Why Music Give Chills

[rockdart]

I ran accross this out at Live Science dotcom and thought it intersting enough to pass along.

I think it's easy to say that this is supporting science for MM's email (http://womb.mixerman.net/showthread.php?t=78) - not necessarily the 'makes you turn it down', but dynamic range and it's effects.

"Our results suggest that chills depend very much on our ability to interpret the music," said Oliver Grewe, a biologist and musicologist at the institute. "Music is a recreative activity. Even if it is relaxing to listen to, the listener has to recreate its meaning, the feelings it expresses. It is the listener who gives life to the emotions in music."

This is only a snippet. The full article can be found here (http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/mm_061120_music_chills.html).

[Bob Olhsson]

http://www.livescience.com/humanbiology/mm_061120_music_chills.html

This is pretty simplistic and I fear quite oversimplified. Yes, expectation plays a huge role however there's also a whole world of somatic response to pitch and rhythm that underlies everything. Expectation does make something acceptable to some but not others however I think we need to be looking at where expectations come from. I know for a fact that many of the times I've gotten chills, I had absolutely no experience with or expectations of the music.

There is a formal area of study called music therapy that goes into a lot more depth. One of the more interesting things is that we all seem to be born with perfect relative pitch and a strong natural response to even vs accelerating rhythm. People actually have to learn how to sing out of tune or play out of time. A lot of it is simply nervous tension.

[62Jazzbass]

There is a formal area of study called music therapy that goes into a lot more depth. One of the more interesting things is that we all seem to be born with perfect relative pitch and a strong natural response to even vs accelerating rhythm. People actually have to learn how to sing out of tune or play out of time. A lot of it is simply nervous tension.

Very interesting. I have been impressed on several occasions when I have heard my son tapping out a rhythm in time to some music playing in the room. I first noticed this when he was around two. Likewise I have been impressed with my daughters pitch when singing along to music in the car, quietly. In both cases, they were unaware that anyone was paying attention.

On the other side of it and to support Bob's statement, when called upon to do the same while being directly observed, the results were quite different.