Time and again I have been spellbound by God's creations. Music has been an integral part of life. With keen observation, you will agree with me when I say one can find music in many forms, not just the ones you listen conceived by humans. Nature has been enchanting in its ways. Lets say you close your eyes and listen to the chirping of birds. The rustling of the leaves. It all forms a rhythmic pattern. It is like all elements of nature follow some system which they evolve and procure over the ages. One such facet of God's endless creations is Music. It is undoubtedly one of the arts conceived by the supreme one. Not only is it pleasing for the senses, but has mysterious effects as well.

Over the past few days, I have been plagued by this particular cogitation which persistently storms my head and creates a firm footprint but still doesn't find a suitable answer.Its like this- you remember a music track that you are listening to when a important part/event of your life happens. Suppose I was listening to a song of coldplay minutes before a math exam, and suppose I do well in that exam, then everytime I listen to that same particular song, that familiar chord strikes in me bringing back memories of that good Math exam. Now the song may or may not be a great one, but I would still remember that pre-exam preparation whenever the song plays in my head because i closely associate that song with something that coincided with a particular event in my life. And I would listen to that song with all my heart and enjoy it very well. Similarly say some song played in your head while you were going through a difficult part of your life, say a breakup or something, then everytime you hear that song, you get reminded of that one particular sad event and you are appalled from listening to that song. No matter how great the song may be, you still shy away from that song and you dont want to get reminded of pasts you would like to forget. You interrupt that song in the middle and just shut your mind away from it.

All this makes me stand up and think. Why is music a great tool for remembering certain other parts of memories ? How is it even connected to other parts of memory ? Now lets not get all scientific and say that a particular image that is envisaged in your brain is stored in some particular part of the cerebrum and thus helps connect to other parts of memory. A basic ideology is that all memories are interlinked and the ones which we dwell on are the ones we like. But sometimes there is intertagging and some part of the memory which you dont like springs up along with some additional memory which you dislike not because you dislike it individually but because you disliked its associated memory-part. Is it just me or do the people out there have some song playing in their head everytime they get reminded of a sad event ? It can be vice-versa too. I am still finding answers on this one.

Every time you listen to a particular song or it just virtually plays in your head, do crystal clear memories come back to you ? The depth of the clearness so astonishing in detail that you are sure you couldn't have remembered it better ? Does the envisaged memory become more detailed as the song progresses ? Do you stop thinking about that past event if you stop listening to that song ? A lot of questions in my mind need answering. Is there any parallel with music that will make a sub-conscious mind remember a event with precise detail given it were closely associated with it ? The other parts of life which I dont have suitable answers is the interlinking of senses. I will come up with that in a later post. Hope this post made you a bit philosophical !

Comments (4)

On February 13, 2010 at 1:31 AM , Perspectives said...

links and chains are too strong to to be severed;

best of luck with the cold play torture you have to bear every time...

 
On February 13, 2010 at 1:46 AM , Blasphemous Aesthete said...

Yes sometimes, they are too intricate to be explained in words. Music just does that.....but I think that is what music was invented.

I am a nature lover too and find rhythm in many natural and human creations. Someday, I too would talk of the same topic.

 
On March 1, 2010 at 9:43 PM , nituscorner said...

yea it happens many a times. music does take you back to memory lane. they say music can move the coldest of hearts and it has no language.the deepest of feelings can be expressed thru music. i truly believe in it.

 
On March 8, 2010 at 7:13 AM , krithika said...

Good one Prashanth! I share your thoughts as well.