How do you remember music?

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Ever since I was a toddler, I've had this ability to remember a musical piece exactly as it was played. I'm not talking about hearing a song once and then remembering it word per word. In fact, I have a harder time understanding the words than I do the accompanying music. I'm refering to each musical intrument and the different parts each plays.

My ears dissect each instrument, recalling the notes that were played then putting them all together remembering the music as if I had an IPOD playing in my mind. I was wondering if this was something common in others with AS/HFA and how others "hear" music. Until recently, I thought everyone listened to it that way.

I have this tendency as well, to a lesser extent. While I do not have such good memory for music, music is one of my special interests; I play the piano and the recorder, both by ear; thankfully I can read music, too.

I have talked to music majors at my university, and they say that, what I do instinctively, they learn to do by their sophomore year; one girl, the daughter of a music pastor at a church, had these skills by her sixth-grade year. I imagine that, by the time they graduate, most would also have your ability to hear a piece of music and repeat back any part of it.

While I do hear each part and, with enough repetitions (about five or so) would remember them all, I instinctively differentiate between melody and harmony lines. On the first hearing of a song, I'll note all the instruments going into it, and the chords that make the harmony; by the second hearing (or the second repetition of the same stanza), I'll be able to improvise a harmony or descant line (above or below the melody). By the fifth hearing, I'll have the words memorized as well.

I have always had perfect pitch, but this specific musical skill emerged around the time I was nine years old and listening to hymns at church. A woman near me was singing the alto line from the hymnbook (reading music); and I didn't know she was reading the music, so I resolved to learn how to sing harmony. I started out with singing what was easiest for me--a third above the melody--and soon "graduated" to thirds and fifths below the melody, then other intervals. By the time I was twelve I could arrange a song for an alto line and name the chords which made up the harmony.

You have a special skill; if you like music at all, it will probably bring you a great deal of joy. With training, you could probably become a musician, if you wished to be one.

I remember Music with Imagery. I think about the things that a particular song or piece remind me of, and the words or notes come back to me.

I remember music wholly sequentially and exactly (maybe perfect pitch helps?). Even if it is vocal music I will remember not the words but the melodies and the various instrumental parts. I can play through whole symphonies in my head with all the instrumental parts intact. I love listening to a symphony while reading the score, just to see how the composer has put the parts together.

Unlike CockneyRebel, I am absolutely hopeless at imagery. Even for programmatic music like opera or Strauss tone poems, I am unable to imagine the 'stories' they're supposed to tell and frequently just enjoy the music itself without associating it with the external world.

I remember most musical piece I have listened to, but that's the key here; I have to actually listen, it doesn't work half as well if the music is in the background. My multi-tasking is lousy.

And yes, perfect pitch helps.

I think nirrti_rachelle's description describes it perfectly:

Re. Imagery:

I don't use imagery while listening to music; but music has a sort of "plot" all its own--it's a lot like a language. A simple tune has certain notes that make sense when put one after the other: Arpeggios, scales, or the components of chords out of order. When you listen to the first half of a phrase of music, you can usually give a group of notes that would complete the phrase.

The interesting thing about music is that there are many ways to complete a phrase; but only some of them sound right. The closer you can get to sounding wrong without actually doing so, the better the music sounds. That is, the music either sounds dissonant (there are certain intervals that sound more dissonant than others) and then resolves into a non-dissonant sound; or it comes close to being dissonant without actually being so (for example, the major seventh interval, or the minor third). The earlier the music was written, the less dissonance you will find in it. Compare Bach to Beethoven to Tchaikovsky, for example; or compare the tune of a hymn to the tune of a modern song. You will find progressively more dissonance and less predictability.

A simple tune is like a sentence; a longer piece is like a story. A song's story isn't so much the words that could be put to it as the development of harmonies, emphasis, pacing and volume used to create tension within the piece, and then to resolve it at the end--just like a story first creates and then resolves tension as the plot continues. A "paragraph" or "chapter" is easily identified by the similarities between the phrases: Repetition of the same chords, rhythms, and melody ties a section of a piece together. Some pieces of music have one major theme (for example, just about any hymn or children's song); some have what amounts to plots and sub-plots--many melody lines all entangled about one another, harmonizing and then creating dissonance. Listen to Baroque music or rounds for this complex style.

When I listen to music, that's what I think about.

The perfect (absolute) pitch connection is fascinating. From what I've read it's probably because it allows the mind to code the information in more than one way - i.e. sounds and note names, rather than just sounds. Having multiple copies of the same information (redundancy) is a vital part of most memory strategies. Would those of you with absolute pitch say you do this automatically?

I'd imagine music majors develop similar skills using relative pitch, but this usually has to be learned while absolute pitch seems to be innate at a much younger age.

As an amateur musician I'm sure I remember more of music than most people, but usually fragments of long works rather than the whole structure and in terms of melody + chordal framework instead of every note. I'd like to train up the ability (relative pitch ear training would probably help) but don't currently have the time

I have a very interesting way of remembering music. When I hear a new piece, I almost always remember the beat and rhythm before anything else, usually starting with the chorus of the song more than anything. Within my mind, all sorts of interesting things are taking place. I sort of have a "mechanical" mind, and the beat and rhythm of a song usually has me picturing something in motion or moving. For instance, in the song by U2 "Where the Streets have no Name" The beginning of the song makes me think of the rising sun over a desert or body of water. The fast pased guitar throughout the song sort of has me visioning light flashing through moving things. For instance thingk about the way the sun flickers through trees while traveling on the highway. I remember hearing the song "Chariots of Fire" when I was young, and the first thought in my mind as the song began was the way the dashed lines flash by on the highway while traveling down a highway. The visions I see when hearing music largely come from seeing things in the past spinning, moving, or whatever, and I relate the rhythm of motion to the rhythm I am hearing.

I enjoy industrial / techno / electronica music very much, and it has all sorts of visions of flashing lights, lasers and other stuff in my head. It's so intense however that I cannot really do anything else while listening, but just sit and enjoy.

After hearing the song 2-3 times, just about all the song sticks with me like the tone and the melody. The lyrics however usually take several playings before I have them down, and frequently if I really want to remember what is being sung, I will need to listen to the song, and follow along with the words from the album cover or from the 'net. The most interesting thing I have noticed however is that music is one of the most direct connections to my feelings, and it's primarily through imagery. I am really not an emotional person, and am very "spock-like" Music however is my connection. The tone a song is played in, and the way it's recorded places considerable imagery into my mind over the music being played. For instance "Dream Weaver" has me visioning a starry night sky. The song "Turn the Page" by Bob Segar has me visioning a seedy, smoke filled bar full of rednecks and dimly lit. The second part of Guns-n-Roses "November Rain" has me visioning a Thunderstorm with lightening and heavy rain. I saw this in my mind long before seeing the video, which features a rainstorm in the middle of the wedding party!

I'm not sure I understand the question, but if I do, then yes, maybe, even though not much of my mind is truly automated. Here's more proof to your argument: I have an excellent music memory, but my short-term memory is lousy. For example, I usually forget the plots of most movies I've seen in a matter of weeks, except if there's a powerful scene involving music, in which case I remember that particular scene and its sights and sounds, and the emotions the scene (and the music) provoked. I could list lots and lots of examples.

It's the same with books. I forget a lot of the books I read, but if I listen to music when I read--which I do sometimes--I tend to remember the emotions caused by the book and the music.

I read Peter Straub's Ghost Story about 20 years ago. I don't remember more than some small fragments of the plot, but I remember perfectly well how I felt near the end of that book, and the music I listened to in my headphones (incidentally Vangelis, Heaven & Hell).

It's as if the music is acting as some sort of glue. It's weird. But if that has anything to do with perfect pitch I don't know.

As an amateur musician/composer myself, my 'memory of music' is fairly accurate. Some songs take a bit longer to remember than others, but in general there's a big collection of songs and melodies in my mind. When playing an instrument I like to improvise, so then it's nice if you can pop up a few options of songs which would suit best in an instant for a good flow.

Dissonance in music is a surprisingly interesting topic. I read a research study once that concluded people with psychopathic personality tendencies tend to like highly dissonant music (e.g., heavy metal) because it is more stimulating by being less ordered and predictable. A trait of psychopathy is high sensation seeking.

I admire you guys...I just hear the whole package merged into one. It takes me a long time to "notice" things in songs.

Let's just say if you played a note for me I wouldn't be able to tell you what letter it was. The only way I learn how to play a song is to remember what keys I have to press on the board, which is tough since they aren't labeled. So therefore the only songs I ever learned were the Russian National Anthem and the old Guiding Light song, but my accuracy is only about 66%, and that's without chords. So in the end it's rather frustrating when you want to make music but you can't

When i remember a song i hear the song in my head.

I remember the general melody and the tempo. I enjoy music and admire it more than I understand it or can reproduce it. Though I've got a pretty good ear. Definitely not perfect pitch though.

PS- 5000th post!! !

I remember pieces of music and songs (when I listen to them enough) perfectly. All instruments, all lyrics, everything; crystal clear. I thought this was something that everyone did.


It's actually quite a useful skill for at work.