Spaghetti Memory

Before we get into things, I should probably dispel something from the title. No, this is not about memories solely dealing with pasta. I mean, pasta could be involved, but it's not the whole thing. Anyway! Spaghetti memory. I wonder if that's a phrase people use... *quick Google search* Nope, just me. Okay, this is clearly going nowhere.

*ahem*

Memory is kind of weird. I feel like there's a certain term for this, but there are those memories where you see, hear, or smell something and then other stuff comes to mind that's related because of your memories. An example would be smelling cinnamon sugar and remembering making Christmas treats with your grandparents and then how the house looked like at Christmas time, etc. As you might have guessed, I like to think of this as spaghetti memory, because you start in one place and things just kind of start getting jumbled, but it's all connected.

This is, of course, different from memory boxes where things are pretty compartmentalized and structured. Not sure why this is a little paragraph by itself...

So, I had an unexpected case of spaghetti memory this morning. Before I went to the office to work, I was putzing around with my phone and playing an app called Magic Piano. It's kind of like Guitar Hero but for piano and many genres of music. A few weeks ago, my app lost all of my scores while keeping the songs I unlocked or purchased, so I've been playing through them again to get more points again.

I'm picking some songs here and there and I randomly pick Bach's Prelude No. 1 in C Major. It's a pretty simple piece with a constant melody going up and down the treble clef. (Here's a video of the prelude and fugue - the prelude ends around 2:20.) As soon as I play the first few notes on my phone, the spaghetti memory kicks in and I remember sitting in a practice room in my high school with an electric keyboard. I think it would be nice to play piano, but I had trouble with having my hands work at different paces (aka a baseline & melody). So, Bach's prelude was one I had the electric keyboard play to me when I was in a practice room so that my fingers could follow along with the lights.

I started out with a general memory of what the music hallway looked like in my high school, but as the song played, it felt like a fog was lifted and I could remember so much more with the practice rooms and how the music area connected with the theater backstage, changing rooms, and black box theater. I never needed to think about how my high school was laid out in that level of detail for some time now, so it was kind of weird to think "oh yeah, I forgot we had small practice rooms sprinkled between the band and choir rooms." To be fair, we never really used them much, since the band director mainly worked with the entire group at once, unless everyone was really struggling and we needed time for each section to hunker down.

The spaghetti memory kind of continued into some theater and marching band experiences, but there wasn't another fog lifting moment. Of course, now that I'm writing this trip down memory lane out, I'm thinking about more experiences in the auditorium, like with band concerts and building the set for Once Upon a Mattress, and running shows as the stage manager. Definitely a lot of good times to think back on. On a side note, it's really weird to think that my 10-year high school reunion is this summer. Okay, I'm only guessing that there would be something this summer, but still 10 years. Yowza. Anyway, spaghetti memory. Weird, fun, but just make sure you have time to reminisce rather than try to remember time-sensitive information.

I have seen a number of people talk about today being World Book Day, so kudos to them. I didn't realize that the first complete week in March is Celebrate Your Name Week, with different holidays each day. I mean, I did go into unique names on Tuesday, but I didn't realize there was a whole week. Anyway, today's portion is Nametag Day, which I strangely didn't wear. Darn. Oh well, next time.

DFTBA