When I got to Track 4 of Weezer's Red Album it got me thinking: what is my heart song?
The reason for my preoccupation with my iPord playlists is precisely because I want a soundtrack for almost everything I do: waking up, going to work, working, studying, thinking, going home happy, going home sad, rocking out, chilling out, emoting, so on and so forth.I have less than thirty playlists as of the moment, and I'm not finished categorizing songs and making new playlists. Listening to a portable music player fills the need for a soundtrack for your life, and lets you play out your role in your own teleserye. You can never have too many theme songs in your life, that's what I'd say (Look, it's an Ang Bandang Shirley plug!).
Before my iPord I had a CD player, and a Walkman before that. And waaay even before that I only had the radio, which isn't exactly portable at that time (I mean it was kinda huge and I don't think I was allowed to take it out from the house). Playlists were possible only if you make mix tapes or discs. My reliance on the radio for fresh music was a phase, thanks to friends' recommendations, and internet word-of-mouth . Some oldies are fresh for me anyways, like the time I listened to Mahavishnu Orchestra, Led Zeppelin, and The Who, and rediscovered the Beatles in their post-teeny bopper phase. But I'm digressing.
My almost-obsession to listen to new music comes from an idea that you know you're getting old once you prefer to only listen to the music that you grew up with, and almost nothing else. Once nostalgia puts an anaconda vise on your brain, you're already old. When new music from those darn young whippersnappers don't elicit even a nod from you, you're geriatric. Imagine my disappointment when the monthly indie-rock playlists were discontinued. My almost-obsession to listen to new music is my refusal to grow old.
But you can't defeat nostalgia. Most of my heartsongs, like the Weezer song, are from the radio playlist and tape- or CD- swapping (that's how we learn about the wonderful B-side songs) from years back. I feel a sense of community and camaraderie when I see Weezer's Blue Album in people's "15 Albums" lists, along with various punk and grunge albums. The Beatles reminds me of my father, and Connie Francis my mother. The Eighties' and early Nineties' OPM remind me of my sisters. I suck at maintaining diaries and journals, but yesterday's songs do a great job of retelling old stories. Although I keep myself abreast with the new, these ones form my memory's bedrock.
So what is your heart song?
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Music-Memory Connection Found in Brain
posted: 24 February 2009 10:00 am ET
from: http://www.livescience.com/health/090224-music-memory.html
People have long known that music can trigger powerful recollections, but now a brain-scan study has revealed where this happens in our noggins.
The part of the brain known as the medial pre-frontal cortex sits just behind the forehead, acting like recent Oscar host Hugh Jackman singing and dancing down Hollywood's memory lane.
"What seems to happen is that a piece of familiar music serves as a soundtrack for a mental movie that starts playing in our head." said Petr Janata, a cognitive neuroscientist at University of California, Davis. "It calls back memories of a particular person or place, and you might all of a sudden see that person's face in your mind's eye."
Janata began suspecting the medial pre-frontal cortex as a music-processing and music-memories region when he saw that part of the brain actively tracking chord and key changes in music. He had also seen studies which showed the same region lighting up in response to self-reflection and recall of autobiographical details, and so he decided to examine the possible music-memory link by recruiting 13 UC-Davis students.
Test subjects went under an fMRI brain scanner and listened to 30 different songs randomly chosen from the Billboard "Top 100" music charts from years when the subjects would have been 8 to 18 years old. They signaled researchers when a certain 30-second music sample triggered any autobiographical memory, as opposed to just being a familiar or unfamiliar song.
"This is the first study using music to evoke autobiographical memory," Janata told LiveScience. His full study is detailed online this week in the journal Cerebral Cortex.
The students also filled out the details of their memories in a survey immediately following the MRI session, explaining the content and clarity of their recollections. Most recognized about 17 out of 30 music samples on average, with about 13 having moderate or strong links with a memory from their lives.
Janata saw that tunes linked to the strongest self-reported memories triggered the most vivid and emotion-filled responses – findings corroborated by the brain scan showing spikes in mental activity within the medial prefrontal cortex.
The brain region responded quickly to music signature and timescale, but also reacted overall when a tune was autobiographically relevant. Furthermore, music tracking activity in the brain was stronger during more powerful autobiographical memories.
This latest research could explain why even Alzheimer's patients who endure increasing memory loss can still recall songs from their distant past.
"What's striking is that the prefrontal cortex is among the last [brain regions] to atrophy," Janata noted. He pointed to behavioral observations of Alzheimer's patients singing along or brightening up when familiar songs came on.
Janata said that his research merely tried to establish a neuroscience basis for why music can tickle memory. He voiced the hope that his and other studies could encourage practices such as giving iPods to Alzheimer's patients – perhaps providing real-life testament to the power of music.
"It's not going to reverse the disease," Janata said. "But if you can make quality of life better, why not?"
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On the other hand, check this out:
http://www.upi.com/Health_News/2009/02/24/Sexual_song_lyrics_linked_to_early_sex/UPI-82341235457952/
