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I’ve recently taken up running again, which means I’ve also started relistening to 90s dance anthems as my motivational music. These are the songs of my youth and a funny thing keeps happening when I hear particular tracks. Gone is the path in front of me, along with the sound of my feet pounding the pavement. Instead, I’m reliving vivid memories from my past.
I’m sure it’s an experience many of us have had. You’re going about your day then you hear an old song and bam, you’re suddenly transported back, revisiting old faces and places. It seems music, memories and emotions are all linked, and certain songs can act as a direct line to our younger selves. Here’s the science on why it happens.
If you’re after something to watch tonight, you might want to check out a new three-part documentary made for BBC Two on the brilliant Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. The series will delight Frida fans with its wealth of photographs and archival films featuring the artist in her private and public moments. We get a sneak peek of what viewers can expect.
And back to the music, we find out how Victorian mental hospitals, which aren’t exactly known for their frivolity, used both songs and dance to entertain large numbers of patients and break up the monotony of asylum life. It seems the Victorians used music therapy to improve patient’s mental health, in a similar way to how some GPs are using “social prescribing” today.
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