A sampling study of the prevalence and nature of 'tune on the brain' phenomena

It is thought that musicians are particularly disposed to imagining music, in activities ranging from composition and performance to listening. Yet the experience of having a musical fragment 'on the brain' suggests that musical imagery is not restricted to deliberate musical activity. Little is known about the prevalence or nature of 'tune on the brain' phenomena. An obstacle has been the reliance on indirect, retrospective report. The current study addresses this issue by adapting Experience-Sampling Methods (ESM) to explore musical imagery as it occurs in everyday life. Eleven university music students were cued to fill out an experience sampling form at random times throughout a seven-day period. The strength of imagery for different musical dimensions was probed, while more general questions explored respondents' current activities, interaction with others, and mood. Participants reported actually hearing music for 47% of these episodes, and imagining music for 35%. Thus, for these music students, having a 'tune on the brain' was a common form of musical experience. Though individual variation was demonstrated between respondents, clear global differences were found between the strength of their reported imagery for different musical dimensions. A high rate of return and the depth of information provided by respondents suggest that ESM techniques are a promising way of exploring 'tune on the brain' experience. It is argued that this method would also be amenable to the investigation of musical imagery in a wider population.