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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

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BBC Radio 4

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The Verb: Synesthesia

Synesthesia

BBC Radio 4 - The Verb, Synesthesia

Hearing colours and tasting words with Hannah Silva, LJ Rich, Rob Drummond and Ruth Padel

Musician LJ Rich and linguist Rob Drummond mix up the senses with an exploration of synesthesia. Plus poetry from Ruth Padel, Abi Palmer and Hannah Silva.

We're crossing senses on The Verb this week, examining Synesthesia, with musician  LJ Rich, linguist Rob Drummond, and poetry from Ruth Padel, Abi Palmer and Hannah Silva.

For musician, broadcaster and synesthete LJ Rich, the world is drenched in music. With the help of a piano, she lets us inside her experience of the world, where tastes, colours and even the most boring train station make beautiful music.

Verb regular, the linguist Rob Drummond has been researching the colour associations we all have with certain vowel sounds and has discovered some intriguing patterns.

And there's plenty of poetry to stimulate your senses, Ruth Padel's latest collection is 'Emerald' (Chatto). The book is a meditation on grief, but is also shot through with colour. Hannah Silva presents her 'musical shirt', as made for her by Tomomi Adachi, the shirt is an invention that allows her to turn movement into sound poetry. And finally,  poet and performer Abi Palmer finds that her synesthesia is heightened by the experience of water, so especially for The Verb she presents a poem written while taking a 'musical bath'...


Presenter: Ian McMillan 
Producer: Jessica Treen

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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