How Music Evokes Awe

The Science of Happiness

PRX and Greater Good Science Center

Science, Social Sciences

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2023

⏱️ 20 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why do some songs send chills down your spine or give you goosebumps? We explore the science of how music induces awe — and how that affects our well-being.

Episode summary:

In the last episode of our awe series, Dacher explores the mysteries of how music inspires awe and can transport us to another space and time with sound alchemist Laura Inserra. Later, we hear from the scientist who showed how awe-inspiring songs change the way we think and feel.

This is the last episode in our special series The Science of Awe. Check out the last four releases in our feed for Happiness Breaks that will help guide you to experience more awe in your life, and episodes of The Science of Happiness about the other profound ways that awe affects — and more places to find it.

Our host, Dacher Keltner, has a new book out about awe. It’s called Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder and How It Can Transform Your Life. Learn more here: https://tinyurl.com/3uzk8m5r

Today’s guests:

Laura Inserra is an instrumentalist, composer, producer, and a teacher who works with music to help people tap into a sense of awe.

Follow Laura on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laura_inserra/

Follow Laura on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/laurainserra

Check out Laura’s website: https://www.laurainserra.com

Qihao Ji is an assistant professor of Communication at Marist College

Learn more about Ji and his work: https://www.marist.edu/communication-arts/faculty/qihao-ji

Resources from The Greater Good Science Center:

How Music Bonds us Together: https://tinyurl.com/5x5xxnmz

Where Music and Empathy Converge in the Brain https://tinyurl.com/84sep62v

How Many Emotions Can Music Make You Feel: https://tinyurl.com/8pxud5bt

More Resources About Awe and Music

Bluefield Daily Telegraph - Music: A sense of Awe and Admiration: https://tinyurl.com/5eyc4ehw

NYT - How a Bit of Awe Can Improve Your Health: https://tinyurl.com/4zdzcusk

Yamaha Music - The Science of Awe (And Why It Matters): https://tinyurl.com/4njv9mpb

Tell us about your experiences with music awe. Email us at [email protected] or use the hashtag #happinesspod.

Help us share The Science of Happiness!

Leave us a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or share this link with someone who might like the show: https://tinyurl.com/2p9h5aap

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Well, I remember that I had this experience with the guitar, that my brother brought back
0:08.8	home when I was, I think, six or seven.
0:13.8	And I tapped with a pen on top of the string.
0:18.9	And I remember this incredible reverberations and the harmonics of this sound and the smell
0:25.2	even with the fresh wood of the guitar, I felt I could really see now that there is something
0:38.1	beyond my eyes.
0:43.2	And so at that point, music was somehow informing me and I just started to tap on everything.
0:52.6	And at the same time, I have to say that the percussion, the pulse of life, the rhythm,
0:59.0	that was the most powerful way which I could express myself.
1:06.1	The philosopher Susan Sontag said it best, we experience music with our bodies.
1:12.6	It's a human universal to get the chills or to tear up when we're moved by a song the
1:17.8	same as when we're moved by a breathtaking view.
1:21.8	It could be such a powerful elicitor of all.
1:27.2	I'm Dacker Keltner, this is the science of happiness.
1:30.2	We've been exploring the science of all on our show, that's A-W-E, the basic emotion
1:36.5	that we feel when we encounter vast mysteries that we don't understand.
1:40.9	This week we examine how certain kinds of music can bring us goose tingles, tears, those
1:46.5	bodily sensations of all.
1:48.8	If you've missed the other episodes of our Science of A series, I highly recommend checking
1:53.2	them out.
1:54.2	We've looked at research behind feeling awe in nature, through community, and in the
1:59.6	last few happiness breaks we've shared meditations to help you bring more awe into your life.
	...

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