Memory through music

Sounds and memory

In this session participants were asked to explore an impactful memory about music when they were 18. Discussions arose about how music can jog the memory, how different songs remind us of different times in our lives and how music can bring up feelings from the past

Concert disconcert

by Joao Godinho

I loved those magnificent pipe organ concerts. Very solemn, with amazing sound reverberating through an immense 13th-century cathedral. Always with an impeccably organised programme, musicians coming from all over Europe would arrive to play.

But I have to say, with a hint of shame and at the same time an unapologetic and cheeky childishness, that what I recall most vividly from those concerts is the mortification of patrons not knowing when – or if – to applaud.

You see, the musician would sit far away, high in the balcony of this church, completely out of sight. No cues, no acknowledgement, no bows. The public were always left alone with their best judgement. Some people would applaud at every opportunity; others would only follow the crowd. A few couldn't be bothered at all, or perhaps, this being a sacred place, thought applause would be seen as blasphemy.

So it was always great fun. I remember one concert where there was no applause at all. Not once did a single hand clap. I can only imagine the organist sitting up there, wondering if anyone was still in the cathedral at all.

Today I feel the need to apologise for behaving as a complete toddler. But honestly, great as the music was, the bursts of laughter we shared coming out of the cathedral were even better.