Transcript

red is C Major · Dits & Dahs

Sue: I'm chatting today about a condition I have called Chroma-Synesthesia. Can we speak that five times quickly? Chroma-Synesthesia is a now scientifically documented, along with other synesthesias, neurological condition where I hear sounds and then see a visual color, something that confirmation with my phone. So all my life I've experienced music in my ears, confirmation with the phone. And because I've experienced it from my earliest memories, I've never thought anything twice about the fact that I might be unique. And in my family, well, you your guards are down with your family, so you don't really think to question that what you're experiencing is unique to you. I didn't really realize that it was an understudied human experience until I got to college and one of my professors, was probably still is a science nerd if he's still alive, asked me one day, because at this point I had been composing and titling the works with a color association with it. And he had done some research and found an article that was published in the Scientific American that talked about it, Confirmation with that Bird Chip, which I read. And that would have been about 1980 or 1981. And Dr. Richard Sidowitz's publications are more recent than that. So now we have that much more data behind it to inform his knowledge and sharing of that through his publications. Speaking the video I happen to see on YouTube was put out by big sink and it's called synesthesia I think it posted a couple of days ago find it fascinating because I also find him as a human being quite fascinating that he was sort of drawn into it out of his own curiosity and this is what it's all about is about the understanding that Creatively we have different approaches through our lives because we are wired slightly differently So there's no validation for feeling envious or rage towards another human being because we're not identical. We have different customizations. My customization with the Chromosynthesia has been one where, as I say, I lived to be an adult before I recognized that anybody else was documenting or trying to document the condition. And being able to express that with a shared confirmation with Woodpecker, being able to share that there were other people in the world. And then of course, as a musician, I learned that Several composers had a type of chromosynthesia and I also learned that not every association with key and colors is constant. And that taught me at a very early age about how to accept other people for their humanity and that there's more than one point of view and being able to accept and understand and have empathy and compassion for others' views and their approach to life is beautiful thing because you learn, you're always learning. And that was one of the points that Situwick was resonating with. I've learned so much about all types of synesthesia. And I think that what Sidiwik was also getting to was that in some ways we already, every one of us, experience synesthesia. He made the distinction that some synesthetes are one way and some are two way. In my case, when I hear sounds, I perceive color. And it might be a learned response from my years of that experience organically. When I see color, I certainly hear the associated key in my mind. At one point I recognized it would be ill-advised for me to tell a set designer what color on the stage would be used when a section of music was being performed. I just had to accept the fact that it was going to be out of alignment. And because it wasn't my production, I had no say. So spend your energy elsewhere. Watching this video today with the additional years and decades of research behind this neural auto-con... condition has given me lot of clarity and more peace, knowing that because we have MRI color imaging, we can see now that the primary optical cortex being lit when synthesthetic events occur in the brain, there is actually now proof that something is happening in the brain. So whatever jealousy and rage others people throw on synthetes because of it, it's bogus, which is just confirmation of something I've already known. confirmation with a woodpecker. But it's also about the piece that I feel sitting a bit more comfortably in a place that I was already comfortable. Understanding that this customization that I have doesn't make me any better or worse than anybody else. It just gives my shine a bit different glow or luster. I didn't need a scientist to tell me that, but it sure does feel good to have. that confirmation. It was also interesting to learn that synthetes might also have more than one melded sense in one way or two ways. Some have, in addition to my flavor, others will also carry a letter color, synthesesia, or numbers, or things. It's a beautiful form to express oneself as a creative in that once you have the tools of how you make that expression in media, You can show the world what it is that your experience is visually or musically about building relationships. That said, it doesn't necessarily stop people from making comment or slanderous words to that effect that it's bogus or fake, of course, but science now backs it. So it just exposes those folks who choose to be haters as who they are. Haters. And take that as you see fit to do with it. As you see fit, I've lived most of my life with knowing what is true to me and have no public acknowledgement that, that's okay, or, yep, it's real. It's not news to me, but boy, oh boy, it certainly adjusts the mindset in a way that allows me to continue forward. The melded additional synesthesia is perhaps perfect pitch because the chroma helps to find. where my ear needs to center the pitch for my musical performances. So it's interesting to consider that perfect pitch as an additional synesthesia. It's about 4 % of us. Wow! I think more will be identified as synthetes as word gets out. It's the joy of understanding that it's all well with things. Thank you for listening.