Prologue: Melody is the key to unlocking memories
Text: mmr｜Theme: Why does music evoke memories?An anthropological study of sound as an archive of melody, time, and emotion
At one moment, a melody plays on the radio, instantly bringing back the scenery that he had forgotten for years.
This is the power of sound memory, similar to smell.
Neuroscience has also shown that music directly stimulates the hippocampus (memory) and amygdala (emotions).
But more than that, music is an art of time'' and areenactment of the past.’’
Listening to music is not just entertainment, but a physical act of replaying the past. It existed even before recording technology was invented; it was a way for humans to “share memories” through voice and rhythm.
Chapter 1: Memory and Rhythm — Music as a “structure of time”
The most fundamental structure of music is rhythm. Rhythm is the order of time, and through repetition it brings the past back into the present. Festivals, prayers, and dances.All of these are acts of experiencing the circle of time.
Carving out a rhythm is the very act of consolidating memory. In ancient oral culture, poems and myths were passed down in rhythm. This is because people feel that rhythm is easy to remember and resonates with the body.
Music = Rhythmization of memory. This structure has been inherited even in the era after recording media. Spotify playlists are also just a new format.
Chapter 2: Recording and Playback — Birth of “Recorded Time”
At the beginning of the 20th century, when Edison’s phonograph appeared, humans were able to reproduce the sounds of the past'' for the first time.
It was a revolution in the history of music, and at the same time it was the birth oftechnology to preserve time.’’
Records, tapes, CDs, MP3s, and streaming. Recording technology advanced the ``archiving of sound’’ and expanded human memory.
Melodies go beyond personal memories and form social memories.
For example, listening to popular songs that were played in post-war Japan brings back the atmosphere of that era. Music records the ``temperature of the time’’ more directly than history books.
Chapter 3: The Science of Nostalgia and Emotional Memory
Music makes people cry, not so much because of the sound itself, but because they are reunited with their ``past selves.’’ Psychologically, melodies and harmonies function as memory “tags.”
When we listen to a certain song, we unconsciously replay the ``smell, light, and wind’’ of that time at the same time. Sound is a time machine, and melody is the key to memory.
Music listened to in childhood, in particular, has a high level of brain plasticity, so it becomes a core emotional core throughout a person’s life.
The phenomenon of nostalgic melodies'' being revived on Spotify and YouTube is evidence of their role as culturalmemory reproduction devices.’’
Chapter 4: Transforming Media and Memory — Listening Experiences in the Age of Algorithms
In the past, the moment a person selected a record and dropped the needle, there was a rebirth of memory.''
However, in modern times, AI predicts ourmood’’ based on our past playback history.
Spotify’s Discover Weekly'' and Apple Music'sPersonal Mix’’ are attempts at algorithmic memory editing.
But there is also danger lurking there.
We may be listening to “memory as data” rather than “our own memory.”
Human nostalgia is externalized by algorithms.
At this time, music becomes not an individual’s internal memory, but a network memory (collective digital memory).
Chapter 5: The body that remembers — synapses between music and the brain and emotions
Music is memorized not only in the brain but also in the body. Just as musicians say that their hands remember a phrase once they have memorized it. Bodily working memory (procedural memory) is closely linked to auditory memory.
dancing, singing, and playing. These are “memory reproductions through the resonance of sound and the body.” In other words, listening to music is becoming yourself from that time again.
Chapter 6: Music and Collective Memory — From National Anthems to Festivals
What Benedict Anderson calls an ``imagined community’’ is It has been supported by “shared music” such as the national anthem and school song.
However, in modern times, collective memory'' is born on the floors of festivals and clubs, not in countries.
The moment people listen to the same song in a crowd, they transcend the individual and connect to asound community.’’
It is a new “ritual” of the 21st century and a renewal of memory.
Chapter 7: Music of Silence — Between Oblivion and Rebirth
Where there is memory, there is always forgetting.
What John Cage’s 4 minutes 33 seconds'' shows is theredefinition of hearing’’ hidden in silence.
Music is not what you listen to,'' butwhat you can remember.’’
This question is the philosophical core of the connection between memory and melody.
Final chapter: When the melody transcends time
Every time we listen to a song, we travel back and forth in time. It is both a “reenactment of the past” and a “reconstruction of the present.”
And even after the music stops, the melody continues to ring somewhere in my heart. Music is an art form of memory itself.
Chronology of music and memory
Illustration: Relationship between music and memory
References
| Book title | Author | Publisher | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| Musicophilia - When the brain and music meet | Oliver Sacks | Hayakawa Shobo | Amazon |
| How your brain feels about music | Daniel J. Levitin | Hakuyosha | Amazon |
| Music and the Brain: Resonating Human Hearts | Masao Ito | Chuokoron-Shinsha | Amazon |
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