Synaesthetic Musings

By Rhiannonw

Fri, 19 Aug 2016
  • 1762 reads
8 comments
 

(My memories, and my son’s musical synaesthesia)

Letters and numbers were coloured, and days:

were the numbers all coloured that way before
I learned how to read, did the words or the letters
influence the colours my numbers bore?
and the days of the week, was it really their name
(in English or Welsh was their colour the same?)
or did feelings and moods lend them various hues?

It’s fading away now I’m growing old,

but of colours in music my son has told,
where the colour he sees seems to change if it’s heard
in different keys, but has it occurred
because of the pitch, or the intervals major,
or sharps versus flats or the mood of the minor,
or the colour that’s linked in his mind with a G,
with  F, B, or A, letters C, D or E?

 

A child’s week        synaesthetically

(see image above, some of the colours a bit uncertain now!)

Monday’s white –
a new week bright;
Tuesday’s brown –
hard-working frown;
Wednesday’s yellow –
mood happy, mellow;
Thursday’s grey –
a dullish day;
Friday’s green –
weekend foreseen;
Saturday’s billowing orangey-pink –
a day to relax and to freely think;
Sunday’s more serious routine, warm red –
chapel and rest for the week ahead.

(This little verse was posted before:

http://www.abctales.com/story/rhiannonw/childs-week-ip )

[Poetry Monthly: Synaesthesia]

 

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Comments

Submitted by Stephen Thom on

Interesting to read about, skips along very nicely with its rhyme and rhythm, very pretty :)

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Stephen, just a little attempt to bring some memories into focus to share! Rhiannon

 

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

I love this Rhiannon, just thinking about musical notes and their keys just sets my imagination in motion. I think that when I hear music, it does conjure up colours, that's why music is so inspiring to me.

For me Monday is the colour red, because I was born on a Monday morning and just love that colour.

This piece really got me thinking.

Jenny.

 

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Jenny, synaesthesia or mixing of senses, is probably quite common, maybe more at certain stages of our lives, but it is nice to think of colour in music and in numbers, letters and words. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by jeand on

Hi Rhiannon

I've never heard of this before. You say your son does see music in colour? When it's all being played at once, it must make a real muddle.

Interesting poem.

Jean

 

Jean Day

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Hi, Jean. Thanks. But no, it isn't individual notes all blending, different colours. The letters are referring to different keys. We both tended to have a colour for each number (single numbers) and letters etc. but he sees colours for the key the piece is being played in in some way.
He mentioned recently that G sharp minor is deep opaque green, and A flat major is stained glass window light yellow! (G sharp itself being the same as A flat!). and that some piece, I think he said a Schubert impromptu, is a different colour if played in G flat than if played in f sharp!?? Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Linda Wigzell Cress on

What a great concept, reminds me of toy pianos when I was a child, with each key a different colour and a corresponding music book. Very interesting.

Linda

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

Thanks, Linda. My husband is quite puzzled by the concept! Rhiannon