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Who feels chills while listening to music? People “open to experience”

CuriousFeeling

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I definitely experience chills while listening to music. Sometimes I experience even more than chills, where I feel like the sky is opening up, or a very intense emotional connection with the music. It's like the song colors my world, the sounds become a part of the scenery around me, or I can go on various emotional adventures with the music. And according to the Big 5 personality test, I score highest in "openness to experience."

I think this song is the most shiver inducing one for me:
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCVIn-WXMUU"]:headphne:[/YOUTUBE]

I love the intensity of the second half of the piece. I can also feel shivers from less intense pieces as well.
 

DiscoBiscuit

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[YOUTUBE="S6yuR8efotI"]Cello Suite No. 1 prelude[/YOUTUBE]

[YOUTUBE="ipzR9bhei_o"]Toccata and fugue in D minor[/YOUTUBE]
 

Salomé

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^You stole that from my profile anyway.
 

CuriousFeeling

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[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceIpM_bLSTA"]Firebird Suite- Berceuse and Finale[/YOUTUBE]
 

Southern Kross

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I remember reading something about how music can evoke certain emotions because apparently different tones and notes mimic different emotions in some sympathetic way. Like, for example, you can imagine a sad song and there is a quality sometimes of sad music in that it can sound like a wail or a cry, etc. So, it could even be Nickleback (ugh) if it hit the right sequence of tones and sounds to tap into that layer of our minds.
This totally makes sense to me because I have come to this conclusion on an instinctive basis.

I have noticed how certain chord progressions feel like they are directly hitting an emotional nerve causing a reflex like reaction or as if the music and emotion play in the same frequency. For me, classical music feels like it accesses very strong, primitive, deep set emotions, whereas (certain) contemporary music seems to tap into specific, delicate and more complex feelings. Both can be utterly spine chilling for me.

I get chills, and worse, tears. The tears are really embarassing. I get tears from beautiful art, too (but I don't recall chills from art, come to think of it).
I know, me too.

I cry more about beauty or some sort of powerful expression in the arts than I do when I'm actually sad. :D
 

highlander

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I get chills, and worse, tears. The tears are really embarassing.

Same here.

Watching the trailer from Patriot brought me to tears. What an idiot.

This said something about openness:

big5.jpg
 

Biaxident

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I always thought my reaction to music was strange. The music doesn't matter, either. No particular genre will trigger it. Just certain songs. It gives me a feeling of being alive. I really don't know how to describe it without sounding nutty.

:yes::yes:
 

Sunny Ghost

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I dedicate this post to our dear Redbone. :)

This is from a blog.

Who feels chills while listening to music? People “open to experience”
by Clive Thompson
December 11, 2010
collision detection


Excerpt:
Do you ever experience chills while listening to music? Recently, scientists have gotten interested in this question, and they’ve found some fascinating stuff. While most people experience chills some of the time, a small minority experience them very frequently — and about 10% say they never feel chills.

What accounts for the difference? Is it based in the type of music you listen to — like punk or country or hip-hop? Or the type of person you are? Or maybe some complex combination of the two — i.e. maybe the type of people who listen to, say, mainstream pop are also the type of people most likely to feel chills in the presence of art they heavily dig?

To try and figure it out, Emily C. Nusbaum (a scientific name that totally freaked me out because it’s almost precisely that of my wife) and Paul J. Silvia decided to survey 196 students at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. They asked them how often they felt chills while listening to music; then they profiled their personalities using the “big five” scale (i.e. how they scored on measures of neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, and conscientiousness). And finally they asked the students to describe how much they liked or hated various types of music based on the way music is categorized in the STOMP scale — which, for example, slots classic and folk music as “Reflective and Complex”, and rock and metal as “Intense and Rebellious”. (I kind of cracked up reading those STOMP categories. I mean, sure, yeah, technically Rachmaninoff is classical music — but it’s easily more “Intense and Rebellious” than, god save us, Nickelback. Meanwhile, Pachabel’s Canon, having become the go-to processional music for about seven trillion weddings, has been taxidermically drained of any serious reflective value. Anyway …)

The point is, once they crunched their data, no music genre trumped. There is no particular type of music you can listen to that will reliably impart chills. The truly big predictor? Your personality. Specifically, how open you are to experience — because this affects how frequently and deeply you engage with music. People who are more open to experience are also likely to interact with music in specifically intense ways:
In particular, rating music as more important, listening to music for more hours per day, and playing an instrument significantly predicted aesthetic chills.
< Read the full post >
Interesting thread! I'd say I often seek out music or movies that would give me chills or in general stimulate an emotional response.

I would expect more sensitive types to experience this more readily.
Perhaps more readily. But not necessarily are the only ones. However, I often equated enneagram type 4's to seek out more intense music.

I remember reading something about how music can evoke certain emotions because apparently different tones and notes mimic different emotions in some sympathetic way. Like, for example, you can imagine a sad song and there is a quality sometimes of sad music in that it can sound like a wail or a cry, etc. So, it could even be Nickleback (ugh) if it hit the right sequence of tones and sounds to tap into that layer of our minds.
agreed!

I get chills from time to time. Certain voices, certain music, can carry me off and away.
No particular genre will trigger it. Just certain songs. It gives me a feeling of being alive. I really don't know how to describe it without sounding nutty.
I'd say it's unpredictable. It could vary depending upon your own mood... something may just strike you... a voice, a lyric, a music note... I'd also have to say your full attention has to be on the music... being actively engaged. Headphones or a good set of speakers are a must!


a couple of chill inspiring songs ;) :

 
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kelric

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Generally I don't have much of a visceral response to music. There are some types of music that give me sort of a "swept away / flying" mindset, like fast-paced rock or a particularly resonant and loud classical piece, but not "chills". Well, except for that darned Olympic theme during the opening ceremonies, when the athletes start coming into the stadium *shame*. That gets me every time.
 

Fan.of.Devin

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I listen to many multiple hours of music a day, as well as play a few instruments, and I definitely do get major chills.
Music affects me emotionally far more strongly than any other artistic medium.
 

EJCC

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I'm not one of those people who gets chills all the time when I listen to music. But I do have them, sometimes. And I'm the same as Metaphor, in that...

I get the chills when someone nails the piece or song.

^ And I'll bet that's Te/Fi :D
 
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Ivy

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A bunch of posts have been moved to Off Topic Posts in the graveyard.
 

Octarine

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It is rare for me. But any chills are usually when I hear something fresh and original that I happen to like very much.
 

Such Irony

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I get chills frequently from music. I'm also a high scorer on openness to experience. Very interesting article.
 

Red Herring

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This one has accompanied me for years (especially roughly 07:00-08:30)

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wivo94ylmhE"]Keith Jarret - The Köln Concert[/YOUTUBE]

And this one also has a major impact, probably linked to some very distant childhood memories
[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdtLuyWuPDs&feature=related"]Smetana - Ma Vlast[/YOUTUBE]
 

Red Herring

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The historical context definitely adds to it, but I always found this moving.

[YOUTUBE="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfiarpOjI2s&feature=related"]Ay, Carmela[/YOUTUBE]
 

Fan.of.Devin

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I should add, though; I'm not really so sure that I'm any more "open to experience" than average... Maybe even less than average.
 
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