Studies show that listening to music increases blood flow to the parts of our brain that generate emotions and control memory. And according to Dr. John Mondanaro, director of expressive arts therapy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, music helps us frame the world around us, especially when it comes to new environments.
When we travel, we experience an overwhelming amount of new information, Dr. Mondanaro says, and music helps us understand it all. Because we process music in the pre-frontal cortex, in the same neuropathways where autobiographical memories are formed and held, music fosters “an enhanced sense of connection to the world,” influencing our biological rhythms, our mood, and the very foundations of who we are. For that reason, Dr. Mondanaro has found success with music therapy for patients experiencing dementia or Alzheimer’s; as those patients become untethered from their own realities with the progression of the disease, music fosters not only a return to memory, but a connection to the here and now.
Safari is such an about-face from my day-to-day life back home that some of the infinite details of the experience are inevitably going to be lost. No brain can capture it all—but music creates a framework which allows the most essential, impactful details and emotions to be preserved. The control in what I was hearing seemed to allow my vision greater focus. I caught myself noticing cheetah paw prints in the dirt alongside our safari vehicle before we ultimately caught up to that cheetah; I can still see those tracks in my memory, gently pressed into the earth and growing fainter and fainter with each passing breeze.
“What we hear, smell, and feel creates a whole story around the experiences we’re having,” says Dr. Mondanaro. “Music contributes to all kinds of memories that are not just profound, but profound to who we are because they connect to moments of our life.”
That’s why hotels work so hard to fine-tune their atmosphere with the right playlists. “Music allows you to lean into your feelings or change your lens on the world,” says LP Giobbi, Global Music Director for W Hotels. For each property’s common areas, Giobbi curates playlists that change energy around the clock—from vibey and relaxing by day, to energetic and celebratory come nightfall. “Music amplifies inside of us whatever a song is evoking. It can bring us back to a moment in time or, depending on the song, can bring out certain emotions. It allows you to lean into your feelings or change your lens on the world.”
There was never any doubt that I would remember where I was when The Tortured Poets Department came out—but I couldn’t have imagined how it would help me connect with more of the trip itself. During the sixty-five minutes and eight seconds I had my headphones on during our game drive, did I miss out on a certain birdsong, or did I spoil the serenity of wild silence? Maybe. But what I did hear brought me closer to the landscape and to my memories of it. I was disengaged in one way, admittedly, but highly more engaged in another.
