What song always makes you cry?
"Researchers have observed that music is an interesting field of psychological study because while highly pleasurable, it has no obvious importance for promoting survival" - Psychology Today.
Music is known as many things to many people, but most of all it is something that ignites emotion.
Not only does music ignite a fire within us to feel empowered, but it can also accentuate any feeling that you are experiencing. For the most part, that's all well and good, but when it comes to songs that make you cry, it can be overwhelming.
Stacey and J Sbu asked everyone about the songs that always make them cry and here's what people had to say. 'Dance With My Father' by Luther Vandross featured a lot in the comments.
Thinking more about this topic pushed us to think about the psychology of music.
Music offers us a pathway into what lies beneath, sometimes the memories are happy, sometimes sad, and sometimes music can even trigger some trauma.
"Researchers have observed that music is an interesting field of psychological study because while highly pleasurable, it has no obvious importance for promoting survival." (Psychology Today)
Why certain songs make us cry depends on the "basis of our emotion". In short, are we crying because we are happy or sad?
Apparently, there is a science behind the reason we cry after hearing certain songs.
More than 30 years ago, British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment and he found a trend in the music that ignited emotion in listeners.
The trend was an ‘appoggiatura'. "An appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. When several appoggiaturas occur next to each other in a melody, it generates a cycle of tension and release. This provokes an even stronger reaction, and that is when the tears start to flow." (Jim Daly)
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It is definitely something worth noting that the impact music has on us is definitely deep-rooted and with some sense of psyche.
Take a listen to what KZN had to say about the songs that make them cry.
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