Synesthesia is so interesting. I think it’s incredible that brains can associate certain stimuli with color so explicitly. Carol Steen’s painting Vision is so vibrant, it seems as though it would become almost distracting at times (but we know it doesn’t, due to the fact that it helps a great deal with having a photographic memory, etc etc). Though, I think I’d probably have some difficulties falling asleep if I closed my eyes and saw a violent red like Carol Steen sees when she closes her eyes.
I love that an organ exists that has colors for each note, and it has existed for a long time. I love bright colors, and I love music, so I think it’s really cool that they’ve had a specific instrument designed just for that since the 1800’s. I went to a Phoenix concert recently, and the first image that always flashes in my head whenever I think about it is rainbow lights, which flashed all over the stage when they played the song “Girlfriend”. I just remember thinking “wow, this is awesome.” They just add such a huge impact to music, I think. I also thought it was interesting that Fantasia is considered a synesthetic work of art. It makes me wonder if the random video effects that play on Windows Media Player would be considered synesthetic art? Because technically it is color that corresponds to music... I don’t know.
I think it’s fascinating that synesthesia travels on the chromosome that carries genes that typically lead to autism. It must be a very difficult characteristic to test for, despite the tests they described with reaction time. Also, I think it’s interesting that the majority of known synesthetes are generally artists of some kind, mainly musicians and artists. But I guess if you’re bombarded with color frequently, you have a lot of inspiration to paint. And if you see colors for each note, you’ll know which colors and notes go well together intuitively, and therefore you are a damn good composer.
Cymatics are really cool, too. I think it’s incredible that sounds create such ornate and specific designs. Also, I’m curious to know how it was discovered. Did someone accidentally leave a plate of sand on top of their speaker, by accident? How does that happen? It’s cool that nature creates such intricate designs everywhere, snowflakes being a prime example(besides cymatics). It’s really kind of amazing.
As far as how Cymatics was discovered, a knowledge of sound creating physical patterns has been around for 100s of years. Galileo was scraping rust off a brass plate and noticed there was a sound image relationship. This was perhaps the accident that sparked the science.
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