Estimated reading time 4 minutes
Table of Contents
Introduction
Do you want your song to be catchy? If people can’t remember your song, you’ve got a problem. Therefore, you need know how humans remember things. Read more to understand the connection between memory and songwriting.
This article uses technical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Sensory Memory and Songwriting
There are three parts to remembering:
- Sensory recall
- Short-term recall
- Long-term recall
Sensory memory (SM) happens when your senses hold a copy of what you’ve seen for about a half a second.
- Look at this blog for a few of seconds and then close your eyes.
- The afterimage floating behind your eyelids shows you an example of how SM works.
- SM serves as a bridge from perceiving something to having that information enter your short-term memory.
Though there is not a direct link between sensory memory and songwriting, SM serves as the gateway to recollection. In other words, if you don’t notice something, you won’t remember it.
Short Term Memory and Songwriting
Short-term memory (STM) is what we swim in as we think and work:
- It only lasts 18 seconds without rehearsing.
- It can only hold about seven pieces of information at a time before the new info pushes out the old.
- Because of this, STM can be easily disrupted by distractions.
- Also, if someone tells you their phone number, you would quickly forget it if you didn’t keep repeating the numbers to yourself. We call this repeating rehearsing.
- Even though STM can only hold seven bits of information, we can actually retain more than you would think.
- Look at this sequence of numbers only once and then try to write them down: 5 6 4 7 9 2 1.
- Now, try this sequence of letters: d q z y f x p o j v b c.
- The second list should have been harder to write down correctly, because it exceeds the amount of info that STM can easily hold.
- Next, try this list: TIA USA PDQ ASAP. Did you find that easier?
- Even though the number of letters exceeds the limit for STM, the information has now been arranged in familiar bundles called chunks.
How do short term memory and songwriting interact? They say that you should be able to remember a pop song’s chorus after only two listening’s on the radio. Therefore, you need to limit the amount of info in your songs so that you don’t overwhelm STM. The next section discusses this in detail.
Seven Bits of Information and Songwriting
Think about the chunked letters in the last section.
- In texting slang TIA stands for “Thanks In Advance,” while USA stands for the United States of America.
- PDQ is slang for “Pretty Darn Quick,” and ASAP stand for “As Soon As Possible.”
Pulling together info into bundles, called grouping, remains an extremely important part of recalling information. This means that we can not only retain seven randomly ordered letters or numbers, we can also remember seven familiar abbreviations, words, or phrases.
The connection between short term memory and songwriting yields several practical applications:
- Songs have to be catchy or the listener will be easily distracted by things in their surroundings (e.g., shifting lanes while driving).
- Without repeating, the listener will quickly forget your song. Repeat the hook, repeat the title, keep the chorus consistent throughout the song.
- The amount of info given to a listener has to be limited. The “seven, plus or minus 2” rule states that STM can only hold five to nine bits of info at a time. Thus, lines should have five to nine words in them, a stanza shouldn’t exceed eight lines, etc. (Sheila Davis, The Craft of Lyric Writing 35).
This explains why you need to cut out any needless words from your lyrics.
Long Term Memory and Songwriting
You store any info that you’ll need for longer than 18 seconds in your long-term memory (LTM).
- Retention has been described as being like a desk and filing cabinet.
- LTM can be imagined as the filing cabinet. Here you store info for later use.
STM, on the other hand, can be imagined as the desk top that can only hold seven bits of info. This is your “workspace.”
- STM is where you do your thinking while you store things in LTM for later use.
- The info in STM either gets filed into LTM, or it goes into the trash. In other words, you store it for later recall or you forget it.
- Info can’t be kept in STM. Moreover, if the info goes unnoticed (selective attention), it won’t go into STM, which means it can’t go into LTM. This explains why a song must be both catchy and memorable.
LTM can be reinforced by context. Try memorizing this passage:
With hocked gems financing him, our hero bravely defied all scornful laughter. ‘Your eyes deceive,’ he had said, ‘an egg, not a table, correctly typifies this unexplored planet.’ Now three sturdy sisters sought proof.
Forging along, days became weeks as many doubters spread fearful rumors about the edge. At last, from nowhere welcome winged creatures appeared, signifying momentous success (Dennis Coon, Introduction to Psychology 235).
How did you do? This shows that the meaning of a passage can affect its memorability.
- In terms of long term memory and songwriting, a lyric must be a cohesive whole.
- The verses must support the chorus, and the chorus must support the title.
- In addition, you must establish early in the lyric what the song is about.
Oh, by the way, the title of the above passage? Columbus Discovers America.
Conclusion
By now you understand the basic connection between memory and songwriting. Now go use these tips to write some catchy songs!
© 2021 Geoffrey Keith
Join me for in-person or online lessons today!
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