# Can beautiful music bring a tear to your eye?



## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

When alone and receptive, can beautiful music conjure such emotion that you feel a tear in your eye?


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

Tear to the eye, lump in the throat, profound feelings of awe...you bet. Two examples: the tail end of the Elgar 2nd, that closing coda is magical. there's a series of four simple chords, but what incredible power they have. Get's me every time. Then there's the Andante of the Mahler 6th - near the middle the music reaches a level of such incredible beauty that must be savored. Some anti-romantic conductors gloss over the passage, wanting to move on to the next, denying the audience one of the most touching moments in all music.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

The anthem of Israel, finale of Lobos' Amazon Forest, tango Por Una Cabeza, The Sound of Silence, Sealed with a Kiss, Princess Leia's Theme, Mozart's Lacrimosa... off the top of my head.


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## mmsbls (Mar 6, 2011)

There are so many works that I consider almost impossibly beautiful. Some examples are the second movement of Bach's double violin concerto, the adagio from Mozart's Wind Serenade in B flat, the Andante from Mendelssohn's 1st Piano Concerto, the Prelude to Act 1 if Lohengrin, and the last few minutes of Berg's Violin Concerto. I don't think I've ever shed a tear, but I have sat stunned by the sheer beauty of the music.


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## Ethereality (Apr 6, 2019)

Some pieces are way beyond our understanding, bringing tears when heard, like 



 When you get to the *10:35 part* you wonder how such a perfect combination of harmony, melody and instrumentation could've ever been conceptualized in the first place.

The orchestration is like a fantasy lost far away in time. With a lot of Bach I understand because it follows basic rules, but this is so far from our imaginations and yet so perfectly, ethereally constructed. Definite tears for me.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

eljr said:


> When alone and receptive, can beautiful music conjure such emotion that you feel a tear in your eye?


Nope. I never stop at one tear.


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## Haabrann (Mar 30, 2019)

Nope, never ever. 
In rural, working class Norway, if people spotted a grown man crying, they'd call an ambulance.


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## Haabrann (Mar 30, 2019)

The only thinkable situations to me for a grown man to be crying, are these:

-experiencing a mental breakdown
-being dead drunk beyond all control
-receiving news of sudden death of loved ones
-at a funeral

..and, as an animal lover, _maybe_ at the death of a long-time animal companion. But don't tell anyone.

I'm leaning radical left, I'm pro gay marrigage, pro LTGB+ or whatever it is called nowadays, pro radical action against climate change...and so on.

But grown men just don't cry, unless in the above situations. Gotta draw a line somewhere. I respect crying men, vegan lifestyle, modern modes of masculitity and so on, as long as those folks respect that at some point some folks gotta draw a line.


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## Larkenfield (Jun 5, 2017)

In certain private moments it’s not unusual for tears to come to a man’s eyes depending on the situation, including in response to a moment of beauty. It’s not something that a person thinks about intellectually or from the standpoint of ego; it’s something that just happens and takes a person by surprise, and I believe it has to do with an awareness of the depth of one’s soul or the ability to feel something deep that is not about anyone else but only oneself. It’s not weakness, because a man can be strong in other ways. To weep is rare but it has been known to happen and without shame. It can be healing and life-affirming.


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## mbhaub (Dec 2, 2016)

But that's the power of great art - it moves even the most stoic "man" to tears. You know that old thing about taming the beast with music. I'm "old" I suppose, think I'm tough, hang out with cowboys, but there are some things that just get to you. Try Toy Story 3 - if the end doesn't bring you to tears then you're dead.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

Yes. I mean, for me personally? Rarely, if ever. I don't know why. I respond very intensely on an emotional level to music I love but it doesn't manifest itself as crying or the urge to cry.

Sometimes I worry my tear ducts simply shriveled up a long time ago and are now merely vestigial structures.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

I can't rule out the possibility, but it hasn't happened yet - not even close.


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## Fabulin (Jun 10, 2019)

A man who does not cry when in a contact with beautiful music the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness, is not fully human; where "toughness" brings nothing except detriment, it is a weakness.

That's where I draw a line.


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## Haabrann (Mar 30, 2019)

Now that's a friggin' extreme statement. Last time I cried was some drunken break-up drama in my early twenties. I'm now in my late forties. Through my twenties, thirties and forties I've encountered experiences ''in contact'' with human achievements in the arts and sciences that I'd describe, as an atheist, akin to religious experiences. Please explain how I'm not fully human.


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## Judas Priest Fan (Apr 27, 2018)

I don´t care what anyone says. Music touches my soul, and I sometimes cry. 

I am 54 years old, and generally emotionally cold. But music, music does something to me.

When I first discovered Classical Musiac a few years ago, I cried like a baby through the Four Seasons, through all of it! I just had never heard such beauty!


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

If you read reviews of performances by Liszt, Paganini, etc. you'll find that people used to cry during classical music concerts all the time; not sure what changed.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I often cry when music of the 2nd Viennese School is performed. Also when I get a root canal without anesthetic.


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## Haabrann (Mar 30, 2019)

chu42 said:


> If you read reviews of performances by Liszt, Paganini, etc. you'll find that people used to cry during classical music concerts all the time; not sure what changed.


I guess what changed was conceptions of masculinity, and literary tropes. In a lot of medieval texts, for example, there's a lot of masculine crying, even in the midst of battle. It is there to signify great importance of events, as a literary trope. I'm sure actual crying occured in some instances, but judging from the texts and other sources, it seems instrumental and a matter of trope and expected etiquette. Not sure about 19th century tropes and etiquette, but I'd sure look into those before ascribing crying to the kind of genuinely ''overcome by emotion'', that we tend to ascribe (masculine) crying to today.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Haabrann said:


> I guess what changed was conceptions of masculinity, and literary tropes. In a lot of medieval texts, for example, there's a lot of masculine crying, even in the midst of battle. It is there to signify great importance of events, as a literary trope. I'm sure actual crying occured in some instances, but judging from the texts and other sources, it seems instrumental and a matter of trope and expected etiquette. Not sure about 19th century tropes and etiquette, but I'd sure look into those before ascribing crying to the kind of genuinely ''overcome by emotion'', that we tend to ascribe (masculine) crying to today.


But it was exactly that. The review will read "...performed with such great emotion that it never failed to draw tears from the audience." Usually something like that.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Responses are very interesting. Different than I expected.

Very cool.


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## Haabrann (Mar 30, 2019)

chu42 said:


> But it was exactly that. The review will read "...performed with such great emotion that it never failed to draw tears from the audience." Usually something like that.


So what do you make of, say, the poet Simonides of Ceos's statement that Xerxes I brought 4 million soldiers to the battle of of Thermopylae? He was a near contemporary. Is it a reasonable estimate, or should we interpret it as signifying ''very many''?

And what about the romantic period, and its emphasis on personal emotions? Did that whole 'zeitgeist' influence reviewers at the time, as in the time of Paganini? Or should we, in your opinion, take such statements literally and at face value?


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## DBLee (Jan 8, 2018)

People who know me would not think of me as the "crying kind," but music of various types can and occasionally does bring a lump to my throat and even tears to my eyes.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

eljr said:


> When alone and receptive, can beautiful music conjure such emotion that you feel a tear in your eye?


Definitely! It doesn't happen that often, but when I allow myself to 'open up', it can happen. I do not see this as a sign of weakness. In fact, just the opposite.
There have been a few times, when listening to music or watching a film, that I have been taken completely off guard and reduced to sobbing. Cathartic moments like these are rare, and a wonder.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Beethoven himself, no sob sister, said he was moved to tears by the Cavatina to his Op. 130 string quartet.


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## Joe B (Aug 10, 2017)

I remembered having read this in regards to James McCarthy's "Code Breaker":

'*I gripped the side of my seat trying not to weep. And failed*... Deeply moving to all those increasingly familiar with Turing's story and profoundly beautiful, illuminating and touching to those who are to discover him through this piece. A humanising communion with the spirit of a beautiful man. A man punished (in spite of his importance to all of us as a war hero, codebreaker and the father of modern computer science) for being alive in an intolerant time. This is a wonderful, personal tribute and unique perspective on an extraordinary man and his tragic story.' *Benedict Cumberbatch* (Oscar-nominated for his portrayal of Alan Turing in the The Imitation Game) who attended the world premiere in 2014


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

Fabulin said:


> A man who does not cry when in a contact with beautiful music the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness, is not fully human;


Now I know why the medical profession finds me a confusing fellow. :lol:


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Yes, it can, many times. I frequently consider such experiences among the most wonderfully moving and cathartic in life. Sometimes, it's not just beautiful music alone but scenes from movies displaying joy, sadness, tenderness or forgiveness that are accompanied by powerful musical expression.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

Music doesn't make me cry. Events surrounding my listening to music might. A drama might but this might often not be because it is good - we can be manipulated to tears by a cunning playwright or director, sentimental creatures that we are.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)

Yes, that's the power of music. I rarely cry but music can make it happen, or at least trigger it.
If music makes you cry and you allow it to happen, that's not a sign of weakness, but of emotional maturity... who cares what anyone else thinks! And if music doesn't make you cry, that's perfectly fine too.


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## chu42 (Aug 14, 2018)

Haabrann said:


> So what do you make of, say, the poet Simonides of Ceos's statement that Xerxes I brought 4 million soldiers to the battle of of Thermopylae? He was a near contemporary. Is it a reasonable estimate, or should we interpret it as signifying ''very many''?
> 
> And what about the romantic period, and its emphasis on personal emotions? Did that whole 'zeitgeist' influence reviewers at the time, as in the time of Paganini? Or should we, in your opinion, take such statements literally and at face value?


Well, I'm sure somebody cried. And that it was perfectly acceptable.


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## Bulldog (Nov 21, 2013)

DeepR said:


> Yes, that's the power of music. I rarely cry but music can make it happen, or at least trigger it.
> If music makes you cry and you allow it to happen, that's not a sign of weakness, but of emotional maturity...


It's only a sign that you need to wipe your eyes.


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## MusicSybarite (Aug 17, 2017)

Many times. There are works that really wrench my heart. And the music has not to be necessarily sad to provoke it. When music is so ecstaticly majestic or pure, I can't help myself and several tears appear on my eyes. They sometimes are like spiritual experiences.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2019)

Feelings of awe, yes. Tears, never just from listening to music.

A sad life event brings tears.


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2019)

Fabulin said:


> A man who does not cry when in a contact with beautiful music the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness, is not fully human; where "toughness" brings nothing except detriment, it is a weakness.
> 
> That's where I draw a line.


I'm not human because I don't cry when I hear sad music?

I don't think the fact that you cry when you hear sad music makes you "fully human" if you are so willing to declare other people "not fully human."


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## ojoncas (Jan 3, 2019)

Once in a while, after a long day. I go full anti-social mode, lay in bed, put headphones on (or speakers when I'm at my parent's) and blast some Mahler or Bruckner.

*Mahler's andante from the 6th symphony* is a good example, pure beauty!

Bruckner is not known for his melodies, some might fins him rather bland.
But his music hides such beautiful chord progressions which are usually only small passages that can only be listened to if you take the necessary time to go through his music. They usually take form as circle of fifths.
Bruckner's *Finale of the 4th Symphony* is one that works well for me.

The first music to hit me with tears was simply *Beethoven's 9 Finale*. When you hear the so known Ode to Joy theme, you appreciate it, but then comes the accompaniment that your ear never really knew existed before really listening to it. The contrast hits you and it makes you enjoy this so popular melody even more.


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## Tchaikov6 (Mar 30, 2016)

I may have cried to music? I don't know, it's very hard.

Anyways, I cry all the time at movies, I'm quite a baby in that respect (Damn Pixar movies get me every time).


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Oh yes, and not just when I'm alone. I remember sitting in a concert hall in Warsaw during an International Chopin Piano Competition - (listening to Chopin's music is intensely moving for me anyway) - and there, in the city where he grew up, where his heart is enshrined - his music, beautifully played, for hour after hour by amazingly gifted young pianists - it took all my self-control not to sob audibly as tears streamed down my face. I'm sure I looked ravaged by the time I staggered out.

And in the film "I Am David" when the young David stands in the church listening to the choir rehearse Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and you realize how this completely alters his worldview after his experiences of childhood in the Bulgarian forced-labor camp - need I say more?


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## Guest (Nov 14, 2019)

I assume it's the beauty...but it may be that something else about the music prompts tears. Here's some examples.

Mahler 6th
Beethoven 9th
Haydn 99th
Sibelius 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th.
Shostakovich 11th


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

CypressWillow said:


> Oh yes, and not just when I'm alone. I remember sitting in a concert hall in Warsaw during an International Chopin Piano Competition - (listening to Chopin's music is intensely moving for me anyway) - and there, in the city where he grew up, where his heart is enshrined - his music, beautifully played, for hour after hour by amazingly gifted young pianists - it took all my self-control not to sob audibly as tears streamed down my face. I'm sure I looked ravaged by the time I staggered out.
> 
> And in the film "I Am David" when the young David stands in the church listening to the choir rehearse Mozart's Ave Verum Corpus and you realize how this completely alters his worldview after his experiences of childhood in the Bulgarian forced-labor camp - need I say more?


Thank you for sharing.

Now I ask, can beautiful music make one fall in love?

Can

https://www.talkclassical.com/63654-can-beautiful-music-make.html#post1729402


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

I'd have to say yes to your question, *eljr*. I didn't realize it myself until a friend with whom I was talking about Chopin looked at me intently. "But you're in love with him."

"What?!"

"Think about it."

You know how they say a drowning person's life will flash before their eyes in a split second? I saw my life in flashbacks. First hearing his music and being stopped in my tracks. Realizing that his music was indeed the soundtrack of my life. Reading biographies of Chopin, reading volumes of his letters, studying portraits of him, visiting places where he had lived - somehow everything about him fascinated me. He was so REAL, so vivid, so honest, and yes, so handsome!

It culminated with an experience I had late one evening in Warsaw. I've written about it somewhere on this forum, so won't repeat it here. It might just have been wishful thinking, but ....

Anyway, this friend called me 'Bride of Chopin' a few times after that and I kind of liked it. In France once at a Chopin event, I saw an older lady wearing a brooch of Chopin. She noticed me noticing it. With a pang, I realized she was probably a Bride of Chopin, too. We exchanged a glance. I had to realize that I wasn't the first, nor yet would I be the last, and it would have to be OK.

So, has music made you fall in love, *eljr*?


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

CypressWillow said:


> So, has music made you fall in love, *eljr*?


Follow my link in the post above.... indeed it did. Fleeting as it may have been...


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## CypressWillow (Apr 2, 2013)

Yes, I get it. 

Somewhere, in an old film, or TV program, an older gentleman talks about being on the Staten Island Ferry years ago when he was a young man. His ship was pulling out as another one was pulling in. He saw a young woman at the railing of the other boat, pretty, dressed all in while. 

"It was only for a few seconds", he says, "but her image has stayed with me all my life." 

I'll bet you'd recognize your soloist years from now.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

CypressWillow said:


> Yes, I get it.
> 
> Somewhere, in an old film, or TV program, an older gentleman talks about being on the Staten Island Ferry years ago when he was a young man. His ship was pulling out as another one was pulling in. He saw a young woman at the railing of the other boat, pretty, dressed all in while.
> 
> ...


Indeed. 

......................


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

Fabulin said:


> A man who does not cry when in a contact with beautiful music the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness, is not fully human; where "toughness" brings nothing except detriment, it is a weakness.
> 
> That's where I draw a line.


I seem not to be fully human either then - I am a *woman* who does not (usually) cry when in contact with beautiful music, the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness.

But surely the 'human experience of sadness' does not necessarily involve tears?

Neither does 'not-crying' mean that one is maintaining a facade of toughness, or prizes that quality.

When listening to such music, I can *feel* intensely sad, so even in my non-human state I seem to have fulfilled the composer's remit.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Ingélou said:


> I seem not to be fully human either then - I am a *woman* who does not (usually) cry when in contact with beautiful music, the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness.
> 
> But surely the *'human experience of sadness' does not necessarily involve tears? *
> 
> ...


Crying is an interpersonal expression. Tears seem to be a normal commutative expression in humans.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...-cry-exploring-the-psychology-emotional-tears


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

eljr said:


> Crying is an interpersonal expression. Tears seem to be a normal commutative expression in humans.
> 
> https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/...-cry-exploring-the-psychology-emotional-tears


Commutative? 
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commutative

But tears don't necessarily accompany feelings for human beings, so 'not-shedding-tears' logically does not make you not human.

And since people often say that hurts and sorrows lie too deep for tears, one could even argue that one was feeling more deeply, listening to beautiful music, by not shedding tears.

Tears don't necessarily mean a sincere emotion either - even on one's own, one might be enjoying the idea that one is a fine noble person being moved to tears by beauty.

it's all a bit more complex than the thread title might suggest.


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## eljr (Aug 8, 2015)

Ingélou said:


> Commutative?
> https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/commutative
> 
> But tears don't necessarily accompany feelings for human beings, so 'not-shedding-tears' logically does not make you not human.
> ...


I do not think anyone would suggest that not shedding tears nullifies one's humanity.

However, they do communicate to others our feelings.

Some of us are more communicative than others and certainly in different ways.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

eljr said:


> I do not think anyone would suggest that not shedding tears *nullifies one's humanity.
> *
> .


*Actually, I was responding to a couple of posts which seemed to be discussing that very issue. 
*



Fabulin said:


> A man who does not cry when in a contact with beautiful music the purpose of which is to evoke a human experience of sadness, i*s not fully human*; where "toughness" brings nothing except detriment, it is a weakness.
> 
> That's where I draw a line.





Baron Scarpia said:


> I'm not human because I don't cry when I hear sad music?
> 
> I* don't think the fact that you cry when you hear sad music makes you "fully human" if you are so willing to declare other people "not fully human."*


*I totally agree with you, eljr, when you say that 'Some of us are more communicative than others and certainly in different ways.'

Beauty can be so wonderful that it makes you cry, or so wonderful that it dazzles and stuns you & you don't cry.

Both reactions are human. And I'm not alone being among those that don't generally cry at music. 
Occasionally I have shed actual tears at sacred music, but I think that's more down to my spiritual or religious experience than my musical appreciation.*


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## science (Oct 14, 2010)

I think that if a sadness gets intense enough - and usually this is grief, and it has to be shared with people you love - then tears are almost inevitable for any normal human being, even if only as a sympathetic response.

One thing I really respect is the way Koreans do funerals.

_This is a trigger warning -- I'm about to describe some emotionally intense stuff so you might want to brace yourself or just stop reading._

Because they haven't yet turned their culture over to capitalist individualism - it's happening, but they're still closer to village/family oriented values than western cultures have become - the funeral is a very social experience. The body is kept in a cold place for the first night (basically a wake), but a shrine is set up in a special room. Traditionally it would have a plaque with the formal name of the deceased and some genealogical information (in really old Confucian times that would have a religious as well as a social purpose); today it usually has a formal photo of the person as well.

The family members closest to the deceased sit near the door of that shrine, and when someone arrives at the funeral, there is a little ritual. First the guest bows to the shine three times (actually three full "kowtows"), and then the guest and the bereaved bow to each other in the same way. Of course some people weren't very close to the deceased, and it's all quite formal and restrained, but other people collapse in tears and they can't get up from the floor by themselves. The people get on the floor with them, crying together, and after a while, help them stand back up to finish the bows.

That continues, over and over, whenever a new person arrives. So, over and over, these expressions of grief happen and they help each other through it.

Then the guests sit in a different room quietly drinking strong liquor together. If no new guests arrive for a while, the family might join them. This could sound disrespectful, but it's actually genius. The liquor loosens tongues, and people express their grief and sadness more freely. They tell stories about the deceased, everybody cries together some more.

Eventually people stop coming. People finally fall asleep very early in the morning, often on the floor right next to the table where they were drinking. (Keep in mind that traditionally Koreans sit on the floor to eat and drink at very low tables. Getting drunk and sleeping next to the table is a practice not reserved for funerals!)

The next morning, first there is a very private event with the family alone. The body is tightly wrapped (wiki tells me it's a hemp cloth) and put into a coffin. (AFAIK, Korean coffins are still simple wooden ones. It's all very down-to-earth.) There is a moment when the body is wrapped and the face is about to be wrapped up. This is it. That is the last time the face of the deceased will be seen. Again, people collapse, hold each other up, beat the floor, all kinds of stuff. I mean, if you're there, you will cry too.

Then the face is covered, the coffin is closed, and it is carried to the grave site. (Driven these days, of course.)

The grave is dug by the men of the village (the friends of the family in an urban setting). The men of the bereaved family have to pay them with cash and liquor. It happens fast, but it's just the beginning.

The coffin is laid in the hole, a silk cloth laid over it, and then the bereaved spouse and children have to put the first shovel-loads of dirt on it. They have to shake the dirt off slowly, thanking the bereaved over and over. Again, this is literally very down-to-earth. They are putting the earth on their mother. It's not done by someone else, they have to do it themselves. I had to do that for my mother-in-law, and I tell you, it really brings home the fact that this person has died. It's rough. Everyone breaks down. (Keep in mind, everyone is sleep deprived at this point.) It's hard to describe the intensity of it. I mean, it's several years ago now, and I'm crying now just remembering it.

Eventually the family has done their part and the village takes over for them, filling it in. But they build a dirt mound on top if it. If you do a google image search for Korean burial mound, you will see a lot of very nice ones made for old kings, but you'll see simpler ones too, like an ordinary family would have.

The mound is built by adding layer after layer of dirt. Each time a layer is added, the men stomp on it slowly, packing it down, singing a chant. (Keith Howard's book _Perspectives on Korean Music_, has a lot of information about this tradition under the section titled "Man'ga: Remembering the Dead," including scores of some of the chants and lyrics in translation, which you can see on Google books. But if you read it you might want to keep in mind that he's describing the rite at one particular village and it varies considerably from village to village. I am sure some of the lyrics were different at my mother-in-law's funeral, but some of them, especially the first line or two, were the same. Also, my wife's family is strictly traditional, which westerners would identify as Confucian, so they had neither shamans nor Buddhist monks at the funeral, it was all strictly "Confucian," which means some of the rites described there weren't done.)

Anyway, all that stomping, over and over, is also quite viscerally affecting, but by this point the bereaved are just emotionally exhausted (which is why the village men do it for them), and they mostly just watch. It takes hours.

Interestingly, at my mother-in-law's funeral, the village introduced an innovation. She was so popular with the women of the village, that the women insisted they get a turn stomping on the mound as well. It was the first time that village had ever allowed women to do that. The poor little village women, each about five feet tall and eighty pounds, were not very effective at packing the earth down, so the men repeated the job afterwards, but it was symbolically important to them. You could see it meant a lot to the women, not as a feminist achievement, but they wanted to do their part in constructing the mound to honor her.

And then everyone goes back to the bereaved family's home, and everyone eats a meal together. (This is how the women of the family thank the villagers for helping them build the mound.)

Anyway, the point is all that communal grief. You see people just breaking down like that, lying on the floor wailing together, no matter how hard-boiled you think you are - I do not weep at American funerals - it gets to you.

And it's good. Our genes don't build our brains to be individualist consumers in a capitalist utopia. We're a herd animal, and our emotions exist to regulate our place in our herd. We need to break down together, hold each other weeping together, to have people pick us up in our grief, and to pick up other people in their grief.

Anyway, I wrote this post intending to show part of what's latent in the idea that tears are "a normal communicative expression in humans."

But on the other hand, I really respect the idea of being, or trying to be, "hard-boiled." If you try not to cry, then it is more powerful and significant when you do. Our culture may have embraced the idea of "expressing our feelings" too uncritically. I don't mean we need to be quite as hard as we were (or tried to be) eighty years ago, when parents would hit their children with sticks and abused wives were told to go back to their husbands. But the pendulum may have swung too far in the direction of assuming that we should all be comfortable all the time, and so we should express anything we feel rather than suffer a little from trying to "hold some of it in."

So I hope that if I'm ever crying at a classical music performance it's for a very, very good reason - not just that the music is so pretty!


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2019)

The OP asked, "Can it...?"

Not, "Should it...?"

People will respond to music in whatever way they will. No response should be regarded as more human or less human.


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