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Hey, musicians - what causes "the Chills."
Topic Started: Dec 12 2010, 04:54 PM (780 Views)
George K
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Finally

http://bodyodd.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/12/09/5619731-messiah-give-you-chills-thats-a-clue-to-your-personality

Brian Alexander writes: Some of us get the chills when hearing Handel's exultant "Messiah" this time of year. For others, it's the simple, yet joyful opening strains of Vince Guaraldi's music at the start of "A Charlie Brown Christmas." Or it might be Bing Crosby's poignant "I'll Be Home for Christmas" that triggers goose bumps. (Or for the sillier of us, his whimsical "Mele Kalikimaka" might just do it.)

Well, it turns out that getting chills upon hearing music is an actual thing, you know, like scientists study. And a new report in the journal Social Psychology and Personality Science says that who gets music-induced chills and who doesn't might depend on personality.

Musical chills, write the authors, from the University of North Carolina, are "sometimes known as aesthetic chills, thrills, shivers, frisson, and even skin orgasms [who knew?] … and involve a seconds-long feeling of goose bumps, tingling, and shivers, usually on the scalp, the back of the neck, and the spine, but occasionally across most of the body."

The scientific explanation for chills is that the emotions evoked by beautiful or meaningful music stimulate the part of the brain called the hypothalamus, which controls primal drives such as hunger, sex and rage and also involuntary responses like blushing and goosebumps. When the song soars, your body can't help but shiver.

Some people report lots of skin orgasms and some people say they never get them, but the personality trait "openness to experience" seems like a good predictor. (By "open to experience" the researchers seem to mean those people who enjoy art, good movies, aesthetic stuff.)

That's what the North Carolina researchers wanted to test. So they took 196 people and assessed their music preferences; how often they experienced chills, goose bumps, hair standing on end and the like; their engagement with music (such as whether they played an instrument); and their personality types. The only personality trait with a significant impact on music-induced chills was indeed "openness."

Genre, the style of music people listened to, didn't seem to matter, though a deeper engagement with music in general did. So "Messiah," Irving Berlin's "White Christmas," and your child's rendition of "Oh Christmas Tree" might all give chills (though your kid's singing might just be scary) if you're the open type.

In 2007, scientists from the University of California San Diego studied whether or not getting chills from music enhanced altruism by measuring whether or not those who got them were more willing to donate blood. It turned out that the skin orgasm getters may be open, but chills didn't make them any more giving, which might mean those guys ringing those damn bells ought to give it a rest already. Since music doesn't make us any more generous why not play something good? Try some Vince Guaraldi instead.
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Big John
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George:i Just wrote you a really long reply and then accidentally erased it.

The Golden ratio is what you are talking about. It is a number that is roughly 2/3 and is based on the ancient Greek (and later Baroque) studies in architecture, science and music that certain ratios are visually appealing as well as emotionally satisfying. The formal name for it in Ancient Greek and Baroque times was the Doctrine of Affections.

Chopin, for example, used the Golden ratio formally (meaning on purpose) in most of his etudes and nocturnes. This means that the climax in expression and technicality came at a point 2/3 into the pieces -- which result in the biggest cathartic feeling for listeners. He was a master of this.

Other mathematical systems used in music include the fibonacci sequence.

Also, there are certain combinations of harmonic progressions that can cause tension in a listener's mind. Staying in a minor key for example, or always resolving something to a minor when your brain thinks it should resolve to a major all create frustration. When a piece finally, majestially, triumphantly resolves to a major key through the circle of fifths -- usually through a decisive V-V-I progression -- dominant, dominant, tonic -- the listener breathes a huge sigh of relief and can get goosebumps. Such secondary dominant to dominant to tonic cadences ABOUND in the Alleluiah Chorus.

For my final music theory project, I analyzed a clip of the chariot race from the silence version of Ben Hur. there was so much going on in a theoretical way that touching on the Golden ratio or the doctrine of affections was impossible, but the constant tension-building and final triumphant resolution through a perfect authentic cadence after a seemingly endless prolongation which also follows an agonizingly repetitive "deceptive cadences" leaves the viewer feeling so much relief at the end that he has no choice but to identify with the protagonist.

watch for yourself -- easiest to read on full screen:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLl514vZuiQ

The beginning sets the stage for the upcoming race by employing all kinds of harmonic tricks -- all clearly spelled out in the annotations. It moves fast so you may have to watch it twice to get all the information. i got an A+ on that project.

Bach dabbled in the Golden Mean, but was just so darn brilliant that he didn't need a bunch of tricks from antiquity. Chopin really used it to the max though.

The Golden Mean is 1.618 but the 2/3 number is arrived at because the original boundary is about 2/3 of the total of the resulting rectangle when you add the Golden mean TO it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNQk_GJuZQo

Hope that helps.





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Big John
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PS: If you listen to Kom Susser Todd -- one of my favorite Bach chorales, it is divided into three parts (major, minor and major). The climax of each part occurs roughly 2/3 into each part with the big resolution from minor to major occurring at roughly the 2/3 point of the combination.

This version plays the same chorale twice -- the repeat being more full organ -- "pull out all the stops" as one might say -- and the 2/3 portions are more obvious.

Tell me if you do not get goosebumps anywhere in this piece. Just close your eyes and let the music wash over you with good speakers. At some point you will feel catharsis. This particular chorale is known for its ability to make people feel.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xje4OYalB5Q

Have a great night.





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PattyP
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I am often moved to tears. Does that count?

Or does it just mean I'm a wuss? :D
Edited by PattyP, Dec 12 2010, 08:44 PM.

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Rainman
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Thanks, Big John. Interesting stuff, no?

You seem to be at that level of depth where you are discovering the "OMG" in Art music. I remember so many times over the years being overwhelmed, surprised, astonished, at how the craft of composition underlied the unique genius of the composer and supported the logical evolution of style.

For your next project, please counter the often-heard perspective "it's great music because I like it."
:silly:

The Rainman (DMA)
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Big John
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thanks rainman. PattyP it means you have a soul in my opinion. There are a lot of not-so-human people out there, and music is one of the ways that I find the people that are. George is most definitely in that group as are the majority of the people at these forums. That's why I come back. At the end of the day we all share a love of music.





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Frank_W
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PattyP
Dec 12 2010, 08:42 PM
I am often moved to tears. Does that count?

Or does it just mean I'm a wuss? :D
Me too. Music is the one thing that truly moves me... :) That's why I became a musician. :)
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Kincaid
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HOLY CARP!!!
Doesn't really happen for me unless I've got some secondary memory (that is in itself thrilling) attached to the music.
Kincaid - disgusted Republican Partisan since 2006.
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RosemaryTwo
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HOLY CARP!!!
Heh
"Perhaps the thing to do is just to let stupid run its course." Aqua
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