Chelsea Komschlies (Composition ’18)
Interviewed by Ali King
Director, Marketing and Business Development
Curtis Institute of Music
November 12, 2020
AK: Let’s start with the baby pictures on Instagram. You became a mom this year!
CK: Yes, she’s almost nine months old — quite the year, with a new baby and the pandemic! It’s been a joy, and hard. She makes my life sweet. She’s getting to the stage where she’s very interactive and knows when she’s being mischievous. We’re lucky because my husband is working at home now, too.
AK: What’s the COVID-19 vibe in Montreal?
CK: Things are certainly better than in the U.S., but Montreal has the most cases of any city in Canada right now. We’re in a lockdown phase, which was a huge relief as a mom. I think people here are much better at acknowledging the extenuating circumstances of the situation and accepting what they have to do at this moment in time.
AK: You’re pursuing your PhD at McGill University, correct?
CK: Yes, the program started last fall. The summer before was when we found out we were having a baby — big surprise — so it was a bit stressful at first, having to move to a new city both without jobs. I’m really enjoying the program though; it’s a good fit for me. I did a schoolyear’s worth of course work my first semester, and then took my second semester off for maternity leave. This year I start my PhD research. McGill is a unique program because the Schulich School of Music offers both a DMA, which is more focused on composition and craft, and a PhD, which includes an in-depth research requirement.
AK: Is your goal to be a professor one day?
CK: I do want to teach at the university level. Composers have to be a bit flexible because the field changes so much all the time. I’m at kind of a crossroads between going down a lab-focused path, which is available at McGill, versus the more conservatory-type of teaching. I want to continue working on commission and do more unusual multimedia projects — some combination of these things as opportunities are available.
AK: You’ve been open about sharing your experience as a synesthete; does anyone else in your family have synesthesia?
CK: Not to my knowledge, though I do think there is genetic predisposition. And women are something like six times more likely to experience it than men.
AK: Do you remember at what age you started perceiving the world in this way?
CK: I actually didn’t realize that the way I experienced the world was unique until grad school, when I was 24 in Boulder, Colorado.
AK: When you realized you were the minority in this way, how did you feel?
CK: It made me mostly feel lucky — fortunate that I’m a composer because I think it gives me an edge.
AK: What is your composition dissertation about?
CK: In general terms, my research is about crossmodal correspondences and their connections to music and meaning. Crossmodal correspondences are similar and perhaps related to synesthesia. Unlike synesthesia though, the majority of the population, and even animals, experiences crossmodal correspondences. An example is associating high pitched sounds like the flute with brighter colors, like light yellow, and associating lower, moodier sounds with dark colors.
AK: …whoa!
CK: Yeah, it’s really interesting to me to think about how we can use this research to enhance listening experiences to be multisensory. Studies show that crossmodal correspondences that work well together improve people’s overall satisfaction and even make complex music more accessible and enjoyable.
AK: Are there any simple examples of crossmodal correspondences that I can try right now?
CK: There’s something called the Stroop Color and Word Test, which demonstrates how inconsistencies between visual stimuli slow your cognitive processing. There are fewer examples that I can think of specifically with music, which is why it’s my research focus. There’s a great crossmodal correspondence demonstration with phonemes and shapes called “Bouba/Kiki” that results in consistent results no matter the subjects’ language of origin. There’s no logical reason why people overwhelmingly assign the same shapes to “Bouba” and “Kiki”, but they do.
AK: Where is the line drawn between crossmodal correspondence and synesthesia?
CK: Synesthetic pairings tend to be more arbitrary and absolute. Most people might associate high-pitched sounds with light yellow, but I don’t think most people associate Saturday with light yellow, which I do.
AK: Tell me about your relationship to Curtis as an alumna.
CK: Curtis was generous in helping alumni during the pandemic with the Emergency Relief grants. It was right in the middle of us having a tiny baby and great to be eligible for such a thing — just really nice that Curtis did that for us. A lot of collaborations are developing between me and other Curtis alumni, and will be part of our lives forever if we want them to be. I think I stay more connected to other Curtis alumni than people from my past degrees. I didn’t quite get as family-close with other colleagues as I did with my friends at Curtis.
AK: Why do you think that is?
CK: The size is really unique. A composition department of six people is just going to get to know each other really well. The intensity, too — it was a way to launch yourself into your work and not have to worry about much else. We did a lot of hanging out in Philly too, after seminar, we’d go find something to eat and talk about what we were working on — I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.
