{"id":389,"date":"2015-09-29T14:06:02","date_gmt":"2015-09-29T14:06:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/?p=389"},"modified":"2024-02-20T23:48:26","modified_gmt":"2024-02-20T23:48:26","slug":"the-tingle-factor-redux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/the-tingle-factor-redux\/","title":{"rendered":"The Tingle Factor Redux"},"content":{"rendered":"

Radio 3 is – on its breakfast show – focusing on building a playlist based on the theme “the Tingle Factor”.\u00a0 Some time ago I wrote\u00a0a post on that subject<\/a>\u00a0and it was always likely that I would return to it.\u00a0 Sitting here listening to the opening of Sibelius’\u00a0Fifth Symphony<\/strong>\u00a0was all I needed to trigger that return!<\/p>\n

Within the Radio 3 playlist I have been struck by just how many of the list would not be on my own “tingle moments” list.\u00a0 There are – so far – sixteen entries on the playlist – there is, perhaps, just the one that ‘might’ qualify for my own playlist.\u00a0 Perhaps that is because my own definition takes a narrow-ish view of what constitutes a “tingle”.<\/p>\n

The Radio 3 Breakfast list and the associated event at the Wellcome Collection includes all “physical” effects – whereas I would restrict it to that “hair on the back of your neck standing up” moments that are – perhaps – more rare.\u00a0 My previous post focused on a single example – from Mahler’s\u00a0“Resurrection” Symphony<\/strong>\u00a0– and that remains the “most tingling” of all for me.\u00a0 It is far from the only one – the climax of Sibelius Five has a similarly positive effect.<\/p>\n

For me – I would agree with the statement on the BBC website that “the ‘tingles’ are a personal experience” and that “two people listening to the same piece of music will not necessarily share the same experience” – but I would differ when it comes to “sad music is more likely to generate the effect than happy music”.\u00a0 For me – the ‘tingles’ most often come from those moments of “triumph” – the Mahler and the Sibelius are both examples of this.<\/p>\n

Another is the ending of Bruckner’s\u00a0Seventh Symphony<\/strong>\u00a0– although in contrast I also get a shiver – perhaps of anticipation – as the cellos soar up in the opening bars of the same piece of music.\u00a0 Anticipation – knowing that the climax is coming – is evident in many situations – although it is not always the same feeling.\u00a0 I think it probably depends on what is being anticipated – it could be “the tingles” – but it might also be simply “pleasure” or “calm”.<\/p>\n

It is important to say that there are other emotional\/physical responses to some moments in music – and I will, perhaps, come back to examples of “non-tingle” effects in a later blog.<\/p>\n

Another guaranteed moment of “tingling” are the high Cs in Allegri’s\u00a0Miserere<\/strong>.\u00a0 Each recording manages to produce that response – but it is even more magical when it is heard live.\u00a0 This is – of course, quite a different sort of music to the Bruckner, Mahler and Sibelius that I have previously mentioned – and it shows that it is not just the big, noisy, endings that tingle.<\/p>\n

I think that – as I have mentioned before – a lot of the effect of music is to do with the memories it evokes – however the interesting thing about my “tingle factor moments” are that they are (I think) entirely divorced from ‘specific’ memories.\u00a0 I think of another tingle inducing moment – the ending of\u00a0Mobile for Seven Orchestras<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0by Lawrence Leonard (performed at the Hoffnung Astronautical Music Festival) when the choir – in what seems like an unlikely key – sing Sir Arthur Sullivan’s\u00a0The Lost Chord<\/strong>.\u00a0 This “hit” me the first time I heard it (perhaps it was the screaming horns that did it!) – and has never gone away!!\u00a0 It is most certainly not associated with anything other than the recording itself.<\/p>\n

I think that is true for most of my tingle factor moments – they have just ‘popped up’ – not necessarily for any reason other than the music itself.\u00a0 Others include the opening of Schubert’s\u00a0“Great” C Major Ninth Symphony<\/strong>; The “big tune” when it first appears in Brahms’\u00a0First Symphony<\/strong>; the triumphant rendering of the theme by the brass at the end of Britten’s\u00a0Young Person’s Guide<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

There are a few that have associated memories – Ron Goodwin’s\u00a0The Trap<\/strong>\u00a0– is high on that list – I guess many won’t even know the name – but it is used as the theme tune for the TV coverage of the London Marathon.\u00a0 That not only gets the hairs standing to attention on my neck – it also starts my legs twitching ready to run!!<\/p>\n

For me – the “Tingle Factor” is inextricably linked to “high points” – big tunes – huge chords and, as I said, in some way a sense of triumph.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Radio 3 is – on its breakfast show – focusing on building a playlist based on the theme “the Tingle Factor”.\u00a0 Some time ago I wrote\u00a0a post on that subject\u00a0and it was always likely that I would return to it.\u00a0 Sitting here listening to the opening of Sibelius’\u00a0Fifth Symphony\u00a0was all I needed to trigger that … Continue reading “The Tingle Factor Redux”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[79,97],"class_list":["post-389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ignorance","tag-cognition","tag-musical-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":390,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389\/revisions\/390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/systemsthink.co.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}