As someone who recently found out that he has perfect pitch, I’ve always wondered what the reason is for its existence and how it affects my thought process. This led me to explore what the term synesthesia entails and the extent to which synesthete’s life is affected by it.

For me, perhaps it is because when one hears a musical sound it triggers a sense of feelings or apparitions in the brain. Each musical note allows me to experience an image of colours and settings. For example, something like C natural that in my opinion is rather serene in texture makes me imagine myself looking into the distance with the sea beneath me; and the sea makes me imagine the colour blue and that for some reason gives off the aura of a sound exactly like C. And this remains the same for any sort of sound. Sounds, colours and sights seem to have a weird and interesting way of being creamed into my brain with the starting point being a solitary sound. Not just colours; I think due to my love for both television and movies it allows me to very easily illustrate a beautiful setting or picture or moment in my mind; sometimes it is that feeling of nostalgia that also triggers the recognition of a musical note. As a musician, listening to several different repertoires of music engrains certain sounds in my brain and this brings nostalgia into play as well.

At times, I both feel and hear a texture. Since synaesthesia comes from the Greek words “together” and “sensation”, I hope to continue to relish experiences of two simultaneous sensations and its mystery.