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Music Perception pp 233–258Cite as

Memory for Melodies

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Part of the book series: Springer Handbook of Auditory Research ((SHAR,volume 36))

Abstract

Memory for music presents a paradox. On the one hand, memory for music that people have already learned can be astonishingly good, both in extent and longevity. On the former point, consider how many tunes an average person could recognize, or even recall. No one has even attempted to measure the limits of musical memory. Concerning longevity, older adults can show excellent retention of music learned decades previously (Bartlett and Snelus 1981; Rubin et al. 1998). Even early-stage Alzheimer’s disease patients can almost perfectly discriminate familiar tunes such as patriotic and holiday songs from musically similar but unfamiliar tunes (Bartlett et al. 1995). And this memory can persist not just for songs that have words, but also for purely melodic motives, and without much context. For instance, it is not uncommon to turn on the radio and hear just a few notes of a tune, and be able immediately to hum along or at least recognize the tune as familiar.

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Acknowledgments

We thank W. Jay Dowling for many helpful suggestions during the preparation of this chapter and Kay Ocker for help in preparation of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA, 17837, USA

    Andrea R. Halpern

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  1. Andrea R. Halpern
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  2. James C. Bartlett
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Correspondence to Andrea R. Halpern .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. 5388 Traci Drive, Santa Barbara, 93111, USA

    Mari Riess Jones

  2. Parmly Hearing Institute, Loyola University Chicago, 6525 N. Sheridan Rd., Chicago, 60626, USA

    Richard R. Fay

  3. , Dept. Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, 20742-4415, USA

    Arthur N. Popper

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Halpern, A.R., Bartlett, J.C. (2010). Memory for Melodies. In: Riess Jones, M., Fay, R., Popper, A. (eds) Music Perception. Springer Handbook of Auditory Research, vol 36. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-6114-3_8

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