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[INTP] Experiencing Emotion Through Music

Salomé

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I've been wondering a lot about this topic lately. When I listen to music that I like, I feel to a degree that I simply cannot replicate in my everyday experiences with people, even in situations that would call for an intensified degree of feeling. As a result, my favorite types of music are the most extremely sensitive and emotional. Does anyone else experience this? Does everyone?
I think most people would identify with being profoundly moved by music. It's perhaps one of the few areas where INTPs are approximately normal. If that were not the case music would not have the universal cultural significance it has.

I don't feel much from music.
Well, everyone except INTJs, that is, but they're, you know...INTJs.

I read INTPs love of music is related to Fe.

I was discussing this with someone not long ago. I don't think it has anything to do with Fe. Emotions <> Fe! Music seems to have a direct pathway to our emotional core. Unlike most other things, Ti doesn't manage to get in the way and tell it how stupid it is.
Although Ti can get off on the complexity of some types of music too.

I don't relate re lyrics. They are usually at least, if not more, important for me. Inane lyrics can completely ruin the experience for me.

And I love melancholy stuff most of all.
 

Eric B

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Well I only speak for myself, but good lord, no! I know it's pretty typical to hear the "I hate country" thing from people, but I just really can't stand it. If you turn on Rascal Flatts (sp?) I will be angry no matter what mood I was previously experiencing.

And no, I don't mean Johnny Cash or any of the other "old country", so don't bring it up. You all know that what we call country today is an entirely different beast.
Yeah, it's not traditional country style I was talking about. (though I find most of that just boring) The group/song I mentioned had that Grand Funk Railroad sound.

Rascal Flatts immediately makes me want to kill people. It SHOULD evoke that response in everyone. :smile:

When they first came out, and performed their first hit on Good Morning America (God Bless the Broken Road), I dedicated it to my wife, because I knew she would like it. But the emotion actually gives me that uncomfortable "gooey" feeling. Though it was the words and how we could relate to it that made me take notice.
 

Tallulah

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When they first came out, and performed their first hit on Good Morning America (God Bless the Broken Road), I dedicated it to my wife, because I knew she would like it. But the emotion actually gives me that uncomfortable "gooey" feeling. Though it was the words and how we could relate to it that made me take notice.

That's actually a really well-written song, even though the sentimentality of it does make me a little *eyeroll*. I also tend to kneejerk dismiss things that I know will appeal to the masses. :smile: But Rascal Flatts' singer is so nasal, I can't listen to anything they sing. I feel like I'm having a stroke. Plus, they've got that really weird Nashville metrosexual, overly-highlighted thing going on. "What Hurts the Most" is also a pretty well-written song that I can't actually listen to. :p
 

Orangey

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I think most people would identify with being profoundly moved by music. It's perhaps one of the few areas where INTPs are approximately normal. If that were not the case music would not have the universal cultural significance it has.

True, true. Though some people have more of an obsessive fascination for it than others.

I don't relate re lyrics. They are usually at least, if not more, important for me. Inane lyrics can completely ruin the experience for me.

Oh, I didn't think about it in that sense. Usually the first thing that attracts me to a piece of music is the melody, but if a song has really stupid lyrics, I can't listen to it. Most songs don't have completely unbearable lyrics, though. It's when you get something either super whiny and teenage-angst trite or super literal that it makes me want to turn the music off.

And I love melancholy stuff most of all.

Yeah, melancholy music is probably what I listen to most.
 

ilikeitlikethat

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Yeah.

This.


This is why I like muisc, it's both a great way to express yourself and something you can express to.

I never really thought about it that way before but, music is great.

'I can see/picture music' - naturally.

Sweet Child O'Mine, that guitar riff there, that intro is just this interlocking winding anamation that plays in my head, that changes colours and keeps going and recording like polygraph; and it's usally the same 3 colours pretty much; Green, Yellow and Red... I don't know, there could be some Pink and Purple in there too (Maybe it's Black and Gold)? (It's usally easier to say it's Green Yellow and Pink or Green Yellow and Red, that feels more right, but, I guess it depends on many other factors too, like, tone and also, maybe my age too, or memeory but, I'm gonna say Green, Yellow and Pink); It's always the same animation though; and I first heard that song or, started to take notice of that song at a really young age; music is just shapes to me but, that riff there is... that animation thing; I could try and draw it/paint it on to a canvas but, I can't ever get it right so what's the point?
 

Owlesque

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Yes.

I have always been fond of instrumental/orchestral music, but I am particularly drawn to emotional, melancholic pieces with lots of strings, usually in minor keys. Something about it provokes a reaction that I don't experience in other contexts, and I can get surprisingly worked up over a piece of music or a sad scene in a fictional work set to a good score while "real world" occurrences that you think would elicit an emotional response fail to...
 

Such Irony

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Music is usually a relief Si thing for me. Brings back memories, and even a newer song that resembles an older song or style will in interesting. I like funky, layered stuff, and I grew up breaking down music into its parts, such as chords, which I have identified as what I often focused on in songs I like. (I also grew up not noticing the words, and my wife remembers songs mostly by the words and points them out to me, though she can appreciate the layers and other technical details as well). I'm affected by it emotionally too. I grew up with stuff like Simon & Garfunkel's "Sound of SilenceK and "Scarbbough Fair" and Procol Harum's "Whiter Shade of Pail" and just the harmony of these songs could almost make me cry when I was young. As I was writing this, they were just playing on the radio Marshall Tucker Band "Can't You See" (which I probably never heard of before), but that sad country-rock sound and theme grates on me as well. This isn't the kind of "melancholic music" INTP's are said to enjoy, is it? (I would like jazzier stuff, and I can be moved more positively by a touching piece as well)

Sounds alot like me. I use Si a good deal when listening to music. Sometimes when listening to an older song, I can pinpoint the moment when I first listened to it and when I was doing at the time and make all sorts of associations related to it. Like you I tend to pay far more attention to how something sounds than the lyrics. I don't pay a whole lot of attention to the lyrics unless I really relate to it or find them particularly funny, amusing. etc. When I do focus on the lyrics, I get frustrated when I can pick out certain words, which happens alot.

Sounds like your taste in music is similar to mine. I too prefer funkier, layered stuff and I like alot of the oldies that came out before I was even born. I don't like country so much but there are exceptions.
 

Eric B

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What kind of funkier, layered stuff and oldies? R&B, or rock, or everything?
I clearly lean towards R&B, with Stevie Wonder as my favorite (and he was even a little rock-ish at one time, as well as jazzy), and then other Motown, Philly soul, and disco. The one classic rock album we had was Beatles Abbey Road, and that really fit in with the soulful style. And then, Dad's jazz. On the radio, it was top 40, and then 80's stuff I would hear others play. The only thing I really didn't like was the hard "acid" rock, and what made this worse is that its fans kept putting disco down. (I was in high school during the height of the whole "disco sucks" movement, and it was at that time simply changing to a more electronic dance that eventually became techno).
 

Blank

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Mark me down as another NT who listens to music for the atmosphere and not the lyrics.

Generally, I think of vocals as an extra instrument that accompany a song. There are a few exceptions where I would like the song more for the lyrics--John Lennon's Imagine, being a good examples of this. An example of a song that I like in spite of god-awful lyrics would be The Pixies' Wave of Mutilation. . .I can't really think of the name of a song that I can't stand because of the lyrics alone, but there are a few.

I am a fan of more mellow, melancholic music. I also greatly enjoy orchestral music and instrumental music. Like others, I prefer "giberrish" or not knowing the language of a song I'm listening to. I prefer songs with musical variance and generally can't stand rap/hip-hop. I can't bear to listen to dubstep or country. I do like rock quite a bit, although I'm not sure whether I could quantify liking rock or orchestral songs more. I do like pop a little but it can get old really quickly. I don't like death metal, screamo, or any genre that feels inauthentic and like it's trying too hard. I hate pretty much everything on the radio.

Of course, since musical taste is so subjective, it's something that I never like discussing with others because I'm picky about what I like and I don't expect others to like what I do.
 

Coriolis

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Of course, since musical taste is so subjective, it's something that I never like discussing with others because I'm picky about what I like and I don't expect others to like what I do.
I don't mind discussing with others, I just usually can't explain exactly what I get out of a piece of music. The part of it that I am able to put into words is just the tip of the iceberg.
 

Froody Blue Gem

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Sometimes, it's hard to put my emotions into words but I may be able to find a song that fits my situation or how I'm feeling perfectly. Then, I overkill the replay button and in that way, the song helps me to be expressive. There are just some songs and artists that can never get old to me, and discovering a new one is a special thing. I get lost in the music and what I associate with it, then any anxieties may not be as severe. Or I may associate songs with positive things too.
 

Maou

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I have noticed that the playlist I employ matches my mood. So when im sad, I listen to sad music. When I'm hyper, I listen to upbeat etc.

Music has always been something I used to stimulate my emotions, and help me process them. I also use it to write, and create. Sometimes music makes me feel things I never knew I could. Someone else's pain, happiness, or solitude. I don't consider myself empathetic, but music bridges that gap temporarily.
 

Abcdenfp

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I have noticed that the playlist I employ matches my mood. So when im sad, I listen to sad music. When I'm hyper, I listen to upbeat etc. Music has always been something I used to stimulate my emotions, and help me process them. I also use it to write, and create. Sometimes music makes me feel things I never knew I could. Someone else's pain, happiness, or solitude. I don't consider myself empathetic, but music bridges that gap temporarily.
I can relate to All of this , I can tell when I am numbing out because I realize that I drive in silence or the apartment is silent. The void of music also shows my emotional state
 

Kanra Jest

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I listen to music to feel. To counteract my frequent emotional flatness. To examine what I feel, and of the concept of feeling in general. Takes me to another world. Reminds me I'm alive.

So I am an NT who definitely listens to music and experiences the emotions of it. Or better described, the 'atmosphere' is what gets me. Then the lyrics and meaning of it.
 
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