I have said that I experience rhythm-induced synesthesia, but I’ve never been able to elaborate on this experience. In Irish dance, for me hornpipes are dark brown earthy colors, light jigs are bright green and yellow, slip jigs are purple and pink pastels, reels are bright primary colors (treble reels are the same, but with some black inky undertones), and treble jigs are uplifting blues and green.
I’ve never elaborated because I didn’t know if these colors were actually rhythm-induced, or if they were just my personal associations about how dance steps should be performed to these rhythms. For example, slip jigs are typically meant to be feminine, elegant, light and airy, so my pretty-pastel association makes sense.
However, the other day I was thinking about my set dances. All my hornpipe sets are typically dark browns, such as the Ace & Deuce of Pipering, the Roving Peddler, the Rambling Rake, etc. The Drunken Gauger is a treble jig, and is very light blue and green.
But my Piper, a hornpipe set that I dance at an uncommonly slow speed (73 bpm) is also light blues and greens. I also have another normal speed (~104 bpm) Piper that is dark brown and forest green, just like any other hornpipe. Then I remembered that when a hornpipe (4/4 or 2/4 time) is slowed down enough, it essentially becomes a jig (6/8), in that the multiples of 4, 6, and 8 will “meet” at some point. So this means that maybe these simple mathematics could explain the changing colors of the Piper, going from a brown hornpipe at speed 104 to a light green/blue treble jig at speed 73.
Of course, although this is pretty interesting and it is some compelling evidence, it still isn’t proof that I have rhythm-induced synesthesia. It is totally possible that since the choreographer of the slow Piper (Michael Ryan) was using a slower tempo, and therefore was choosing more jig-like steps, I came to associate the dance more with a treble jig than with a hornpipe. It isn’t that the choreography was originally styled for faster hornpipe, and I’m just doing those faster hornpipe steps to extremely slow music. The steps are actually even faster (physically, my feet are moving faster) than they would be in a hornpipe at speed 104, and the steps feel much more similar to treble jigs that I’ve danced.
My logic has circled back, so again, I’m back to the question as to whether my synesthesia is induced by the actual rhythm, or if it’s just an association that helps me perform the steps in a way that congruent with the music. Anyway, it’s food for thought, and definitely something to experiment with at some point.