What music do you listen to??

[Colhad]

Particularly when playing Chi or using the PC in general. I think music helps in Chihuahua, keeps the mind relaxed.

Curently have Van Morrison, Brown Eyed Girl going.

[rogue_mother]

I love listening to music of just about any genre, but when I am on the computer I am usually listening to rock/pop or world music. The artists I am enoying most these days are Alice in Chains, Tool, Juanes, and Gloria Estefan, plus the latest addition to my collection -- Johnny Clegg, from South Africa. I got his album One Life for Christmas and immediately ripped these songs for my playlist: Jongosi, Thamela, Faut Pas Baisser les Bras, and the Zulu version of Utshani Obulele.

[Linda]

Small Faces
Bowie
Nirvana
Libertines
Babyshambles
Placebo
White Stripes
Prince
My Chemical Romance

but usually I just listen to the sound of my own brain whirring!! 

[pat]

I embarked on the massive task of converting all of my old vinyl records to MP3s to get them into iTunes, along with all of my CDs (which were a snip to do by comparison!). Consequently my PC and iPod have a jukebox of about 7000 tracks which I like to play in random order so that I don't know what's coming up next.  If I'm playing music while at the PC, that's what I'll be listening to. If I'm playing music purely for relaxation then it's normally classical music. I'm particularly fond of Russian composers, especially Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninoff.

Which prompts me to ask a question. I'm sure many of you have experienced goose bumps when listening to certain pieces of music - certain pieces by Tchaikovsky do it for me every time. Does anyone know the physiology involved in this? What physical reaction occurs so that your skin reacts to the music in such a way?

[technomc]

Observation and reporting have widely indicated that from very early childhood music elicits bodily experiences linked to the experience of emotion: the enharmonic key changes in tonal music are often associated with ‘shivers down the spine’ or ‘goose bumps’, reflecting psychological states such as excitement, joy, or sadness. Linking back to the fetal experience of Henry IV, it would follow that the content of the music he was hearing may indeed have had some emotional effect, this in turn arguably having an impact on his personality state of general good spirits. Personality is, of course, a complex phenomenon, with many innate, stable components as well as emergent and changing aspects. Yet, research has suggested that amongst musicians very particular personality characteristics are evident, reflecting emotional qualities such as great sensitivity.

Any help Pat???

[pat]

Bloody hell, techno, have you been eating the library?  Now I don't want to sound ungrateful, but that's not quite the answer I was looking for. I'm curious to know what physical change occurs that actually makes the skin rise in goose bumps. Presumably some sort of chemical reaction takes place. Similarly, what sort of chemical reaction occurs when someone sees a gruesome sight and throws up? What goes on in their brain that makes it send a message to their stomach telling it to empty itself? And why?

As you can see, I've got too much time on my hands!

[technomc]

How about this then!!!
Goose bumps (AE), also called goose pimples, goose flesh (BE), chicken skin (Hawaiian Pidgin), or cutis anserina, are the bumps on a person's skin at the base of body hairs which involuntarily develop when a person is cold or experiences strong emotions like fear. The reflex of producing goose bumps is known as horripilation, piloerection, or the pilomotor reflex. It occurs not only in humans but also in many other mammals; a prominent example are porcupines which raise their quills when threatened.

Goose bumps are created when tiny muscles at the base of each hair, known as arrectores pilorum, contract and pull the hair erect. The reflex is started by the sympathetic nervous system, which is in general responsible for many fight-or-flight responses.

Goose bumps are often a response to cold: in animals covered with fur or hair, the erect hairs trap air to create a layer of insulation. Goose bumps can also be a response to anger or fear: the erect hairs make the animal appear larger, in order to intimidate enemies. This can for example be observed in the intimidation displays of chimpanzees[1], in stressed mice[2] and rats, and in frightened cats. In humans, it can even extend to piloerection as a reaction to hearing nails scratch on a chalkboard or listening to awe-inspiring music.[3]

Piloerection as a response to cold or fear is vestigial in humans; as humans retain only very little body hair, the reflex now serves no known purpose.

In humans, goose bumps are strongest on the forearms, but also occur on the legs, back, and other areas of the skin that have hair. In some people, they even occur in the face or on the head.

Piloerection is also a (rare) symptom of some diseases, such as temporal lobe epilepsy, some brain tumors, and autonomic hyperreflexia. Goose bumps can also be caused by heroin withdrawal. A skin condition that mimics goose bumps in appearance is keratosis pilaris.

Goose bumps can occur only in mammals, since other animals do not have hair. The term "goose bumps" is therefore misleading: the bumps on the skin of a plucked goose technically do not qualify as piloerection. Birds do however have a similar reflex of raising their feathers in order to keep warm.

The Latin horrere is the root of words such as "horrific" or "horror"; it means "to stand on end" and refers to the standing hairs of goose bumps. In other languages, the "goose" may be replaced by other kinds of poultry. For instance, "hen" is used in both French and Chinese (la chair de poule,)

[technomc]

Oh! the sick thing...

The 'fight or flight' response kicks in and the body goes into auto pilot. All of the major organs are affected.
 In this situation, where all your senses are attuned to the danger you're in, it makes your blood pump faster to the heart, your blood pressure will rise, you will feel suffocated, and your heart beat is 10 times faster than normal. The result can be nausea and sickness or well, you've seen a dog pee when you scared them? same with humans.

[birdy]

Wow! such erudition, T!  Or maybe good research skills!

[technomc]

But of course...
I also bake all my own cakes, make all my own clothes, fire all the bricks that my house is made of, built my car from spares from washing machines and vacuum cleaners and assembled my own computer from egg boxes, washing up bottles and sticky backed plastic   

[smaug]

You are one clever chick Tech!
I must admit I just crave silence these days for a lot of the time.The world is so bloody noisy and the real sounds of life you cant hear.
I know it might sound corny but I like the music of the birds and the wind.
I used to work in a 5 storey residential aged care facility and when I was delivering exercise classes you I used to stop and listen to the bellbirds that inhabited a stand of gum forest across the very busy road - it absolutely amazed me that their piping could be heard above the roar of the traffic
When I do listen to music I like to listen to music that sings to me, so I like violin pieces of that slow melancholic or wistful  type - I suppose my favourite is Ralph Vaughn Williams ' Lark Ascending' (there's that bird thing again), I like music with meaningful lyrics -Stings  'Fields of Gold' , Pretenders ' I'll Stand by you' Celine Dions ' A new day has come' and Sara McLoughlins " Angel' are my favourites at the moment and I cant get enough of listening to them and feeling the words

I suppose many of you have listened to Susan Boyle singing 'I had a dream' - listening to that even several times and I still cry. It resonates so much, and I suppose Pat that its related to why you get goose bumps.

[Nova]

Years ago I came across a notion that of all the art forms
music comes closest to the way our brains work. There were
no details, however. It would be nice to know more.

Sometimes I wonder, why is it that my taste for music is so
different when I listen to music and when I play myself.
For example I love to listen to Bach but not playing it and
with Chopin it is vice versa. (I play the piano and treble
recorder).

My favorite band is Nightwish, both for the music itself and
the spellbinding lyrics. The world needs more fantasy and
fairy-tales!

[Colhad]

Listening to a real old country singer, no longer around unfortunately. The late Boxcar Willie, and a song called "From a Rolls to the Rails". I like how he sings about trains a lot, me being a train nut and all.

[Alonzo Quixote]

Colhad,

If you like songs about trains, there's a favorite folk song of mine by Arlo Guthrie called the  City of New Orleans.

I think this song was probably written and sung a while ago.  If I'm not mistaken, Arlo Guthrie has passed away.

[rogue_mother]

The City of New Orleans is a great song. Arlo Guthrie is still very much alive. He was just on Prairie Home Companion this past weekend. It's his dad who passed away, Woodie Guthrie.

One of the train songs on my playlist is The Gospel Train, as performed a capella by the American bluegrass group Mountain Heart, and another is Downbound Train, performed by Chuck Berry.