As someone with ADHD, I can confidently say that music is one of the least ephemeral things in my mind. Music is much more like a heuristic for generating patt

As someone with ADHD, I can confidently say that music is one of the least ephemeral things in my mind. Music is much more like a heuristic for generating patterns based on limited data points. You just need a key, a rhythmic base and a sentiment and you're off. Memory is a small part. it only works because you can regenerate the idea of a song based on small cues. There are so many songs where I couldn't tell you the exact words to a particular verse, but if I can grab onto another part of the song I can imagine the rhythm of the lyrics and rhyming scheme, then work backwards to something that I think I might recognize, but really it will probably be off in some way. Perhaps my head rendition is at a slower tempo and higher key, but if I tried to sing it from memory you would still recognize the song. So I'd argue that music is a more of a exercise in pattern recognition and pattern generation than physical memory recalling or story telling.