For every trip I’ve been on in my life, I can name at least one song that I associate with it. Music is a massive part of many people’s lives, and it’s unusual to not see someone on a train or bus with their earphones in, drowning out the world around them. Now that music has become so accessible to us through streaming platforms, we’re often constantly scrolling through playlists. When you begin to listen to music so much, it’s impossible not to begin associating certain songs to certain memories. For example, I could probably name about ten songs that I remember from my trip to Vancouver, and even more strangely specific, October of 2018. You most likely can name some songs from any random part of your life, too. As this phenomenon takes place, we can only ask why does this happen? Let’s find out.
In order to unlock the secrets behind our vast ‘musical memories’, the psychological aspect cannot be ignored. Research into this began at the University of Newcastle in Australia, when professors Amee Baird and Séverine Samson conducted an experiment on patients who has suffered very severe brain injuries, in which they attempted to use popular music to help patients recall and remember personal memories. They titled these memories ‘music-evoked autobiographical memories’ (MEAMs). Eventually, results proved that many patients memories were recalled, and most MEAMs were generally from positive periods of their life – explaining why music reminds of us some of the happiest times we’ve experienced. Think of a song that you associate with a time when you felt your heart was going to burst with joy. Most likely, it’s a song from the prime time of your life; your teenage years or an incredible trip that you took. But why does music often have a nostalgic quality, taking us back to the years of Jason Mraz and Katy Perry’s ‘Hot and Cold’ blasting on the radio twenty times a day? Psychologists have coined the term the ‘reminiscence bump’, as our younger years are often a time when we begin to experience new things, see more of the world and become independent for the very first time. It doesn’t matter the tone or genre of the song, as long as it evokes a strong emotional connection to a significant event in your life, it can be associated to any memory. Maybe that’s why Pharrell William’s ‘Happy’, ironically, is associated with some of the sadder times in my life. One song can be connected to anything of importance.
As well as music being connected to our memories, I’m sure you’ve wondered how our brains can even remember hundreds of songs like an iPod; their melodies, beats and even 100% accurate lyrics. Put on your lab coat and goggles, because it’s about to get a little scientific. The frontal cortex and hippocampus are the parts of our brains that store hundreds of thousands of memories every single day, but of course many of these become hard to access. Think about when you’ve been in a class, studying, and then suddenly you can’t remember what you were studying three hours later. The memory of that topic is still there, you simply can’t retrieve it. However, how come we can easily retrieve the lyrics to a song that was popular over a decade ago? It all comes down to rhythm. Music actually makes retrieval easier because of its repetitive rhythms, melodies and lyrics that all act as cues for information in our brains to be unlocked. In fact, this is the same concept behind why your ABCs in pre-school were much easier to remember through song, and why teachers forced you to learn repetitive songs in Spanish class. Retrieval, retrieval, retrieval – it’s easy to see now why musical memories can have such a profound effect on us.
It’s easy to become caught up in psychological and scientific aspects of this concept and begin to get completely confused. Due to this, it’s also important to address the emotional side of our musical memories. Unfortunately it’s true that our memories begin to fade with age, and so do the songs that we associate with them. If you’re to any degree sentimental like me, you probably hate this idea and want to hold onto these musical memories for as long as possible. I’ve made countless playlists from some of the best times of my life, and this could be a great idea for you as well if you want to hold on as well. I’ve named this idea ‘the musical memory box’, a place where you can always return to when you feel like transporting yourself back to sunny days in 2007 or even last Christmas. If playlists aren’t an easy option, you can even simply write down a list of some of the most significant songs in your life and the memories that you associate with them.
On the contrary, it is also important to not constantly crave living in the past. I often have days where I find myself longing to be listening to ‘Cheerleader’ in the Summer of 2014, lying under the sun in Croatia. Yes, it was fun, but looking forward is even better. We are constantly adding to our musical memory boxes as we grow and experience more of the world – our brains work in overtime constantly. Music shapes who we were, who we are and who we will become. We continue to make these musical memories, and will eventually look back at the soundtrack of our lives when we’re old, grey but still moshing at concerts in our hearts. And who have we learnt to thank? Our amazing brains that store all of these memories for us, allowing us to unlock and experience the strong emotional connections that we have to many different tunes. So, the next time that my dad brings out his records and cassettes from the glitzy scene of the 1980s, I won’t complain because I’ve learnt the significance that musical memories have to each one of us. That is the power of music.