Synesthesia and Musical Perception

Abstract

This study aims to explore the effect of learned chromesthesia on one’s musical pitch recognition skills. Participants from a high school music class preformed a simple pitch-recognition task. They were then divided into two groups and received instruction on either learning chromesthesia or relative pitch techniques, depending on which group they were in. After this instruction, they completed the pitch-recognition task again to measure their improvement. A short survey was also administered to provide further insight as to whether the techniques they learned were successful in improving their pitch-recognition skills. Results were mixed. Overall, the group that received relative pitch instruction experienced more improvement than the group that received chromesthesia instruction. However, some students in the chromesthesia group were able to experience significant improvement in their pitch recognition skills, although the level of improvement varied greatly among each individual participant. Additionally, the results were likely influenced by various factors such as the participants’ prior music experience and the amount of time allotted for the experiment to take place. This study provides a valuable starting point for further research on the practice of learning synesthesia and using it in the field of education- a topic that is still left widely unknown.