Do you have synaesthesia?

[chubbyfatazn]

Kind of like with "perfect pitch", though in reality very few people on this planet have perfect pitch.

Yeah, but at least perfect pitch is useful in some capacity.

Here's what I do with mine. My playlist is now 90% '50s to '80s music so I don't update it any more.

It's useless 90% of the time, but it's still nice to be able to sit down and play literally whatever I feel like playing without having to actually learn anything.

 

[Printer Bandit]

Daniel Tammet TED talk explains it

https://www.ted.com/talks/daniel_tammet_different_ways_of_knowing

 

[disappoint]

Don't take anesthesia up your nose or you'll end up with sinusanesthesia. HALP atot! I cat feel by dose!

 

[Raduque]

I associate songs with memories and/or people, and feelings.

 

[brianmanahan]

Yeah, but at least perfect pitch is useful in some capacity.

Here's what I do with mine. My playlist is now 90% '50s to '80s music so I don't update it any more.

It's useless 90% of the time, but it's still nice to be able to sit down and play literally whatever I feel like playing without having to actually learn anything.

i agree, playing piano by ear is super fun. i much much prefer it to playing by sheet music because i never need to buy it. just listen to the song once or twice, mentally split into bass and melody, pick up the special intro/ending/bridge stuff, then put it together.

although i don't do it based on absolute pitch, hence not "pitch perfect". i think of everything in relative terms (I, IV, V, etc) then put it in whatever key i want to play in.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I had this once when I was a kid and never since. I was eating a very southern black-eyed pea dish and got a mouth full of purple. Only lasted a couple minutes and it is absolutely impossible to explain the sensation. I didn't see the color but my brain said that is what it was.

 

[brianmanahan]

I was eating a very southern black-eyed pea dish and got a mouth full of purple. Only lasted a couple minutes and it is absolutely impossible to explain the sensation. I didn't see the color but my brain said that is what it was.

did you ever dance to a black-eyed peas song while wearing a purple jumpsuit?

because that could cause something like that

 

[chubbyfatazn]

i agree, playing piano by ear is super fun. i much much prefer it to playing by sheet music because i never need to buy it. just listen to the song once or twice, mentally split into bass and melody, pick up the special intro/ending/bridge stuff, then put it together.

although i don't do it based on absolute pitch, hence not "pitch perfect". i think of everything in relative terms (I, IV, V, etc) then put it in whatever key i want to play in.

don't worry about it, perfect pitch doesn't really do anything for me. it just helps me visualize in my head what i'm supposed to be playing when i sit down at a piano (everything in that youtube link i came up with before i actually sat down at a piano). and it makes me cringe and say "fuck, [some sound] is off-key" to myself. it's not all that it's hyped up to be.

i learned all that theory crap when i was younger (started playing when i was 5) but if you asked me now i couldn't tell you jack squat. i play for my own amusement, i don't really care about the "math" behind it.

 

[Paratus]

My wife has it.

Every letter of the alphabet has a specific color. So do the days of the week for her.

My son appears to have it too.

We had to pick names for our kids that didn't have ugly colors.

 

[lxskllr]

We had to pick names for our kids that didn't have ugly colors.

What color is Zoë?

 

[Paratus]

What color is Zoë?

Dude, don't ask me. I don't have it!

 

[olds]

...

Basically, every time I hear sounds I associate it with various hues of colours in my mind unconsciously..?

Interesting. I often see or hear something and associate it with a song.

Example

 

[nakedfrog]

My GF is like this with music.

It's POSSIBLE that I have it since ever since I can remember I associate sounds, music etc. also with colors and shapes.

Then I don't know how others perceive those things.


Wait...it gets better..here too I don't know whether this is "normal" or not.

I also associate numbers and for example the days of the week with colors.
Example would be
Monday=Blueish Green
Tuesday=Yellowish/Orange
Wednesday=Green
Thursday=Orange
Friday=very dark gray/black
Saturday=light gray, beige
Sunday=white

Same with months....I think I could go on and on.

As for sounds....as a general rule, the deeper the frequency, the darker, the "rounder" the shape.

I don't know whether people who have synaesthesia "really" SEE those things...as for me it's more that I visualize them but not literally "see" them.

And this too, though I don't recall her specific colors for each day of the week.

 

[TechBoyJK]

your sound and visual processing is directly related. Both are processing waves in your environment. Any creative musician will be aware of this.

Watch the end of 'The Soloist'. It shows him visualize the symphony in colors.

 

[pcgeek11]

What color is Zoë?

Purple, with lime green spots.

 

[lxskllr]

Purple, with lime green spots.

Awesome! :^D