Music's Path to Emotions

We all time travel through the use of music. When I hear the Temptations, I’m in high school. Elvis evokes my Uncle Fred, who slicked his hair back just like him. Any 80s music makes me think of my daughter, and the 90s, my son. I have songs that bring memories of old friends and past boyfriends. When my voice students sing Oh What a Beautiful Morning, I’m riding the horse I used to own.

Opera transports me to my vocal concerts at Penn State. With jazz, I’m singing Summertime in the dark bar where I played during my brief foray as a single act. Joan Jett? I’m practicing with my all-girl band, Susie Creamcheese, that never got off the ground.

You listen to music and you’re lost in time and space. A forgotten song evokes tears, joy, or the memory of a long dead relative.

Use music to lighten your load, to laugh and love. Use it to bring peace to your wounded soul. Make it yourself, or listen to records. Music never disappoints. It always evokes a mood and a path. Treat yourself. It’s free. 

Go for the Goosebumps

When I do readings for clients, I know I’m on the right track when I get the goose bump skin that comes from emotional stimulus. When I teach voice lessons, I stress accurate pitch, and then I discuss how important it is to make the audience feel something. I tell them, give yourself goose bumps and the audience will get them too.

Some people are more prone to emotional chills than others. There is some scientific evidence that your personality can affect how often you get the chills. A 2007 paper published in the journal Motivation and Emotion found openness to experience, which is someone who is game to try new foods, adventures and different ideas, was a marker of getting the chills more frequently.

According to Matthew Sachs, a researcher at the University of Southern California who conducted a 2017 study, people who get the chills seem to have an enhanced ability to experience intense emotions. Sachs’ research, which was published in Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, indicated that those who experience a strong emotional response to music and then get chills may do so because their brains are wired differently.

Those who are very rigid and structured, as well as less curious and imaginative, and anyone blocked by trauma, depression, anxiety and mental struggles, likely won’t experience this dopamine rush and the subsequent chills as frequently.

I do believe it’s a good idea that when you get the chills, you pay attention. Something real is happening.