Music Power

Jogging memories with music

We can’t always know if a memory has been permanently lost or just temporarily ‘mislaid’. The idea is to use music to help jog memories which may seem to be forgotten.

Musical memory appears to be particularly robust. The memory of a song or piece of music may be deeply embedded, even if that particular tune has not been heard for some time. Because memories are interlinked – one memory often reminds us of another – music can sometimes help us to re-connect.

There are many types of ‘Music Therapy’ available, all with their own merits. However, the type of music used therapeutically does not necessarily include the tunes young people listened to on their transistor radios getting ready for school in the morning, or on Top of the Pops on television. The Memory Disco attempts to fill this gap using pop music from people’s youth, particularly the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, depending on the preferences of the group.

Even when a person experiences difficulties remembering details from the past, it seems memory CAN be jogged! Where ‘reminiscing’ tends to focus on things a person can remember, memory jogging attempts to re-establish connections to memories that have perhaps not been thought about for some time. In this way, jogged memories can be brought to mind and refreshed.  It turns out that music is a great ‘jogger’, as well as being uplifting and mood enhancing.