Music can instantly bring back memories — even if we haven’t thought about those events, people, or places for years.
A program at the University of Arizona has been cataloging those musical memories. The Arizona Musical Memory Archive has interviewed more than 130 people to get their stories, and now the podcast has been downloaded in nearly 30 countries.
It started as a class assignment Dan Kruse came up with at UA about a decade ago, asking students to present a moment when music was really important in their lives. Kruse is a graduate of the Fred Fox School of Music at the University of Arizona and has been involved in music in lots of ways over the last two decades.
The project went so well, Brian Moon decided to use it in his class, also in the Fred Fox School of Music — he’s an associate professor of practice there.
Moon and Kruse launched the project last year, and they joined The Show to talk about it.