Music and My Brain

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Today we're just on interesting features of my brain. There is a constant soundtrack running in my head. I don't know how common this is for other people. I know that most people have the experience of getting a song stuck in their head. That happens to me, but it's generally fairly easy to dislodge: I can shift the soundtrack with distraction just like anything else. However, there is always something playing.

What seems to be most distinct about this soundtrack, compared to other people, is that frequently it is not a song that I have heard before. Sometimes I'll have a particular version of a song that I've listened to, sometimes The Beatles will sing a cover of Sisters of Mercy's "Mother Russia" (yes, since I described that, I currently have it playing in my head. No I can't play it for you), and sometimes I'll just have reasonably pleasant instrumental music that my brain has composed as background. Bowed strings, harps, and flutes are the most common, although a wide variety of instruments show up in this. Occasionally it's choral, without words, or with particular phrases of my inner monologue set to music. 

If my environment is noisy, sometimes I will get a relatively literal "symphony of sound" with city sounds around me turning into french horn, electric guitar, clarinet, drums, violin, whatever brain connects them to. I find that this is an extremely helpful way for me to deal with busy environments, but it's entirely subconscious. Sometimes it verges on musical hallucination if the sounds are loud and repetitive and I have to go to some effort to determine whether the sounds are outside my brain or inside.

Generally this sound track is pleasant and non-disruptive, but sometimes it can be inconvenient and distracting. The easiest way for me to deal with it then is to play instrumental music that I know well in the background. I have an entire (relatively large) playlist for this exact purpose. Sometimes, when I'm trying to focus, even if the internal soundtrack isn't bad, having this music makes focus easier because I don't wind up analyzing the internal music, and since I already know this music, I don't need to analyze it either.

BTW, now, just to be unusual, there's a rather pleasant, but somewhat distracting brass band polka playing in my head. I'm sure it's linked to a repetitive sound that I'm hearing outside, but there's a pretty cool melody line that has nothing to do with that sound, although the wind is definitely influencing it. 

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