Musical graphics as a manifestation of synesthesia
Synesthesia (simultaneous sensation, joint feeling) – in psychology – the phenomenon of perception, when during stimulation of one sense organ (due to irradiation of arousal from the nervous structures of one sensory system to another), along with sensations specific to it, corresponding sensations also arise.
When considering this topic, the desire to link the problem of “musical graphics”, that is, sketching impressions from music perception in colorful objects and non-objective forms, with the laws of perception, and even more precisely with the theory of synesthesia, is characteristic. This is where a perspective from a theoretical point of view of the problem is discovered, which has not yet been developed in the works of scientists; there is a need for complex research, in which the psychological approach will be supported, on the one hand, physiological, on the other – social.
Analysis of the process of “visualization of music” necessitates consideration of the issue of auditory synesthesia, for which the special term “color hearing” was fixed and which underlie “musical graphics.”
The concept of “synesthesia” is translated as a feeling. But such a simple decoding is not enough. There are dozens of different definitions of synesthesia, which strongly contradict each other, not only because of the difference in the concepts of explanation, but also because, in fact, different phenomena are defined by one term. Thus, the subject of the study of physicians is pathological synesthesia. However, this kind of concept explaining this phenomenon by random confusion, the intersection of the auditory, visual and nerve fibers, does not stand up to criticism, since they are not capable of explaining the validity of synesthesia that allows them to be used in art as a form of artistic communication based on the physiology of higher nervous activity. In the most precise form, it is represented in the works of M.P. Pancake. Relying on the processes of irradiation and concentration, she notes that “interdepartmental cortical generalization is probably the basis of the so-called“ color hearing. ”With a significant irradiation of the irritable process or the very close proximity of the auditory and visual cells, the overflowing auditory stimulation goes beyond its analyzer and, acting on the cells of the visual zone, as it binds those and other stimuli. The resulting “dual” reactions are the material basis of sound perception “.
Supporter of consideration of synesthesia and, in particular, “color ear”, as a psychological phenomenon, is BM. Galeev. He defines synesthesia as a multilayered intersensory association with relative significance, and their significance decreases with increasing order of these layers. The main type of associations used in art, which is the basis of synesthesia, is an association by similarity, which can arise both from the outward formality of sound and color, and from the content; Among the latter, the main thing is the similarity in emotional impact. Obviously, the ability of synesthetic perception explains in music the facts of simultaneous representations of entire musical works. Internal hearing, – wrote K.-M. Weber – has the amazing ability to grasp and embrace entire musical constructions. This rumor allows you to simultaneously hear whole periods, even entire plays. ”
The assumption of the possibility of such a simultaneous mental seizure of a musical image would be meaningless if the musical image were only aurally, unfolding in time. “Simultaneous musical performances cannot be purely sound or only acoustic representations. They have visual and intellectual moments that are most important. There is no doubt that the reflection of musical movement in a simultaneous image is connected with a peculiar transition of temporal relations into spatial ones.”
It should be noted that the perception of music will lead to the creation of simultaneous perception in the human mind if it comes into contact with the cognitive, objective, practical activity of a person, using it as a nutrient medium. Inclusion in the sphere of intersensual associations of the phenomena of “color hearing” is an expression of a more complete perception of music.
Consideration of the process of visualization of music from the standpoint of the social level determines the value of the results of the pedagogical content. “Musical graphics” for a relatively short history of existence (since the 20s of our century) has won a worthy place among the methods of special musical and aesthetic education. It is based on one of the most important didactic principles – the principle of clarity. And visibility is associated with the visual form of perception. In the natural sciences, as its concrete manifestation, a peculiar visualization of abstract concepts, invisible phenomena, displayed in the form of graphs, has long been used.
