Musical Memories

Why are memories attached to favorite songs? 

Some songs place me in a preferable mood while other take me to a mood I would rather not be. It seems the brain associated memories with music, which is great because I value music, yet the reason why this happens is not clear. Moreover, does this happen to others?

Overall, listening to music engages the parts of the brain responsible for creativity, hand/eye coordination, and emotions. Research points to those reasons here, here, and here. But the University of Newcastle in Australia and the University of California, Davis has done a majority of the research scarcely available on the subject. As a result, music-evoked autobiographical memories are created when your favorite tune is heard.

Not only that, music triggers emotion. I should probably stop listening to death metal while in between sales calls and switch to something more wholistic like Dave Matthews band or something super poppy and only played in major keys...

An important fact was revealed recently by the Wake Forest School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina-- regardless of the genre of music and or the absence or presence of lyrics, the brain will react the same when one listens to their favorite song. To paraphrase, "...people report they often experience personal thoughts and memories." You can read more about it here.

The thought has never occurred to me until now. Countless songs trigger great, and sometimes, not so great memories in my brain. Here I will account and describe some these songs and memories.

Do you experience the same thing? Tweet me @TRW215 or write in the comments section, below.


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Musical Memories

(There is no particular order to these songs and when the memory happened)

Things Happen, by Dawes

Every time I hear Things Happen I get lost in its lyrics for a recent break up with a certain someone comes to mind. The motif is dealing with the untimeliness of a breakup-- the end of blissful ignorance between two people. Truth and honesty are laced with inherent contradictions, utilized as motivation. A broken relationship can only go on for so long until it falls apart. The chorus is the best part. Lists and t-charts were overused in the relationship I speak. The bad stuff that happened doesn't matter; think positive. Somehow, Dawes wrote a song two years before this relationship, and they could not be any closer to describing how it ended and why. 

616 Rewind, by Cunninlynguists

Aw man-- this song brings me back to 2008 in Honk Kong, China. I was on a trip with the high school marching band and recently discovered hip hop. Not off the Billboard top 100 hip hop-- no, no, I am talking about that underground good, good. I recall blasting this jam while showering one morning. My hotel-mate was partial to classical and jazz, so hearing this in-your-face tongue twister of a track shook his ear, to say the least. 

Working Man, by Rush

Last period, senior year of high school (2010), spring semester, I would pay a dollar to play this track at the beginning of gym class at a nearby bowling alley. Rush, in generally, is very fast moving and progressive, but Working Man is FAST. Many pins were crushed while Alex Lifeson shredded his guitar.

Nostrand, by Ratatat

Temple University Technology Center circa fall 2013, I was studying overnight for a big exam on consumer and buyer behaviors. Pandora was playing when this track came on. I remember being startled when the song transitioned from a calm, walking bass line to applause as the guitar takes over at 1:55, then proceeded to dance in my seat. 

Amazing Grace, by (unknown)

The year was 2009, a time when I attempted to skateboard well, is when I heard this song when watching Team Alien Workshop's recent skateboarding showcase video called Mind Field. A good friend of mine, Andrew Moignard, turned me onto this film. He is a passionate skateboarder to this day. Amazing Grace is typically played at funerals, so I found it odd as the track for the introduction to a skateboarding film. It works. A funeral is not just a time to mourn; it is a time to celebrate. The guys of Alien Workshop are celebrating the art form of skateboarding and its beauty. I am moved every time I hear this song and watch this clip for the orchestration's magnificence; the church organ backing the bagpipes completes the sound.

Breathe, by Pink Floyd - covered by Capital Cities - ft. Tupac Shakur

The time was December 2013, I was interning at DMi Partners at 1 South Broad Street in the city of brotherly love. The guy who hired me loved talking about music festivals of all kinds and told me about this track. Life is a party and this song is one. So, as I built links for clients and wrote blog posts under a pen name I would play this song. 

Fade to Black, by Metalica 

(Starts at 3:56)

Another song is tied to a break up-- the time was spring semester, junior year of undergraduate, 2013. The girl I was seeing told me she was was in a long term relationship a few weeks earlier, but it turned out that she was still dating that guy the entire time! I couldn't help feeling used and, as a result, sorry for myself. Fade to Black is the ultimate feel-sorry-for-yourself song. 

Variations on a Shaker Melody, by Aaron Copeland 

Sixth-grade band class comes to mind when I hear this song. My position was third chair clarinet when I played this song. I went from a badass fifth grader to bottom of the totem pole sixth grader the following year. The memory is vivid-- ease comes to mind because playing this song is simple. I remember becoming at ease after playing this song because it assured me that, at least band class, was not going to be as difficult as first thought. 

Come Alive, by Foo Fighters 

This song is perfect for it rocks and is a metaphor for my career in marketing. When my first college internship offered me a full-time position, I listened to this song while tuned into my laptop. Not only does this album song spectacular, every single track, for the entire song in Come Alive the Foo Fighters make this sweeping crescendo into a wall of sound and rock and roll.

Hail Marry, by Tupac Shakur

My first job out of college was selling software subscriptions, and one of the sales rules was a current customer could not be sold to after they made their fourth monthly payment. So, a few days before that deadline and a deal were not on the table the sales team would send a "hail marry" pitch as the last effort to sell that customer, and I would listen to this song for motivation while emailing. Though this song is a bit hateful and strongly worded, as is most of Shakur's music, the message was clear-- sell or die. 

Sell Out, by Reel Big Fish

While in high school I played tenor saxophone in a ska band called serious business. Sell Out was one of our covers and a personal favorite of mine. As a band, we never played a show, but we had a lot of fun practicing, and hopefully, the band will get back together. I remember hanging out at the drummer's house on Saturdays perfecting this song and jamming aimlessly. 

We Will Fall Together, by Streetlight Manifesto

My first live show was Streetlight manifesto. I think Reel Big Fish opened for them or was it Mad Caddies? Anyway, New Jersey, Sayreville area was the band's home turf-- a perfect place for them to release their third studio album, Somewhere in the Between. The very first song, the album's barn burner, is We Will Fall Together. Not only did I dance and scream with passion, as a bonus for attending the release show, the entire band gave out signed posters!

I Need A Dollar, by Alec Blacc

A line uttered in comradery was, "seriously, I need a dollar." One friend, in particular, identified me to this song as we hustled our way through high school by salvaging scrap metal in abandon buildings. We would blast this song as we left the scrap yard with cash in hand. 

Allure, by Jay-Z - remixed by Ratatat 

2007, 2010, 2014, doesn't matter-- when I hear this song ultimate frisbee come to mind. For many years this would be my warm up song before taking the fields for a tournament. This track was first heard while watching Ultimate Players Association (UPA), now called USA Ultimate, club national highlights in 2008. I remember driving to Mercer County Ultimate summer league for the first time while playing this song. 

Where the Whitetails Go, By Mo Lowda & the Humble 

MO CHOWDA, I would chant when these guys use to play basement parties at Temple University. Man, these shows were great. They would rock out, friends in attendance, and we would scream, shout, and drink. Nothing said Saturday night like a Mo Lowda basement show right after midterms. In a crowded basement, I remember a girl situated in front of me turning around suddenly as I had a 40oz beer in my face and caused my tooth to chip. That didn't matter because Mo Lowda was playing Where the Whitetails Go! 

Whatever You Like, by T.I

In the early years of high school, this song was our song, my first girlfriend and I. She was into rap more than I was, but I liked this song whenever it came on the radio, which was often at the time. I remember cruising around in her early 2000's Saturn Ion looking for places to go and people to see with this song turned up to ten. No longer could I bare listening to this song after I broke up with her for I never had a woman get so mad at me than that day. 

Superstition, By Stevie Wonder 

One summer night, circa 2010, a bunch of us, freshly home from our first year of college, met in a basement for some good old drinking and the host played Superstition on repeat for the entire night. From ear to ear I smiled while writing this. Almost every time the song started someone would say, "who turned on this song, it's really good?" Many other people attempted to change the song to something, anything else but failed for the host and DJ guarded the tune-machine all night. To this day I am not sick of hearing this song and think of that night every time I hear Superstition. 

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After writing about these songs remembered over the past 14 years, I am amazed that these songs are able to preserve memories in such vivid form. Indeed, all favorite songs and their memories were not accounted for here, but these are the notable ones. Though nostalgia is one of the lowest forms of conversation reflection is still important, nevertheless. Sometimes a reminder of who one is is necessary from time to time. For me, this task is easy for I will go into my Spotify account and tune in, drop out to my favorite songs. 

-Tyler

Memorizing

How Do You Create a Memory Palace? 

A memory palace is the easiest, most efficient method of memorizing anything. 

It is also the oldest method of memorizing. First taught in 80 B.C by unknown authors, the memory palace involves associating data such as a number set or a verse of text with familiar memories like one's home or the way to work thus utilizing existing pathways in the brain.

Recalling one's kitchen layout is pretty simple, yet it's not thought of as the easiest way of memorizing on the surface. You know when someone was in your bedroom while away because a red solo cup was left on the dresser or your pen sits atop your book horizontally instead of vertically like usual. Your palace is well know to you. The memory palace utilizes existing memories to recall something with little additional skill or pathway building.

Afterall, memorizing anything is a difficult task in of itself, at least when committed by brute force like conventional methods such as flashcards or repetition, which dulls creativity, but that's another blog post. No one wakes up in the morning and says to themselves, "I want to memorize something and a lot of it!" 

But people do enjoy memorizing. Competition exists for the best memorizers  to test their skill. They are given a deck of cards and are tasked with reciting the entire deck of 52 back, timed or a list of 252 random digits or pie. It's called the U.S.A Memory Championship. People of all walks of life and careers compete regularly.

Every time the competition happens major news publication writes about it like NPR and the Guardian, most recently, the New York Times here, last year about this period, and here, and Vox through their nifty video methods on how to practice it.

Anyway, memory athletes are no different from people who do not like or cannot memorize. These people do not have a photographic memory nor do they have additional gray matter in their brain. The memory palace uses the brain no differently than not using the memory palace.

This new thing called research here and here backs this claim (no fake news here). As reported in the New York Times, 80 percent of those who took part in a research study published by Duke University  Medical Center recognized the images that were asked to be memorize a few hours earlier. Humans are excellent at associating memories with images, so when images from everyday life are related to what needs to be memorized that memory will be recognized 80 percent of the time, or so the study says.

Before the age of computers and photography, ancient Greeks had to memorize important records-- ones typically stored thanks to modern technology nowadays.

I decided to build my own memory palace. The preamble to the US constitution is the objective. To do this, I broke up the sentences into three to five-word phrases. Then I recalled my parent's kitchen, a place where many hours of my life were spent growing up. Finally, I placed those words in a sequence around the kitchen and ventured that path from memory. Once the memory palace is forged completion of memorization is a matter of time and effort. Such as when there is down time simply go for a mental stroll to Mom and Dad's kitchen where the preamble is scattered about.

But, I cheated for the task of memorizing the preamble was done once before in seventh grade. Nevertheless, I forgot most of it, so I figure starting with this was a good way to test the memory palace. Moving forward I will have a follow-up blog post on using the memory palace soon.

What I did was not easy for memory palace standards. Ease of memorization is dependent on the task at hand. Memorizing for the sake of memorizing is not as easy as remembering all 26 bones in the foot if you're a student in medical studying for an exam.

Effective memorization is simple as associating commonly found images from life to what must be committed to memory. It's like reading literature or daily exercise-- tedious, but fun if done correctly and respectively. You, too, can memorize the preamble to the US constitution of the entire periodic table of elements with just a few simple images and effort!



-Tyler