Catherine Loveday delivered an incredibly insightful and interesting talk on ‘the power of music’. She began the talk with an anecdote about how she was walking through the Dublin Christmas Market when her dad’s favourite festive song began to play. She immediately became incredibly emotional, experiencing feelings of grief, happiness, and nostalgia all at the same time. The song had transported her back to Christmas when she was a child, unlocking memories that were otherwise forgotten or lost within the vast space of her brain.

The reasoning behind Catherine’s ability to immediately go back to that place in her life was because music attaches itself to lifetime memories, and these musical memories are incredibly robust as neuro-imaging research shows us how songs get stored in a very safe part of our brain: the medial prefrontal cortex. Even in old age, we can recall songs, which can be used to recall distant memories. The BBC have been running an experiment for the last 75 years, in which they ask people which 8 songs they would take to a desert island with them and why. Some people say they would take certain songs because they enjoy them or they can get up and dance, and the music calms them down. However, 50% of people take certain songs because they remind them of something, most commonly someone. People often say they would take music that reminds them of a specific person as it feels as though it is a way of taking that key figure in their life with them.

It is a common misconception to think that music-related memories are evenly distributed throughout our lives, however they peak the most between the ages of 10 and 20, with 50% of our memories being made between 20 and 30 years old. This means that often we prefer music that dates to these times in our lives, because that was when most of our key memories were being made. It also a time in our lives when we are making a lot of key decisions, such as who we want to be or who we want to be with. This is a self-defining period of our lives, hence why these self-defining memories are incredibly important to who we are. Music gives us the access back to these memories, which is why we often chose music that takes us back to these moments.

Overall, this was an incredibly interesting talk on the impact that music can have on our lives, and I really enjoyed learning all the reasoning behind why we pick certain songs, and how powerful they can be in taking us back to key memories. Throughout the talk, Catherine highlighted how important music was in connecting us to other people, and how it is so central to our relationships because music is built from the same building blocks that are used to communicate our emotions. Music gives us a sense of collective identity, which is part of our evolutionary success, and allows us to connect to each other, reaching a point of common humanity. Music can take us back to the most important moments in our lives and acts as a bridge between the presence and the past.

– Lulu Woodward Harris