Musical imagery and the temporality of consciousness

Musical imagery can be defined as the conscious experience of an internal representation of music—a form of inner hearing. This chapter adopts a psychological approach to considering temporal aspects of musical imagery, from the characteristics and frequency of episodes ranging in scale from seconds and minutes (e.g. the mental continuation of interrupted music), to the potential impact of circadian (24-hour) rhythms upon the subjective experience of musical imagery. The common ground between musical imagery and other forms of spontaneous cognition, combined with evidence of temporal fluctuations in our conscious awareness of inner music, suggests a new cyclical model of musical imagery. Exploring the music in our ‘mind’s ear’ has the potential to shed light on the time course of consciousness, with consequences not just for what it means to re-present music in the mind but also for how and when new ideas come to be experienced in our imaginations.