Living in Colour Exercise: What is Synaesthesia?

Ages: 5-99

Time -20min+ per part

Learning Outcome:

Colour concepts: recognize that not everyone perceives colour in the same way. Some people can experience colours through other senses. Most people can make metaphorical associations, but for some people with synesthesia, the associations will be obvious – involuntary, automatic and consistent though time.

Materials:

-          Paper

-          Various coloured materials and media (e.g. crayons, pencil crayons, coloured papers with various textures - shiny, matte, etc.)

Directions:

Part 1: Coloured Letters and Numbers; Personalities

-          Have a template of the alphabet, and numbers 0-9

-          Have crayons, pencil crayons – variety of coloured media and textures

-          For each letter and number, depict a colour, texture, and personality. Try not to only relate it to a vivid hue – rather pay full attention to the character of the colour – can it be pale, muted, dark?

-          Questions & Observations:

o   How do you decide which colour to associate with the various letters?

o   Are there any common colours or hue families associated with specific letters or numbers?

o   Do any letters/numbers tend to be depicted in achromatic colours?

o   Do any letters/numbers also have personalities?

Part 2: Coloured Music

-          Choose a musical composition. Suggestion - Peter and the Wolf (Prokofiev) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fmi5zHg4QSM

-          Listen to the music one on its own, then again paying attention to how you could visually represent the sounds

-          Play each instrument separately

-          Create colour associations (may also include other associations) with each section of the musical piece, played by different instruments (timbres)

-          Questions & Observations:

o   How do you decide which colour to associate with the various sounds/instruments?

o   Are there any common colours or hue families associated with specific instruments or notes?

o   How does the sound affect where you place your visualization on each page? (i.e. lower pitched sounds tend to be drawn lower on a page, higher pitched sounds tend to be drawn higher up on a page)

-          More to explore – can try various genres of music (jazz, hip hop)

Part 3: Coloured Tastes

-          Have a selection of tasty treats

-          Suggestions: chocolate, carrot, lemon, sour candy, bread or cracker, dill pickle potato chip

-          Create a grid of your snacks. In each square, depict the taste by its colour(s)

-          Questions & Observations:

o   How do you decide which colour to associate with the various tastes?

o   Are there any common colours or hue families associated with specific tastes?

If the students do the exercises more than once, separated by a period of time, you will find that those with synesthesia have consistent associations. Thise without synesthesia will have greater variations in their exercises done at different times.

Resources:

https://colourliteracy.org/synesthesia

https://www.syntoolkit.org/teacher

The man who could taste sounds - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sNi5DZMwJ0 (couple of incorrect facts – may affect 4% not 1% of population)