Hi. Just wondering if anyone find music a big emotional influence?
I am finding the last few years if I hear certain songs I get emotional. Sometimes I could be driving (which I love doing) and a song I like comes on I get almost tearfully emotional and not sure if it’s happy or sad.
doesn’t happen every time but more so lately ( have been feeling low of late)
just wondered other people’s thoughts.
thanks
I see it's been a while, but I find this topic relatable, so I decided to chime in. It's amazing how a particular song or melody can evoke such strong feelings and memories. I've had those moments where a particular piece comes on, and it hits me right in the feels, whether it's happiness, sadness, or a mix of both. That's the power of music - it can connect us to our emotions in a way that nothing else can. I found an online site teaching art to kids [link removed by Moderator] and even I am learning new things about music theory there. I'm even thinking of getting a full course. What can I say.. I love music!
I haven't seen it, does it have a similar story? Will look it up
And the average life expectancy for hymn writers is very old. Music therapy has few side effects and can be very effective. Much better than antidepressants
About the young man who had the stutter, have you ever watched ‘The King’s Speech’?
That's interesting, I wonder if the pacing / rhythm has something to do with it? I once saw a video of a young man who usually has a stutter speaking clearly while listening to music, it's so interesting what music can do for people.
Never thought of it like that but kinda makes sense.
something else I’ve thought of recently is I almost have to listen to music when driving or working but when at home not slightest bit interested in listening to music.
I got in a machine recently and on way back to destination spent most time hitting the stereo as it had a bad connection and kept switching off.
Absolutely. I think there's something to do with music that is so harmonising that it can actually bring us into 'alignment', maybe, by producing synchronised sound waves amongst the often unsynchronised sounds that come in. Maybe this affects emotions because it's almost like a song represents a miniature life, an example of what happens when everything lines up perfectly and tells a full story.
Sometimes I find it’s a sad thought or memory that triggers it but sometimes it’s just a nice day am enjoying the drive and a song I really like comes on I just well up and tears start rolling down my face. Never told anyone that as I thought I’d be called a weirdo. Sometimes just an emotionally charged bit of music can do it.
but by far the biggest trigger is the piece of music played at my grandads funeral. Welling up just thinking bout it.
This is really interesting. I experience this occasionally and have often wondered whether this was "normal".
As others have said it's usually when I am driving and I'm listening to the radio or a CD and a particular song or just part of a song just triggers a sudden upswell of emotion and I find unexpected tears in my eyes. Sometimes it passes quickly, and other times I have to turn the radio off because it's just too much, then I drive the rest of the way in silence.
Absolutely!
It seems similar to what I experience. Audio induced emotional response It also seems I have a conscious/aware and subconscious/unaware version of this.
When recalling events and explaining them I more often than not relive the emotions that i did at the time. Not only with negative or distressing events - but with positive ones too. (this is especially true when retelling/vocalising past events)
I have always enjoyed music because of how it can make me feel, but thought that its effects were confined to active listening. It was my brother who noticed that I also subconsciously react to background music that I am not paying attention to.
I cannot sing in front of people. I could be singing while driving as soon as someone drives towards me I stop. The second I think anyone can see me I clam up.
Certain songs hold a very personal meaning and just a hint of the first notes it starts me off.
Yes I totally get this. I have always been musical, but can't sing, or play a note, LOl! Certian songs take me back to other times, some happy, some sad. A couple of songs really get me and take me back to my childhood when life was so much simpler and easier and it was all ahead of me.
I also find it a very personal experience that you just can not share. I love it when my wife goes out on a weekend night and I have a few beers and put on my headphones and totally loose myself. When that happns there will be tears but also lots of happyness. My wife just thinks oh thats a nice sing along tune but for me it is massivley deeper.
I’ve been playing my computer sometimes and an emotional bit of music plays on tv and I start sometimes.
but mostly when I am driving if seems to happen.
Yeap me too.... In fact the only time I cry is when I am experiencing a complete meltdown or I am driving and listening to music. I have had to pull over before now because I have so much water coming out of my eyes I can't see!
Like trogluddite I have difficulty identifying and expressing my emotions and I think they go in noticed until they become so big that they burst out of me. I think there is a connection. Something that music does to alter brain signals....
Yes, I experience this quite often; and as you said, I can often be quite perplexed about whether the upwelling of emotion is happy or sad. It's nearly always with music that I know well, including theme tunes from favourite childhood TV shows and the like, and often doesn't really fit with the "emotional tone" or style of the music - like a kind of extreme nostalgia, but without any idea what I'm pining for.
It certainly seems to relate to alexithymia in some way for me; the terrible difficulty that I have with knowing exactly what emotion I'm feeling in general, and inability to express my emotions clearly to anyone. It's as if the emotion is sitting there inside me without me knowing it, and my brain isn't quite sure what to do with it until something from outside suddenly triggers it to burst out. I've often had the same thing happen with things in TV shows and cartoons, even when the scene doesn't really seem all that emotional (I went through a period of chilling out after a stressful day at work by having a laugh at The Simpsons and suddenly finding myself a blubbering wreck, for example).
It also happens sometimes when I'm making music. I might not be aiming to express any particular idea or emotion, and I don't really play "songs" as such (I'm a bass player); but sometimes I'll realise that I'm crying without having any idea why or even how long I've been doing it for.
It certainly does happen more when my mood is low; though that is also something which often creeps up on me without my noticing it - so I do take these little emotional episodes as a sign that I need to ask myself whether I'm less content or more stressed than I realise; something which the last counsellor I saw encouraged me to do, though I can't honestly say that I reach much of a conclusion a lot of the time.
Hope your mood lifts soon - I'm certainly hoping Spring will perk me up a bit!
