Sound CheckThe reasons why certain songs make us weep
According to recent findings, the reasons why we cry while listening to certain songs goes beyond identifying with sad and emotional lyrics.
As ABC News’ Lana Zak reports, some of the key elements in a song like Adele’s “Someone Like You” are sure get the tears flowing, including tempo, volume and a music note called an appoggiatura.
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Derived from the Italian word that means “to lean,” the Wall Street Journal explains that “an appoggiatura is a type of ornamental note that clashes with the melody just enough to create a dissonant sound.”
However, defining where exactly an appoggiatura occurs in a song can be quite difficult to pin down. Conductor, composer and music commentator Rob Kapilow said in a discussion with NPR, “I think it's words like this that make people hate classical music or even hate people who like classical music.”
He also said, “You know, I mean, these are fussy definitions for things that just happen naturally in music…Yes, in truth, the real definition is an accented leaning note on the beat… There's absolutely no rule about how long it has to be, but at heart, it simply means a dissonance that resolves to a consonance.”
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What ABC News found is that our brains enjoy the tension created by music and by extension this ornamental note. Listening to sad songs or watching sad movies produces a similar response to the feelings that are induced when eating chocolate, having sex or using recreational drugs like cocaine.
“It may seem very counterintuitive that you spend two hours with a very sad movie and in the end, feel happy about your own life, “ says Ohio State University’s Dr. Silvia Knobloch-Westerwick. “But, my research shows because of the sad emotions, you think more about the people you care about the most in your life and that improves your outlook to life and makes you a lot happier.”
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Sad songs can definitely help us when we are going through a tough time and here are our top five tearjerkers.
1. “Tears in Heaven” by Eric Clapton
2. “Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera
3. “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen
4. “This Woman’s Work” by Maxwell
5. “Nothing Compares To You” by Sinead O'Connor
