Have you ever heard of "Synesthesia"?
Can you see or hear music in color?
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I found this definition on Google: "Synesthesia is a provocative phenomenon, for both artists and neuroscientists. Some synesthetes say they see colors upon hearing musical notes."
I will go one further by saying among many other sensory variations, "music in general" can be seen and/or heard in color, by some individuals who have Synesthesia.
I have been teaching guitar and bass guitar lessons professionally since 1996. Many years ago, one of my students told me that she always imagines music in colors. Intrigued, I asked, "What do you mean?" She went on to tell me that certain chords on the guitar reminded her of colors; and that this was how she could remember them. I knew exactly what she was talking about, but I encouraged her to continue to tell me about her experiences.
I asked her to play a chord on her guitar and tell me which color it sounded like. We experimented the rest of her lesson on trying to catalogue the colors she heard with the chords she played. Then I asked her about individual notes, not chords. This turned out to be very different. Some notes had a color associated with them, but most of them did not.
I told her that I knew exactly what she was talking about, and that I had experienced this phenomenon all of my life. I never really thought of it as being a "thing" to even talk about. I always thought everyone heard or saw music in color. Several years later, after doing some research online, I discovered that there is actually a name for this unique sensory of hearing and seeing music. I watched a few videos and read a few articles, but the majority of these examples dealt with other sensory crossovers, like taste, smell and touch. There had to be a name for it in listening to music.
So, what is Synesthesia in music?
Well, when it comes to seeing music, it is actually called something else. Ever heard of "Chromesthesia?" Here is the Google definition:
"This type of synesthesia involves seeing colors when hearing music. For example, a person with chromesthesia might see red when listening to a certain bass line or green when hearing a high-pitched violin solos."
Honestly, I am still searching for more information on this subject. All I know about it is what I've experienced and what some of my students have told me over the years. I also know that everyone has a different perspective on the colors they hear or see when they hear the same thing. For example, if I play a "C major" chord on the guitar, to me, it usually sounds like a green color between, somewhere between mint and evergreen. On the other hand, "A minor" has always been an almost dark or blood red color. It doesn't matter who plays the chord or which guitar is being used.
What I also know is that being able to do this, helps me understand pitch recognition.
Relative pitch, associative pitch and perfect pitch are all pretty much the same can of worms to me. Can you recognize a "7b9#5" chord? There are a lot of notes in that chord, and it's a pretty strange structure. However, it is a common "transition" jazz chord that is used in many songs. To me, this combination of notes sounds like lighter pastel colors; perhaps like mauve, mint and light blue.
Another example is the Major 13 (M13) chord. Now, here's a chord that technically uses all seven notes in a major key. Imagine how many colors are in that chord. That is why I call these types of chords, "Garden chords''. You'd have to imagine what you might hear if you walked out into your backyard on a nice Spring day and saw that you were suddenly surrounded by a huge garden of flowers. How many colors do you think you’d see now?
Does chromesthesia also include white or black colors?
In my opinion, no. Even though black and white are both colors, they are quite literally, in opposite places in the color spectrum.
There are however, dark and light chords. One of the darkest chords I know is the "E minor Major 9" (EmM9) chord, also known as “The Detective” chord.
You can check out my article on Weird, dark, strange, spooky chords in music.
How can you learn how to do this?
I think that this kind of thing can be learned and practiced. It all has to do with ear-training. Imagine being able to recognize notes, chords and progressions just by hearing them. Obviously, something like this would probably take a long time to develop. I ask my students to look for colors in the room, and try to figure out which chord matches the colors they see. Most of them think it's pretty cool to think of hearing music in this way.
I would guess that it's sort of like how we remember an old song, and it takes us back to a time and place, or a thought or feeling we have when we hear it. Music we grow up with becomes a part of the soundtracks to our life. We can easily recognize our favorite songs almost instantaneously, because we know them so well. Now, imagine being able to associate, not just memories, but colors to all of those songs.
As an experiment…
Try playing some chords on your guitar, and write down which color you see or imagine for each chord. Try to be creative in your description. Instead of just green, say "Lime green" or "Sea green". Yes, it may sound weird, but it is a very interesting approach to ear-training and music recognition practices.