Melody+and+Memory

Sloboda's paper would lead us to believe that we humans cannot learn melodies. Though we may intuitively know that this is not true, creating the circumstances under which evidence for this can be collected is nontrivial. Is there any simpler way to pose a compelling argument to the contrary?

[|A study at University College Dublin] was carried out in an effort to see whether melody association with a list of items helps with the recall of that list. Unfortunately, the results of that experiment showed that the subjects were able to recall the list in monotone more accurately than they could sing it. This points to a sympathetic conclusion to Sloboda's: "Caution is therefore advised in interpreting claims about any clear facilitative effect of melody on learning or memorization." However, one must take into account the nuances of the experiment setup: the melodies associated with the lists were generated randomly from a pentatonic scale! Why the masterminds behind the experiment believed that someone wishing to remember a list of things would assign each object a random note is unclear.

What is clear is that both of these experiments "got it wrong." The results of the collection of data in such unnatural fashions---random melodies, no rhythm section, no clapping, other people singing along, no English lyrics (the Dublin study used a list of digits rather than words), no repetition---simply cannot be applied to something so lush and emotional as music.

One could also point to White's paper, which catalogs an experiment in our ability to recognize melodies when distorted on both the rhythmic and melodic dimensions. The very fact that we can "recognize" melodies---even distorted ones---shows that (of course) we can learn melodies, and indeed will do so many times in our lives. The reason why we are able to learn melodies is because real melodies stir within us emotion, and we all intuitively know that memory and emotion are closely linked. Not only do we have the emotional triggers associated with music, but the melodies which we learn are often accompanied by a beat (say, drums, and maybe clapping or other auxiliary percussion instruments) and a low instrument like a bass and perhaps chords from a piano or a guitar---all of which facilitate the imprint of the melody into the listeners' memory. To compare this environment with the sterile ones of the aforementioned experiments is simply ridiculous.

In fact, [|work] by [|Perry] (which also references a paper by Zatorre), suggests that the human brain (apologies for the use of a Mus 175 taboo) has structures which are specialized to perceiving new melodies---i.e. melodies which are unfamiliar to the listener and therefore cannot be recalled from the memory section of the brain (sorry, I don't see a way around it). Not only this, but [|an article by Anna Sophia McKenney] (no relation to Adam McKinney) relates that even tone-deaf people can learn melodies and recognize incorrect notes within a replayed familiar melody. As a final, somewhat unrelated note, [|here] is an educational melody recall program for children.