I’ve been writing about some fairly heavy topics lately (grief and fear,
etc) so I thought I’d lighten up the blog a little by talking about a subject I
could riff on for hours: music – something we all need more of in our lives. Turns
out our ear holes have a direct line to our emotions. So listening to music not
only drowns out your colleague’s whiny voice, science says it also improves
your emotional health. Unless you’re listening to Nickelback, which has given
no benefits to anyone, ever.
US researchers have discovered that music affects deep emotional centres
in the brain – so that high you feel when you hear TLC’s No Scrubs is legit joy (oh, just me then?). In a McGill University study,
participants’ brains were monitored as they listened to songs they’d identified
as special to them. Researchers found dopamine was released in participants’ brains
when they listened to those tunes. Dopamine’s the hormone associated with
rewards – FYI it surges during eating and sex (yay and yay), and with drugs
such as amphetamines (not so yay).
The dopamine release happens not only because we are enjoying the song
but because we have a memory of having enjoyed that song in the past
embedded in our brain, and we anticipate the high points that are coming.
Science. It’s all smart and shit.
The reason I enjoyed reading about this study was it not only validated
my experience of how music has lifted me when I’ve been feeling flat and
motivated me to run faster on the treadmill but because it prompted me to
consider the ways music has underpinned some of my best and worst memories. The
way it transports me back to a particular time and place, and accentuates key connections.
Because, as a cheesy ad slogan once declared, life deserves a soundtrack.
* Good memory – Hey Jude by The Beatles. When I was a
little kid, my dad would sing this to me, replacing it with ‘Hey Truds’. For
years I was convinced it was a song he’d written just for me, and was bitterly
disappointed when I learned the actual lyrics, which my father had purposely
botched. (Fuck you, Jude, whoever you are.) The song doesn’t necessarily make
me think of my dad, but it is associated with the warm glow of childhood and
feeling wholly loved and protected.
* Bad memory – Steal my Kisses by Ben Harper. This song
was special to a workmate of mine and her boyfriend, so it was played at her
funeral. Even though she died 15 years ago I still cannot listen to this song.
To me, it is inextricably linked with unbearable sadness and the loss of love.
* Random memory – Freedom by George Michael. Five years ago
I was in a taxi with a good friend, and this song was playing on the radio. Without
talking about it or thinking about it we interrupted our conversation to
simultaneously belt out the line: “SOMETIMES THE CLOTHES DO NOT MAKE THE MAN!”
It was that delicious realisation that you’re perfectly in sync with someone,
just for a moment, and knowing you’ve just forged a shared memory. The poor
taxi driver did not enjoy it so much; he got such a fright he almost drove off
the road. Sometimes my friend will text me that lyric out of the blue and it
makes me laugh every time.
Maybe this post has reminded you of the good, bad and odd memories that
come flooding back when you hear certain songs. Seems like a good reason to
turn up the volume, right?
Random but related: after I wrote this
post, I did my daily angel card pull (I do one for myself before I draw a card
for you guys every day): I got the ‘play music’ card. If that’s not
spiritual validation, I don’t know what is.