia however with numbers. Me being a musician, I thought that it was just something I did when I wanted to put my emotions into something I can describe. Music was always different to me and here I was getting an answer as to why exactly it was.

This helps me throughout the hectic world we live in, it helps me as a human being and musician. If I had the ability I wish I could show everyone in the world a similar experience which is why I’m sharing this.

My dad told me a story that when I was a little kid we were on some kind of trip. I was in the car and we hit a bit of traffic. Like most kids stuck in a car for an extended period of time I reached my tipping point. I started to cry and whine, my dad did not know what to do and was behind the wheel with no way in pulling over to try to console me. He put in a cd and the song that came on was Intimate Strangers by the Rippingtons. I immediately stopped, thinking back on this story maybe this was the first time I saw the colors in my head.

Each color comes to me in a aurora texture. Different colors for different genres and emotions. Orange comes to me like the sunset, seemingly pulsating whenever I hear a song of high energy. This would be the hard rock songs you mosh to, the dance songs where you make a total fool of yourself at the Christmas party after one too many mojitos. Seeing this makes me extremely happy and excited.

The red aurora comes to me in songs where I feel tension (best way to describe it) songs with a lot of tension are a emotional yet not sad. The blues songs when bb king hits an amazing bend, or John legend’s voice in all of me gives me a lot of tension. Tension is not bad, it leaves me wanting more. This streams down like a river in my head.

The blueish green aurora is my favorite experience. Picture the aurora borealis or blueish greenish smoke filling a room. It’s what I experience with pieces of music or songs with a lot of emotion. U2’S where the street has no name gives me the best experience. This is what makes me feel the best, it’s euphoric looking at this, nothing in the world matters whenever I see this.

This has inspired me to pursue my music career, and dream about what seemingly is impossible. My two biggest dreams are to meet Daniel Tammet and to meet and play where the street has no name with U2. I wish I could show everyone what it feels like to experience this. It is euphoric, this is the best I could do.