Question for the pros: Does the music playing in your head ever stop? If so, how are you able to restart it? I need help.

take a vacation. determine if this is really what you want to do and why. Too many people play because they [played as a kid and just do it partly because they think it is their thing and just out of habit.

take a look at what you want to achieve and why, and maybe that will get you motivated again. Every great musician, every great composer goes thru periods of self doubt. It is natural.

Keep your mind active, do something else. As long as you are learning something and developing, these all contribute to a well rounded person and a better musician. I can't think of how many musicians i know that play like robots because they are robots,. They have never lived. Never experienced extreme joy , extreme pain,

I'm not a pro but the music in my head never stops and I like it that way. Sometimes I'll say to my husband, "I wish I could plug you into my brain because the music that is playing right now is so beautiful." It's not all piano but it is always classical, unless he "infects me" with a TV jingle.

Like any career or passionate pursuit, time off is a reasonable thing to do when you need it. You might have to tell us a bit more for us to help. I'm not sure if you're feeling overwhelmed with music as a profession (or full time study), if you're not sure it's the right career for you, or if you doubt your own creativity or musicality. Maybe you are fine with music, but unhappy with the pressures of a classical solo performance career. Although I have a fulltime career in music it's very different to the concert pianist job. Are you a student?

The music in my head comes and goes. It's worst on a composing project. It doesn't seem to be as constant a companion as say 8 years ago. It restarts ok.

I Play Golf!

Same here, and I like it that way too. It is nice to be able to listen to music without having to turn on the radio... Sometimes though it keeps me awake at night.

i had 4 significant burnouts so far in 30 years.

One was after about 4 years of 8 hours a day practice every day with maybe 2 days off per year at age 17. The other time was right at the end of my bachelors where I just had so much going on.

Third time was after my masters and the frustrating of what to do next. Had some serious self doubt regarding a future in music. Fourth time was when i started orchestrating for film in LA. Was working 14 hours a day, taking prescription medication to stay awake, then downers to get to bed. It was awful. Had to do that for about 8 months then a month off then another 8 months. not only was I burnt out but I had to spend about 2 weeks detoxing from those chemicals. Just awful but the work had to be done and the film industry is not the kind of place to give second chances.

Thank you all for your thoughtful replies.

I am a retired music teacher (BS Mu. Ed) and Certified Music Therapist who now plays for private events and also as a church pianist. I don't consider myself a professional as many of you are. I'm just an ordinary music major (piano) who found peace in music.

The music never stopped before. It played all day, and all night. It was wonderful. Chopin Addict, your quote is appropriate; something died.

The question is: How do you restart "the radio" in your head if it stops? It must happen to other people, too.

i think if you have music actually playing in your head, it is probably a bad thing in terms of health and the mind. Are you perhaps talking about the drive to do music ?

If you actually had music in your head all the time, it would drive you nuts.

You know, I don't think you have to restart it. I understand that you miss it but it doesn't make you any less musical to have some peace and silence in your head. When I had music running in my head all day and all night I was a more obsessed person, higher anxiety levels, less good at relaxing, generally less good at sleeping. I don't consider myself less musical these days just because the "radio" is off for long stretches. I'm sorry that you feel that something died, I hope to suggest another way to look at this, and maybe to accept it as not a negative thing. I don't in anyway mean to lessen the importance of this feeling for you (I hope that makes sense).

A way to try to turn it on for a bit; I suggest falling in love with a new piece of music and doing some obsessive listening. Find a favourite____ thread to inspire you. Another way to hear music in your head is to take scores to bed and read them in bed - not like the automatic radio track, but interesting to listen to.

If it won't turn on it may be that your brain has fully accepted and integrated music into your life experience, it's no longer novel so the brain doesn't have to work overtime in processing the information. Maybe you need to learn a new and wonderful piece? When did you last learn something new, or discover a new piece to listen to?

I do, I love it. Now, whether I'm nuts is another issue, hehe, but if I am, I love it!

I have music going in my head all the time too, even in my sleep. (When I started writing this, it was Hendrix's cover of All Along the Watchtower. Now it's a little Kuhlau finale that I used to play when I was about 11. It's like some quirky little radio station, with this annoying DJ who keeps talking over the music. :-) If it stopped, I think I'd miss it every bit as much as DianneB does!

Dianne, I think Canonie made a good suggestion on how to restart it. Another might be to consciously run through familiar pieces in your head; you might have keep thinking about them to keep them going, but perhaps after a bit they'll go back to autoplay.

Wonderfully said. Also, try listening to the radio or CD's. Don't get tense about the silence. It will come back when your brain is ready.

Edit: one more thought: Go someplace alone that is beautiful and very quiet. Listen to the birds and the wind and the water and the leaves rustling. Stay until you feel at peace.

yes but surely these are actual conscious musings like thinking of a story. That is much different than having music you have no control over playing in your head. That would be a rather crucial sign that you have schizophrenia. I think we are conflating imagination with autonomous stimuli that you cannot control.

That's ridiculous. I think you are conflating knowing some vocabulary words with actually knowing what you're talking about.

I wouldn't have put it quite so strongly .....but I agree.

Whoever has music going in their heads all the time, don't worry that you might have schizophrenia. Granted, having it going and going without any "control" might sound not too good, but then we have to get into exactly what we mean by "having no control" over it, and that wouldn't be easy to define.

Cliff's Notes: Don't worry about it.

Reminds me of "The Day the Music Died".

One way to kick start the radio in your head is to go jogging. Yes, jogging! Once you get into that steady, rhythmic cadence an appropriate tune in 4/4 time will turn on in your head, accompanying every step you take. And that's quite apart from the added benefits of fresh air and exercise.

Thanks, Mark. Perhaps my indignation that anyone would presume to offer a diagnosis of schizophrenia over the Internet did get the better of me. That said, it is comforting to have a second opinion from someone who most certainly knows what he's talking about!

Good for you!!


BTW, I didn't mean there was anything wrong with how you said it, just that I wouldn't have put it that way. That's all.

Hearing voices , music or anything that is not real, for which you have no control is a pretty clear sign that all is not well. The first thing they would test you for is schizophrenia . Sheryl C's story as told by Sacks in his book Musicophilia can fill in te details. The actual medication prescribed were typical anti psychotics.

Now lets address your accusation that I seem to be diagnosing people with mental disorders on the internet. What I did in fact say is that hallucinations are a very strong indication of certain mental disorders which I think most doctors would place schizophrenia rather high on what to test for. Now can you see how your accusation implies something I didn't say. I merely stated these conditions are prevalent in this disorder. Not once did I assume this was the actual case, nor did I assume that she should be tested. Moving on.

What i think, is that what the OP considers hearing music is a voluntary sort of thought process like imagining a blue car but in this case, it is music. If you do read the story mentioned above, you will understand in vivid detail the horror of not having control of what you are hearing in your head. As far as dreams, this is another area of neuroscience and it isn't the same as when you are conscious.

And just so that perhaps we can share the same page, could you be more specific regarding your accusation on my miss use of the verb to conflate. There is a very clear difference between the two. If you can't distinguish hallucinations from conscious thought in terms of their definition and what one is and one isn't, I find it rather hard to take your accusations serious when the word itself , which granted does provide the discourse with some comical irony, seems to be something you are quite familiar with albeit not in the way I would of hoped. That is to say what the word actually means. But you seem to have a very innate grasp of its use. Not so much in writing.

There's really nothing wrong with hearing music in your head, I highly doubt it's a sign of any mental instability O.o

For me what helps is doing something relaxing and aimless at the same time, just to release yourself ever so slightly from the world and let your mind wander a little. Being in nature or outdoors definitely helps. When that happens I can start hearing music spontaneously play in my head, and not just a piece I've heard many times over, but my brain just starts spontaneously composing and playing back a piece by itself, and wow it sounds and feels good. The only problem is if i try to remember the piece or write it down the piece stops, but well, I'm content to just listen to it myself

There is absolutely something wrong if you are hearing music in your head which you have absolutely no control over. No stop button. it is called hallucinating. Would you consider seeing a white fluffy rabbit all day every day perhaps a sign that something isn't right ?

Look, i get what the OP is saying. But there is a big difference between what i just described and the ability to imagine which I am hoping is the case here. And imagination, unlike a lesion in the brain or a mental disorder that would cause hallucinations can come and go which would make much more sense regarding the OPs problem.

If you enjoy the hallucinations, then I suppose there is no issue but it is without a doubt something a neurologist would say is not normal and definitely something you might want to get checked out. Why ? Because as I mentioned, it isn't normal, perhaps the cause of a lesion which begs the question, when did this start because a simple lesion in the right place caused by lets say a cancerous growth which can kill you very quick might be the source of this magical music box.

So , you see why it is rather important to distinguish the two.

Me too. Well, certainly when I'm not concentrating on something else, like at work for example, but even then something will creep in. I enjoy it. You can never tell what it's going to be. If it happens while I'm otherwise not doing much, I'll listen closely following chord changes or such and visualsing playing them. While I'm not sure if it happens when I'm asleep, without fail when I wake up ... there will be something there.

Bad Orange, although you pose some interesting ideas, I'm not schizo. As a music therapist I worked with retarded and psychotic patients, among others, but I'm definitely not schizophrenic just because there is a "radio" that plays in my head.

The radio played pieces I worked on, or wanted to learn, or music that I liked. It wasn't as though it was unpleasant music that invaded my head; it was good stuff. I appreciate that others also know what I'm talking about.

Today I'll look/listen for something new to learn, no pressure. I enjoy listening to the music uploading to this site. So many of you are exceptionally talented.

This is off topic - but BadOrange - you seem to be posting from a faulty understanding of schizophrenia or psychosis - or perhaps it's a case of a 'little knowledge is a dangerous thing'?

Most of us have internal chatter or music or whatever going on most of the time - that's not hallucinating. Auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia are very often external - that's one of the indications that there is something going on that is NOT a normal phenomenon.

Anyway... back on topic - I have music on in my mind all the time - and I love it as well

Allowing the mind its needed rest is a good thing, Dianne. If I understand what you've described, it sounds to me as if this might be the story. After all, music rises out of silence, and subsides back into it, and even contains silences as part of its substance and fabric. Think what a horror it is to be with someone who jabbers constantly and never shuts up for a second--- so tiring, even if one enjoys conversation.

Silence does not mean that consciousness is not at work or is gone, but that it is at rest... or maybe that it is focused elsewhere.

I hear music inside--- always have. The faculty seems to be as willing to operate to bring up some jingle I heard on the radio as a child, or some idiotic popular song I heard blasting on a car going by, or some musical idea of my own devising, or some wonderful work of art by a genius of musical expression. So, there are cases when silence is preferable. I often find that I have to direct the mind, rather than just let it run.

A balanced diet of experience is as necessary for the mind and inner feeling as a balanced diet of food is necessary for the physical body. It may be that you need to keep the company of people who nourish you, especially since you have a profession which requires you to give so much.

It might be useful to you to contemplate your own experience of giving. The delight is greater when our gifts are received by someone who appreciates them, values them, loves them, and makes good use of them. And not so much when they are received with indifference, or complaints that the wrong thing was given, or not enough.

Quiet and rest are wonderful gifts, too. Who can say what may be in preparation because of this experience? Don't worry; just do your best to enjoy what comes.

I can t think how having music permanently in your head would be helpful in composing, If it was as constant as some of you guys are describing, well, i wouldn t like it. I think you need to get away from music a bit to enjoy it more. And detach yourself as much as possible from the music you usually hear from the outside. But hey , if it makes you feel goo, more power to you!

I hardly ever have music in my head unless I'm consciously wanting to 'listen' to it, e.g. when I'm running or climbing, and need some distraction to help cope with the pain..... Maybe it's because my life doesn't revolve around music, despite all appearances to the contrary .

I often spend long periods each year totally away from any contact with music (of any sort), and don't miss it, not even wanting to 'listen' to it in my head. And if a tune for whatever reason pops into my head that I don't want to stay there, I just think of something else, and it goes immediately.

The Musicophilia book does indeed address this condition in great detail. It is not a symptom of schizophrenia. It is only a problem if it causes the person psychological distress. In some of Oliver Sacks's case studies, the patient was indeed very disturbed by the inability to control the music (usually because it was a single piece or a limited variety of pieces played over and over again).

So those of us with mental radios who enjoy the music have nothing to worry about.

Because of the constant music in my head 24/7 that is unstoppable, and other things I don't want to mention online, I've toyed with getting checked out, but as for right now, I don't see anything hindering my well-being. I'm probably just a little odd at most, but hey, what's new? I've met others like me who are in their 40's and 50's, nothing severely psycho with them either.

A Mozart sonata - I'm not sure which one - is playing right now. Last night it was Bach. On the way to work - the Suite from Holberg's time. Love it.

Monica, you're right, Sack's book, "Musicophilia", addresses musical hallucinations, p.57.

Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (Google search)

A patient began taking medication, and experienced musical hallucinations. Sacks stated that the brain needed to stay incessantly active; if it didn't get its usual stimulation, would create its own stimulation in the form of music.

I first began hearing incessant music at about 5, or so I remember it from that point onward. I'd fall asleep and could practice pieces in my brain during the night. When I woke up I'd still be working on Chopin or Liszt, or listening to someone else play music. It was a system that worked for me, but now it stopped.

Sacks studies deal with people who want to turn it OFF, so he doesn't indicate how to jumpstart the music if you're accustomed to it, and it suddenly stops.

By the way Dianne, the link you posted is so long that it is distorting the page. You can give it a short alias...
like this:
Musicophilia

Bad Orange...

The notion that hearing music in one's head is a form of "hallucination" is simply wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong. If I visualize someone I know who is at that moment not in the room, am I hallucinating? Hardly. I do this all the time. Moreover, I often have no more control over it than I have over having any spontaneous thought or memory.

According to Wikepedia "In a strict sense, hallucinations are defined as perceptions in a conscious and awake state in the absence of external stimuli which have qualities of real perception, in that they are vivid, substantial, and located in external objective space. "

The key in this case would be "located in external objective space." If I hear music coming from the kitchen, THAT'S a hallucination (unless of course there's a radio on or something).

Otherwise, your contention is a fundamental misunderstanding of the term.

I used Sack's terms for the inaudible music that plays in the brain. Is there another term?

For several of Sacks's patients, the term "hallucination" is apt, as they genuinely "heard" the music as being "located in external objective space." However, those are exceptions, and most of the time when people say they 'hear' music in their heads, they are well aware that it is brain activity and not coming from some unknown external musical source.

A hallucination happens when the subject is unable to distinguish that experience from reality. So hearing music in one's head is totally fine and is not a hallucination as long as that person knows very well that it is just in his/her mind and not actual music that's playing in the real world (from a radio for instance). Sacks makes this distinction pretty clear in his book. Monica has explained it in her last post here too. The second kind of experience she talks about are clearly not hallucinations. Bad Orange has tried to make this distinction clear too. So far, I haven't seen a post from anybody here that suggests they've had musical hallucinations as they are all very well aware that its only in their heads.

Jogging, walking or cycling are indeed great ways to turn the internal soundtrack on.*

I mentioned that I used to have constant music in my head (but no longer do). A lot of the time it was my own compositions at the work-in-progress stage. Those of you who have lovely Bach or Chopin running along nicely should spare some sympathy for someone who couldn't turn off their own music!

But it was handy for editing.

*Be careful of waltzes - dangerous.

This happens to me too. I mentioned this some time ago to currawong and Andy in a PM. It was really obsessive, but at the moment it is much better. (Then again, I am not composing right now...)



You bet! Particularly if you are in the street...

no. A hallucination is seeing or hearing something that isn't there. You can be quite aware which is why it usually causes people alot of grief. Rather coincidental that this automatic music so happens to be the actual music you want to hear. The fact of the matter is that you are all conflating the act of imagination with having automatic music playing in your head.

Sacks does not make the distinction. Page 84, a anecdotal story about someone completely aware that they are hearing music that is not real. Sacks uses the term hallucination. ON page 67, the link between musical hallucinations and schizophrenia are made although it is more rare than hearing voices. The usual cause tends to be from some sort of sensory deprivation usually the actual ear and the brain seems to compensate. The story about Sheryl was to show how it would be to have music you can't control, not an argument for schizophrenia. The point is that every single person Sack's mentions except i think one that has this music that doesn't stop tends to find it extremely annoying to the point of painful.

If you have music in your head for which you have no control over and it is like someone planted a radio when you were asleep, it is not normal. It can be quite dangerous as the other cause for such symptoms would be lesions which could be caused by some cancerous growth pushing on a certain part of the brain.

I think you people are romanticizing the notion of having music playing in your head and in some way asserting your creativity by the fact that this happens to you but I doubt very much what you consider music playing , is actually music playing rather than your thoughts , perhaps less conscious than normal are musing.

You're right and wrong at the same time.
And with reference to what you raised in the first place, you're wrong.

You're right that "hallucination" doesn't necessarily mean the person can't tell that it isn't real.

But, when the person can distinguish, the hallucinations aren't particularly indicative of schizophrenia -- which was the thing you mentioned that kicked off this mini-discussion.

There's something even more wrong with the original thing you said, because the kind of thing that is the subject of this thread would rarely be a "hallucination" -- it's more in the realm of thinking and imagination -- and there wasn't anything that anyone had said which suggested they might be having hallucinations. That wasn't much of a relevant term to bring into the discussion.

Imagination. Yes, that's more along the lines of what I meant.

You are saying that your internal dialogue is sort of overlaid over music? That's very interesting. I can have music going or verbal thoughts going in my head, but not both at the same time.

BadO, do you not often have a piece of music that you are composing running and running in your head? As a sort of background soundtrack. It's funny, I thought that most composers would have this while writing music. Yes I agree that it's healthier to be able to turn it off to sleep, otherwise one is working in one's sleep which is not a good thing.

My composing teacher said that the only way to get rid of the compositional earworms is to write the piece! Write it out of your brain and onto paper. Then it will shut up. I've found this worked for me.

No, I don't assert my creativity by the existence of earworms. Lots of people have earworms and I think they hear music in the minds ear - hard to describe when you start to think about it.

True. And me.

yes but it is clearly my imagination and not a hallucination. It is really similar to lets say improvising on a piano but instead, the music is just being thought of in your head.

If anything i've learned to control my thoughts with various CBT exercises so that I can turn these things on and off.

Which is good (thanks for replying by the way). For me the imagined music in my head as i'm improvising, or composing on paper away from the instrument feels different to the ongoing background soundtrack. An earworm can be playing for a while before I seem to suddenly notice it (I agree that none of what I'm describing is hallucination). One is foreground and started by me, the other is background and self starts and can go on and on for ages.

I'm describing it in more detail because it fascinates me that people may experience this differently. Perhaps you don't have the kind of earworm experience I (and for example gooddog) am describing? Or you found it annoying so have learned to turn it off? Interesting!

I am less beset by earworms than when I was a full time music student, and since a lot of those worms were "work" it probably didn't generate healthy calmness, but was a sign of not being able to turn off from work/music. In spite of that it was useful to harness the earworms for composing, especially editing. So i wasn't bothered.

I like it while I sleep. You CAN sleep well despite the music.

"Healthy" is a relative term when it comes to music playing inside your head. Let's call it extra auditory perception (EAP), as I don't know of a term for "music playing in my head that isn't an earworm". An earworm is something that seems stuck/uncontrollable for the most part, while EAP is something desirable and controllable to the extent that you can usually choose what plays. At least I find it very desirable; apparently I'm not alone.

BTW, it is beginning to play again. I can hear it off and on and find it very calming.

Superbly stated...