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Thread: Earworms

  1. #1
    Registered User UlsterMando's Avatar
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    Default Earworms

    Today I sought the help of Cafe members in identifying a certain song
    which had been in my head for months. The help was swiftly forthcoming
    and I found myself wondering about the " ear-worm " phenomenon.

    I often hear this described; it appears to be a very common experience.
    In the past I have often found a song or tune playing and replaying in
    my mind and have considered that, however unlikely at times, some
    particular quality of the music must somehow be deeply appealing.
    The song which was identified for me is called "Won't be long".

    In the spirit of enquiry I wonder if as mandolinists we might have a common
    susceptibility to certain types of tunes as "ear-worms". I think that the peculiar
    timing in the song "Won't be long" is a strong factor in this respect. I cannot help
    thinking that beyond the obvious commercial advantages of being able to
    produce such an effect, this phenomenon may have significance for musicians.

    So comes the possibly the most distasteful sentence ever written on this site,

    . . . do mandolinists share ear worms ?

  2. #2
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    I suffer from chronic ear worms. I've tried various forms of treatment, but I cannot get rid of them. The only thing that seems to offer temporary relief is to play musical instruments as often as possible.

    Mine are usually of the Old-Time strain of ear worms.

  3. #3
    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    From Tobin - "I suffer from chronic ear worms". Me too !!!. I had a song by Blue Highway - ''Bluebird days'' running around in my head for over a week. I'd go to sleep hearing it & i'd wake up just the same. The only time they seem to go is when they're replaced by 'the next one along'. At least,they're all great tunes (IMHO),
    Ivan
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Have the same problem. At the moment it is Black Diamond Strings by Larry Cordle and Lonesome Standard Time. Haven't found any medication yet to cure this problem.

  6. #5
    Registered User Carl Robin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Ear worm. I learned the expression first in German. To me it's no problem, no suffering. I think we musicians have lots of variety in the tunes that stick, and replay in our minds. What I was "hearing" unbidden last week is different from today's tune. A co-worker of mine has had the same "ear worm" for years. She isn't a musician and doesn't mind. Monotony would be a problem for me, but as long as I am learning new things, ear worms are welcome.

  7. #6
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    Default Re: Earworms

    I'm a fan of earworms. I'm not sure how it happens, but they seem to migrate from my ears, through my brain, down and out through my fingers. They always end up somewhat transmogrified by the circuitous journey, but are usually still recognizable - by me at least. I'm not sure if I do the original song justice, but it is the only way I know of to remove the earworm and allow another to take its place.

    Three Lions by John Reischman & John Miller was stuck in my brain last week. I found it wonderfully pleasant to wake up to, and I was able to learn a passable version of it in about 2 hours once it had rattled around in my head for several days.


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  9. #7
    its a very very long song Jim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    I'm a fan of earworms. I'm not sure how it happens, but they seem to migrate from my ears, through my brain, down and out through my fingers. They always end up somewhat transmogrified by the circuitous journey, but are usually still recognizable - by me at least. I'm not sure if I do the original song justice, but it is the only way I know of to remove the earworm and allow another to take its place.
    That's how it works for me as well. I often just have to learn the piece and then it either becomes one of my regulars or I never play or think of it again.
    Jim Richmond

  10. #8

    Default Re: Earworms

    The neurologist Oliver Sacks talks about earworms among other topics in his book Musicophilia. He did not have any really great insights on how to get rid of them.

    I've learned to make friends with them also, helping learn new tunes. I struggled with Jerusalem Ridge till it got stuck in my head one day then it was easy.

  11. #9
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    Default Re: Earworms

    My ear worms contain no mandolin music at all. My wife and I are helping raise our great-granddaughter and every morning I am subjected to watching and listening to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show (her favorite) and they end each show with the Hot Dog song. I cannot get it out of my head and sometimes I feel I might go insane. I guess I will have to put on a old Led Zepplin album and try to purge it out.

  12. #10
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Quote Originally Posted by George R. Lane View Post
    My ear worms contain no mandolin music at all. My wife and I are helping raise our great-granddaughter and every morning I am subjected to watching and listening to the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse TV show (her favorite) and they end each show with the Hot Dog song. I cannot get it out of my head and sometimes I feel I might go insane. I guess I will have to put on a old Led Zepplin album and try to purge it out.
    Sounds like it is time to learn "the Hot Dog song" on mandolin. I bet your granddaughter will love it! Great for bonding. Who knows, maybe that will be the moment she gets interested in playing an instrument?

  13. #11
    garded
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    Default Re: Earworms

    In the song writing world it's known as a hook. And I used to be driven crazy when I'd get one of them stuck in my head before I knew they existed. But since I became a musician I can appreciate them enough to try and understand what is apealing about them and makes me want to learn them.

    I know a lot of folks who write their own songs and whether it has a good hook is how I judge them now. If I can't hum the melody afterwards it's a dud. It's amazing how just that one metric has been able define what's wrong with a song/tune. But my peeve now is a song that is only a hook just repeated over and over. It's what drives me crazy about pop.

    The magic of a hook is fascinating stuff to me.

  14. #12
    Registered User Ddd's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    It might be a ominous for a man in the later part of life! I've had "I'll fly away" stuck in my head for months.

  15. #13
    Registered User Ky Slim's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim View Post
    That's how it works for me as well. I often just have to learn the piece and then it either becomes one of my regulars or I never play or think of it again.
    Same here. The fix for mine is to just learn the tune and play it a lot. Down in the Swamp has been my most recent earworm.


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  17. #14
    Registered User Al Trujillo's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    For many years before I bought my mandolin I heard voices speaking to me. Therapists didn't help...but now I know they are a common phenomenon in this group...so I'm home!

  18. #15
    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    That's how it works for me as well. I often just have to learn the piece and then it either becomes one of my regulars or I never play or think of it again.
    Exactly. It's hell when I'm at work and I want to play the tune, but I have to wait until I get home and grab the mando (or guitar, or OM) and work it out. Usually after a night's rest It will go away, but not always.
    Living’ in the Mitten

  19. #16
    Registered User UlsterMando's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    The underlying psychological processes which allow certain music to
    penetrate so profoundly in this way are at the very core of our subject.

    The rhythmic variation and the quality of near repetition in Old Time Music
    is often what I find most affecting. There is an almost mesmeric effect, much
    reported, which seems to me strongly to relate to the ear-worm (I suppose it requires
    a hyphen) effect.
    Perhaps the orderly mind of mankind recognises in these patterns of rhythms
    and musical phrases, some deeply coded language, the attempted decoding of which
    leads to the mild monomania.

    The mandolin is often misidentified, by the barbarian, and even when correctly
    identified is all too often overlooked as frivolous. I have encountered this; but the
    more I study this remarkable instrument, the more layers it reveals and the more
    intensely interesting are the pathways down which I am lead.

  20. #17
    two t's and one hyphen fatt-dad's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    it's often me making sense of what I'm practicing - no instrument required.

    it's often a catchy melody, annoying when that's a pop song.

    I think as musicians, we are drawn to building a, "Mental library" of sounds. Sometimes we dwell in one genre or another. That makes our playing limited to what we, "Know." I think we mostly want to know it all and replaying melodies in our mind helps.

    Just my thoughts. . .

    f-d
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  22. #18
    Registered User John Flynn's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Interesting article in Scientific American Mind about earworms:

    http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...ke-an-earworm/

    Some highlights:
    • 15 to 30 seconds: the estimated length of a typical earworm episode
    • 92 percent of people experience an earworm at least once a week
    • 99 percent of the population experiences earworms occasionally
    • Most people describe earworm episodes as benign, but:
      15 percent find their earworm “disturbing”
      33 percent describe their earworm as “unpleasant”

    Some "cures" are activities that engage the same brain circuits that cause earworms. Not all of them work for everyone. They include:
    • Chewing gum
    • Silently reading
    • Chanting a mantra
    • Reciting a poem
    • Listening to a different tune
    • Playing an instrument
    • Mentally generating random numbers, at about one a second, without ever repeating a number
    • Listening to the whole "earworm" tune all the way through, several times - Earworrms are fragments. If you extend them longer than fragment length, it can break the cycle.

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  24. #19
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Being as I am new to Bluegrass and the Mandolin, but not to music (a musician of 40 years) I appreciate Bluegrass earworms. Get the song in head. Understand song. Play it 30 times. Then I have learned a new song!
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  25. #20
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    Quote Originally Posted by John Flynn View Post
    15 to 30 seconds: the estimated length of a typical earworm episode
    I wouldn't even call that an ear worm. That's just getting a tune in your head and then it passes.

    I've had one stuck in my head for about a week now. Non-stop. It's there when I wake up in the morning and it's there all day long, even when I'm trying to focus on work or conversations. Sometimes it keeps me from being able to go to sleep at night because I can't turn it off. Listening to other music or playing one of my instruments helps to temporarily focus my attention on a different tune, but when it's over my mind goes back to the ear worm in short order. It will change to something else soon, as it always does. But the ear worms never go away.

    I think whoever wrote that article doesn't truly understand how ear worms affect some people, if they're thinking that chewing gum is going to make it go away. Or silently reading. I love to read, but it's often a struggle to focus on what I'm reading because of the music in my head.

  26. #21
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: Earworms

    I did not see that this recent article as been referenced.

    http://discovermagazine.com/2016/mar...-outta-my-head
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