So I know I've mentioned Andy J. Pizza and his podcast (Creative Pep Talk) before. Lately, his episodes have been INCREDIBLE (about why you shouldn't give in to the temptation of creating for the algorhithm) but I've been thinking about something else he's talked about.
Well, not even talked about. Alluded to.
Synesthesia.
If you're not familiar, synesthesia is when you receive sensory information with one sense but experience it in another. You've maybe heard of in different contexts, but it's things like "hearing colors" and "tasting sounds."
And though Mr. Pizza hasn't outright claimed it yet in any of his podcasts, he has alluded to several times that many creators experience some level of synesthesia, and that tapping into that synesthesia can be a way utilizing your unique tastes.
I've often felt that way about music. I see things in my head with music, entire stories that unfold, which is why I think music has been such an important aspect of my life (and why it's an important part of my writing process and my podcast creation process.)
I mean, a lot of my early life I listened to film scores, so that kind of makes sense. That is music created specifically to go with visuals, so obviously it's going to have a story-like structure to it. But as I've gotten older and expanded my music consumption (and music mastery) I started to notice that it was a consistent thing. All music generates stories in my head. All of it.
And yes, there are some colors going on in there as well (G suspended 11 is always a aquamarine green in my head, and D minor dorian is a dark blue (but is that because the D minor dorian is featured so heavily in Miles Davis' KIND OF BLUE?)), but the story thing is something I find interesting.
I also have very specific feelings about what colors are associated with the months of the year.
But I also wonder if synesthesia is also just the brain making associations. For example, in my head, April is always yellow. But is that because April O'Neal from the Ninja Turtles wore a yellow jumpsuit?
Another example is that I am currently sick with a chest cold, and all I can think about is Germany - in particular this black tea a nice German family gave me one evening when I was on tour. I got super sick when I was in Germany - the same kind of congested chest cold I have now. I've had dreams of the streets of Ibbenburen. I "smell Europe" - and no I don't know how else to explain it except that I think I smell something that reminds me of Europe but it's not a specific smell.
Do creative people have a higher tendency to have these synesthetic bleed overs when they create memories? Or are these just how memories are stored in my brain because I have a higher level of synesthesia?
Anyway, the brain is weird.