488), for instance, the violins jump up one octave to echo the melody. In one passage from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. And they often involved an expansion of the frequencies played.

They included an abrupt entrance of a new 'voice,' either a new instrument or harmony. They began softly and then suddenly became loud. 'When the notes return to the anticipated melody, the tension resolves, and it feels good.'Ĭhill-provoking passages, they found, shared at least four features. 'This generates tension in the listener,' said Martin Guhn, a psychologist at the University of British Columbia who co-wrote a 2007 study on the subject. Sloboda analyzed their properties, a trend emerged: 18 contained a musical device called an 'appoggiatura.'Īn appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound. Participants identified 20 tear-triggering passages, and when Dr. He asked music lovers to identify passages of songs that reliably set off a physical reaction, such as tears or goose bumps. Twenty years ago, the British psychologist John Sloboda conducted a simple experiment. Combined with heartfelt lyrics and a powerhouse voice, these structures can send reward signals to our brains that rival any other pleasure. What explains the magic of Adele's song? Though personal experience and culture play into individual reactions, researchers have found that certain features of music are consistently associated with producing strong emotions in listeners. Adele, the Grammy-winning singer-songwriter performed 'Someone Like You' from her latest album '21' at WSJ Cafe

Who wrote someone like you