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MUSic

Can You Hear Colors? An Exploration of the Cognitive Effects of Synesthesia on Musicians.

By Kaitlyn Pekarik

Pekarik photo.jpeg

in both positive and negative ways. After graduation, Kaitlyn hopes to become an elementary music teacher and share her love of music and the arts with as many students as possible.

Kaitlyn Pekarik is a junior Music Education major with a concentration in percussion. Since spring of 2020, Kaitlyn has been studying and researching synesthesia, a disorder that causes involuntary experiences related to the senses, and its effects on musicians. As a musician with synesthesia herself, she felt compelled to provide an understanding of the disorder, as well as share stories from other musicians that also have the disorder. Through the music program of the McNairy Library Research Fellows, Kaitlyn conducted several oral history interviews that provided insight on how the disorder affects musicians

Author's Note: 

I do not have any known conflict of interest to disclose. 

Thank you to my advisor, Dr. Marilyn Parrish, for all of your help and support throughout this project. 

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kaitlyn A. Pekarik at kapekari@millersville.edu.

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Keywords:  synesthesia, musicians, music

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