How Music Has Affected My Personal Perception of Time

When listening to specific pieces of music, it feels like time never progressed past a certain point. There is something about the different harmonies, chord progressions, and riffs of the music I used to love that confuses my perception of how time has passed and how much of it has sped by me.

I am back in the hallways of my high school when I turn on Coral Fang by The Distillers. I can smell the art room I stomped into for the first period of the day, and I can feel the bitter Phoenix winter on my skin as I walk out of the building on my way to Spanish class.

Walking to my night classes my first year of college was not complete without So Tonight That I Might See by Mazzy Star. Thoughts of previous dissociation and the person I was fascinated with swirl around in my brain as I dreaded pulling out my sketchbooks and graphite for the next two hours.

Music intertwines with the visceral feelings attached to a particular time in my life, and it soundtracks the mental images of myself and my surroundings I have burned into my brain. Time seems to never really move forward when there are sounds that transport you backwards. Despite this, distinct moments and stages I’ve lived through seem closer to me through music. It connects my past and present together, making the time that has passed insignificant.

Claire Locke — November 15th, 2023