Musical Chills: Do You Experience Them?

[dlgoff]

I just saw an ad on TV. Bravo Channel is showing a special tomorrow night called "The Musical Brain". From what I could gather (I saw only part of the ad), it investigates the neurophysiological aspects of musical appreciation.

Thanks for the "heads-up".

 

[fuzzyfelt]

I just saw an ad on TV. Bravo Channel is showing a special tomorrow night called "The Musical Brain". From what I could gather (I saw only part of the ad), it investigates the neurophysiological aspects of musical appreciation.

Belatedly, thank you very much Danger! Did anyone see it?

It would be really interesting to do in depth research into the emotional dynamics of nationalist/patriotic propaganda. I think the Nazi propagandists of the 1930s-40s did a lot in this area, although I wonder how much was objective scientific research and how much was just purely marching forward with art (punny, I know). I also wonder if it is possible to evoke so much nationalist-patriotic emotion with propaganda that it becomes uncomfortable to even the most devout supporters. Or could people just wallow in an ocean of country-love until they melt into a dreamy euphoria? Experiments to answer these kinds of questions could get really creepy though, I think.

Even more belatedly, brainstorm’s (?) post reminded me of a different book than the one linked here, by Carey, which also relates a very creepy use of patriotic music, Bruckner’s 4th being a recognised sign in this context-
“until what Spotts calls the most grotesque episode in musical history. On April 13 1945, the Berlin Philharmonic played Bruckner's Fourth, as a recognised sign that the Third Reich was reaching its own last bars. At the exits, members of the Hitler Youth handed out free cyanide capsules.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/oct/19/politics.art

The same book mentions Prof. Dunbar’s work with triggers of endorphins, such as synchronised activity, and suggests that music may be related to this.

http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/6/1/106.abstract

Endorphins of grooming and gossip
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=...&resnum=6&ved=0CDAQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[Math Is Hard]

This thread reminded me of a peculiar condition I've heard about called Stendhal Syndrome:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendhal_syndrome

Stendhal syndrome ... is a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, fainting, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly beautiful or a large amount of art is in a single place. The term can also be used to describe a similar reaction to a surfeit of choice in other circumstances, e.g. when confronted with immense beauty in the natural world.

No mention of chills, though.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Thanks MIH! I hadn't heard of that, and is otherwise known as Florence syndrome. Luckily I studied there with no such problems. Oddly, this seems to be something to do with traveling, along with others like Jerusalem syndrome and Paris syndrome, also without mention of chills.

The mention made me look around a bit further and I found Ruben's syndrome, too.

 

[Andre]

Ruben's syndrome could be food for an interesting discussion

 

[fuzzyfelt]

and thanks for the welcome, Andre,
I thought the syndrome should be mentioned as it seems relevant, but, like with rhody’s very helpful research in this thread, as it is a thread where I’ve asked for anecdotes, I don’t want to encourage specific disclosures.
Caveats covered, here is a link-
http://www.artnews.com/issues/article.asp?art_id=1000

 

[rhody]

This performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MExihLTljzk" gives me goosebumps no matter how many times I listen to it.

19 affirmatives!

Make that 20... Wow, I love Pat Methany. I needed a bit of a boost from work stress these days, thanks haael, that did it for me. Funny too, ever since I stopped taking folic acid, the histamine rush has not been as strong or as easily triggered by music, ideas, etc... but this short musical arrangement did it again, very, very cool, thanks I needed that. For me this is proof positive that PF can be beneficial to your mental health. Hi, Fuzzy as well...

Rhody...

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Hi Rhody!
Nice post, sorry it took a while to see. Of course I agree, it can be beneficial. Thanks! :)

 

[G037H3]

Yes I get chills.

Skin orgasm.

 

[rhody]

Yes I get chills.

Skin orgasm.

G037H3,

Peer reviewed studies to substantiate your claim please... PF has standards...

Like these: http://www.psas.nl/content/doktoren/fulltext14102009.pdf"

Rhody...

Edit: I forgot the most important part of the post, lol.

 

[G037H3]

G037H3,

Peer reviewed studies to substantiate your claim please... PF has standards...

Like these: http://www.psas.nl/content/doktoren/fulltext14102009.pdf"

Rhody...

It's called frisson.

 

[1MileCrash]

I can actually make chills go down my spine voluntarily.

 

[Dr Lots-o'watts]

I actually got chills today listening to a tune about Africa, waka waka, and soldiers, that sounded that it come from Shakira.

I got thinking at how life always seems to be hanging by a thread over there, and how intense everything seems to be.

Then I learned that it was actually from Shakira and it was the official FIFA tune. It drew out some of the magic, but it's still a good tune.

 

[Max™]

This is why I love the bands I love.

APC, Tool, Nin, Rush, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Lady Gaga, Tori Amos, etc... all of it is ear crack for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cacwntsr4Qw

First time I heard Gaga on the radio I was hooked, it's awesome with good surround or well tuned headphones.

Pretty sure I'll be unable to stop crying first time I go to a concert.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Nice, thanks all. Voluntary chills are interesting 1MileCrash. Is that from thinking about music?

 

[rhody]

Awhile ago in this thread I spoke of replacing an anxious feeling that turned to chills when exploring a new idea in my head and how the sense of worry was replaced by a sense of excitement and well being.

The other day on a long walk, beautiful, quiet, near sunset with an ocean background, alone, listening to music, not feeling up or down, I got an intense chill about an insight followed by a plan to make something happen for the first time. The anticipation of carrying it through and not the end result (whatever it turns out to be) did it for me. I started smiling from ear to ear, fleshing out the ideas as I continued to walk. I do find it amazing that it happened in a few seconds, I didn't see images or hear words, it just clicks, and when it does, does it ever feeeeeellllll goooood.

The smiling part also triggered a thought, one that until recently I never truly realized was true until probing deeper aspects of how our brain works. When you smile from an inner feeling of joy you use different muscles and parts of the brain than when posing with a smile, even if when in a good mood. The reason I say this is that when my daughter graduated college there was one picture, I can't describe it, there was a joy and energy to her smile that I never have seen before, but hope to see more of in the future.

Rhody...

 

[lisab]

It's rare for me to get them the first time I hear a song, but it happened with this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8v_4O44sfjM

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Very Nice, lisab, thank you.

And thanks for your post Rhody. I think I understand what you say about a smile. Anticipation of a process can be wonderful. Smiling is a great state of mind, and an extreme, exceptional smile is magic. Nice thoughts.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Awhile ago in this thread I spoke of replacing an anxious feeling that turned to chills when exploring a new idea in my head and how the sense of worry was replaced by a sense of excitement and well being.

The other day on a long walk, beautiful, quiet, near sunset with an ocean background, alone, listening to music, not feeling up or down, I got an intense chill about an insight followed by a plan to make something happen for the first time. The anticipation of carrying it through and not the end result (whatever it turns out to be) did it for me. I started smiling from ear to ear, fleshing out the ideas as I continued to walk. I do find it amazing that it happened in a few seconds, I didn't see images or hear words, it just clicks, and when it does, does it ever feeeeeellllll goooood.

The smiling part also triggered a thought, one that until recently I never truly realized was true until probing deeper aspects of how our brain works. When you smile from an inner feeling of joy you use different muscles and parts of the brain than when posing with a smile, even if when in a good mood. The reason I say this is that when my daughter graduated college there was one picture, I can't describe it, there was a joy and energy to her smile that I never have seen before, but hope to see more of in the future.

Rhody...

Nice thoughts about nice thoughts.
Just remembered this hypothesis about nice thoughts furthering nice thoughts-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facial_feedback_hypothesis

 

[Panwasbipolar]

I get it when certain notes are hit by female vocalists. It's creepy and good all at the same time.

 

[rhody]

Here is a bit of http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stories/s1653240.htm" that reinforces a fake smile from a real one:

Different parts of the brain are responsible for real and fake smiles. The unconscious part of the brain is responsible for a real smile, while the conscious part of the brain creates a fake smile.

Because these real and fake smiles are controlled by different parts of the brain, different muscles are used to create them – and this can tell us whether a smile is genuine or not.

and

The most famous study in this field was conducted at Britain’s Hertfordshire University. 15,000 people were shown a series of fake and genuine smiles – to see if they could spot the difference.

and

Dr Paul Willis, Reporter: Guy Curtis, a psychologist specialising in emotions and social behaviour, explains that fake smiles are controlled by the cerebral cortex.

Dr Guy Curtis: The conscious part of the brain that’s used when you’re producing a fake smile usually only triggers the muscles in the cheeks that pull back the corners in the mouth.

Narration: Genuine smiles are generated automatically by the unconscious brain.

As well as making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks also contract, making the eyes crease up.

Dr Paul Willis, Reporter: But there’s a few key features which distinguish a real smile from a fake one. In a genuine smile the fold in the fleshy part of the eye between the eyebrow and eyelid moves downwards and the corners of the eye brows dip slightly.

It seems that shown a real smile versus a fake one, men and women score about equally, in the neighborhood of 70%.

Rhody... and this is definitely fake...

 

[fuzzyfelt]

I wouldn't be surprised if Mona Lisa's smile was fake, even if it was originally genuine given how long she may have had to hold the pose and the amusing notion. It may have lost some appeal over time.

 

[Adyssa]

This is my first post, although I've been reading the forum for a while. I thought this a nice thread to start in. So hello everyone, and ...

Musical chills. I get these. Quite often in fact, I'm lucky to have a large collection of music that I connect with on a deep level. If you are wondering, I listen to a lot of electronic music, I would say "techno" but that word means different things to different people. As an example, if you care to hear something:

FSOL - Cascade


L.S.G. - Hearts (Reworked)


Both tunes are quite dated in terms of electronic music, but I think the "vintage" sound is charming. They aren't musically amazing. They probably don't stand up very well to Beethoven but I think that's beside the point. Music doesn't have to be technically extraordinary to touch your soul, you simply have to be open to it, and I think this is the reason we all have such wildly different taste in music. What works for one may not work for another although there is obviously a lot of common ground as well.

In any case, I enjoyed reading this thread. Music is one universal language that we all share and it's beautiful when people can understand each other, even empathize without saying a word. Just a tune and a smile. It gives me faith in a humanity that I'm sometimes scared of losing faith in.

<3

 

[kchiki]

Rhody asked me to look into this thread because of my posts in the Synesthesia thread.

I too get musical chills. Very much so!

Just a few examples of the music that really affects me are;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7zJ0yVSSvE"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtz8TmL1j_w"

(Both which were linked to by other members early in the thread. Thanks!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xf-Lesrkuc" (You have to get through the advertisement on Youtube, unfortunately.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psuRGfAaju4" (A very recent addition to my "chills" list.)

I actually remember an incident several years ago where I was in the car by myself, Drops of Jupiter was playing on the radio and I was having a great time singing it at the top of my lungs. I got very intense chills right near the end of the first verse/pre-chorus and burst into sobbing tears! I was so glad no one was there to see me! I wasn't sad, I was just totally overwhelmed with emotion. To this day, if I sing that song, my voice will break and I'll get choked up if I don't all-out start crying.

The Fireflies song has the same effect on me, and that song only came out in the last year or so (to my knowledge).

I asked a musician friend of mine to analyze the structure of "Drops of Jupiter" and "Fireflies" and see if there was anything common to both of them that would make me react that way. Here was his synopsis.

"Ok.

They're both 'roughly' in the key of C.

If it's a normal pop/rock song. That means that the chords tend to hover around I-IV-V (1, 4, 5). Also called the Tonic, Sub-dominant and Dominant chords. Which is, in this case, C, F, G.

They both have an interesting deviation from the "standard" progressions and "idioms" i guess is the best word? The train song is the one that's harmonically more interesting (to me at least). If I had to guess, the feelings are being evoked by the departure from the normal. So, 100,000,000 songs in the key of C use a variation of... (I-IV-V or I-V-IV).

Train song starts with... |: I -- V --- IV :| repeated for the verse.. but then... on the line... "Tell me" it drops back down to the V (G in this case)... and then essentially goes through a mini-modulation where it starts acting like the song is now in the key of G instead of C. So it goes from G to D (which would normally be the V if the song were in G), so it feels right to your ear but because the song up to this point has been in the key of C, that D sounds like a foreign chord. It's not too foreign.. but what you're hearing that kind of lifts up your head and your ear is the F# in the D major chord. Because up until now in the song, every time you've heard an F note it has been part of the F major chord and it's been an F natural... not an F#. So... that half-step jump in your ear... is the "UPLIFTING" sound you're hearing... The bass line walking up helps emphasize this effect too. They then double back on you by moving the chord from a Dmajor up to an Fmajor. Which brings back the F natural (moving you away from that F# again). They get the "uplifting feel" here by using the Bass line... Normally... if you were walking up the scale from a Dmajor chord... you would go D, E, F#. But by the time we get to where the F# should be the chord has changed to an Fmajor so... instead of hitting the F# on the bass line walking up.. .you hit the F-natural. This is also unexpected and so it catches your ear by surprise. At this point, we're kind of out of our 'mini-modulation' into the key of G and BACK into the key of C.

WHERE THEY SET YOU UP TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN!

The only thing I can say about Fireflys (except for the odd instrumentation and very cool arpeggiation they are doing on the synths (hitting the notes of the chord in odd ways, jumping octaves, etc.) and the fact that the chord progression, while still based on the standard I-IV-V is unusual in that it is actually...

V - I - IV

So it sounds and feels very much like it's "homebase" is a little bit off from where it should be... like if you stopped the song in the middle of the verse... it would be ok... but they keep on going... the sequence timing is shifted... it feels... That's the upshot of having the Tonic (the 1) in the middle of the sequence.

However, the interesting part from your perspective is that on the line "everything is never as it seems". Right on the word "seems"... guess what they're doing?

THE SAME EXACT THING as the Train song! They briefly land you on the Dmajor chord. Which, again, is totally unexpected for a song in C. They then jump you directly back to the chord progression."

 

[fuzzyfelt]

This is my first post, although I've been reading the forum for a while. I thought this a nice thread to start in. So hello everyone, and ...

Musical chills. I get these. Quite often in fact, I'm lucky to have a large collection of music that I connect with on a deep level. If you are wondering, I listen to a lot of electronic music, I would say "techno" but that word means different things to different people. As an example, if you care to hear something:

FSOL - Cascade


L.S.G. - Hearts (Reworked)


Both tunes are quite dated in terms of electronic music, but I think the "vintage" sound is charming. They aren't musically amazing. They probably don't stand up very well to Beethoven but I think that's beside the point. Music doesn't have to be technically extraordinary to touch your soul, you simply have to be open to it, and I think this is the reason we all have such wildly different taste in music. What works for one may not work for another although there is obviously a lot of common ground as well.

In any case, I enjoyed reading this thread. Music is one universal language that we all share and it's beautiful when people can understand each other, even empathize without saying a word. Just a tune and a smile. It gives me faith in a humanity that I'm sometimes scared of losing faith in.

<3

Welcome, Adyssa, and thanks for your comments about this thread and for the music you linked to. I really enjoyed listening to it. I also identify with what you say about the enjoyment of qualities that can be other than the complex musicality of Beethoven, and have empathy with the empathy explained in your last paragraph. :)

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Thanks kchiki, your musician friend has elaborated on the unexpectedly good uplifting feeling a melody or arrangement can have very thoroughly, better than I have managed. Nice songs, too, thanks.

And thanks, Panwasbipolar, quite a few mentions have been made about female vocal notes. “Creepy and good” sums it up differently!

 

[trautlein]

I do all the time. I play the piano and sing in the choir. I'm a fan of "indie" music, but certain artists that can bring me to tears above all others are Sigur Ros and The Antlers.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Thanks, trautlein, I like indie too, nice selection.

 

[wolram]

Does the roar of a Rolls Royce engine count as musical chills?

 

[G037H3]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnViDK-S0gk"

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Does the roar of a Rolls Royce engine count as musical chills?

Absolutely wolram! I'm interested in the distinction between sounds that are considered music and those that aren't generally thought of as music! That is great!

 

[rhody]

Does the roar of a Rolls Royce engine count as musical chills?

Wolram, Fuzzy,

I have never had any kind of chills on my current bike, a Yamaha FJR 1300, but when I get the new sports bike, BMW 1000RR, I will pay close attention and let you know.

I do get chills riding the FJR, but so far that has been because of headphones and music I am listening to, not from the riding experience.

We will have to wait and see, the BMW makes a lot more power and sings at up to 14,000 rpm, whereas the FJR coasts along at a leisurely 9500 rpm.

Rhody...

 

[wolram]

Absolutely wolram! I'm interested in the distinction between sounds that are considered music and those that aren't generally thought of as music! That is great!

I love the sound of a Rolls Royce merlin engine, it sends shivers down my spine.

 

[dlgoff]

Having chills as I type. Jethro Tull in concert on DIRECTV T101.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Wolram, Fuzzy,

I have never had any kind of chills on my current bike, a Yamaha FJR 1300, but when I get the new sports bike, BMW 1000RR, I will pay close attention and let you know.

I do get chills riding the FJR, but so far that has been because of headphones and music I am listening to, not from the riding experience.

We will have to wait and see, the BMW makes a lot more power and sings at up to 14,000 rpm, whereas the FJR coasts along at a leisurely 9500 rpm.

Rhody...

Great, it will be good to know if the BMW does that!

I love the sound of a Rolls Royce merlin engine, it sends shivers down my spine.

thanks, wolram, may I ask, what is it about the engine that sounds so good?

A few years ago my husband heard a Spitfire (actually, not in a movie,) for the first time. The sound was far in the distance and so faint I hadn’t even noticed it. His eyes welled and he said it was because it was such a wonderful engine, and also the history the sound evoked.

Having chills as I type. Jethro Tull in concert on DIRECTV T101.

Great, thanks dlgoff!