Music?

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Are aspies more inclined to like music than the general population? I know I tend to get pretty absorbed and overwhelmed by music even though I don't actually play or sing myself. Music seems to affect me much more than the average person.

Interesting question.
From visiting and talking to non-autistic friends, I would note a few things different about me than them...

- Music can transport me somewhere. Once focused on listening or playing, I lose all sense of time, place and being within my physical body. I regularly hit myself in the face with drumsticks because I've lost track of where my head and limbs are while playing drums, for example. I've been like that since childhood, when I would sneak a go on my Dad's snazzy hi-fi and headphones when my parents were out - it would almost be a shock when the record ended and I discovered myself back on the living room floor.

- I am the only one of my social circle who still sits down and just listens to music as a pastime in its own right - with one exception; another friend who also has a developmental condition. Other than at a live gig, all of the other non-musicians I know play music only as background atmosphere for some other task or hobby. To a degree, this could just be because they have busier lives, but none of them can play so much as a single song without talking over it after just a few bars.

- If there is music playing I cannot ignore it, even if it's something I don't like. If I have company, or am working, I cannot have music playing, as it will 'take priority' over everything else and become the sole focus of my attention. Musak in shops and pubs drives me crazy - I struggle enough to pick out conversation in busy places, but adding music makes it much harder still.

I have stendahl's syndrome which manifests itself mostly through music. every time I hear a solo violin strain from "Scheherazade" it makes me weepy and hot under the collar. certain parts of it make me feel like i'm about to die, like my emotions are totally out of control.

Had to Google that one. Very intriguing - I'm not quite sure whether that would freak me out, or if it makes me a little jealous.

In a sense, I have the opposite problem - I'm very Alexithymic. Music is one of the few things that gives me an instantaneous emotional response - nothing nearly as powerful as you describe, even if the music is extremely dramatic, aggressive even. Nevertheless, there's not the delay in emotional response that I experience with other stimuli. Maybe that's because I'm not trying to rationalise or give a name to the feelings when I'm lost listening to music, I'm not quite sure even after all these years.

It seems very surreal to me that I could potentially create music that would barely touch me emotionally, yet so powerfully move another person.

I can be very obsessive about hearing music on the radio. I get upset whenever there is a commercial break or anything. No one else seems to be bothered by this to the extent that I am. Especially when I was younger, music was very important to me and I longed for days where I would get to listen to my favourite songs.

I stopped listening to the radio many years ago in part because of that. Even the DJ announcements between songs drive me to distraction - I don't want to hear people talking.

I also find the "Opti-mod" compression that most stations use does weird things to my perception of the music too. I hate it when all of the dynamics have been stripped out in that way. Far too many CDs are mastered like that these days too. One of the big advantages of digital was supposed to be the theoretical increase in dynamic range over older media; but no, we have to have "volume wars" between mastering engineers instead - horrible.

Music seems to have the power to change my mood on its own to the point I've gotten better control of my anxiety without meds.

I find music to be quite important, but for a different reason: as a soundtrack.

A movie or game without music to me wouldn't create an emotional response. With a decent soundtrack though, I can cry for hours. It's kinda like it fills in that gap that autism creates in the ability to read a person and easily empathise with them. I like to think of music as an "empathy-enabler".

On the days that I don't work, I constantly have music on YouTube playing in the background. Music also has an emotional effect on me.

according to French royal court musician marin marais, music picks up where words leave off. hence its utility in movie soundtracks.

Listening to music has been my life's biggest "special interest." If there's no one else around and I'm not forced to multi-task, I'd happily do nothing but listen to music for hours.

Great point about movie soundtracks. When done right, music makes a movie truly special. Martin Scorcese, Stanley Kubrick, Sergio Leone, and Quentin Tarantino are movie directors/producers whose music soundtracks really helped me connect with both the good guys and the bad guys in their films.

I find I am able to relate more to a 3 minute song that an entire conversation, luckily I love The Ramones then.

Music fills my head and pushes out almost everything else in there, I can focus on the lyrics and find understanding or close my eyes and see a landscape created solely from audio. I could easily listen to music all day and never bother with another conversation.

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I could disappear into a song forever.

I use music for almost everything. I listen to my iPod when I go for walks, while cleaning, and while trying to fall asleep. I have tons of different playlists for different moods, emotions, and situations.

The only time I cannot listen to music is when I am programming, doing maths or anything on the computer or working in a foreign place (Freelance assignments). But when I paint, draw or am involved in visual creative endeavors, I have music on. I choose the music playlists to orchestrate my mood and (for lack of a better phrase) adrenaline levels.

If traveling by train or bus, headphones and playlists to orchestrate my moods. If traveling by car, playlists and not headphones.

As said before, I can disappear into the music.

I can't handle music when i'm driving unless it's classical. any other kind makes me be-bop along until I crash into a tree. like it hijacks my mental processing necessary for proper driving.