Why does music make us cry?

Concerts Taylor Swift In Madrid they were full of dancing, laughter and tears. Lots of tears. They say Taylor has a song for every emotion or even for every moment of your life. That’s how they see it Swifty and the truth is that it may be the key to success. So it’s no surprise that much of his music makes us cry. The same thing happens with his songs, but, logically, with the songs of many other artists.

Who doesn’t have that song of confidence that brings tears to your eyes when nothing else can? It is something quite subjective. Not everyone cries to the same songs. But there are usually certain commonalities that make music make us cry. Both at the level of melody and our own personality.

So, is it good to listen to music that makes us cry? Science has also delved into this question, and I expect the answer is yes.

Why does music make us cry?

Music makes us cry because it is art, and one of the main functions of art is to evoke our emotions. It can be joy, sadness, fear or any other type. But if art doesn’t evoke any emotion in you, it might not be good.

In 2018, a group of scientists from Universities of North Carolina and Sydney conducted a study aimed at analyzing the emotions evoked by music. They surveyed a total of 892 people, of which 89.8% admitted that music sometimes makes them cry. They were then asked about 16 different emotions that music can evoke. They ranged from anxiety to happiness, including euphoria, surprise or sadness, among other things. The last two were the ones that usually involved tears.

63% of participants noted that music made them cry from sadness, and 36.7% perceived it more as a manifestation of amazement.

At this stage, the authors wanted to know whether these noticeable differences were due to Character traits. For this reason, they conducted a psychological test on volunteers in which they were classified according to one of these traits: neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness or conscientiousness. Interestingly, those who cried out of sadness were generally classified as neurotic, while those who did so out of surprise were more likely to be open to the experience. It should be noted that neuroticism usually has many negative connotations, but in reality it is not necessarily a bad thing. This is simply a psychological trait that refers to people who have a very reactive nervous system, so they react very emotionally to external stimuli. In this case, music will be one of these stimuli.

This study had restrictions, for example, most or all student participants are female. There was no great variability. However, the results are quite interesting, at least for these populations.

Is it bad that music makes us cry?

We may think that the fact that music makes us cry is a bad thing. If sad things can happen to us in life, why should we feel sad through music? However, research shows that this is actually a positive thing.

In 2017, two Japanese scientists analyzed the physiological responses of a group of people to songs that evoked different emotions. Thus it was seen that when the music made them cry, breathing became slower, even if the heartbeat has accelerated. This indicated that, despite the excitement, the melodies had a relaxing effect. In the end they felt relaxed and with great pleasure. It has been proven that music that makes us cry also activates the brain’s reward systems, so more dopamine is released and therefore makes us feel better. pleasure.

Are there any tricks to creating heart-warming melodies?

We don’t know if Taylor Swift writes her songs expecting her fans to cry. One thing is clear: some people succeed. Letters, of course, have a lot to do with this. But the melody of a song is also important for the music to make us cry.

Commonly used are what are known in music as minor chords. In fact, in 2022, the effectiveness of minor chords was demonstrated in a very interesting study. A group of composers were asked to listen several babies crying and converted them into chords. Interestingly, most of them were minor chords. The cry of a baby is one of the phenomena that awakens the most emotions in a person. After all, evolutionarily they serve to make us worry and care about them. Therefore, if music consciously or unconsciously imitates this crying, it is more likely to make us cry.

But that is not all. In an interview for NPRProfessor of Psychology at London Guildhall School of Music and Drama, John Sloboda, explained that in order for a melody to make us cry, it usually must include two other factors besides minor chords. On the one hand, something known as application or appoggiatura. It consists of one or more fast notes that are played around a central note and are not part of the overall beat. Sometimes they can even create dissonances, but these dissonances are pleasant to listen to. One of the greatest composers of heartbreaking music. Adeleuses them often.

The surprise factor is critical

Besides all this, it is important to use unexpected chord progressions, beyond the usual structure of a melody. This is consistent with a study in which 36.7% of participants admitted to crying in surprise.

Regardless, music that makes us cry is not a bad thing. Sometimes it can be relaxing and freeing. Perhaps those who cried at the Taylor Swift concert would have left there in complete catharsis and feeling much better. That’s part of the magic of music.