Richard Bratby

In defence of the earworm

Plus: why no British orchestra can match the Hallé under Mark Elder

This is what peak performance sounds like: Mark Elder conducting the Hallé at Bridgewater Hall. Image: Alex Burns 
issue 04 December 2021

That strain again… it’s the morning after the concert and one tune is still there, playing in the head upon waking, running around and around on an unbreakable loop over breakfast. I’ve never liked the term ‘earworm’. It suggests an alien parasite, an aural violation, when in fact some part of the musical brain is clearly in love with this scrap of melody, and getting a microgram of a dopamine hit every time it presses ‘repeat’.

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