Hey Friend,

Music has no shortage of foreign, strange-sounding words to describe musical attributes and movement. You even have odd terminology for tone and technique.

For example, there's portamento and glissando, staccato and legato, describing how notes are to be played. 

Or brightness and warmth, which have to do with tone and frequency ranges.

But I had never heard this one before:

The other day, I read an article on the Harmony Central website that introduced me to this word. 

Frisson is a French word, naming the “chills" some people get when listening to music. It’s even been characterized as a “skin orgasm.” 

Reminds me a bit of this scene from “Grease.” 

I always called it “goose bumps,” but this is specific to an emotional response to music, not just feeling a chill.

Now if you’re not sure what the heck I’m talking about, don’t worry. Only about two thirds of the population experience frisson.

What researchers HAVE found is that if you do experience frisson, your brain is wired differently than someone who doesn’t feel it. There are more connections between the auditory cortex and the emotional centers of the brain.

So we have a stronger emotional reaction to music than other people do.

That’s a bit sad to me. I thought this was something everyone has felt at one time or another.

When a song hits me in such a way that my body reacts to it, I feel a real connection to the music, like it has gotten past the superficial layers and reached into my core. 

I suppose we all have attributes that make us more or less fortunate than other people.

C’est la vie…

If you’re interested in reading more, this is another good article about the frisson experience. 

Hope you have a great weekend!

Peace~

Dave

P.S. Sorry I’ve been out of pocket lately. May has been a very busy month, with my youngest daughter graduating high school, family flying in to celebrate, job falling apart and a cruise coming up. 

June should be downright relaxing after all the running we’ve been doing...