I kept it hidden for a long time fearful that I'd be taken away by the men with white coats, but I can't remember a time when I didn't experience it.
I 'came out' about 10 years ago - it was a slightly sozzled after-gig party and my description of the shapes and colours were accepted with aplomb - since then, after seeing a documentary and finding out it has got a name I've discussed it with a few close musician friends all of whom find it fairly normal.
I'm not as bad as the woman on the documentary who saw things through ordinary talk, etc, mine is normally triggered by music and that has usually been a fantastic experience.
The downside was when there were pneumatic drills outside work, several car alarms going off and a discordant intermittent telephone rings; one day in summer having a beer with friends in the pub garden and the church bells for a wedding being out of synch and a couple of punk bands - these four instances made me feel really bad and ultimately physically sick 🙁
The upside - and I can relive these episodes like they happened yesterday - a tenor sax solo which gave me pastel-coloured 3-D confetti with butterflies and the smell of parma violets and vanilla, a trumpet player who gave me coffee/chocolate gloop and the feeling of fur and a guitar player who was autumnul colours, sharp shapes (triangles/squares) and smelled of warm buttered toast and toffee with a bit of barbecue chucked in - plus many more.
Really I am a pretty normal, fairly logical person! As no one else was talking about it I thought it would be best to keep quiet.
Now I play a little and find trying to capture the feeling of the colour and emotion of a note does help to get the effect I'm trying for.
'I felt goosebumps' and the references to blue/indigo, etc are pretty widespread aren't they?
So I'm wondering if I'm not freaky and it's a pretty normal thing - do you see or imagine colours/smells/etc when playing?
I 'came out' about 10 years ago - it was a slightly sozzled after-gig party and my description of the shapes and colours were accepted with aplomb - since then, after seeing a documentary and finding out it has got a name I've discussed it with a few close musician friends all of whom find it fairly normal.
I'm not as bad as the woman on the documentary who saw things through ordinary talk, etc, mine is normally triggered by music and that has usually been a fantastic experience.
The downside was when there were pneumatic drills outside work, several car alarms going off and a discordant intermittent telephone rings; one day in summer having a beer with friends in the pub garden and the church bells for a wedding being out of synch and a couple of punk bands - these four instances made me feel really bad and ultimately physically sick 🙁
The upside - and I can relive these episodes like they happened yesterday - a tenor sax solo which gave me pastel-coloured 3-D confetti with butterflies and the smell of parma violets and vanilla, a trumpet player who gave me coffee/chocolate gloop and the feeling of fur and a guitar player who was autumnul colours, sharp shapes (triangles/squares) and smelled of warm buttered toast and toffee with a bit of barbecue chucked in - plus many more.
Really I am a pretty normal, fairly logical person! As no one else was talking about it I thought it would be best to keep quiet.
Now I play a little and find trying to capture the feeling of the colour and emotion of a note does help to get the effect I'm trying for.
'I felt goosebumps' and the references to blue/indigo, etc are pretty widespread aren't they?
So I'm wondering if I'm not freaky and it's a pretty normal thing - do you see or imagine colours/smells/etc when playing?