A fun new (to me) music word: Have you ever felt the fantastic feeling of frisson?

in #music7 years ago (edited)

Last week I listened to some of my favorite acapella arrangements of some popular tunes, and during a particularly awesome musical moment, I got little shivers down my spine. This has often happened to me before in various contexts, and  I suddenly wondered if there was a name for that feeling.

Apparently, there is.

Frisson

(image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=214816&picture=background-1250)

Frisson is a word that can be used to describe that feeling of intense physical pleasure you sometimes get during moments of musically-induced enjoyment. It can manifest as goosebumps, shivers, or  chills, among other ways. According to this article by Slate, only two-thirds of people can experience it and the feeling might have something to do with a piece of music surprising us or being different from our expectations in some way.

I thought it was really cool to put a name to this feeling, and now maybe you can too!

My favorite frisson moment is probably the first time I saw Wicked at the end of Defying Gravity.

What about you? Have you ever experienced it? What's your most memorable frisson moment? What types of music experiences give you frisson? Or do you think it's just another way for silly academics to put words to things that don't need to be named? 

Sort:  

Congratulations @blizzylizzy! You received a personal award!

Happy Birthday! - You are on the Steem blockchain for 2 years!

You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking

Do not miss the last post from @steemitboard:

The Steem community has lost an epic member! Farewell @woflhart!
SteemitBoard - Witness Update
Do not miss the coming Rocky Mountain Steem Meetup and get a new community badge!
Vote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!

Coin Marketplace

STEEM 0.25
TRX 0.20
JST 0.038
BTC 93864.76
ETH 3457.40
USDT 1.00
SBD 3.78