Is it normai that i try to completely visualize music in my mind?

So I have this sort of thing I like to do when listening to music.
It starts out like this.
For each noise (guitar, drums, bass, different electronic sounds etc.)I hear, I go into my mind and think of a shape. It can't be any shape, it has to be a shape that I think matches the one sound I'm concentrating on. Then I assign it some sort of movement, having it pulse larger or smaller, move around or combinations of both. I then assign a color to that shape and put it somewhere on the "board" I have in my mind. The board is constantly changing to different shades of colors I think match the overall song at that moment.

I do all of this depending on what the noise I'm concentrating on sounds like, I can't just assign random movements shapes and colors, or it won't feel right. Each sound is unique so each one looks unique. Once I have one sound completely thought of in a visual format, I move on to the next one and repeat the same process, giving each different sound its own shape, movements, colors etc.

Once I get more than than a few different shapes flashing colors and moving and pulsating in my head it can become extremely difficult to come up with entirely new ones while still having the old ones going. The few times I get everything right I just see if I can keep it visualized until the songs end. Most of the time I either can't process that many individual things in my mind at once, or run out of song time.

There's only been a few instances so far where I was able to visualize a whole song without getting stuck on a noise and not being able to think of a visualization for it, or just not being able to visuallize that many individual noises at once.

Tl:dr I literally try to put entire songs in a visual form in my mind.

So anyone else do something like this at all?

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Based on 115 votes (86 yes)
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Comments ( 10 )
  • Some people have it as a natural ability, it's called synesthesia.

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  • Legion

    Every song i listen to is usually makes images pop in my head, a lot of times, i see a whole story unfold if the song seems to have one. every time I hear the sone "One", I see a guy on a hospital bed trapped in his own mind, and what he thinks.

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  • myweirdself16

    I always visualize colors and lights when I listen to music.

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  • YummyRee

    I do. I don't know why but I can listen to music all day everyday. Music is my life and I LOVE to sing and visualize the music and beats in my head all the time. I think it's completely normal. :D

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  • jasmine81

    I do this all the time! But I don't have to think about it really all the shapes and colors just appear :)

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  • Buhhhrito

    If you have the time and skill, you should totally do a video or animation of some kind showing what's going on in your mind when a song is playing. It seems like it'd be really fun to watch.

    Unless it's techno...then I couldn't do it.

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  • KokoroComplex

    I kind of wish I can do this ;n;... When I hear music, I visualize, but not in the lexical synesthesia sense. It's more like imagining.

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  • VsegdaTemnata

    It's called lexical synesthesia. I have it too - listening to music like The Mars Volta is incredible because entire charts form and collages form in my head. It's even better when high, because then I can imagine my own music and see awesome charts and collages too.

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  • ThatKidTotallyRocks

    When I'm singing, I can almost visualize notes flowing out from my lungs and into the air as colored waves. It's a totally cool experience.

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  • ThatKidTotallyRocks

    I do this too.

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