My great grandmother has Alzheimer's Disease. One day when I was outside with her, our neighbors were playing songs from her youth. This caused her to behave quite differently from what I was used to. She was reciting conversations and recalling family members we thought she had long forgotten. Music is often used to help patients with Dementia look back on special memories like it was happening to them presently. This time travel effect can be experienced by everyone if you just open your ears and let the music flow in your veins to your heart. Music is the most effective way to connect to your past self and experiences.

The Prophet, a writer at EDM, reveals that, “It's a reminder of who you were, it supplements us on our bad days, and helps elevate us on days which we are at our triumphant best.” Music has the ability to transcend you to the past. It has the power to allow you to re-encounter sad memories and relive happy ones. 

These moments were already special and become even more so as you hear the songs that played while they happened. The beat and lyrics switch a time machine on in our brains and suddenly we are face to face with our past. These moments feel special because reliving them allows you to reflect on how you were in the past. These connections are important because you are able to feel the emotions that you felt in that instance. 

I experienced this all too well on my journey to the airport as I migrated to America. As I sat in the car, the radio blasted Airplanes by B.o.B, a song that I hadn’t heard my uncle play in 10 years. While looking through the window, water filled my eyes, day turned to night, and all I could see was a car driving in the opposite direction, carrying four little children home. Younger me smiled and looked straight into my eyes as she belated, “Can we pretend that airplanes in the night sky are like shootin' stars.” 

Ironically, that day when I first heard the song we were driving on the exact same road. My cousins, twin sister, and I begged my uncle to play the song over and over again, but at that moment all I wanted was for him to turn it off. All I was thinking was, “I could really use a wish right now…To go back to a place much simpler than this,” as those very same lyrics danced out of the radio into my ear and the memories rolled out of my brain and rolled in the form of tears down my cheeks.

While it is easy to become caught up in sad feelings, music has the undeniable power to pull you out of a gloomy mood. Music helps people to cope with unfortunate situations that they are experiencing and helps them remember happy times they may have forgotten. 

The Sound Board, a group of writers from LSTN, identify that, “Favorite music or songs associated with important personal events can trigger memory of lyrics and the experience connected to the music.” Music allows people to instantly recall memories that may have been hidden and also, appreciate ones they have tried to suppress. It gives you the opportunity to experience situations again and analyze past emotions that you weren’t capable of understanding then. 

Everyone should listen to music daily whether it be a blast from the past or a new groove. Afterall you never know when you need to travel to a time much simpler than this.

Works Consulted

B.o.B. “BoB – Airplanes Lyrics.” Genius, April 2010, genius.com/Bob-airplanes-lyrics.  Accessed 13 May 2022.

The Sound Board. “The Link Between Music and Memory – LSTN Sound Co.” LSTN Sound Co., 6 April 2020, lstnsound.com/blogs/main/the-link-between-music-and-memory.  Accessed 13 May 2022.

The Prophet. “Dance Music is a Form of Time Travel, Try and Tell Us Otherwise.” EDM.com, 30 January 2018, edm.com/opinion/dance-music-time-travel.  Accessed 13 May 2022.