GIRL: Absolutely.
Particular types of music.
Sometimes. When it's really, really good.
DAN: Yeah? I feel the resonance.
Depends what mood I'm in. Yeah.
Like, sad music. Maybe, like, music that reminds me of a certain...
Like a memory. Yeah.
When there's, like, a really good kick,
I really do like that feeling of... you kind of really immerse yourself.
If I'm cold, yes. (LAUGHS)
Other than that... not that I'm aware of.
Hi. I'm Dan. I'm Linda.
And welcome to What Is Music?
And in this episode,
we're gonna be looking at how music gives you goosebumps.
But first, Linda, what do we actually know about goosebumps?
Well, goosebumps happen when our hairs stand on end.
It's an ancestral connection to furrier friends of ours
who, when they were in a threatened situation,
they looked bigger and more scary.
And having the hair stand on end
also has the advantage of thermal insulation.
Now, over time, this becomes built in to how we behave.
This idea of frisson -
these very strong, intense emotions
that we connect now to shivers
and chills and thrills -
still activate this physical response.
So why is it that music can re-create
some of these physiological responses?
Goosebumps come when there's a sudden change
in our emotional state -
a kind of 'aha' moment of emotionality
where we feel suddenly connected with the music.
We especially feel connected with music
when that music is personally meaningful.
Music that we heard during an important time of our development,
which is called the reminiscence bump,
where music meant so much to our identity
and developing a sense of self.
When we hear that music, it brings back a flood of emotions
and a flood of memories.
And there are ways that we might be able
to trigger these emotional responses using music.
Other emotions, like happiness, sadness,
there are fairly definite ways and almost universal ways.
Goosebumps is far more particular.
You'd be looking at changes in the loudness of the music,
changes in the tempo,
an unexpected harmonic change.
There's also the important factor of being familiar.
So it seems like there's still a lot of research to be done on this topic.
There's a lot of theories that we should be testing out here, Dan.
Yeah. Well, actually, I've got a plan for that.
(ALARM BEEPS)
Well, welcome to the goosebumps sphere.
I love what you've done with the place, Dan.
So, we're gonna be testing what kind of music gives us goosebumps.
OK. And so we got the chair
and we've got a macro lens on this camera here right next to your arm,
so it's gonna pick up the moment any goosebumps come through,
so there'll be no faking it.
We've got the magnificent...
This is amazing! ..helmet apparatus over here...
I wanna look at this properly.
..which... This is incredible.
Oh, it does...absolutely nothing.
Oh! But it looks great.
(LAUGHS) OK!
You've always been about fashion. That's what everybody says about me.
We've each got five songs with different musical elements
to give the other person goosebumps.
We filled out some very personal surveys
to work out the best songs to use.
Winner will get bragging rights.
So, Round 1 - it's all about sudden crescendos.
When a piece of music suddenly gets louder, it often causes goosebumps.
You can hear this in Pink Floyd's The Post War Dream.
(MID-TEMPO, MELLOW MUSIC PLAYS)
(DRUM POUNDS, INTENSITY BUILDS) # Wish I could turn you
# Back into a stranger... #
I feel emotional but I don't...
I think that's one you won.
I was actually trying, though. Yeah?
I remember putting so much meaning to that song
because of the relationship that I was in,
and, like, moving in and out of.
But, yeah, I guess I'm just an unfeeling...
(LAUGHS) Yeah. And you know what?
I'm actually gonna take this off because...
Look, fair enough. Gonna throw you a bone.
I think...I think it's affecting my emotional levels.
So it DOES do something. It does.
Alright, so, Round 2. Alright.
It's all about the long, sustained note.
AKA the money note -
big, belting notes from singers like Whitney Houston and Freddie Mercury,
but also things like super-high violin melodies
and orchestral music.
(VIOLIN PLAYS SMOOTH, SUSTAINED, POIGNANT MELODY)
Alright. How'd you go?
I don't think I got goosebumps. Yeah, no.
OK. Hit me with another one. Alright.
# 'Cause you're nothing to me... #
Sometimes a chord progression or key change in a song
is really distinctive.
You might not see it coming but the unexpected harmony is a perfect fit,
and it gets you every time.
(LOW, ELECTRONIC THRUMMING)
(PITCH RAISES)
Again. Nada.
Nothin'.
I could pass a lie detector test. (LAUGHS)
Alright, new plan.
So we're none from three so far. Mm.
It's time to really up the ante on this.
What are you doing? So, this is a blindfold.
It's actually... No, it's not - it's a scarf.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
For today, it's a blindfold. OK. (LAUGHS)
OK. Alright. Can you see anything?
Nup.
So, we're gonna try an emotional minor song.
More often than not, the type of music that gives us chills
is in a minor key.
Some people call that the sad one.
(SLOW MELODY IN MINOR KEY PLAYS, WOMAN SINGS SUSTAINED NOTE)
(LAUGHS)
(DELICATE PIANO MELODY, SWEEPING ORCHESTRAL STRING NOTES)
What is going on right now with my arm?
I think I got goosebumps. Yeah?
Could you see any? S... Yes. Absolutely. (LAUGHS)
Definitely feeling something happening here.
Yeah, I'm gonna call that. (PING!)
Oh, my God.
I can't believe you got it
using a song from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack!
What else is gonna give you goosebumps?
I seriously... I was like, thinking about break-ups before,
thinking about other things - like, real adult stuff,
and then that one was the one.
So it's nostalgia, in a way.
It's like a memory of, like, your early teens
and you coming back to it as an adult
that's kind of tipped you over the line.
To just do it with that Des'ree song... (LAUGHS)
Yeah. Yeah. Well, a win for me.
OK. You've got one final chance, my friend.
Mm-hm. Best of luck.
Actually, wait.
Uh, we can do away with the blindfold
because I can go one better than that.
We're pulling out all stops for the final one. You ready?
(LAUGHS) Dan!
One of the most important things about music giving you goosebumps
is you.
Music that's special to you.
(IMMERSIVE TRIP-HOP JAZZ FUSION MUSIC PLAYS)
# I just want to be a woman... #
No goosebumps. No goosebumps.
So, still nothing with that one. Nothing.
Although that Portishead song is one that I love so much,
and even though I listened to that song
from when I was, like, 14 years old...
Mm.
..but I feel like I listen to it too often now
that it feels almost everyday to me.
It's not one particular... So it's no longer nostalgic?
Yeah. It's not nostalgic anymore - it's just...an omnipresent...
Yeah. Ugh. Well, my research has let me down.
Well, you got one. Yeah, one.
But we're gonna turn it. You ready to get into your...
(SIGHS) ..chair of delight?
Yep. My body is ready. (LAUGHS) OK.
(CHUCKLES) Your head's too big!
It actually... Yeah. It actually is.
Alright. So... (LAUGHS)
My turn now.
You made me get goosebumps once. Mm.
Round 1 - sudden crescendo.
(VIBRANT ORCHESTRAL MUSIC REACHES CRESCENDO)
(MUSIC QUIETENS)
(CHUCKLES) I don't know. What do you reckon?
I certainly had a strong emotional reaction.
You seemed so happy.
Yeah. I love that piece of music.
I don't think there was any goosebumps.
I definitely felt coldness in my arm, though.
Alright. Alright, alright. Alright, Round 2.
Long, sustained notes. Mm-hm.
Here we go. I'm ready.
(GENTLE, LILTING ORCHESTRAL MUSIC)
(MUSIC SWELLS)
If you didn't get that, you're never gonna see goosebumps.
That was 100% definitely. Seriously?
Seriously. Goosebumps?
Yeah. Why can't I tell?
There was a lot on the back of my neck.
Really? And some on my arm.
OK, I need to have a camera on the back of your neck.
Yeah. (LAUGHS) So, that's Star Wars.
That's the Binary Sunset, the Force Theme, by Joel Williams
in its most emotional playing,
and that hits, I reckon, musical love
and also childhood nostalgia.
Like, that's really the big musical swell of the first Star Wars film,
which I watched over and over and over.
Yep, ticking all the boxes pretty much, I think.
Yes! (LAUGHS)
Yes!
Wow! Ooh. Yeah.
(PING!) (LAUGHS)
Excellent triangle skills. So we're even.
So, if I get one more... Oh.
..I win. What? So quickly! Even.
I know. I know. Argh.
Unexpected harmonies. Alright.
Surprise.
(ETHEREAL MUSIC, GENTLE FEMALE VOCALS SING IN MINOR KEY)
Nothing. Nothing.
It's a song. OK. It's a song.
Mm-hm. Alright.
Fine. Do you remember what happened in Round 4?
I beat you? (LAUGHS)
(LAUGHS)
I got goosebumps and you put this on me.
Oh, yeah.
So it should be tighter? Yeah, I think so.
Alright. OK. So, this is minor keys. Mm-hm.
OK. Perhaps sad music.
(GRAND, INTENSE ORCHESTRAL MELODY IN MINOR KEY PLAYS)
So, that's interesting. What?
No goosebumps, but my heart beat way faster. (CHUCKLES)
Really? Yeah.
If you were measuring my pulse, you would have seen a huge spike.
I'm gonna count that as a half point.
Yeah. (LAUGHS)
Wait - that means you're in front.
No, definitely not. Round 5!
(UNEARTHLY, EXPERIMENTAL MUSIC, ETHEREAL FEMALE VOCALS)
So, what happened during that last one?
I had some reaction.
I enjoyed the soundscape of that song,
and there's a lot in there that's quite emotional and beautiful.
I don't think it really translated into full goosebumps, though.
'Cause I chose that one 'cause that's, like,
one of your favourite, you know, sentimental pieces.
From your "survey says". (CHUCKLES) From the survey, yeah.
So just to re-establish these scores - Dan got one.
I was one out of five. One ping.
And then I got one...and a half. Yeah.
One goosebump and then one raised heartbeat, which we count as a half.
I...I... So the winner is...
Finish the sentence. I think it's...I think it's you.
It's Linda. It's Carmelinda... Yeah. (LAUGHS)
..the goosebump champion. Yeah.
Isn't it so funny that the one that we responded to,
that properly got goosebumps,
was the reminiscence bump?
Yeah, absolutely. I think there's something so key about memory.
The melancholy that you feel when you listen to something
or you have that really strong visual accompaniment as well.
So, both of ours were for these movies
that we'd watched over and over again as kids.
I also think it's incredibly important that, you know,
there's images associated with the music that we're hearing in our mind.
And do you reckon that you could force goosebumps?
Nup. No way. I don't think so. I don't think you can force goosebumps.
Do you? Mmm... I was trying.
I was trying really hard, actually.
I was trying to give you a point or two.
But the more I was trying to,
the more that I found that I was forcing myself to cry.
Wow. Like, under that beautiful blindfold
that you put on me,
I was welling up. Huh.
So it's easier to cry to music, do you think?
Yeah. Yeah.
So if that had been the challenge... Right. Maybe that's next time.
Old cry-baby. Yeah. (LAUGHS)
..you might've won. Next time, crying challenge.
Captions by Red Bee Media
Copyright Australian Broadcasting Corporation