“Expectancy violations (e.g., harmonic, rhythmic, and/or melodic violations) are strongly correlated to the onset of musical frisson, such that some level of violated expectation may be a prerequisite.” Interesting. The Spotify playlist didn't do much for me, but when I think of a couple moments in songs that always give me chills, they all feature that pattern: Nightwish, Ghost Love Score , Wacken 2013 @ 9:22, affec…
I suppose that's also how songs wear out with time and/or repeated listens. Fittingly, any frisson seems to be the first to go. I'll contribute Stellenbosch University Choir's rendition of Say Something (by A Great Big World and Christina Aguilera). The arrangement capitalizes on the choir's dynamic range; by remaining relatively soft throughout, the sudden loud, tutti passages (1:38 & 3:51) have great effect. https:…
Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
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Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#72I remember one of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard about music.
I was channel-surfing, a number of years ago, and paused on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He was putting on a record (yes, the round black things), and said ”Music helps us to feel things.”
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#73If it's due to anticipation and violated expectations, how come the same song can still give you goosebumps even after you know it very well?
Because you still have the same expectations about how music should be structured the second time you listen to it. But the effect wears off after some time. Try playing it 20 times on repeat. It won't do it anymore. But that's mostly temporary, if you come back to it after a while it should work again.
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#74> So much one may elicit from a pithed frog, and—if you remember your high school biology class—under conditions that are not dissimilar. Philip Glass, indeed, speaks frankly of eliciting a “biological” response from his audience. Here are his own words on the opera whose effects Wilson described:
> I decided that I would try to write a piece that left the audience standing, and I’ve almost never played that music without seeing everyone leave his seat; it’s the strangest thing, almost biological. In fact, sometimes I’ve done concerts where I’ve played the Spaceship [i.e., the Einstein finale], and then as an encore played the last part of the Spaceship, and the same thing happens again.
> But no, there is nothing strange about this: it’s basic behavior-modification therapy, and so far from spontaneous or liberating, it is calculated authoritarian manipulation. I find it sinister. My first contact with P&P came in June 1983 (yes, I’d been avoiding it) at a little festival sponsored by the New York Philharmonic and organized by the orchestra’s then composer-in-residence, Jacob Druckman, around the theme “Since 1968—A New Romanticism?” Druckman’s keynote essay in the program spoke optimistically of the “reemergence of . . . Dionysian qualities: sensuality, mystery, nostalgia, ecstasy, transcendency.” What I heard, in John Adams’s Grand Pianola Music, was an attempt to reduce me to an autonomic nervous system. My body responded to the programmed thrills and chills even as my mind protested. I, too, felt gooseflesh—and, I’ll admit, gooseflesh at a new-music concert was indeed a novelty. But it was a gooseflesh brought about not by way of evocation or epiphany but by anesthetizing the conscious mind and then administering a series of galvanic shocks. For me the experience was frightening. What had won so many over left me feeling diminished and degraded. And I guess I’m sounding like old man Adorno in spite of myself.
[1] https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520268050/the-danger-of-mus...
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#75Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#76From the perspective of a totally corrupt theorist, the response may not entirely be a positive thing. Richard Taruskin wrote about it in the opening essay of The Dangers of Music and other Anti-Utopian Essays[1]. > So much one may elicit from a pithed frog, and—if you remember your high school biology class—under conditions that are not dissimilar. Philip Glass, indeed, speaks frankly of eliciting a “biological” res…
But look, you could make arguments in the same vein about how evil it is to eat good food, or enjoy a good sleep. Or sex. Giving in to primal desires is not a-priori bad, particularly when it is on your own (and whoever else is involved) terms - like voluntarily going to a concert. I hope the author doesn't react to those "reductions to autonomous nervous systems" with the same disgust, or they'll have a sad life...
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#77I can't overstate how important music is to my productivity. What I listen to is extremely dependent on my mood and energy levels, but I almost always have on some long playlists (or better still, a single long youtube video, with adblocker on of course). When I need calm, awesomeness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXSrQ_c904M Upbeat productivity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-NXWQ9QZwo#t=27m13s When I want to…
After working with and without music for over 20 years I think working without music makes me more productive, working with music is more pleasant.
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#78Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#79I haven’t heard that term in a while. I remember one of the most profound statements I’ve ever heard about music. I was channel-surfing, a number of years ago, and paused on Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. He was putting on a record (yes, the round black things), and said ”Music helps us to feel things.”
Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”
#80Pink Floyd - Echoes surely is one of the best recipes for frisson. However for me Royksopp - Forever is the absolute number 1 winner in this category. It feels like those guys have really cracked the code with this one. Just listen for at least 20s before 3:10: https://youtu.be/nM_txL43iFM?t=170