Edinburgh Napier University

  The aim of my practice-based PhD is to determine whether tapping into one’s synaesthesia can assist in the music composition/production process. As an auditory-visual synaesthete, I automatically and involuntarily ‘see’ sound as colour, shape and texture, except that these photisms manifest in the mind rather than in the eye. I intend to contribute to knowledge on synaesthesia and its potential uses in the arts by developing a deeper understanding of my own synaesthesia and the effect it potentially has on my compositional processes. This will be achieved by producing and critically reflecting on a portfolio of compositions inspired by my synaesthetic experiences. I intend for these compositions to serve a dual purpose: to utilise synaesthesia to help attune and refine my compositional processes; and to inform the wider public of what it is like to experience synaesthesia.