Synesthesia/Cymantics

I was really excited about this reading because a friend of mine, Mike, has synesthesia.  I’ve never actually gone out of my way to research the idea, so this gave me a much-needed reason to actually figure out what it is.  Mike sees colors when he hears or plays music, which gave me sort of limited knowledge.  He is a brilliant musician because of it, and he can pick up practically any instrument and play it beautifully based on colors that he’s seen before while listening to or playing other music.  I have learned about it in psychology, but that was in high school, and who really remembers anything from high school.  I did not know that the phenomenon is so diverse in its expression; rather I always thought it was some kind of optical-auditory connection. 

            I was also interested to read about all these fine artists who have synesthesia, many of whom I have heard of before.  It really makes me look at their art, or listen to their music differently now that I know.  It’s incredible to think that some of the films I’ve seen, like the one we saw on the first day of class, could have been influenced and transcribed directly based on what the artist was seeing while he or she was listening to music, or interacting with some other sensory subject.  I find myself to be rather jealous of people with it.  I feel that my artistic creations would be so much more interesting if they were just a little more abnormal.