The Scent of Color

When eleven-year-old Hannah finished one of the songs she had practiced for her piano lesson, she pointed to a particular section in the musical score and said, “That measure sounds like yellow.” I looked quizzically at my granddaughter. “The music sounds like yellow?” She nodded and went on to explain that she and her younger brothers had been assigning colors to things. She gave the days of the week as an example. “Mondays are blue. Light blue.” “Interesting,” I said. “What else?” “Fridays are green.” “Green as in go?’ “Yes. Fridays are green…and skinny.” I gave her comments a lot of thought and then finally turned to Google to see what I could learn about senses triggering other senses. It’s an actual thing, called synesthesia. Webster defines it as a...