YOU’VE GOT MUSICAL EARWORMS. LETS FIND OUT WHAT THEY ARE.
It can be a good thing or a bad thing. Depends on why you have them and how they make you feel.
Lets first determine what they are and if you really do have them.
‘Involuntary musical imagery (INMI or “earworms”)—the spontaneous recall and repeating of a tune in one’s mind—can be attributed to a wide range of triggers, including memory associations and recent musical exposure.’
Simply put, it’s that tune that keeps playing in your head, over and over and over again. Sometimes you enjoy it and it makes you feel good. It energizes you. It gives you that extra edge in doing whatever it is you are doing at the moment. But sometimes you can’t stand that damn sound in your head. You find yourself doing strange things to rid yourself of the annoying beat or melody. But it’s hard to make it stop. And so it continues…over and over and over…
There are studies that try to determine why this happens. And one such study was ‘Dissecting an Earworm: Melodic Features and Song Popularity Predict Involuntary Musical Imagery. Found Here
This study found that a song’s popularity and its repetitiveness is a huge cause for it’s susceptibility to wiggle itself into your ear canals. Also, those nasty earworms are of the faster tempo species.
I’m not sure if that last part is so true on a global stage. Many of my earworms (yes I do get them from time to time) are sometimes slow or mid tempo tunes.
WHAT’S YOUR MUSICAL EARWORM?
So scientific mumbo-jumbo aside. What are your favorite or dreaded earworm tunes? A recent query was done of 3000 people and from that came 9 of the most popular earworms. I’ll tell you what they are later in a follow-up post but first I’d like to know what yours is.
Drop me a line in the comment section below with the name and artist of your favorite or most annoying earworm.
…and try not to get it stuck in your head
Here are a couple of mine:
Miles Davis – So What
Pat Metheny – Have You Heard
Phrases from Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring
Many of my own tracks (cause I’ve only heard them a million times)
Not so good are anything from pop radio or TV show themes.
