Musical Memories

I’ve talked before about how music is intertwined with memory and how preferred music makes a big difference. One of my favorite music youtuber’s talks about music, memory, and music therapy here. I was also thinking about this the other day as I was listening to music in the car. I was just on the edge of the stations range when I heard something familiar. I put up with static and sound cutting in and out until the signal got stronger and I could recognize the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff. This was the first album I bought. I first fell in love with the Paganini theme in High School orchestra when we played a set of variations. Listening to that piece brought back a lot of memories that generally listening to 80s pop doesn’t. Why? I think I had much more of an emotional connection to the Rachmaninoff and my memories of orchestra. Also, radio stations still play the heck out of 80s music and my associations have become somewhat diluted. There are a few tunes that will bring me back to a specific time or place but not a lot of them.

What music do you have a strong emotional connection to and why?