I have SO done this.
I’m not too proud to admit this: I cried all the way through Anne Hathaway’s solo as the cursed Fantine in Les Miserable. And not just a few sniffles – I sobbed. And sang along. And sobbed harder. It was the ugliest of ugly cries. I would have been mortified except I was sitting next to my friend Jeni who was crying and singing just as much as I was. I’m not sure what the rest of the theater was doing but in that moment both of us were completely caught up in one of the most moving stories ever to be written, accompanied by one of the best scores ever written. (And just to make you sure you understand the depth of my Les Mis love I’ve seen the Broadway production twice and cried like a hysterical fool through that too. My copy of Victor Hugo’s novel is one of the most highlighted, most read books I own.)
I’ve never really considered myself a “music person” because whenever I’m in the car or cleaning I almost exclusively listen to podcasts. But when I think back over my life, so many of my favorite memories are tied to music: Dancing my heart out to the Brian Setzer Orchestra, enraptured by P!nk’s gorgeous Truth About Love tour, feeling subversive memorizing the entire Black Parade album by My Chemical Romance, getting full-body goosebumps listening to Josh Groban (DON’T JUDGE ME I LOVE HIM SO HARD), my first wedding dance with my husband to Sting’s “Angels will run and hide”. And of course, my love of all things Pitbull when it comes to workout tunes – even if it gives me ALL the cognitive dissonance, I sweat it makes me work harder, faster, better, stronger in the gym. (Okay fine, and Kanye too.)
Um, yes. For me it’s “Amazing Grace” sung by a Mennonite Men’s choir. I love it and keep thinking it will make a good cool-down song but every time it comes on it’s definitely NOT cool down. Do you know how much it throws off a Tabata sprint to suddenly go from Pitbull to Mennonites?! It’s probably a health hazard at this point.
So when I saw a recent study that came out about how rewarding and motivating people find music, I was interested to note that while there are lots of people who need a soundtrack to their lives, researchers found there is a certain segment of the population for whom music just doesn’t do it for them. Anhedonia is the word they use to describe people who don’t feel emotionally connected to music.
“[The] anhedonia group showed no physiological responses to pleasant music … but showed standard responses to monetary rewards. However, surprisingly, our anhedonic participants were able to correctly identify the emotions evoked by music (that is, to know whether a song was happy, sad…),” says study author Marco-Pallarés.
“It means that there is nothing wrong with their reward centers or nothing wrong with their hearing or their perception of music. And this is a taste,” says neurologist Heilman, The James E. Rooks Jr. Distinguished Professor of Neurology at University of Florida College of Medicine. Marco-Pallares adds that it just shows different people are motivated by different things – one person’s sex is another person’s chocolate cake is another person’s Wagner aria.
The original study had the participants play a special game involving music while hooked up to bioelectrical monitoring devices to gauge their reactions. But the researchers, being numbers people naturally, also designed a self-quiz to measure people’s different responses to music. It looks at six different measures of musical reward. Once I saw my results, my reactions to music suddenly make a lot more sense:
The average of each item is 50, with a range of 40-60 being “normal.”
It’s not surprising to me that I scored highest in sensori-motor (I LOVE to dance) and social (I LOVE to dance with people). And considering my crying/goosebump/fist-pumping reactions to certain songs, it’s clear that I’m a wee bit above average from emotion evocation. But it’s also true that I don’t seek out new music often, don’t usually reward myself with it and I rarely use it to regulate my mood. I actually find a lot of music to be over stimulating to me – more shades of being an HSP? – and so listening to music almost never calms me down or relaxes me. One of you recently suggested to me that I should listen to some soothing classical music to help chill out to which I replied that violins, no matter how expertly played, make me want to stick forks in my ears as I find them unbearably whiny and screechy. The only time I personally use music to help my mood is sometimes when I’m down I’ll use it to pick me up or to motivate me to work harder in a workout – so only for stimulation. Honestly? I need total silence to really calm down/relax. The one exception to this is that I play the piano and when I play that really does help me calm down. (Thanks mom and dad for ignoring all my whining and forcing me to take lessons all those years!)
I think this kind of science is really cool – self-quizzes for the win! – because it helps people figure out what really motivates them. How many times have you read an article about “the best running playlist” or the “hottest workout songs”? When I posted about these before – and my personal hatred of them – many of you responded with how much you like them! There is a whole range of what makes people do what they do and the more I can learn what motivates and inspires me the better I can use it to my advantage!
What about you – are you a music person? How did you score on the quiz? Anyone else ever ugly cried through a song??
P.S. This is only tangentially related but I need some new podcast suggestions!! Here’s what I already listen to: the TED radio hour, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, This American Life, RadioLab, Snap Judgement, Freakonomics, Dinner Party Download, Science Friday and The Dave Ramsey Show. (Obv I spend a LOT of time in my car and cleaning!!) I just like learning new stuff – it can be health/fitness related but it doesn’t have to be! What’s your must-listen??
I’m a multi-instrument musician. I like music just fine, thanks, but I find the contemporary idea that life needs a musical score not only puzzling, but a bit disturbing.
Life comes with its own soundtrack. Listen to it. If I feel the need for a bit of music added to it while exercising, I whistle or sing.
But for the most part I’d say that you know you are a runner when you stop thinking about music and start thinking about, ya know, running.
Ha, good point! I love this idea: “Life comes with its own soundtrack. Listen to it. ” And you sound like a fun running partner – I used to sing with some of my gym buddies. Good times:)
We should be friends. 😉 I played in the pit for our high school performing Les Mis and have read it a bunch. My parents had a tape of Michael Crawford singing a bunch of Broadway songs and so I grew up loving Les Mis music without realizing it. Once I did, thoroughly captured. I bawled just watching the trailers for the movie. Actually watching it was pretty emotional and even though I went with 2 menfolk, there was much tear wiping/drippage. Let’s just say my emotion score was 63…
I love Michael Crawford! Totally smiled at the thought of your “tear wiping/drippage” in the company of two dudes. Were they crying too? Please tell me they at least got a wee bit sniffly!
I am clearly the outlier so far. I scored quite high on everything except for emotion. I like to have music on most of the time and use to relax or increase energy. But I almost never get emotional from listening to music.
The list is soooo long…
I also cried at Anne Hathaway’s rendition of I DREAMED A DREAM (listening to your provided clip of it and crying right now – thank-you very much) but I also cried at Susan Boyle’s performance on Britain’s Got Talent. Phil Collins AGAINST ALL ODDS; CLOSE EVERY DOOR from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. DIARY by Bread,
GO THE DISTANCE from the Disney movie HERCULES.
Karen Carpenter moves me as well as Celine Dione MY HEART WILL GO ON, Maroon Five. SHE WILL BE LOVED; I WANT TO SPEND MY LIFETIME LOVING YOU from Zorro; I BELIEVE IN YOU from HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING sung by Michele Lee; Judy Garland singing HAVE YOURSELF A MERRY LITTLE CHRISTMAS; The entire of PIRATES OF PENZANCE makes me happy.
BLESSINGS from WHITE CHRISTMAS and also THE BEST THINGS HAPPEN WHILE YOUR DANCING; Elvis songs and movies; I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU by Whitney or Dolly; I like Dianne Krall, Lenka, some Jessie J., The entire of SINGING IN THE RAIN, Paul Brant, Lone Star, Martina McBride, Diamond Rio.
I love classical.
And opera.
My best workout music is workout music from ROCKY movies or the FOOTLOOSE soundtrack (original).
All the Disney Tunes that ever were.
And of course Josh Groban.
And The Brian Setzer Orchestra’s Jump Jive and Wail or its musical roots Stray Cat Strut.
I also like jazz and blues.
You lost me at Kanye – but that is more that his personality grates and I refuse to give him money.
And this, “One of you recently suggested to me that I should listen to some soothing classical music to help chill out to which I replied that violins, no matter how expertly played, make me want to stick forks in my ears as I find them unbearably whiny and screechy.”
That was me.
I was the one who brought up such a painful memory, and while I’m at it why don’t I just give you a paper cut and pour lemon juice on it.
Sorry.
These are my scores Charlotte:
MUSIC SEEKING: 56
EMOTION EVOCATION: 63
MOOD REGULATION: 60
SENSORI-MOTOR:61
SOCIAL: 67
SOCIAL: 66
Ah, I have a total soft spot for Phil Collins too!!
Oh! That last score should have been music reward 66, as the social is still 67.
And…I have a soundtrack to my life in my head. .
Then I also have to play it at first opportunity.
That quiz was interesting! I scored very low on social and very high on everything else. It makes sense; heaven knows I wouldn’t get anything done if I didn’t have music. I cannot bring myself to so much as fold my laundry without putting on some music. I even LIKE cleaning, I’ve just somehow trained myself to “need” music. Exercising is actually one thing I can do just fine without music, although I’s prefer to have it. I just don’t like headphones, and the volume that most fitness instructors crank their music up to makes me want to sit in a corner with my fingers in my ears crying. Whenever my zumba instructor used to tell us to yell and then say “I can’t hear you!” I wanted to smack her. You couldn’t hear a freaking atom bomb going off in that room, and I am certainly NOT adding to the noise by yelling!
As for podcasts . . . you’re interested in computers, am I correct? Have you ever listened to Leo Laporte? http://www.techguylabs.com/
My husband is the podcast lover of the pair of us, I mostly can’t stand them, but I liked that one alright. Mostly I’m just impressed by how nice he is to everyone, even if they ask the dumbest questions. I can’t stand those radio shows where half the entertainment is the host making fun of the callers.
Amen to this: ” Mostly I’m just impressed by how nice he is to everyone, even if they ask the dumbest questions. I can’t stand those radio shows where half the entertainment is the host making fun of the callers.” Seriously. People should be nice. Also agree about how loud most classes are…
Despite having played the flute for 8 years, I’ve realized I don’t really like music. In that quiz the only thing I got above a 29 on was the sensori-motor, lol. (My mood regulation score was 4!) I do like to dance. That’s pretty much the only time I put on music in fact, when I’m in a dancy mood. I told my husband to pick our first dance song and that I didn’t care at all but I did have a blast picking songs to be played at the reception and then dancing all night. It was the one time where I got to pick only songs that I liked and then dance to them and not care. It was awesome.
I’m like you in that I mostly listen to podcasts when I’m cleaning, driving, etc but I also don’t normally put on music when I workout either. I’d much rather listen to podcasts or watch TV. And yet I love Zumba. I’m weird. But I’ve always been this way. According to my parents I used to yell at them to turn off the radio in the car when I was a very young child. For a long time I kind of pretended to be interested in music since everyone I knew was but I’ve finally gotten to the point where I just tell people I don’t really have an ear for music. They’re always confused but accept it. I hate concerts or music shows (either too loud and crowded or too boring) but I do love musicals- to watch, I wouldn’t listen to the soundtracks alone. I also find music over-stimulating most the time and need total silence to relax. I can’t concentrate on anything with background music playing. Like I could never study to music. So yeah, weird but I’m finally okay with it!
I listen to most of those podcasts too! I think my fav is RadioLab. Have you ever listened to Stuff You Should Know? I’ve learned a ton from that show and the guys are entertaining. And there’s a billion short episodes, perfect for when you just need something quick.
Eh I don’t think you’re weird – lots of people love Zumba, including me! Dancing is awesome. And I just added Stuff You Should Know to my list – thank you!!
Music is my life. It’s always there, at work, in my car, at the gym all the time. My parents always had music on when I was growing up so maybe I get it from them. I love music. It soothes me, energizes me, makes me happy, commiserates when I’m sad.
The lowest I scored on anything was social (50), everything else was 57 or higher with a highest of 63 in emotion. So I guess I’m not as into the sharing aspects related to music.
Interesting survey. Thanks for sharing it!
Podcast recommendations! You are in my wheelhouse:
The Moth – storytelling similar to Snap Judgment, but told live and without notes
Tales from the South – storytelling with southern accents!
Here’s the Thing – no new interviews, but the archives are gold
Joy the Baker – two charming best friends make each other giggle for an hour
Fresh Air – Hit or miss in terms of my interests
WTF w Marc Maron (explicit) – fantastic interviews
I listen to ALL the podcasts you do (just discovered Dinner Party Download- how did I live without it before?)! I would add Latest in Paleo. Don’t be turned off by “paleo” in the title – it’s so much more than that! Angelo Coppola, the host, is one of the most upbeat, interesting, fair-minded health guys out there. The show’s motto is “Humans aren’t broken by default.” He gives you so much more to think about than what to eat or how to exercise. I highly, highly recommend it, regardless of whether you eat some version of paleo or not.
I love that motto!! I added it to my list – am excited to do my cleaning tomorrow so I can listen to it! And yes… I think I just said I was excited to do chores. Hm.
This was interesting – My scores were all pretty much in the average range, except sensori-motor, which was 62…I do love my Zumba! Sometimes I even get kind of emotional there, something about the joy of moving to the beat and the shared experience. Yeah, I’ve been known to cry at a really good Zumba class.
I’m right there with you on Les Miserables, loud and proud! I’ve seen it live twice in London and twice in the US. I bought the original French concept album in Canada. The last time I saw it live I was pregnant with my first child and had recently lost my mother. I cried from the first notes of the overture through the curtain call. Somehow that’s a happy memory. 🙂
A really good Zumba class gets me all emotional too! Although as far as workouts go I’ve only ever burst into tears during yoga… I think. And I’m so sorry for the loss of your mother – but I’m so glad you have that happy memory of her and your baby:)
New reader; first time posting!
I scored in the high 50s or above for everything except music seeking. It makes a lot of sense, as I love music, especially singing and dancing, and while I enjoy being exposed to new music, left to my own devices, I’ll keep listening to the same music I listened to in high school. I’m big on music nostalgia!
Weird that they called those who don’t experience musical reward the “anhedonia” group, as that word means the inability to experience pleasure, and has nothing to do with music specifically.
I love dance-based exercise with music, but I also love running and hiking, which I happily do sans music. I like hearing the music of the sounds around me and my own breath during outdoor exercise.
Interesting point! I didn’t think much about it but you’re right about their word choice – and the opposite of anhedonia is hedonistic, yes? ALthough I feel compelled to point out that the study was done at the University of Barcelona so English may not be their first language. (And welcome! Thank you so much for taking the time to read my stuff!)
Music is muy importante for me. I play several instruments and am always singing, listening to, or playing something. If music was the force, I’d be Luke Skywalker. It’s the one thing I can do that I don’t fret or worry about. Music got me through extreme depression and is there for all my happy memories, too. I must listen to music when I work out. It motivates me and keeps me going. It’s like a Pavlovian reflex. I hear certain songs and have the urge to lift weights…other songs and I have to run.
My hubby listens to podcasts almost exclusively, but he listens to shows like Pardon the Interruption and The Steve Young Show. He’s a sports guy., so I’m not much help to you there.
I hear you about the workout music – although I sometimes think it’s mostly because I don’t like to hear myself breathing;)
Oh, man. I listen to music when I work (we own a cleaning company, so I push a floor scrubber around a lot of the time). I will be jamming along to my tunes, driving the scrubber as fast as it goes to, ya know, get a good work out while working, and in between songs I’ll hear myself just huffing and puffing like a crazy woman. It’s embarrassing for those two seconds in between songs…
Hm. I like music, but usually as a background accompaniment to doing something – exercising, dancing, doing things around the house, in the car. While music can definitely affect my mood, I don’t tend to seek it out when I need something to calm me down or cheer me up. I definitely can have emotional reactions to music though – sometimes lyrics, sometimes melody or a particular instrument.
These days, with my ear problems, music is tricky though, so that may influence my feelings about it to a certain extent as well. As I was thinking about your post, the thought occurred to me that I miss music, and it’s not that I can’t hear it at all, it’s just not as simple to appreciate it as it used to be.
This: “the thought occurred to me that I miss music, and it’s not that I can’t hear it at all, it’s just not as simple to appreciate it as it used to be.” is so poignant. It’s so easy to take things for granted – thank you for the reminder to not do that:) And I hope your ear problems get better ASAP!
Boy, am I an odd one! My highest was social at 36 and lowest was music reward at 11. Even though I like some music, I prefer to not have it on in the car and never think to turn it on at home. When my children were young, we did not have the radio on in the car because that was our chance to talk to each other. I find that classical music on the car radio makes me tense and makes driving stressful. I really don’t understand these (mostly young) people I see walking around everywhere with earbuds in their ears.
I totally agree about what a great opportunity for chit-chat car rides are! I’ve had some of the most enlightening convos with my kids on the way to school:) And glad to know I’m not the only one who gets frazzled by classical!
I love music so much that I will put on headphones and just sit and listen to it. I never thought that was weird until I figured out that absolutely no one else I knew ever did that. They listen to music kind of in a background way: driving, eating, working out, working around the house, etc. They think it’s strange that I don’t want to chit chat when a good song comes on, I think it’s crazy that they want to talk while a great song is playing.
When I work out it depends on what I’m doing what kind of stuff I listen to. Hard intervals on an AirDyne or Rower, and I want music for sure. Lately when I lift, though, I’ve been listening to podcasts.
My favorites are Everyday Paleo (Jason Seib and Sarah Fragoso), Paleo Solution, Barbell Shrugged, Simply Human, Nerdist, Joe Rogan (can be pretty vulgar, but sometimes he has fascinating guests on), and Hardcore History (awesome). Also Anfield Wrap, but I’m a Liverpool (soccer) fanatic, so no one outside the UK probably listens to that.
Your comment totally made me smile – “They think it’s strange that I don’t want to chit chat when a good song comes on, I think it’s crazy that they want to talk while a great song is playing.” And thanks for all the recs! (Although I’ll skip the one about soccer…)
Another one of my favorite podcasts that I forgot to mention is the Alton Browncast. Fantastic.
I can recommend a few podcasts from CBC (essentially Canada’s NPR):
Ideas (radio documentaries)
Quirks & Quarks (science)
Spark (technology and society)
This is That (satirical comedy, totally safe language)
Under the Influence (influence and history of advertising and marketing)
BBC Radio also produces some excellent ones, my favourites are:
A History of the World in 100 Objects (each episode uses a single artifact as a window to the past)
Thinking Allowed (society and culture)
Slate’s podcasts are all pretty good too. Lexicon Valley in particular is fascinating.
Finally, there are a lot of classic books now available as podcast audiobooks. If there is a classic that is in the public domain you have been meaning to read (…some day!) then see if it is available as a podcast. Example authors are Jane Austen, Mark Twain, and William Shakespeare.
Happy listening!
Very cool! Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out!
My favorite podcasts come from http://www.maximumfun.org
Favs include: My brother my brother and me, Jordan Jesse Go!, and Judge John Hodgeman. Always a fun time.
Thanks for the suggestions, I’ll check them out!
Great post! I love Fresh Air with Terry Gross pod casts as well as Stuff You Should Know. I also listen to the Savage Lovecast but I don’t think you would like it. 🙂 I listen to pod casts 90% of the time I workout. The other 10% is music while doing speed work or something similar where I need to get my butt in gear. This is ironic because I am an elementary music teacher! I used to listen to music all the time.. but sadly, I don’t anymore. It’s all talk radio in the car or pod casts. (With the exception of Christmas music… that’s going 24/7 from Nov-Jan.) I do understand why I don’t listen to music anymore. At work, I hear music and talking and chatter and noise ALL DAY. When it’s done, I just want it to be calm…. Hence the love of Terry Gross’s voice. She has the most soothing voice I know! I took the quiz and scored lowest on Mood Regulation and highest on Emotion Evocation. I just wanted to mention… I teach students as young as 5 years old, and when I have them listen to a piece of music, they are able to say things like, “Happy, sad, scary,” etc. Very basic. But they can definitely tell the emotion. Or they will say things like “It reminds me when my dog died” or “It makes me think of a parade”. I think the whole emotion thing works no matter what your age is, it’s just a matter of being able to put it into words!
I definitely consider myself a music person! So, I guess my scores don’t really surprise me:
MUSIC SEEKING: 55
EMOTION EVOCATION: 56
MOOD REGULATION: 58
SENSORI-MOTOR: 58
SOCIAL: 61
MUSIC REWARD: 61
When I got my first smartphone a couple of years ago, one of my main reasons for wanting on was so I could play my music on it. I don’t have an iPod, so rather than carry an iPod AND a phone (because I NEED my music wherever I am!), I just play music from my phone which is always with me. My first iPhone only had 8G of space on it, and most of it was taken up by music. So if I ever wanted to download a new app, I had to make the agonizing decision to get rid of some of the music to make room, lol.
And I’m glad the view from my kitchen window is just a bunch of trees…that way no one can see me rocking out (in all my dorky glory) to my playlist while I cook or clean! 🙂
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I like to sing, and enjoy music when it’s around me, but I don’t intentionally seek it out. I scored below 40 on every category on the quiz. Despite (perhaps because of) the fact that I rarely listen to music, I am ALWAYS listening to an audiobook or podcast. I enjoy several of the podcasts you mentioned, especially Freakonomics and the Dinner Party Download. It looks like you’ve already gotten quite a few recommendations, but I’ll add a few:
+ The Satellite Sisters (5 sisters who talk about news and other random things; hilarious!)
+ Focus on the Family Daily Broadcast (faith-based)
+ The Jillian Michaels Show (she’s surprisingly relatable, even though I often disagree with her views)
+ What Really Matters (interviews with experts on everything from cooking to organization)
+ The Art of Simple (formerly Simple Mom; real-life mom talk)
+ How They Blog (inspiration for bloggers)
+ The New York Times Book Review
+ Cooking With the Moms (two dietitians discuss cooking and nutrition for families)
+ This is Your Life with Michael Hyatt (self improvement; mostly about building a platform)
+ Quick and Dirty Tips Series (I like these, but they tend to have too many ads)
I like listening to Stuff You Missed in History Class by How Stuff Works, NPR’s Planet Money, the general TEDTalks podcast and TED Ideas in Business, and Slate’s DoubleX Podcast.
I’m hit or miss on listening to music when cleaning or driving or just sitting. Sometimes I’m in the mood, sometimes not. I must have music when I workout, however. It has to be something with a heavy drum beat and good melody/harmony. If i listen to the music, then I don’t listen to my knees whine when i’m on the elliptical machine. They’re like 6 year olds, I swear. “Unh, I doan wanna, do we have to? can’t we stop? 15 minutes is enough.” I keep the volume up loud enough to block it out. 🙂