another entry in the stendahl's syndrome logbook

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this is a new one on me, I wasn't the only weeper while this piece was playing, the soloist was weeping as well. I am awed that he could be emoting as strongly as he was yet still play well. for those new to this concept of stendahl's syndrome, not much is written about it but basically it means its sufferers have a weird kind of emotional response to beautiful things like works or art/music or lovely scenes in nature or even seeing transcendently noble acts, a reaction that is reminiscent of a fight or flight response in that there is flushing, heart rate and respiration accelerates, sweat glands pump, body temperature shoots up, and emotions go into overdrive leading to weeping. I wonder how many other aspies here have this experience in these conditions?

What instrument is that?

an er hu, a Cantonese folk fiddle. very emotionally expressive in the right hands, a screeching noise maker with anybody less.

I picked Ice Cream, as per usual.

There are times when I could weep at aesthetic beauty. But these occasions are not common enough in my life.

I tend to cry a little when a doo-wopp song is being played. I think of being under the Elevated subway line, with shadows all over. I think of hanging out on the street corner, talking about girls. I think of the weird romance of having to rely on my voice, rather than expensive instruments. Almost like a little flower growing in a vacant lot.

Sort of like the song "Spanish Harlem," but not quite as elegant as that. The Drifters were too much of an elegant group.

the little flower alone in a vacant lot imagery is powerful. it reminds me of this George Roemisch poem-

Forgiveness is the wind-blown bud
which blooms in placid beauty at Verdun.
Forgiveness is the tiny slate-gray sparrow
which has built its nest of twigs and string
among the shards of glass upon
the wall of shame.
Forgiveness is the child who
laughs in merry ecstasy
beneath the toothed fence that
closes in Da Nang.
Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet
which still clings fast to the
heel that crushed it.
Forgiveness is the broken dream
which hides itself within the corner of the mind
oft called forgetfulness so that
it will not bring pain to the dreamer.
Forgiveness is the reed
which stands up straight and green
when nature’s mighty rampage halts, full spent.
Forgiveness is a God who will not leave us
after all we’ve done.

The opening of Ed Sheeran's song, I See Fire, provoked an emotional response for me.
I think it's the pitch of his voice, but OMG.

^^^I don't know what the musicologists/music theorists would call it, but I hear an emotional "catch" in his voice/breathing, a bit like what you hear in the vocals of a master such as hank Williams SR or elvis. there is also something called "appoggiatura" which is a grace note performed before a note of the melody and falling on the beat, that is used for emotional affect. [or is it "effect"?]

It happens to me all the time. I've always been a crier.

I don't know what it is, but if I could get an album of him singing like he does in the first 4 lines of that song, that would do me in proper

the last movement of "Scheherazade" ["a ship dashed to pieces on a rock surmounted by a bronze warrior"] does me in, that violin solo is SOOOO SAD!

also when the music "breathes" or there is fluidity of tempi/dynamics, there is the potential for emotional expression there also, not just the notes but the spaces between the notes/the "air" around the notes.

I don't think music has ever made me cry.

maybe you have not heard the right music yet. there is at least one medical anecdote of an infant bursting into tears while somebody played "Mexicali rose" on a guitar.

Goosebumps, but not crying. Music does not typically cause me to cry.

^^^how 'bout this one-

4th movement, festival at bagdad, the sea/a ship dashed to pieces on a rock surmounted by a bronze warrior
that violinist seems like it is the voice of Scheherazade, "talking."

May be more that Lion King is one of my special interests and it has strong family ties for me (It was the first movie I saw before I was one year old), but Elton John's version of the love song being used as the credits music just absolutely makes me bawl.