Previously I talked about how music can make you feel certain things, in a way sending emotions from the composer to the listener. This is to me a very important aspect of listening or creating music. But an other aspect of this is the way music is connected to memories.
When I was reading for my final exam in the music study I recently finished, I found myself facing a great challenge: There was a lot of pages to read. Most of them were on subjects I found increasingly boring, such as the didactic methods to best teach music in school. They have a tendency of writing the books on those subject somewhat "indirect" - they don't get straight to the point, and spend a lot of time beating around the bush and explaining the same thing over again in a different way. Every time I started a new chapter and I could see the same thing coming again, my over-active mind instantly started to drift and I was traveling the world in my head. So often I would have to read the same page 2 or 3 times just to know what I just read. Any distraction was a relief so to speak, and I wouldn't be able to have a TV going in the background or even my computer in front of me. So I went to spotify and started creating a playlist. I wanted a long list of EDM songs that had no surprises, were somewhat set in their rhytm and buildups, so I wouldn't be distracted by the music, yet having it in the background to create the much needed "noise" to keep my senses occupied. I filled it with trance and chillstep, progressive house and techno and started reading. This playlist was continously in the background as I was reading.
Sitting on the bus, on my way to Stavanger to see Avenged Sevenfold live, I started listening to the playlist again. And what do you know? Subjects I studied, books and articles I read starts popping up in my head. Not just that, but also the "feeling" of being buried in my books emerges. It is strange how you during certain periods of your life listen to specific music, and years later, you hear the same song and go "Oh, the memories!" More times than I can remember, I hear a song from a period of my life with strong memories of feelings, friendship or struggle, and it hits me like a ton of bricks. We connect our senses to our moods, memories or feelings. Studies have shown that if you use a special flavored chewing gum while studying a subject, you can use the same kind of gum during your exam to remember better. This certainly also goes for the other senses. And here I think music is a brilliant way to go if you want to preserve something, and remember it later.
Often we chose music by what moods we are in. If you feel sad you might want to endulge that feeling and listen to something dark, moody or mellow. In this way, I think we evolve this principle even more. We reinforce the message sent by the composer with our own feelings, almost exclusively connecting it to our own personal interpretation of what that message is. Sometimes you might miss the point of what the composer tried to tell you. So what? You were able to connect to the music in some way, feeling something or creating your very own memories connected to that song. The piece of music were given a purpose in your life, and that is great. I only hope to be able to contribute to someones memories, moods or feelings in that way, even if they don't feel the exact same things I was trying to communicate!
