Synesthesia
Sometime last year A$AP Rocky released his album Testing, on
it he featured an artist on one of the songs – Dev Hynes. Somehow a month or
two earlier the YouTube recommendations suggested a Ted Talk he gave which I randomly
decided to watch. In this algorithm recommended
journey, I discovered something that really surprised me…
Dev Hynes, who goes under the moniker ‘Blood Orange’ had a neurological
condition called synesthesia. He describes it as when “two or more sentences
combine or touch to form a new cognitive pathway”. It’s a condition he has had
since childhood…he describes as - “Imagine color streamers just bouncing around”.
He says that he associates colors and sound together - patterns and colors with
things he listens to. He explains how he tried to explain this to his music
teacher when he was young but the teacher could not understand the condition he
was trying to explain. He explains how it also shaped parts of his personality
and preferences – for instance he enjoyed creative fields and painting his
nails. However, he initially did not
know how to utilize this to his advantage.
Now, he utilizes it to compose and write music. The sound forms
a moving image in his head based on the colors or chords (same in this case). In
his process he starts off with patterns and colors which he layers like a
picture to then form a piece of music. For instance, the Chord C is associated with
yellow and F with pink. These chords among another two are his favorite as they
correspond with his favorite color pallet. He fills in the blanks of where he
wants these drops of paint to land, thereby composing a score.
This concept of seeing colors with music I have heard
producers like Kanye and Pharrell talk about, but never really understood. I have
always been a fan of unique music production (I personally don’t produce music)
but this was something that completely by surprise.
(Link to the TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dc60ldmTrIg)
Woah this is really cool! What an interesting perspective on music. I had no idea that this was a condition. Very cool and informative, thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDelete-KT
Very cool post. I've heard Kanye say he can see pictures in music but did not know Dev Hynes had this condition as well. It would be super interesting to see what causes this and other ways you could apply this condition.
ReplyDelete-Diana Zhao
This is really cool!! I'd never heard of this condition or even knew that it was possible. I wonder if this condition makes his music better or worse.
ReplyDelete--Brendan Graniez
This is unreal, I have never heard of anything like this before! This seems to take music to a higher and deeper level. It will be awesome to hear his new music, and hear him continue to talk about how he sees it!
ReplyDeleteWow! What a post. I had no idea something like this was even a thing. I will watch the TED talk.
ReplyDelete-Ryan Baer
Damn Vish this is very interesting. I listened to that song a lot and never knew anything about Dev Hynes.
ReplyDeleteI've heard of this condition before but I definitely haven't heard of the musician. It sounds like something A$AP Rocky would do to put someone with that condition and level of talent on his record. Other famous musicians with the condition include Duke Ellington, Billy Joel, Patrick Stump, Pharrell, and the legendary Jimi Hendrix. It's not hard to believe that some of these greats possessed this condition/gift.
ReplyDelete