This series of posts are a documentation of my current experiments. In particular, they assess the hypothesis that the earworm phenomenon can actually assists with the music production process.
I used to scribbling every idea down least I forget what pieces of genius I had come up with. The result was that I lost the pieces of scrap paper, or had a messy pile but could not remember what I had meant when I wrote it down. Those I did recall were feable, meaning that those I forgot were frustrating.
I learned to resist making notes on random ideas so as to utilise that function of memory: forgetting. That some musical idea is memorable or forgettable is a form of selection pressure. As earworms are those that are overly memorable, then relying on memory, rather than notes, is a natual form of selection that weeds out the weaker ideas, leaving the most earwormy to go onto the next round of composition. Better selections with less frustration and mess.
New musical thoughts bumble around my mind all the time, almost to the point of being pathological. Mercifully, most of these are short lived, but there are those which are not kulled so easily, and may persist for quite some time. When they do, then they have the makings of an earworm. I tend not to take notes, but if I do recognise something that has earworm potential, I might mark it down as a possible song-title.
Owing to my production cadance, it could be quite some time before I look at that title again. Sometimes I recall; sometimes I don’t. Those that are lost simply didn’t make the grade; those I get back are clearly promising. Even if I don’t remember fully what I originally meant, I can come up with something equally good or perhaps better. At this point I’ll work on realising the tune, and that is where the earworm power comes in (next blog!)
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