literature on autobiographical memor y(Brown & Kulik, 1977; Rubin & Kozin,
1984) suggests that experiences connected with significant emotion ma ybe
particularl yretrievable. The method also has the advantage of tapping musical
experience in a range of naturalistic contexts, rather than in restricted ex-
perimental contexts. In addition to asking these adults for information about
childhood events and their contexts, I also ask them if those experiences had
an yparticular significance for them. Information about the involvement of
music in their lives, including formal music tuition, is also collected.
The findings from these studies indicate that most subjects seem to be capa-
ble of producing at least one memory. Some people readily recalled as many as
ten different events. No event was recalled from an age earlier than 3 years, but
from 4 to 10 years the age spread was fairly even. Analysis of the words used
b yadults to describe the character of their experiences (both of the music itself
and of their reaction to it) showed an interesting age progression. Memories
from around age 5 tended to characterize music in rather neutral descriptive
terms (e.g., ‘‘fast,’’ ‘‘loud,’’ ‘‘simple’’), and the responses to it in terms of general
positive enjoyment (e.g., ‘‘love,’’ ‘‘like,’’ ‘‘enjoy,’’ ‘‘excited,’’ ‘‘happy’’). Looking
back to age 8, subjects characterized music in terms of its affective or sensual
characteristics (e.g., ‘‘beautiful,’’ ‘‘liquid,’’ ‘‘funny’’), and the responses to it
were recalled in terms of wonder or surprise (e.g., ‘‘enthralled,’’ ‘‘incredulous,’’
‘‘astounded,’’ ‘‘overwhelmed,’’ ‘‘awe-struck’’). Finally, harking back to around
age 9, some memories contained strong feelings of sadness (e.g., ‘‘melancholy,’’
‘‘sad,’’ ‘‘apprehensive’’).
It is of particular significance that the abilit yto respond to music in terms
of wonder arises at about the age when children can be shown to distinguish
reliabl ybetween tonal and atonal music. This strongl ysuggests that the par-
ticular violations of expectations that mediate some of the more ‘‘advanced’’
emotional responses to music require the abilit yto represent music in terms of
the structural categories of tonal music. It is also significant that the pro-
gresssion of responsivit yseems to owe nothing to explicit formal instruction.
The majorit yof the experiences reportedprecededthe onset of formal musical
training, and in several cases such an experience spurred the child to seek in-
struction. Learning the structure–emotion link seems to proceed in the absence
of formal instruction.
Some of the memories reported clearl yhad the status of what some people
call ‘‘peak experiences’’—unusual and deepl yrewarding experiences of a com-
plex emotional/intellectual character. The research showed that people who
have had such peak experiences were more likel ythan others to pursue
involvement with music for the rest of their life. The experiences provided a
strong source of internal motivation to engage with music in a systematic way
(arguabl yin part to increase the likelihood of replicating the experiences).
Educators wishing to raise the general level of musical skill might well be
advised to consider how the ycan help increase the frequenc yof such experi-
ences in the population, because it is clear that not ever ychild has them.
The memor yresearch provided some interesting clues on this latter point
as well. It was discovered that almost none of those peak experiences had
occurred in situations of external constraint or anxiety. The most likely envi-
ronmentforapeakexperiencewasathome,onone’sownorwithfriendsand
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