On occasion, I've had the pleasure of waking up to a full-scale orchestra playing a composition just for me. It sounds as if I'm listening to live music--like the strings and woodwinds and brass and everyone is gathered around my bed to serenade me awake. The illusion is fragile--one breath that's too deep or a slight shift of my head, and it dissolves, fading into the background or dissipating entirely.
I've always assumed that not everyone has had that particular experience, but I was sitting at my desk today with my usual round of song snippets in my head* and thought: "Huh. I don't know that I've ever NOT had a song in my head."
I have songs playing in my mind when I am at work, or swimming, or reading, or driving (even when I don't have the radio on). And then I realized, based on how I've heard other people talk about having music stuck in their heads, that they MIGHT NOT have a constant low-level radio playing in the background of their thoughts. So I asked my coworkers.
One said she hardly ever has songs stuck in her head. Another said she had music in her head about 10% of the time.
So now I'm curious to know what other people's experience is.
*Currently I have about three songs that I'm switching between--and it's not like I listen to one song all the way through and then move on to the next--one song gets stuck in little pieces, and then all of the sudden it's a different song's pieces.
I also tend to add my own rhythm section by tapping my molars together in a way that makes my dentist despair.
I've always assumed that not everyone has had that particular experience, but I was sitting at my desk today with my usual round of song snippets in my head* and thought: "Huh. I don't know that I've ever NOT had a song in my head."
I have songs playing in my mind when I am at work, or swimming, or reading, or driving (even when I don't have the radio on). And then I realized, based on how I've heard other people talk about having music stuck in their heads, that they MIGHT NOT have a constant low-level radio playing in the background of their thoughts. So I asked my coworkers.
One said she hardly ever has songs stuck in her head. Another said she had music in her head about 10% of the time.
So now I'm curious to know what other people's experience is.
*Currently I have about three songs that I'm switching between--and it's not like I listen to one song all the way through and then move on to the next--one song gets stuck in little pieces, and then all of the sudden it's a different song's pieces.
I also tend to add my own rhythm section by tapping my molars together in a way that makes my dentist despair.
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Date: 2013-05-30 10:35 pm (UTC)From:On the other hand, I almost always have a movie of some sort playing in my head. The mindless parts of my job allow for intense daydreaming, while the parts that involve talking but not much thought usually have me plotting the next part of the movie.
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Date: 2013-05-30 11:55 pm (UTC)From:And I hardly EVER get to have movies playing in my head. Awesome.
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Date: 2013-05-30 11:58 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 04:39 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 06:46 pm (UTC)From:I like to have music playing, which might be part of it. I listen to my iPod on the way to work and when I'm doing the washing up, and I sing in the shower... I'm out of the habit of listening to music aloud at home because I've not had a stereo for a long time - but now I've got an iPod dock, I'm getting back into it.
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Date: 2013-05-30 11:48 pm (UTC)From:I do wonder if I have this happen because I listen to so much music...
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Date: 2013-05-30 06:49 pm (UTC)From:ALL THE TIME.
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Date: 2013-05-30 11:49 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 11:51 pm (UTC)From:But that's pretty much it for bugging me. My "shuffle" is pretty good. ;)
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Date: 2013-05-30 07:48 pm (UTC)From:Curious about your wakening symphony... is it an original composition or just some bit of something familiar. 'Cause that would be neat if it were original!
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Date: 2013-05-30 11:58 pm (UTC)From:ALSO! When we flew to Australia, my brother and I were both SUPER sick, and the projector was broken, and kept playing "That Thing You Do", and I don't know if you know this, but they sing that song ONE MILLION TIMES during that movie, and A DECADE AND A HALF LATER, every time we hear it (not often, thank goodness), we both puke.
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Date: 2013-05-31 04:36 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-30 11:53 pm (UTC)From:Oh, I still get some piano music stuck in my
fingershead. And my lessons were done over a decade ago. :-)no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 01:09 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 04:35 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2013-05-31 09:44 am (UTC)From:As to exactly what gets a song in my head - a situation, a phrase, anything that could strike a spark of memory for a piece of music or a song.
Sometimes they're hymns from my childhood - rousing, uplifting things. Or songs that were playing in the store/cafe/place I was just walking through. Sometimes it's a snatch of someone else's music selection when they have the music turned up loud enough that I can hear it through their earphones and then my brain fills in the rest of the music/backing/vocals.
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Date: 2013-06-01 09:53 pm (UTC)From:no subject
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