My mind raced as to which recording, song or artist to focus on today: Martin Luther’s many Reformation songs? Bobby McFerrin’s “Discipline” or “Psalm 23” – both found on his Medicine Music album? Rich Mullin’s “The Creed?”

Since I could not set my mind on just one, I decided to think about what it is I like about one of Luther’s most sung hymns or McFerrin’s Psalm or Mullin’s Creed – they’re based on words already learned from Sunday School or Bible study or elsewhere within the upbringing of faith. These are words chanted during service or read for comfort.

Put to melody, there is another reason why these words are easy to recall.

Think about it – how are children so successful in learning new things? Through song. Take a  nursery rhyme or even the alphabet – a simple melody that hooks the mind the way a worm hooks a fish’s attention. Some of us get through our later schooling years humming a mnemonic device or putting the information to an already familiar song.

Some scientists say that smell is the most powerful of the senses when it comes to memory. I think hearing is a close second. Who can conjure up the image of an ice cream truck when hearing a circus-style melody? Why do most advertisements on television take on the form of jingles?

If one were up for the challenge – what is the first song from youth that comes to mind? How does that differ from the most recent melody heard?

I’ll have to remember to respond to that somehow.