Learn how to play “Gravity” by Sara Bareilles on the piano from one of Mahalo’s piano instructor, Peter Darling.
There are a lot of songs out there that I hate getting stuck in my head—Rebecca Black’s “Friday,” Kylie Minogue’s “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (oh the irony), Lou Bega’s “Mambo Number Five” and the macarena come to mind first. But there are those occasional songs that get stuck on repeat in the record player of my brain, and I can’t say that I mind. This week those songs included Sara Bareilles’ “Gravity” and Evanescence’s “My Immortal.” The reason? Mahalo’s piano videos.
But according to science, that’s not the only reason those songs got stuck in my head. Sure, Peter Darling and his easily relatable teaching still were the triggering factor, but researchers have a more refined analysis of what’s going on. First of all, the technical name for those pesky little songs is earworms. While the name doesn’t conjure the most pleasant mental images, it does make sense.
Apparently what happens is that a certain song will triggers the auditory cortex of the brain, causing it to fill in the rest of the song and continue playing even if you’re no longer hearing it. Some researchers believe earworms are like suppressed thoughts and that the more you try not to think about it or sing it, the more ingrained it becomes.
A 2003 University of Cincinati study found that the most common songs to get stuck in an individual’s head were the Chili’s baby back ribs jingle, Baha Men’s “Who Let the Dogs Out” and Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Lead researcher on the study, Professor James Kellaris, found that earworms irritated women more than men and that women were more likely to do something to get rid of the song. Common ways of getting rid of the song include singing a different song, changing activities or distracting yourself and listening to the song all the way through.
Or, if you happen to like the song (like me and half the participants in a Bucknell University study), you can just let it play.
Sources: WebMD and Discovery Health
Learn how to play “My Immoratal” by Evanesence on the piano from one of Mahalo’s piano instructor, Peter Darling.
rachel grice 