The Way you Perceive Music
 

Okay, the human brain works in wierd ways, and I think that one of the wierdest ways is how different people percieve music, and its different for everyone.

For me, every time I hear music I think of colors. Like, every song has a color, and its always different. But what I was thinking about this earlier, and I was listening to Ayu, and it was wierd because I would listen to a song, and it wouldn't have a color...and it would keep happening, but instead, it was all colors...and I realized that I don't percieve Ayu's music as color, but instead, as emotion. And I think that this is one of the reasons that I like her so much, because it was different in so many ways, and I just realized that this was one of the ways. Wierd huh.

Anyway, how do you see or perceive music?

You must really like Ayu a lot.. O__o

For me music is like an experience in another life. When I listen to certain songs, its as though I'm not myself but I'm experiencing someone elses life. It can be anyone of any age. Especially songs by Tori Amos and Utada Hikaru. Example.. Tori's God. I can just imagine being a person who is angry and dissapointed in god because he dissapears when we need him. Although at times my interpretations are off.. (=_=) Its like an adventure to listen some songs.

Only good songs work though. Songs like Crazy Frog's has the same effect as a DIY drill. Torture, no imagination at all comes from it.

When I listen to music its like a story in my head. I can imagine the song playing and people moving to the music. Its like when I listen I get taken to a new place. Same with books for me. I can imagine myself there. I hate my life so when I listen to music its like I escape from my life. Its always why I read so much. XD

Hmmm. I guess for me it's like emotion/stories. When I listen to the song, sometimes I make up my own music video that goes along with it...okay, not sometimes...ALWAYS. Or I can imagine the person singing it. Right now I'm listening to Kumi's "you" and I can just see her sitting or standing somewhere and singing all her heart out.

I admit I've seen colors as well. Isn't it possible for some people to literally "see" music? (And hear colors as different frequencies?)

music is just sounds to me...i don't see colours or a story...
but the song playing does affect my mood..sometimes long after the song has finished playing~

I tend to think of it in terms of music videos - how I would create an original one for it or how it would apply to a certain show I like, probably because of my theatre background. Either that or I focus on individual parts of the sound, like just the drums, some instrument in the background or whatever.

It certainly isnt impossible. The other day the newspaper showed a girl who could see colours when a certain note is played. So sight and hearing must be connected or something.. It would be amazing if we can SEE music though.

sometimes i see music in my head as lines...some low notes are curvy, and high notes are really jagged...sometimes it looks like a line graph....low, then high, then lower...like different levels on a graph...kinda like this...
http://img501.imageshack.us/img501/6662/lines0ji.png

haha..paint:)see how it goes up and down...different fluctuations in notes

Agreed. :yes

You know what's really freaky?

I percieve music in color as well... well I sort of see/feel a certain color when I listen to a song. That was really creepy how you wrote that haha cause I thought I was crazy.

I also LOVE it when songs give me chills and people often think I'm crazy when I tell them songs give me chills. Like Ayu's "Moments" for example gives me chills ALL the time, maybe that's why I love it so much. I like it so much that my body actually responds physically to it... interesting.

But overall I percieve music is so many different ways. It really does depend on the song.

Me too, Moments, Carols, Step You, and Rainbow gives me that. It gives me hope that music is not some by-product of chemical reaction like lights. I believe music can also be harvested someday, like light and their solar powered stuff. Music powered equipment? It would be HEAVEN then.

yeah I do that as well :yes

this is astonishing, as I feel exactly the same *amazed* I mean like exactly :D

you sure do like puns with Ayu's song titles dont you? I saw this in another thread as well :P

Both visual cortex on the occipital lobe, and the temporal lobe of the brain (which processes the hearing) are connected to the limbic system in the brain cortex, the part of our brain responsible for memories and emotions. That explains why a certin song can sound amazing for someone and boring for another a person, because it's so complex that it depends not only on the stimillus but what the person has already experienced in life, which songs have they listened to before, what are their points of views on different things and their personality. The brain indeed has very complicated interconnections, but the senses are indeed connected in a very complex way. A good example would be picking a really old cologne or any essence you used in a very remote past and it's been a very long time since you last smelled it. When you actually do, sometimes it makes you so nostalgic that you can actually picture the images of old moments with extreme perfection, showing how the smell sense is connected to the limbic system and how these connections receive interaction from the visual cortex.

When I listen to a song, I think of colors too. Sometimes, I see diferent shades for every moment of the song, or I see a landscape. Like Utada Hikaru's "Automatic": that song makes me think about a city at night, with all those lights. And there was once a song that made me blush! XD I think it was Masayoshi Furukawa's "Perfect World". I was 13 at that time, and I remember thinking something like: "Oh, this song must be perfect to listen with a lover..."

Yoko Kanno actually sees colors when listening to certain notes of a song. I think that can be called sinestesia, but I'm not sure about the name :yconfused

Well... Bazaa you're in the right, it's called sinestesia (happy, because remembers last school lesson) and it's usually used in the poetry, I believe.
If it comes to me, when I listen to music (not only Ayu), I feel many emotions as most of us, but often they connect with various smells, moods, views etc. I cannot define it with one word, but it's a wonderful feeling and that's why I love music :)

I get emotions, imagine stories and like Mad_cactuar described sometimes kind of like catarsis. ...I get chills too from some songs.

^wuah I actually remember something from my german lessons *hihihi* ^__^"
I think the stylistic device of sinestesia was mainly used during the era of romanticism (<- is that the right vocabulary ?_?).




hehe I prefer playing the guitar parts :P at least when a real guitar aint at hand in that very moment ^^

Ok, my rant will be all over the place:

-Music for me is almost sexual.
-I could care less about style or image. does it envoke me?, does it excite me? does it screw with me head?, does it satisfy?.
-It is an obsession for me, there are only 21 root notes and 31 extensions,it seems so limited.
-I want to be tricked, confused and enthralled.
-Lyrics are expandable, i can listen to a song 100 times and not be able to tell you the lyrics,
-I view the voice as an instrument.
-It isn't about how much you know about music, it is how much emotion you put in it.
-It is all about the presentation of a music.
[/much needed vent]

Hahahah, first time I use stuff learnt on lessons :D
And yes, it was used in romanticism and... next era, I guess it was for you, as a German, called 'Young Germany'? (I may be totally wrong :D so sorry! but in my country it was named Young Poland:D)

Yeah, sinestesia is used in literature... But there's a different name for the people who see colors in sounds... I can't remember ><

YOu actually put precisely how my views of music... And how I perceive it. ^^ Ij ust woulden't use that sexual metaphore. It's much better than that. :P

I love to listen to how those limitations (and come to think of it, pop is in many ways even more limited than other music genres) are quirked in so many different ways. Many people ask how I can listen to music when I don't understand the lyrics.. I mostly never cared for lyrics ( I do register them though), the emotion given by the music as a whole is more important. Music is like a whole different world, like reading a book or seeing a movie, only stronger, cause it demands nothing more than hearing.

Hihihi, those people are called synaesthetes, says Wikipedia :D

music is like a whole different world...sometimes I imagine the songs playing and whats going on, sort of like when they make a movie, and there's a song playing in the background of the movie that is supposed to set the mood, sometimes in my head, the particular song that is playing is the mood, and I'm thinking of whats going on in the imaginary movie...most recently I did it with Passion...i really love that song, it's make me see Hikki in a whole new light...

Certain parts of songs will make me get chills.
I agree.

I always have a habit to think of a place suiting the music =) and it may be a horror scenario or a really beatiful scenario sometimes I even get carried away by the music and it feels good :D

Colors and moods. Even non-vocal songs have strong moods to me. A sad song can make me feel so down.

lol, I was just about to point that out. =.= The abundance of wrong spelling here makes me twitch.

:] Tori talks about the meaning of her songs a lot, look at some websites and I'm sure you can find out what the songs really mean, same with Bjork.

I agree with you on the "experiance in another life." I think the music helps me relate to other people.

Alot of songs take me back to a certain time and place.

I perceive music as really another way of telling a story besides the use of words. Most of the times I find that I develop some sort of imagery when I listen to songs. In fact, I like to listen to music with my eyes closed.

A favourite example of mine would have to be Gackt's 12gatsu no Love Song. I think he did a very good job for the song, as I managed to imagine a wintery Christmas scene almost as soon as I heard the first few notes of the song (besides the jingles as well).

Who says you need lyrics to understand a great song? One day I hope to make music like that too.

i associate music with memories...if i listened and became obsessed with a song last year for example, i remember things i did during that time period when i listen to it again. (i'm very nostalgic)
it also reminds me of certain people (usually my best friend, who moved away)
it always makes me feel better, and rarely i cry...it gets emotional for me...

I perceive music as something that seeps into my soul.

I percieve music in general as a story, or a movie. Kind of like how you would listen to orchestra symphonies. There are ups and downs and emotions in between. And also with songs that I listen to more frequently, they become scrapbooks of events in my life.

I percieve Ayu's music as strong emotions, with a special message