permanent loss of musical imagination?

[googlekopf]

Hello community,

everybody I know has from time to time a musical loop in their imagination (earworm). Our brain must have the abillity to memorize music as it was heard and then replay it. Nobody has learned this ability by conscious but for some reason I have lost this abillity. Some years ago I could imagine music just from my mind but now I can't even imagine the sound of an specific instrument.

 

I tryed to get an earworm again so I heard one song over and over for three days. My brain should memorize the music and I should be able to recall the sounds but it does not work. When I have stoped hearing the song I was able to recall some fragments for about 5 minutes. After a longer time period I've just forgotten everything what I have heard before but when I heard it again I was remembering every detail again. So my brain does save the musical information but I have no access to recall it.

 

The only sound I can imagine is my own voice when I am thinking or reading. One interesting fact is that I can imagine music very good seconds before I go to sleep (maybe thats because of the changing brainwave activity).

My questions are

 

1) What could be the reason I Iost this ability?

2) How do I relearn this ability? (as a musician its really important to me..)

3) Could a doctor help me?

 

 

[DrP]

First off - I am not a medical doctor, so take what I say as speculation... if it persists and you want a doctor's opinion then go to one... These are just thoughts (I am a musician though):-

 

Just a thought, but, if you use/rely on this a lot and you have been through a creative period recently and are currently burnt out a bit, then maybe you need a rest. Maybe just listen to some music for a while and try to enjoy it, don't try to remember it as an exercise, just let your subconscious do the work? Do this for a little while and hopefully you'll get your mojo back.

 

Is this the only thing you seem to have forgotten how to do? How long has it been gone, when was the last time you were able to do this at will? Is fatigue a factor?

 

I can recall music, but I am sure that sometimes the ability comes and goes a bit. I do not like getting a tune 'stuck' in my head at all and think I can sorta get rid of one if it gets stuck by doing certain things like listening to something else, but it can be hard to get rid of and annoying. If I wanted to run through a whole song/tune in my head with all the backing too then that would be hard unless I knew it really well. As I said, I think I can do it better sometimes rather than others.

Just further thoughts... I went through a creative phase a few years back and wrote loads of stuff... then nothing for a couple of years. Something new came along - my new synth.... I was excited by it and the things I could do with it that could never do before and that gave me a new creative boost for a bit. After a few months I felt a bit dried up (maybe still do) - but when I sit down and just get on with making something up on the spot it often flows. Maybe you need some inspiration, like a new toy to get excite about to get the creativity flowing.

[StringJunky]

First off - I am not a medical doctor, so take what I say as speculation... if it persists and you want a doctor's opinion then go to one... These are just thoughts (I am a musician though):-

 

Just a thought, but, if you use/rely on this a lot and you have been through a creative period recently and are currently burnt out a bit, then maybe you need a rest. Maybe just listen to some music for a while and try to enjoy it, don't try to remember it as an exercise, just let your subconscious do the work? Do this for a little while and hopefully you'll get your mojo back.

 

Is this the only thing you seem to have forgotten how to do? How long has it been gone, when was the last time you were able to do this at will? Is fatigue a factor?

 

I can recall music, but I am sure that sometimes the ability comes and goes a bit. I do not like getting a tune 'stuck' in my head at all and think I can sorta get rid of one if it gets stuck by doing certain things like listening to something else, but it can be hard to get rid of and annoying. If I wanted to run through a whole song/tune in my head with all the backing too then that would be hard unless I knew it really well. As I said, I think I can do it better sometimes rather than others.

Just further thoughts... I went through a creative phase a few years back and wrote loads of stuff... then nothing for a couple of years. Something new came along - my new synth.... I was excited by it and the things I could do with it that could never do before and that gave me a new creative boost for a bit. After a few months I felt a bit dried up (maybe still do) - but when I sit down and just get on with making something up on the spot it often flows. Maybe you need some inspiration, like a new toy to get excite about to get the creativity flowing.

Listen to a completely different type of music to set new threads off. Familiarity is the bane of originality... of course! Mull of Kintyre and Video Killed The Radio Star were like limpet-viruses on my memory when they came out.

[DrP]

I like Paul McCartney, but hated Mull of Kintyre. lol. Warmed to it a bit in later years after hearing decades of various other stuff though. I liked the radio star one, but I agree it was a bit catchy. I had more problems with short repetitive tunes on ads - that Go Compare ad was funny at first, but the worst thing to get in your head as it was just one line over and over. (if you don't know what I am talking about then DO NOT check the ad out out of curiosity!! You will suffer for it).

 

I had a real problem with one of the ITV/ITN jingles they played after 'Chalton and the Wheelies' when I was a child. The tune was catchy and it sorta ended with 2 or 3 separate jingles which didn't really resolve properly, so they just went round and round and I was trying to resolve them in my head but just got them stuck. I think that must have been the first time I really realised the problem.

[Asimov]

Googlekoph: If this happened years ago you may not find a cure but to know the cause would be nice. Some therapies might help.

.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music-related_memory#Neurological_bases