Lately I’ve been working on some new and difficult tunes, but haven’t had time to practice till nine or ten in the evenings, to the point that my wife invariably comes in and asks “Aren’t you tired?” Anyway, twice in the last week, I’ve awakened in the middle of the night (I’m generally a pretty good sleeper) with the tunes pounding in my head. I know it’s good that tunes stay in your head, but this seems a bit much.
Is my ear and retention improving or is it time for the nursing home? (Are these necessarily mutually exclusive?)
Anyone else ever have the Musical Priest in their head at 3:00 a.m.?
Oh maaaannn…that happens to me all the time! Actually, I’ve got music in my head pretty much all the time, but I only really notice it when I’m wakeful at night, or when there’s a tune in there that I’d really rather get rid of! During Morris season, my husband has been known to nudge me and whisper “STOP humming Shepherd’s Hey!” When I was so terribly ill this past summer, I’d lie there half a doze with the fever and hear snatches of church anthems I’ve sung drifting around my head like little bits of prayer.
Of course, there are lots of people who’ll tell you I’m just a loon anyway, but most musicians I know have similar “problems.” So at least, if we’re crazy, we’re in good company!
I often have trouble falling asleep, and I’ve definitely experienced the tunes in the head thing.
I’ve read up on a lot of doctors’ recommendations for better sleeping, and one of the things they suggest is to do something relaxing for an hour or so before you go to sleep. Learning tunes (for me at least) is not really relaxing, because it takes a lot of concentration. If you are concentrating really hard before you go to bed, your brain may take a while to break out of it, hence the tunes in the head.
I’d suggest not playing for an hour or so before you go to bed, and in fact I’d try and do something really mindless instead, like watching TV or something.
hmm.
Music going through my head? Yep,
When I wake? Yep.
Walking anywhere farther than 50 feet? Yep.
When I wake in the middle the night? Not all the time, only 4 out of 5 times.
When I need something to help me relax? Yep
When I need something to help me wake up? Yep.
When I’m in the car going anywhere? Usually, except when my dearly beloved is talking. … Okay, the music’s there usually when she’s talking, except on the rare occasions she’s expecting me to answer with something more than, “yes, honey”.
Musical Priest? Nope, never, that’d be crazy, I don’t know that tune. Lately its usually Leon’s Waltz, with the occasional interuptions from The Black Cat, Terry Teehan’s, Morrisons, Autumn Mountain Met, or a dozen or so others half of which I can’t remember the name of.
Now for me this is all good stuff… The only time I have trouble with music going around in my head is when someone starts one of “those tunes” in my head and doesn’t finish. It runs around in there forever, trying to get out, trying to find the end. It just keeps running until I resort to finding a recording my music and use it to over-write the imprint of one of “those tunes”. It’s the only way to turn off “those tunes”, like The Hokey Pokey, or the Macarena, or … Hmmm, nope not going there, not going to try to dredge up more titles for “those tunes”… Let’s restart … Ah… Leon’s Waltz is back on, much better.
Okay, Phil, now what was your question? My answer is always halucinate tunes you like that way you’ll always …
All the time … Night and Day (isn’t that a song?) The one that’s in there now is Spootiskerry and it should be renamed SPOOKiskeery, because I only heard it played twice now in a session.
You get no sympathy from me, nope none at all…
YOU are one of those unscruplous people that start one of “those tunes” and just walk away. You didn’t even apologize. There sneakerin in the back door on you signature. (“A kiddley divey too, wouldn’t you?”)
Had get out my walkman to dowse them Maresy Oats. Still playing it now so I don’t let one of “those tunes” rekindle.
From the original album or from the WFO compilation?
And last week in a dream I came up with a simple, effective variation on on of my tunes… when I woke up I gave it a try and decided it was a keeper.
And Mark – Jen and I introduced Spootiskerry to a session in Newfoundland last summer. (We had just assumed they would know it and jump in – they made us play it again so they could tape it.) Soon we’ll have infected the entire world…
Worse is when you get a Frankentune in your head and can’t get it out… I almost hate to mention it, but I woke the other night from shouting NO in my sleep because Mooncoin transmogrified to Langstrom’s Pony. The NO I screamed actually came out only as a grunt, but I was MAD.
Ahah Lee! Gotcha ya… your old enough to know the tune Mares eat oats and does eat oats… And I won’t apologize…so there!
That quote has been there for several months Lee and you’re the first to ask anything about it.
Colomon, there is woman coming from Ann Arbor to the Sunday session at the Gaelic League, that now comes to the Thursday session in Windsor, her name is Stephanie and she is a fiddler, Stephanie is the one teaching me the Spootiskerry. Love it!
I went to bed early last night (about 1:00 am) and, as a result, woke up too early to actually get up (about 7:00 am). So, I lay there in a stupor (different from my normal waking stupor) with parts of several tunes that I’ve been working on alternating in my head. I also visualized the fingering, made mistakes, and had to start over.
The worst I’ve seen was a guy I used to work with, who couldn’t stop singing the Jeopardy theme --da-a da da-a da da-a da da-a…–over and over out loud while sitting at his computer. Neither pleading nor threatening could stop him. Fortunately, the boss had a tank of piranhas…
These days usually Dick Gossip’s (AKA The Castle). Seems to me there was another tune that went with it in the old days, but I can’t recall what it was.
I pretty much always have music in my head too. It may be a whistle tune, a song on the radio, a praise and worship piece from church, whatever. It doesn’t bother me most of the time, but every once in a while it gets annoying. Like a couple of weeks ago I watched The Sound of Music and for about 3 days had the “Lonely Goatherd” song in my head. That got old very quickly and it wouldn’t go away!
What’s weird is when a song will pop into my head out of nowhere and then I will turn on the radio or CMT and there that song is (It happened the other morning with Josh Turner’s “Long Black Train”.)
Don’t know what to tell you as far as how to deal with it - I’ve never found anything that works consistently for me. Sometimes playing or listening to something else does the trick, but not usually. The other song just comes right back.
“Earworm” is the official scientific term for having a tune in your head that won’t go away…and it seems that there is a real physical reason as to why it happens.
