Music and Memory

The year was 2012, and the place was Beijing. The occasion was a Model United Nations conference; more specifically, it was the “Social Dance Night”. As my lanky, acne-riddled, fifteen-year old frame awkwardly waltzed onto the dance floor, I was greeted by a pool of gyrating bodies in positions far too salacious for me. This Shooters-esque scenery of hip rotation and grinding was accompanied by the most mainstream and “ratchet” tunes. There I was, a young high school student from an Indian, all-boys residential school nestled in the secluded foothills of the Himalayas, in the middle of this enlightening event. Swedish House Mafia’s “One (Know your Name)” started playing overhead. 15 year-old me smiled a toothy, wide, braces-filled grin as he absorbed this moment. Ever since that fateful weekend, whenever I’ve heard this song, a smirk of embarrassing proportions has formed on my face. It’s a song so replete with memories. There is a certain nostalgia in the notes.

As mentally scarring as that pubescent prologue was, it highlighted a point that is central to my discussion: music is the teleportation device of our culture. It plays an increasingly important role in people’s college experiences. From shower singing, to party tunes, from study music to sweaty Shooters songs, music rings all consuming. Along the same lines, the entire idea of the Old Duke concert seems to commemorate this musical link with past vignettes. Hearing Vanessa Carlton’s overplayed “A Thousand Miles” was a trip down memory lane for many of us, with a significant number of people talking about how this song was their middle school anthem. The song triggered a memory; the memory imbued happiness.

This connection isn’t trivial. An NGO called Music and Memory is involved in preparing, through intensive research, playlists for people with Alzheimer’s, dementia and other diseases, to trigger music-induced memory. Music and Memory has provided "iPod personalized programs" to hundreds of care facilities all over the United States, with a video of one of their patients listening to his favorite music mix receiving 11 million views on YouTube, spreading awareness about this unique remedy online. Significant research is also being done to prove that music helps in learning as well and should be incorporated in children's education during their formative years. A more general study even observed that music activated large motor and limbic (emotion controlling) regions of the brain, regardless of the genre of the music.

Music's power on the mind is unprecedented. The brain naturally develops moods that synchronize with particular styles of music. For instance, aggressive cymbals and violin music denote rising action in films, while peaceful acoustic guitar music might denote a warm mood. The mind's tendency to associate specific moods with songs is a major reason behind our association of music with memory.

It almost seems like this ability of music to bounce and roll around the tunnel of memory is an intensely personal thing. Last week, while I was listening to the radio with one of my friends, “Let’s Get It Started”, a 2003 hit by The Black Eyed Peas, started playing. My friend burst into a dance move, talking about how The Black Eyed Peas were a band everyone enjoyed but wouldn't admit to listening to. As hilarious as his opinion was, I was directly transported to my time as an eight year-old, stealing my sister’s newly procured Sony Walkman and sloppily slipping this CD in to listen to before she found me and took it away. The clarity of the memories was fascinating.

Since LDOC is right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to think of how your journey of growth and development as a student has been punctuated and demarcated by different songs and artists. I remember specific phases of my transition clearly: Abba, The Carpenters, Bee Gees, The Black Eyed Peas, DJ Tiesto (don’t ask me how, or why, that happened), The Strokes, Arctic Monkeys, Spoon; the journey goes on. It’s unique for every individual: as everyone sways to Misterwives, Jeremih and T-Pain, we’re all going to be making and hyper-linking these memories and moments, one beat at a time.