Do you get the chills when you listen to music?

I cry sometimes. But chills I can’t remember those from music.

I sure do. Not all the time, but just from certain things, and not always predictably. That is, shivers and goosebumps come with certain things every time (mostly opera music), but a different version of the same piece may not produce that effect, and sometimes it comes quite unexpectedly. It’s not just the music; it’s also the specific performance.

@Jeruba well put. I fully agree. Sometimes its one song I know always does it for me but sometimes its hearing a song I’ve known performed by someone new and it totally catches me off guard.

Yes, most of the time listening to Prince’s Scandalous. ( not in YouTube, darn! )
Guaranteed chills when I watch and listen to this and this. Better if I listen to it in total darkness.

Yes, I actually do. Well, maybe not “the chills.” but sometimes, some music gives me goose bumps; I sometimes do actually have a spontaneous, physical reaction to music.

To clarify by chills I mean a chilling feeling running down your spine or your hairs standing on end or goose bumps. Usually I feel it down my spine

When I hear Taps and this.
Sometimes I cry too.

All the time. It’s made me cry before, or made me really happy and wanted to get up and dance. It’s also put me in a meditative state. Music has the power to transform our emotions. When I get chills from hearing a song, I know it’s good :)

No not too much but you get the feeling of joy when you listen to some songs.

Only if it is wintertime and I am listening in my underwear.

Yes, and count me in as one that has been moved to tears by music (always seems to be live music.)

Yes, but under certain circumstances.

The sound quality of whatever I’m listening on has to be good. The system in my car is great and there’s little road noise, for example.

I have to be free of distractions and just enjoying the music. It can’t be “on in the background” while I’m doing something else. It also helps if I’m alone, or at least with someone who is also enjoying the music.

Lastly, it tends to happen more when listening to live performances, as opposed to a studio album – but not always.

I love when it happens. It reminds me why I love music so much. It also directly connects to and influences my mood at the time.

Yes, through Mariah Carey, Sarah McLachlan, Celine Dion, and Whitney Houston, to name a few. There are certain points in their music (and careers) when they create music with the right lyrics and notes that affect me emotionally (usually through melancholy). I think it’s great, though strange when I think about it.

I absolutely feel the music.
I let it move me.

I had a tape once with classical violin on it. Those days I was very into the rave scene. When I played this violin concerto I had that shivering feeling . It was amazing. I lost the tape and to this day I wish I could find out who it was so I could purchase it.

Sometimes just the emotions of the music will give me shivers.
Sometimes it’s the lyrics that really touch me.
And sometimes, it’s a memory that the music evokes that gives me the shivers.

Also, this happens to me with film, and history :)

@uberbatman: Great question, and thanks for sharing that interesting article! But I’m wondering… Why is this question in General?

Definitely. It may be a quiet passage or a wild one and I agree that it’s often the individual live performance. Music has amazing power.

Yes. “Hard Currency” and “One Man’s Dream” by Yanni have bought out emotions in me. I can hear sadness, struggle and great joy in the sound. The music is just so beautiful.

When I am lucky enough to hear Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sing Der Erlkönig or Vladimir Horowitz play the Waldstein, I have to stop whatever I am doing in order to only listen. If I am driving, I pull over to the shoulder.

The performer matters.

The early folk singers also bring me to tears with their songs that reflected the times and the political activism.

Pete Seegar, Peter Paul and Mary, Woodie Guthrie, Joan Baez

@Shippy: There are a limited number of super-famous classical violin concerti that will raise goose bumps. It is easy to listen to parts of them on Youtube.

Mendelssohn; E minor…1838

Beethoven: D major; 1806

Brahms -D major;1 878

Tchaikovsky; major – 1878

Dvorak; A minor -1879

Sibelius; D minor – 1904 (unlikely)

Saint Saens; B minor – 1880

Schumann; D minor – 1853

Elgar; B minor – 1890 (unlikely)

Sometimes, but I need to be in the right mood. There are certain parts of certain songs that give me the head tingles at times.

Of course, mainly to the ones that sound too good.

I do, especially if I can associate it with a past memory. That’s why I love 80’s music and it’s reminder of the “good old days” for me!