This great line from Kelley McNeil’s novel, Mayluna, further suggested that we all have personal soundtracks behind our stories. So true. 

8-track tapes of Sonny & Cher and The Mommas and the Papas remind me of family summer camping trips. Asia’s Only Time Will Tell was a top 40 hit in the summer of my first kiss. Say Goodbye by Dave Matthews played over and over in my living room as I wilted in throes of heartbreak. Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic delighted me the first time I walked into my now-husband’s apartment (it was a song I loved but never knew who sang). Somewhere over the Rainbow and All the Pretty Little Horses soothed my children to sleep. I whispered/sang Five for Fighting’s Superman as I waited to be wheeled into my cancer surgery. The list of music marking the milestones in my life is a long one. And with good reason. 

It’s not a coincidence that my most memorable moments have songs attached to them. “Our brains process music, and its varying components of lyrics, harmony, melody, tone, and rhythm, like no other sensory experience. Add to that music’s significant emotional impact and our association of music with important experiences, and the result is a form of memory that is more impactful and long-lasting than many others.”(The soundtrack of our lives: Researchers collect musical memories)

A few years ago, I researched music therapy and its success with stroke patients struggling to recover their ability to speak. Learning how the brain processes music differently from language amazed me. Like this great line asserts, music’s influence on a person’s life—their memories, passions, and the direction their life takes—is monumental.

Mom’s Got Moves

There’s this thing going viral on TikTok, where kids ask their moms to dance to an 80s song (Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy). After my daughter had me do it, I watched other moms take the challenge. I relished watching people (me included) sort through the memory of the song just as the rhythm and melody began. Like a flipped-on light switch, their bodies took over with movement and joy.

I’ve written about the power of music before and I’m sure I will write about it again. The emotion tied to the music keeps me fascinated. My family makes fun of me not just because I still watch The Voice, but because I cry through most of the auditions. The backstories and the dreams connected to music and song—I sob through it every season. 

Healing Powers

Music and the emotion it evokes, hit me especially hard last week at a Dave Matthews Band (DMB) concert. There is something electrifying about live music—the eclectic crowd, everyone swaying and jumping and twirling to the sounds igniting them. I thought about the DMB songs that accompanied my relationship breakups, new loves, and morning car rides to elementary school with my kids…his songs are part of my life soundtrack. 

As I soaked in the concert atmosphere, I couldn’t help imagining the dancing, laughing, and celebrating of October 7 Israel music festival attendees. The senseless loss of life of that massacre, and the world’s response to it, has shocked, saddened, and enraged me. But I am not surprised that music is helping survivors heal. “Therapists and counselors have incorporated music into healing sessions, working closely with survivors to curate playlists that resonate with their individual experiences, ensuring that the chosen melodies foster a sense of comfort and empowerment. Whether through the gentle chords of a piano or the rhythmic beats of a drum, survivors find a way to process their emotions, gradually paving the way towards healing.” (Music and Dance Heal Israeli Music Festival Survivors)

Music will forever be an important part of those lives lost, as well as those who survived. Their healing journey is just one more important example of how music is absolutely woven into the fabric of our existence.   

Thanks, Kelley McNeil, this is one great line.

If you’d like to read more about Mayluna, click here.

If you’d like to read about me, click here.