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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”

#82
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I don't think it's about expectations at all. For me it's about the state of mind I'm in when I listen to it, same song will or won't give me goosebumps based on where my head is at even if I've heard it hundreds of times.

That's a different effect. There are different reasons why you react to music. You can have a strong emotional reaction for example because it was played during a key moment of a movie you really liked, or while someone broke up with you, and then this feeling is forever fused to a song. And recalled through it. But it is well understood that music in general connects with us by meeting and breaking expectations we have about music.

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#84
post #74

From 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…

My immediate reaction to this is "that's a very high-brow way to condemn music eliciting a primal response". I get it, if people raving to brain-numbing bass sounds is low-brow, then how is captivating an audience with music of any form any different? 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 ba…

Taruskin is writing in the context of the western literate (i.e. classical) tradition of music, and he was very sceptical about the mainstream, hyper-intellectual way of composing as represented by who adhere to serialism and other structured devices which eschew immediate pleasure. He is saying here that those other composer (mainly minimalists who wrote what he called pattern-and-process music) who have more immediate appeal do not necessarily represent a panacea for the woes of modern classical music.

The western literate tradition has a long history of emphasising the co-existence of intellectual understanding and the immediate appeal of the notes. Beethoven is the most famous (or notorious) example, but scholars have traced it back to as early as the turn of the 16th century[1]. Like food and sex, which can be enjoyed with different amounts of complexity and intellectual involvement, it's reasonable to say once in a while, "this time, we can do a better little better than mere animals".

[1] https://www.routledge.com/The-Crisis-of-Music-in-Early-Moder... The

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#85
post #3

I 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…

Nice to see that other people love Donkey Kong. Here's what I have to share.

When I study (mostly algorithms and mathy stuff) I listen to this: https://youtu.be/daOaDBIh9xo

For chilling I prefer this: https://youtu.be/CKAc3nYEatw

For coding session (where I need to be creative) I listen to this in loop (usually 9-10 times in a row per session (I code a lot, mostly JS (I got a different song for Rust, I feel like for Rust different brain regions need to be activated))) https://youtu.be/AnEfB1F9BaY

When I travel to work (literally _travel_ to work, I choose working locations far away from my apartment, so I can walk there. The furthest was like 20 miles.) For this, I listen to this: https://youtu.be/0ttYoJk5sHY

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#86
post #56

I used to love the subreddit https://www.reddit.com/r/Frisson/top/?sort=top&t=all which is now kind of inactive. Surprisingly to me, music didn't work as well as images/text for inducing frisson. For example I reread this piece very often: https://i.imgur.com/jrlpeme.jpg

https://i.redd.it/kv1vxq40nam21.jpg

my favourite

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#87
post #62
post #7

the article claims the playlist is "scientifically verified" ... but doesn't seem to cover the science behind the list construction or verification. is there a background article somewhere else?

I wish there was. There's so much subjectivity and context that feeds into whether you experience "frisson" when hearing a song. I was very surprised to see Infected Mushroom in the playlist. Psytrance is the last thing that will give me goosebumps. Though I'm sure there are people out there who have imbibed, who have a connection to music like this.

Psytrance gives extra frisson, but most people have to be high on something to appreciate it. I know that the nootropics I've taken are working when psytrance goes from being slightly annoying to listen to to being awesome.

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#88
post #51

I briefly mention this phenomenon in Designing Sound [1], and have since learned there are several forms of it elicited aurally. As well as the pleasurable goose-bumps associated with positive musical emotion there's another kind, an 'uneasy' frission that is the feeling of hairs on the back of your neck raising. While the "Wilhelm scream" is the most talked about sound design cliche, probably the one familiar to mos…

Could you link to an example of a doom tone?

When the T-1000 appears: https://youtu.be/vIfUW5-qkc4?t=10

Re: Listening to songs can cause a physiological response known as “frisson”

#89

“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 never thought I'd see Nightwish on HN! they are amazing

on the theme of Nordic chills, does anyone remember Árstíðir - Heyr himna smiður (Icelandic hymn) in train station?

https://youtube.com/watch?v=e4dT8FJ2GE0

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