Last week I listened to some of my favorite acapella arrangements of some popular tunes, and during a particularly awesome musical moment, I got little shivers down my spine. This has often happened to me before in various contexts, and I suddenly wondered if there was a name for that feeling.
Apparently, there is.
Frisson
(image courtesy of publicdomainpictures.net: http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=214816&picture=background-1250)
Frisson is a word that can be used to describe that feeling of intense physical pleasure you sometimes get during moments of musically-induced enjoyment. It can manifest as goosebumps, shivers, or chills, among other ways. According to this article by Slate, only two-thirds of people can experience it and the feeling might have something to do with a piece of music surprising us or being different from our expectations in some way.
I thought it was really cool to put a name to this feeling, and now maybe you can too!
My favorite frisson moment is probably the first time I saw Wicked at the end of Defying Gravity.
What about you? Have you ever experienced it? What's your most memorable frisson moment? What types of music experiences give you frisson? Or do you think it's just another way for silly academics to put words to things that don't need to be named?