Does Music Improve Memory?

You remember the game memory from when you were a kid? This is very similar to that. So we're gonna try to find the matching squares. Just going to start turning things over! Hey, we're almost there. And we have solved the puzzle. I'm John Legend, chief music officer at Headspace and I'm hosting a new series about the different ways that music can improve our lives. (upbeat violin music) Music and memory are intertwined for me, like DNA. Have you ever had a song transport you to a specific time and place? Like something picked you up and took you somewhere else. I met with Dr. Yewande Pearse. So we're gonna to do a demonstration. And in this demonstration we want to see what the impact of music is on your memory recall. Okay! I'm gonna tell you two stories. The first story I'm gonna read to you, and then the second story I'm actually gonna attempt to sing. All right, the first story, John. Susan's son Gary went to band practice every Friday at two. He liked going to the field behind his school and playing the drums. One day, he hit the drum so heavily that it broke open in front of five older students practicing football. The band teacher overheard loud laughing, came over and gave him a new drum. So John, tell me the story back again. Okay! So, Susan has a son named Gary that was going to band practice at two o'clock And he was practicing in a field that was near where the football players played. And he banged on the drum so hard that he broke the drum and... Okay! Let's do the second story now. Okay! So this is me telling you a different story, but this time I'm gonna songify the story. ♪ Steve's daughter Lauren played tennis ♪ ♪ Every Wednesday at four. ♪ ♪ She enjoyed going to the courts ♪ ♪ Next to her house and meeting her friends. ♪ ♪ One day she smacked the ball so hard ♪ ♪ That it went over the park fence ♪ ♪ Where two small beagles resided. ♪ ♪ The beagle's owner heard intense howling, ♪ ♪ Showed up, lent a hand, and threw her back the ball. ♪ Okay, John, what was the story? Okay! So now we have different names. Steve, who has a daughter, and I forget her name. And she likes to go play tennis at four o'clock on a certain day of the week, which I forget. And then she was hitting the balls. It went over the fence to the neighbor's dog and the dog, the beagle was howling. And, yeah the neighbor was not happy about that. So John, I recorded you recalling both stories. I'm gonna go away, I'm gonna score them, and then we'll see how you did on both of those. So before I give you the results, (John laughs) how do you feel like you did? Some of the...