Music and memory

[Matthew-TMM]

Why does music have such a powerful commection to the memory? There are songs and albums which when I listen to them take me back to when I first listened to them. Especially if life was particularly turbulent or emotionally charged at the time, a song can bring back so much, what I was doing, the books I had on the go (even if I wasn't reading at the exact time I first heard the music), how I felt at that specific moment and at that stage of my life, the people I associated with at the time and so forth. I think it's quite remarkable that while I can sometimes struggle to recall last week, the first few seconds of a song can instantly transport me back, and the way I don't just recall those things but think and feel them almost as I did at the time.

To me this suggests that music means more to the human mind than mere pleasure, to establish such a powerful connection to times, places, thoughts and feelings. How and why does the mind do this, surely there must be some reason?

[V8 Disco]

I often wonder at how lyrics are retained in the memory for so long.. I can sometimes recall the words of songs not heard since childhood/teens. If only I could get my memory to hold more useful info!

[miniman]

Can't explain either, but certainly experience both myself. IIRC there's a memory technique for remembering lengthy passages and suchlike to set them to some kind of tune, thus making them more memorable.

On the closing day, the escrow agents pay.

[Simpo Two]

Memory is pretty amazing. I saw Rick Wakeman play recently (guess who got roped in to take the photos) - and he must have played half a million notes, all in the right order, without music.