# Why Do We Enjoy Listening to Sad Music?



## Ralfy (Jul 19, 2010)

> Sad music might actually evoke positive emotions reveals a new study by Japanese researchers published in the open-access journal Frontiers in Psychology.


http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130711135459.htm


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

It's moral support, empathy, the magical alchemy that turns our own blues into gold...


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Kieran said:


> It's moral support, empathy, the magical alchemy that turns our own blues into gold...


^^^That...because a good majority of life is pretty crappy. Broken hearts, divorces, taxes, working and doing things we don't enjoy, pets dying, the weather, somebody eating the last chocolate chip cookie, etc, etc. It's pretty miserable out there and it's good to know someone else feels just as miserable as you.


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## Crudblud (Dec 29, 2011)

You knew it was coming: define "sad music."


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## Ondine (Aug 24, 2012)

We all have sadness or sad feelings and we try to ignore them until the become unbearable and this can lead to problems with mental health. Sad music helps to recognize sad feelings and to bring them out, not as a catharsis, but as a way to be aware of them, to accept them and this is a healing process. This is one of the many precious things music brings to our lives.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> You knew it was coming: define "sad music."


Country? I don't want to lose my house, my wife, my truck and my dog...and yes, an attempt at humor.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Crudblud said:


> You knew it was coming: define "sad music."


Music that makes us feel sad. Why would we want to be made sad? (that's the question).

But the response seems to be that what we might describe as sad doesn't make us sad:

_Music that is perceived as sad actually induces romantic emotion as well as sad emotion. And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this ambivalent emotion to listen to the sad music," added the researchers.

Also, unlike sadness in daily life, sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant, possibly because the latter does not pose an actual threat to our safety. This could help people to deal with their negative emotions in daily life, concluded the authors._


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

Walking around in the summertime, with the sun shining and the birds singing and children playing, it's all too happy for me. I have to listen to depressing music to remind myself how much I hate the world and I hate people.

Joking, obviously. But why do we enjoy watching horror movies? Or why do we like dramatic books where sad things happen, or why do we like to hear about tragic life stories? Maybe they impact us in a way that makes them hard to forget. And (for music especially) maybe we're looking for a connection. One of my favorite songs is a very sad ballade about losing yourself and getting lost in hopelessness, and i love it because I've been there before.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

realdealblues said:


> ^^^That...because a good majority of life is pretty crappy. Broken hearts, divorces, taxes, working and doing things we don't enjoy, pets dying, the weather, somebody eating the last chocolate chip cookie, etc, etc. It's pretty miserable out there and it's good to know someone else feels just as miserable as you.


Good God man perhaps you should end it all !


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

In the words of Bleeding Gums Murphy, "playing the Blues isn't about feeling better, it's about making other people feel worse."

But seriously, I really think there's something to just wanting to feel _anything_. Sadness, fright, anger, whatever.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

moody said:


> Good God man perhaps you should end it all !


My shoelaces keep breaking and the prices on quality rope these days are far too expensive for me...


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

For me, the strongest emotion I ever felt was after my father had destroyed my self esteem, and then 2 hours later I ran crying into the arms of my mother. So all strong emotional experiences after that are "psychic echoes" of that central trauma. But that's just me.

So, when I listen to sad music, it recalls the strong emotional release I felt, after escaping. 

Of course, behind all of that is the preceding darkness, fear, tension, grief, and nothingness; that's what "drives" the emotional release. That's why I can also relate to music which is filled with darkness, fear, and anxiety; music which seemingly is devoid of soft emotion, which "doesn't need" my identification for its purpose and power. 

I let it destroy me, and I submit to the "spirit-death." Then the grace of God transports me into a pathway which transcends all experience of "entertainment" for my ego. I have become music, and what "I" want is no longer relevant. That's why so much of this opinion seems so shallow to me.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I wonder if there's any connection between the enjoying of sad music and basic temperament type.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_temperaments

Might be interesting to do some research to see if 'Melancholic' types have more of a predilection for sad music, 'Cholerics' for martial music, etc.?


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

moody said:


> Good God man perhaps you should end it all !


Life is pretty tough for some people, and they can have great internal strength to actually not do that.



Cosmos said:


> Walking around in the summertime, with the sun shining and the birds singing and children playing, it's all to happy for me. I have to listen to depressing music to remind myself how much I hate the world and I hate people.
> 
> Joking, obviously. But why do we enjoy watching horror movies? Or why do we like dramatic books where sad things happen, or why do we like to hear about tragic life stories? Maybe they impact us in a way that makes them hard to forget. And (for music especially) maybe we're looking for a connection. One of my favorite songs is a very sad ballade about losing yourself and getting lost in hopelessness, and i love it because I've been there before.


lol, I'm sure many need no reminding of how most people are. But I know you were joking.

Compare it to horror is interesting. Sad art is more common perhaps, but both serve the need to take the burden of an emotion from us, in this case sadness (or anger), to help express it and perhaps release it. I'm not sure if that is the same as empathy, in fact it might even be relatively selfish.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

Ah, such an interesting inquiry! Questions as such have burdened me for a long time: why is it that the central force of so many narratives is tragedy? - why has there not been written an epic of peace (as the old man wanted to write in Wim Winders' _Wings of Desire_)? If anybody has any literature to recommend on the subject, please tell me. Nietzsche's first book, _The Birth of Tragedy_, deals with somewhat similair themes, allthough it centers around the Greek tragedy in particular, and thus relates it to trends and advancements in Greek culture mainly.

I have recently started gaining new appreciation for 'childish' things, because they present such beautiful and bright pictures, devoid of the tragedy that invades so many narratives - and, indeed, music. However, there is _always _ conflict.



realdealblues said:


> ^^^That...because a good majority of life is pretty crappy. Broken hearts, divorces, taxes, working and doing things we don't enjoy, pets dying, the weather, somebody eating the last chocolate chip cookie, etc, etc. It's pretty miserable out there and it's good to know someone else feels just as miserable as you.


I find this explanation lacklustere, because art does not 'imitate nature', I believe, as the old definition goes. Besides, I think we in our modern lives don't suffer nearly as much as people like to say, but perhaps _that_ is the very point. Have you not heard many a complaint about tedium in modern daily routines? The lack of adventure, of _conflict_? Suicide numbers drop during wartimes..

I write in this zany, telagram/stream of consciousness style because I have formulated few complete thoughts on the subject, but it interests me greatly.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Cheyenne said:


> I find this explanation lacklustere, because art does not 'imitate nature', I believe, as the old definition goes. Besides, I think we in our modern lives don't suffer nearly as much as people like to say, but perhaps _that_ is the very point. Have you not heard many a complaint about tedium in modern daily routines? The lack of adventure, of _conflict_? Suicide numbers drop during wartimes.


Art doesn't imitate the world we see otherwise it might not be that viewable or listenable but perhaps it might imitate our reaction to the world. As for whether some people suffer, well I'm sure some do quite a lot, those who are healthy perhaps may be ignorant of such things. I think a basic part of the human condition is ignorance and arrogance, and I see it every day so I'm pretty sure of that.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

I don't always enjoy listening to sad music - it depends on the piece. I enjoy a mixture of happy and sad much more than just sad.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

starry said:


> Art doesn't imitate the world we see otherwise it might not be that viewable or listenable but perhaps it might imitate our reaction to the world.


So are you saying people generally feel terror, gloomyness, hatred, sadness, and so on, or that such things must be a neccesary part of life, so that we can relate to it always even if we generally don't feel such things?


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> So are you saying people generally feel terror, gloomyness, hatred, sadness, and so on, or that such things must be a neccesary part of life, so that we can relate to it always even if we generally don't feel such things?


I think there's some music that can 'evoke' such feelings, even if you're not feeling them at the moment. Music attempts to trick the mind into feeling a certain a way with sound, I think.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> I think there's some music that can 'evoke' such feelings, even if you're not feeling them at the moment. Music attempts to trick the mind into feeling a certain a way with sound, I think.


Could be true, but then why do we enjoy listening music that inspires emotions that we generally wish to avoid? Perhaps its the contrast with our actual conditions - perhaps it makes us look at our own life with renewed positivity, viewing in it in perspective?


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

There can be beauty in sadness

Must break the silence
This empty space inside is
Louder than a scream


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Cheyenne said:


> So are you saying people generally feel terror, gloomyness, hatred, sadness, and so on, or that such things must be a neccesary part of life, so that we can relate to it always even if we generally don't feel such things?


I'm sure these emotions are within us, but often we don't let them out fully, we are quite controlled. Art enables us to let them come out within an environment which isn't real but the reactions are in some way real as they are part of us.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Because sadness is an important thing of human nature... and I'm interested in human nature. I'm interested in how I feel it (my own human perceptions) and in understanding it at a philosophical level.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

aleazk said:


> Because sadness is an important thing of human nature... and I'm interested in human nature. I'm interested in how I feel it (my own human perceptions) and in understanding it at a philosophical level.


Ah, so it is an exploration of human nature, like all art, the theme and specifics of which are incidental? Interesting point.



starry said:


> I'm sure these emotions are within us, but often we don't let them out fully, we are quite controlled. Art enables us to let them come out within an environment which isn't real but the reactions are in some way real as they are part of us.


So in your situation, it is more an exploration of human nature but of personal issues and relations? Could it be both universal and personal?

(I hope I'm not bothering with the questions.. I'm merely interested!)


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Personal issues and relations are related to general human nature too I suppose, I'm not sure there has to be much difference. So yes, both together, inevitably. I'm not sure human nature in its fundamentals has changed that much through time even.


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## aleazk (Sep 30, 2011)

Cheyenne said:


> Ah, so it is an exploration of human nature, like all art, the theme and specifics of which are incidental? Interesting point.


Basically, yes. 
Of course, personal reactions and similar things exist. But they are also part of this, as I said "I'm interested in how I feel it (my own human perceptions) and in understanding it at a philosophical level."


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

starry said:


> Personal issues and relations are related to general human nature too I suppose, I'm not sure there has to be much difference. So yes, both together, inevitably. I'm not sure human nature in its fundamentals has changed that much through time even.


Are you enjoying your lecture,the question was on enjoying sad music,
Sad music is sad music and all this searching is nonsense.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

moody said:


> Are you enjoying your lecture,the question was on enjoying sad music,


I'm enjoying my discussion actually. If you aren't I suggest you use your ignore list.


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## SiegendesLicht (Mar 4, 2012)

Somehow I perceive sad music as being more sincere, more honest. People pretend to be happy when they are not all the time, but who would ever pretend to be sad? Therefore, sadness must necessarily be sincere.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Somehow I perceive sad music as being more sincere, more honest. People pretend to be happy when they are not all the time, but who would ever pretend to be sad? Therefore, sadness must necessarily be sincere.






 - angsty melodrama? It sounds almost 'disingenuous' to me.
By the way, Haydn disagrees :lol:


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Somehow I perceive sad music as being more sincere, more honest. People pretend to be happy when they are not all the time, but who would ever pretend to be sad? Therefore, sadness must necessarily be sincere.


Yeh, or people are supposed to be happy, it's more acceptable to be happy. Being sad or angry is upsetting the order of things. That doesn't have to mean happy moments are more fake, but maybe it's more real if it's mixed in with music which isn't so happy as a contrast. In a longer piece that is expected I think.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

For me, sad music seems often connected to yearning or longing - for heaven, for love, for a better world - and this is almost a pleasurable sensation, summoning an ideal vision of what things could be, perfect beauty, perfect love...

There is also Aristotle's idea of a catharsis, relief through exercising the emotions of pity and terror (or compassion and suspense)...


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## Adeodatus100 (May 27, 2013)

There's always those couple of lines of dialogue from the Doctor Who story _Blink_ -



> "What's good about sad?"
> "It's happy for deep people."


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

SiegendesLicht said:


> Somehow I perceive sad music as being more sincere, more honest. People pretend to be happy when they are not all the time, but who would ever pretend to be sad? Therefore, sadness must necessarily be sincere.


oh, people pretend to be sad all the time, so they can be "rescued" and otherwise helped. You'd be surprised how well it works in getting you things. Of course, pretending to be happy all the time works as well, in getting other things or with people who respond better to joyful manipulation :devil:


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

starry said:


> I'm enjoying my discussion actually. If you aren't I suggest you use your ignore list.


Yes,but is anybody else l?


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> Could be true, but then why do we enjoy listening music that inspires emotions that we generally wish to avoid? Perhaps its the contrast with our actual conditions - perhaps it makes us look at our own life with renewed positivity, viewing in it in perspective?


nice post. Yes, I think that's part of it. Sad music raises awareness as to the scope of human feeling and through your reaction makes you aware of your humanity. But for me, some sad music is just unpleasant - I can listen to the minor mode, like say, for example, in Haydn's Seven Last Words - but it's a planned, logical and sanely structured minor mode. A lot of pop songs have the sadness get entirely out of control and I don't want such emotions to interfere with my daily life.


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## neoshredder (Nov 7, 2011)

Many lives are sad. Just an easy emotion to relate to. Including my own. I find the most sad music has beauty to it though. Not the angry sad music.


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

I think I like sad music that has hope in it more than sad music that despairs. But even then, there are exceptions. I love music that depicts (for me) suicidal emotions and death, for ex. the Shostakovich SQ no. 8, last mvmt of Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6, or the 3rd mvmt of the Franck Violin Sonata. But rather than be a reaction of "I feel like killing myself too," I get the reaction of "NO! Don't do it! NO!" or "I'm so sorry for them! I came too late to save them!! O woe is me!" etc. So, I'm on the other side of the room, I'm watching someone else die or want to die, I'm not in their place. Then, there's music that _has _hope in it, and that's where I put myself _into _the music, because I'm hopeful by nature, usually. It's depicting _me_, not someone else.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

The interpretation of instrumental music depends on the listener's frame of mind.

I often find music described as sad to be deep, reflective, thoughtful, focused, centred, relaxing, nostalgic, etc. These are pleasant feelings. I enjoy this music when I am at home. I can get things done that require thought, order and concentration. It is also music for deep discussion that requires attention.

Music that is lively is social and festive, but it can also sound shallow, frivolous, flighty, scattered, escapist, overbearing, etc. It is music for physical activity, dancing, socializing, etc., as it distracts by it's exuberance.

The music I choose to hear is largely determined by my environment and what I am doing.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Life is sweet...and sad. Isn't that why?


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## hreichgott (Dec 31, 2012)

Both sadness and joy are easier to experience in music than to explain in words.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

hreichgott said:


> Both sadness and joy are easier to experience in music than to explain in words.


Mendelssohn agrees!



> People often complain that music is too ambiguous, that what they should think when they hear it is so unclear, whereas everyone understands words. With me, it is exactly the opposite, and not only with regard to an entire speech but also with individual words. These, too, seem to me so ambiguous, so vague, so easily misunderstood in comparison to genuine music, which fills the soul with a thousand things better than words. The thoughts which are expressed to me by music that I love are not too indefinite to be put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.


Letter to Marc-André Souchay, October 15, 1842


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## Celloman (Sep 30, 2006)

This is an excellent question! As I myself have a melancholic personality, I have long wondered why I enjoy listening to sad music, reading sad books, and watching sad movies so much. I don't think sadness itself is an unpleasant emotion, per se. We've come to expect sadness as a regular part of life, and we accept it as such. In a world where there is a lot of suffering, we experience sadness as a way to help us confront it. We can easily relate to sad music.


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## Novelette (Dec 12, 2012)

Some weeks ago, when I was attending a three-day professional conference, there was a tedious cocktail reception that lasted far too long. Being away from my pianos for two days was driving me insane, so I seized upon a nearby piano during the reception and began to play.

Much of the music that I played was somber, including Chopin's famous Funeral March from his second piano sonata. No one seemed to mind it; in fact, I was surprised as the usual reaction I get is, "that's too depressing, play something happier." =\


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

moody said:


> Yes,but is anybody else l?


That doesn't make sense. If you mean is anyone else enjoying the discussion I would suggest to you quite a few. Certainy more than have enjoyed your contributions, as replies to you are limited and without 'likes' to indicate much appreciation.

And I tend to find people who just want to gag other people's opinions on forums annoying, because forums are about opinions not people being gagged just so they have to discuss things in line with what someone else wants.

Oh and I have more to say on this discussion about sadness as well.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

starry said:


> That doesn't make sense. If you mean is anyone else enjoying the discussion I would suggest to you quite a few. Certainy more than have enjoyed your contributions, as replies to you are limited and without 'likes' to indicate much appreciation.
> 
> And I tend to find people who just want to gag other people's opinions on forums annoying, because forums are about opinions not people being gagged just so they have to discuss things in line with what someone else wants.
> 
> Oh and I have more to say on this discussion about sadness as well.


The reason for lack of likes is because they are wallowing in this psycho-babble and a number of them are well known for this. Have a look at the people not contributing.
As for stopping such nonsense--never,I love the cllches rolling out.
I thought Deggial's was a good post,he sees through the nonsense.


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

Ingenue said:


> For me, sad music seems often connected to yearning or longing - for heaven, for love, for a better world - and this is almost a pleasurable sensation, summoning an ideal vision of what things could be, perfect beauty, perfect love...
> 
> There is also Aristotle's idea of a catharsis, relief through exercising the emotions of pity and terror (or compassion and suspense)...


The Welsh have a lovely word Hiraeth which is almost untranslatable. One suggestion is homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, and the earnest desire for the Wales of the past. This is part of the essence of sad music.

There is also "sad" music which can be quite forceful - a good Dies Irae being a case in point.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

moody said:


> The reason for lack of likes is because they are wallowing in this psycho-babble and a number of them are well known for this.


Should I be taking a hint..? 
I did ask for it.


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Taggart said:


> The Welsh have a lovely word Hiraeth which is almost untranslatable. One suggestion is homesickness tinged with grief or sadness over the lost or departed. It is a mix of longing, yearning, nostalgia, wistfulness, and the earnest desire for the Wales of the past. This is part of the essence of sad music....


Ah, this reminds me of the Polish word "zal" which is also just about untranslatable:

http://www.radiochopin.org/episodes/item/528-radio-chopin-episode-69-mazurka-in-f-minor-op-63-no-2

This complex emotional state is a known presence for me. It is familiar and welcome. To someone with a different type of temperament, I suspect it could be so uncomfortable as to send them screaming out into the night.

As a very lame analogy, I used to be very skinny in my adolescence and young adulthood. (Not an eating disorder, for I was blessed with a wonderful appetite and a metabolism that burned fiercely.) If I was busy or tired, I often ignored the pangs of hunger until it was a more convenient time for me to eat something. In other words, I felt/experienced hunger, but it didn't bother me to feel it and so I didn't need to do something to make it go away.

It's the same with "zal." And, I'm assuming, with "Hiraeth." Not all temperaments, I'm positing, can simply 'be with' and enjoy these feelings; For those of us who are hard-wired for such emotional states, the pleasure of sad music is indescribable.


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## Guest (Jul 16, 2013)

Alas, the report of the research (and possibly the research itself) is so crudely reduced, it makes it almost impossible to follow. For example...



> "In general, sad music induces sadness in listeners, and *sadness is regarded as an unpleasant emotion*. If sad music actually evokes only unpleasant emotion, we would not listen to it," the researchers wrote in the study.
> 
> "Music that is perceived as sad actually induces romantic emotion as well as sad emotion. And people, regardless of their musical training, experience this ambivalent emotion to listen to the sad music," added the researchers.
> 
> *Also*, unlike sadness in daily life, *sadness experienced through art actually feels pleasant*,


I suspect any subtlety has been lost in translation. In the meantime, the basic query on which such research appears to have been based - "Why would anyone want to listen to music that is "sad" or evokes "sadness"" - is really not such a puzzle. A more refined question might be, "Why do some people listen _only _to music that invoked feelings of sadness?", but you might just as well ask why people listen to music at all. A fairly basic observation of human nature shows that we are not _simple _seekers after things that make us "happy": if we were, we would take much greater care to avoid engaging in _any _activity that might cause upset to each other (never mind killing each other!) Why should our musical listening habits be any different?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Cheyenne said:


> Should I be taking a hint..?
> I did ask for it.


There isa no avoiding the things that frighten you,you have to learn control and to take them in your stride. If music,for instance,has a very detrimental effect--stop listening.
What you don't want is someone using the problem to pontificate and look clever,ie using your problem for their own ends.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

deggial said:


> people pretend to be sad all the time





Huilunsoittaja said:


> I love music that depicts (for me) suicidal emotions and death, for ex... last mvmt of Tchaikovsky Symphony no. 6


The finale of Tchaikovsky's Sixth is a perfect example of Deggial's point that "people pretend to be sad all the time." Contrary to our (admittedly fun) impulse to hear "sad music" as a sincere and direct glimpse into the composer's soul, sometimes music is artificially manufactured in order to elicit that response. Owing to all the conspiracy theories surrounding Tchaikovsky's alleged suicide, the Sixth Symphony can seem like the token example of sincere sadness; in fact, the Sixth Symphony is often cited as _evidence_ of the suicide. But that kind of interpretation became much harder to maintain after the publication of Alexander Poznansky's book _Tchaikovsky: The Quest for the Inner Man_, which examines the composer's life through his personal correspondences, some of which had not been available to previous biographers. Sure enough, Tchaikovsky's letters to friends and acquaintances around the time of the Sixth Symphony reveal the very opposite of a man beset by sadness (let alone a suicidal man). The book is a kind of party-pooping reminder that music, like any art, is on some level an act of craft and artifice. (It's no coincidence that "art" and "artifice" share etymological roots). That is not to say that sad music is _never_ a direct biographical statement or that pieces _never_ serve as composers' diaries, but once one puts romanticism in perspective one realizes that music is sometimes designed to appear as such. The ability to do so is one of the marks of a talented composer.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Crudblud said:


> You knew it was coming: define "sad music."


But wait. Already in this thread there are distortions and contortions of 'sad'. Looks like the word has too broad a meaning to be useful. For instance, 'pathetique' in its classic meaning is either not a synonym, or it's a distinct special case of 'sad'.

I think of 'sad' and 'mopey' as synonyms; I have no use or tolerance for mopey music.


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

you mean mopey as in whiny?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> you mean mopey as in whiny?


Not just whiny; drag-*** whiny. The whines don't even have to be vocalized.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

The word 'sad' has been misused so much that it expresses little more than the standard cuss words in a conversation among soldiers. What the **** is 'sad' music?

Martinu's "Lidice' music isn't _*sad*_; it's way darker than that... maybe a contemplation of irresistible evil.

Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony doesn't lead the listener into 'sadness'... more like a combination of cold anger and stoicism in the face of the inevitable.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony doesn't lead the listener into 'sadness'... more like a combination of cold anger and stoicism in the face of the inevitable.


I'm not sure by what means one can determine the correct emotional interpretation of a piece--or, to split hairs even more in this case, how one determines the correct shade of dark emotion in a piece. Considering that the finale of Tchaikovsky's Sixth is marked "Adagio lamentoso," reactions of sadness don't seem all that unwarranted.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Eschbeg said:


> I'm not sure by what means one can determine the correct emotional interpretation of a piece, especially one whose finale is marked "Adagio lamentoso," as Tchaikovksy's Sixth is.


What means? You let the music sink in, and whatever it does to/for you is what it is. Try not to be mislead by 'markings'. If your 'emotional interpretation' differs from mine, you have _clearly_ been mislead.


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## Eschbeg (Jul 25, 2012)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Tchaikovsky's 6th symphony doesn't lead the listener into 'sadness'





Hilltroll72 said:


> You let the music sink in, and whatever it does to/for you is what it is.


You can't have it both ways.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> you mean mopey as in whiny?


Whiney is the word you are groping for.
See below !


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Hilltroll72 said:


> Not just whiny; drag-*** whiny. The whines don't even have to be vocalized.


Why is everyone whinnying--that's for horses.
No ,whiny is correct !


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Stop being whiny and just whine,it's confusing me . There appears to be far too much of it here in any case.


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## pluhagr (Jan 2, 2012)

Because we are sadistic and masochistic beings.


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

I wonder if there can be a problem when we talk of something being fake or truthful, and maybe I was drawn into that too easily before. Ultimately how do we know whether someone was being particularly personal in a work or whether they were more inspired by the musical ideas or style? It's the craft that matters and communicates the power of the work I suspect. A very good composer could make a piece very powerful through their inventiveness even though it doesn't relate directly to their circumstances, an average composer could do a work that's very personal but lack much power because the piece just isn't crafted in a very inspired way.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

Death! It's because of death!


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## HaydnBearstheClock (Jul 6, 2013)

moody said:


> Whiney is the word you are groping for.
> See below !


both whiney and whiny are legitimate spellings.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

HaydnBearstheClock said:


> both whiney and whiny are legitimate spellings.


Well ,thank God for that !


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> Death! It's because of death!


You're a laugh to have around.
Go and listen to some jolly,jumping up and down music for heaven's sake !


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

moody said:


> You're a laugh to have around.
> Go and listen to some jolly,jumping up and down music for heaven's sake !


Or maybe it's because I'm stuck in this stinking cell, day after day...


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## Alydon (May 16, 2012)

realdealblues said:


> Country? I don't want to lose my house, my wife, my truck and my dog...and yes, an attempt at humor.


 I played the record backwards and got them all back.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> Or maybe it's because I'm stuck in this stinking cell, day after day...


Perhaps you could explain ?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

moody said:


> Perhaps you could explain ?


Uhhh.._.cubicle._ Yeah, that's the ticket. Well, isn't it obvious, moody, that I'm incarcerated? How else would I have time to read all those music theory books?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> How else would I have time to read all those music theory books?


I hear that's what they make you do in Gitmo now that waterboarding is internationally frown upon.


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

deggial said:


> I hear that's what they make you do in Gitmo now that waterboarding is internationally frown upon.


Ha ha! I used to think "waterboarding" was some form of surfing.

(sung to the tune of The Beach Boys _Surfin' USA_)

They're waterboardin' in Gitmo
Down in Havana Bay
Way down in South China
And Argentina way
All over new Russia
Uzbekistan today
Everybody's waterboardin'
Torture USA...


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## Taggart (Feb 14, 2013)

millionrainbows said:


> Death! It's because of death!


You sound like Frazer in Dad's Army - We're doomed!






As they say, cheer up, it might never happen!


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

millionrainbows said:


> Uhhh.._.cubicle._ Yeah, that's the ticket. Well, isn't it obvious, moody, that I'm incarcerated? How else would I have time to read all those music theory books?


What was it for--bad posts ?


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## millionrainbows (Jun 23, 2012)

moody said:


> What was it for--bad posts ?


Ha haa! :lol: Thanks! I'm "bad!"

Jim Morrison: "No one here gets out alive."


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