music in the head

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who else can hear/compose songs in their head? i'm super curious how common this is...

I hear music (sadly I can't compose songs) in my head too...It's that if I hear a song regularly, I tend to memorise it and it gets "stored" in my head. So, I can hear diffrent songs (some of my faves) playing like a "jukebox" all the time. Some songs I can hear so clearly in my head it's like listening to a CD or the radio... For some (including me), it's quite a common thing with people with Autism/Asperger's Syndrome...I hope I answered your question...

interesting. you did where did you learn it's a common thing for people with autism/asperger's syndrome?

I'm able to hear my favourite songs in my head, like I'm listening to a CD, or YouTube. It comes in handy, at work.

It's the same for me, I can play in my head every song Iike listening to,
the funny thing is that I can remember the lyrics perfectly too, even I don't want/try to do so
for example
I'm interested in languages (I can speak 7 foreign languages)
I found myself playing in my head a song in chinese and I realized I could understand perfectly the lyrics, even if when I listened to that song for the first time (years ago) I couldn't speak chinese at all

The songs in my head are usually songs I create on my own. I always sing my own lyrics and tink of my own rythms and drums. I only wish I was good at instruments but I don't think that I am. Maybe I should just try harder but I just don't try.

Yep - all the time. Have done since childhood. In fact I can remember passing long car journeys by memorising entire albums and listening to them in my head in the days before I had a tape-recorder.

I also write my own songs songs in my head before I record them, but then that's obviously what songwriters do, regardles of whether or not they have AS.

Yes, I can hear and compose music in my head. The radio in my truck has been broken for about 3 years. My friends don't know how I can stand it. Doesn't bother me one bit! (And hey, no commercials)

Sometimes I'll hear beautiful sounds in my head but because of vocal/musical limitations, I'm unable to express them. As a result, they drift off and then melt away like some child's dream.

all the time. I can hear both self-made songs, as well as stuff I listen to.

Just for the purpose of listening, when I was without my music for 10 days, I listened to my favorite 24-minute song in my head. I do this with other things, as long as I've listened to them enough. It's fun! I get caught up in this so much that I'm "listening" to the same song in my head over and over, forgetting to listen to the actual song on my computer/cdplayer. lol I could probably listen to Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, in my head, granted my attention doesn't slip away lol.

But it's weird! The music will be going, then if I want to "rewind" to hear a certain part again, it's like the track's still going and I can't! xD

As for composing? I've done some mild songwriting and writing melodies here and there. I can play something then "know" what I want to put next. When I'm listening to song for one of the first times, this will come to me automatically: I'll hear the musicians playing, then in my mind: "If I had written this song, the next thing I would do is..." and naturally when the song moves on, I'm either happy that they did what I would've, or disappointed that they chose something else I would not have.

In my own songwriting, it's creativity. I can "make" or "hear" a melody in my head. It'll be pretty good, too. It can come whenever. The problem is remembering it, since I'm not always home. When I get home, sometimes I'll forget what it was. Usually I can "sing" it (changing the octaves around so that my voice can project the notes) and record it on my phone. Which I've started to do, but doesn't always end up right... I have a backing band in my when I'm "hearing" it, so when I hear what I recorded... just the single melody, I'm thinking... "Wait, this doesn't sound right." The rhythm I was thinking then, doesn't match to what I hear now. It's so hard I can't keep the melody with me for a longer time!

When it comes to writing, really, the whole process is unpredictable, and sometimes, unfortunately, impossible.

I read about it on a few Autism webistes, which I Gooogled...

I can, it's like my life has a mental soundtrack almost.

im a non-musician music enthusiast.
Lke everyone I can hear tunes in my head.

But Ive never heard an ORIGINAL tune in my head.

Im curious (a) do you have musical training (read notes, play instruments).
If so than (B) did you already have this propensiy before you got formal training ( ie was it something you were born with) or did it result FROM musical training?

Great composers "hear" the music just from reading a score.
But can you even read music? If not thats all the more remarkable.

ya i read music and tablature, and i can pick up just about any instrument. guitar and vocals is my specialty.

i started classical training on the piano when i was almost five and i took for six or seven years; my memory doesn't serve me well enough to determine whether it came from musical training. i do have perfect pitch though, and i can also hear a frequency or frequencies in my head (say, A4, G3, C#1, or all three at the same time), so maybe i was born with it?? idk

Sometimes a complete musical phrase comes together in my mind but when I translate it with an instrument its usually a little different. Ive never finished a song in my head. Maybe some day I could have the skills to do that.