Surprised by Joy -- deep emotional reactions to music

[beenherebeforeagain]

I took the title of this thread from CS Lewis' book, in which he makes what is known as the argument from desire that God exists. He describes experiences he had in his life that elevated him to ecstasy, but a painful ecstasy full of longing. I'd like to talk about these kinds of experiences, but triggered by music.

I suspect that most of you are going to think I'm nuts, but a few of you who have had these same reactions are going to understand. If you think I'm a whack job, please be kind with your responses, as it is very hard for me to reveal my heart.

I have been highly sensitive to music all my life. But although yes I'm a composer, honestly, these experiences usually happen when I listen to the music of others. For example, there was an occasion where I was teaching at a music magnet school, and we were at an assembly where a cellist from the local symphony played Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux. I could not stop crying. And I mean I tried to stop -- my students were all watching me. But I was in absolute heaven. I have also become almost drunk singing in the choir during religious holidays, my body tingling all over, sometimes even walking into posts afterwards. LOL

What I'm trying to say is that music can put me into that same state of deep painful longing that Lewis tried to describe. When I read his book, I recognized immediately that he was talking about the same thing. I realize there are certain things I am more sensitive to. Cymbal swells always give me goosebumps. A walkup feels to me like an ascent into heaven, and a walkdown feels like a fall. Minor keys in particular move my heart. And oh my gosh those transitions into new keys!!! I would say that I have moved into an altered state of consciousness.

I believed music revealed something deep and profound. William James described this noetic quality as integral to mystical experiences. When I would say things like, "There is just so much truth in that," my family had to reason with me that music doesn't convey truth. It took them years before I finally acquiesced. But even though I know this in my head, in my heart, music is still truth.

So, is there any kindred spirits out there? Maybe we can share songs that really do it for us?

Thank you for sharing your experience. I also often experience music on a very visceral, emotional, but at the same time, ethereal level...

 

[Evangelicalhumanist]

Okay gang. I need your help to figure this out. The following song, which is used for a horror tv series called FROM, is creepy beyond words, and I can't figure out why. Is it because they changed a well known happy song from a major to minor key, and that just hits like a sense of wrongness? Is it the fast vibrating instrument in the background (I'm not sure what the instrument is, maybe a balalaika?). Is it the empty fifths of the vocals and noticeable lack of thirds? It gives me a sense of foreboding, and I'm just not sure why. Please listen and share your ideas.

@Kathryn @Yerda @The Hammer @Evangelicalhumanist @беспокойный путешественни @anna.

BTW, this MGM original series is truly, as Stephen King said, scary as hell. I'm so stoked that season three premieres on September 22.

​

Haven't had time to analyze it yet, but on first hearing, it is almost an homage to Leonard Cohen.

On further listening, I don't think there are any special harmonic elements that give the effect you describe, with the exception, as @Kathryn suggests, the minor key versus major in the original. Rather, I think the combination of tempo (Pixies have added fully 1/2 to the length, from 2 minutes to 3 minutes -- tapping out the beat like a beating heart), and the fact that the extreme lilting melody of the original has been reduced to half-hearted attempts at following a melodic line, failing at every opportunity to go where the ear (at least the ear that knows the original as sung by Doris Day) expects and wants it to go.

 

[anna.]

Okay gang. I need your help to figure this out. The following song, which is used for a horror tv series called FROM, is creepy beyond words, and I can't figure out why. Is it because they changed a well known happy song from a major to minor key, and that just hits like a sense of wrongness? Is it the fast vibrating instrument in the background (I'm not sure what the instrument is, maybe a balalaika?). Is it the empty fifths of the vocals and noticeable lack of thirds? It gives me a sense of foreboding, and I'm just not sure why. Please listen and share your ideas.

@Kathryn @Yerda @The Hammer @Evangelicalhumanist @беспокойный путешественни @anna.

BTW, this MGM original series is truly, as Stephen King said, scary as hell. I'm so stoked that season three premieres on September 22.

​

I don't know have enough musical knowledge to know fifths and thirds and such. Listening to it though, for me, it's the beat that feels like a heartbeat running through it, and the instrumentals behind it, but it's very effective, it gives me a sense of foreboding also.

 

[anna.]

tapping out the beat like a beating heart),

I hope you believe me when I say I didn't read your reply until after I'd posted. I saw the thread bumped and went straight to @IndigoChild5559 's post on the previous page and replied directly to it.

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Haven't had time to analyze it yet, but on first hearing, it is almost an homage to Leonard Cohen.

Oh my goodness, now that you mention it, it does sound a lot like him! I'm a real Leonard Cohen fan, especially "You Like it Darker." Perhaps because I am Jewish, using Hineni in a song about his impending death really reaches to my core.

On further listening, I don't think there are any special harmonic elements that give the effect you describe, with the exception, as @Kathryn suggests, the minor key versus major in the original. Rather, I think the combination of tempo (Pixies have added fully 1/2 to the length, from 2 minutes to 3 minutes -- tapping out the beat like a beating heart), and the fact that the extreme lilting melody of the original has been reduced to half-hearted attempts at following a melodic line, failing at every opportunity to go where the ear (at least the ear that knows the original as sung by Doris Day) expects and wants it to go.

Really interesting ideas! I have to seriously consider them.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

is there any kindred spirits out there?

Agreed. Music has had a spiritual effect on me since the early seventies, when I first heard Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers and was transported by the guitar improvisation. I thought to myself that these guitarists (D. Betts and D. Allman) sing with their hands, and the songs are beautiful and thrilling. I wondered whether I could ever learn to do that. I got my first electric guitar shortly thereafter, which began a long journey involving bands and live musical performance, some of which I will share.

Maybe we can share songs that really do it for us?

How about our version of Blue Sky, the song that brought me to guitar? I hope you find this as energetic, happy, and beautiful as I do. This is Ricky on rhythm guitar singing lead vocals, my wife on electric bass and vocals during the choruses, and me on lead electric guitar and backup vocals as well. The lyrics are just as happy:

I'll leave a few more in case you liked that. Here's a cover of a U2 song that transports me as much as Blue Sky. This time it's Khanu on rhythm guitar and I'm doing the lead vocals. In this one the improvisation comes in the last half. I hope the love and ecstasy of this comes through, soaring through the scales leaving beautiful melodies in the air:

Here's a blues from Dire Straits. I'm lead vocals here as well. My wife did the video editing and chose some sexy footage for this one (no nudity). Here, the music is plaintive as it should be in blues, but becomes ecstatic toward the end when the special effects come on, which feels to me like flying through raindrops of beautiful sound:

And here's an old Smoky Robinson song with my wife on lead vocals. This one is also very joyful:

 

[IndigoChild5559]

Agreed. Music has had a spiritual effect on me since the early seventies, when I first heard Blue Sky by the Allman Brothers and was transported by the guitar improvisation. I thought to myself that these guitarists (D. Betts and D. Allman) sing with their hands, and the songs are beautiful and thrilling. I wondered whether I could ever learn to do that. I got my first electric guitar shortly thereafter, which began a long journey involving bands and live musical performance, some of which I will share.

How about our version of Blue Sky, the song that brought me to guitar? I hope you find this as energetic, happy, and beautiful as I do. This is Ricky on rhythm guitar singing lead vocals, my wife on electric bass and vocals during the choruses, and me on lead electric guitar and backup vocals as well. The lyrics are just as happy:

Wow. Are you saying you are playing the guitar in this bands version of the song?

I'll leave a few more in case you liked that. Here's a cover of a U2 song that transports me as much as Blue Sky. This time it's Khanu on rhythm guitar and I'm doing the lead vocals. In this one the improvisation comes in the last half. I hope the love and ecstasy of this comes through, soaring through the scales leaving beautiful melodies in the air:

I have always loved U2, especially Unforgettable Fire and Joshua Tree.

Here's a blues from Dire Straits. I'm lead vocals here as well. My wife did the video editing and chose some sexy footage for this one (no nudity). Here, the music is plaintive as it should be in blues, but becomes ecstatic toward the end when the special effects come on, which feels to me like flying through raindrops of beautiful sound:

And here's an old Smoky Robinson song with my wife on lead vocals. This one is also very joyful:

Nice!!!!

Here are a couple I'd like to share with you.

I love Rocio Durcal. She has a fantastic and expressive voice, and her emotional interaction with the song is so moving. A lot of her music is played on KLVE, my favorite Latin romance station. In this song, she sings of the pain of breaking up and being alone again. La Gata Bajo la Lluvia means The Cat under the Rain. She sings, "Now you see, life is so. You go, and I stay here. It will rain, and you won't be mine. I'll be the cat under the rain, and I'll meow (cry) for you." You can just see that poor drenched cat and hear her heartbreaking cries in the rain.

Tchaikovsky's Pas de Deux has no words, but is musically probably the song that moves me more than any other. Once I was watching the Grand Prix ice dancing competition, and a Chinese couple danced to this song. I was mesmerized from the beginning, standing not even 2 feet from the television screen. I'm used to ballet renditions having the man lift the woman at the climax of the song, but in this ice dance, he THREW her up in the air and caught her. I literally collapsed to the ground. (Yeah, I'm really that responsive to music.) When you watch them skate, can you tell that they actually ARE in love?

Re: Tchaikovsky-Pletnev The Nutcracker "Gran Pas de deux"

 

[Hooded_Crow]

Singing this song has been doing it for me lately.

This is another good one. Just not English.

"Says down, says in
Says into flesh and skin
Deep in the blood, deep in the mind
Like wind, I vanish

Like wind…
…I vanish"

'Helvegen' by Wardruna is like a hymn to me. Transports me on the Valkyrie's wings to Valhalla every time! I've been getting quite deep into Norse music over the last couple of years and it absolutely touches my soul.

 

[The Hammer]

'Helvegen' by Wardruna is like a hymn to me. Transports me on the Valkyrie's wings to Valhalla every time! I've been getting quite deep into Norse music over the last couple of years and it absolutely touches my soul.

'Himinndotter (Sky-Daughter)' Himinndotter (Sky-Daughter)

This is their new release from their upcoming album.

 

[It Aint Necessarily So]

'Helvegen' by Wardruna is like a hymn to me. Transports me on the Valkyrie's wings to Valhalla every time! I've been getting quite deep into Norse music over the last couple of years and it absolutely touches my soul.

Do you know this one? It's about fifty years old now:

We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
The hammer of the gods
Will drive our ships to new lands
To fight the horde, sing and cry
Valhalla, I am coming
On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore

We come from the land of the ice and snow
From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow
How soft your fields so green
Can whisper tales of gore
Of how we calmed the tides of war
We are your overlords
On we sweep with threshing oar
Our only goal will be the western shore