Why Songs Give You Chills
That shiver down your spine is not an accident: songwriters can build it on purpose. In 1991 psychologist John Sloboda asked listeners which passages gave them tears or shivers; many contained appoggiaturas, others unexpected harmonies or sudden changes in loudness. In 2011 Valorie Salimpoor and colleagues (Nature Neuroscience) found dopamine released during the build-up, in the caudate, and again at the peak, in the nucleus accumbens. Learn a songwriter's toolkit for chills, each tool heard in our own examples on C – G – Am – F, stack all five in one passage, and write a melody that uses them.
In this lesson you'll
- Know what science found about chills: Sloboda's tears-or-shivers passages (appoggiaturas, unexpected harmonies, sudden changes in loudness) and Salimpoor's dopamine study, with a reward in the wait (caudate) and at the peak (nucleus accumbens).
- Hear and use five chills tools on one loop: a chain of appoggiaturas, an unexpected harmony (A♭ where the ear expects C), a sudden change in loudness, a new voice entering, and predict, delay, deliver.
- Write your own melody over C – G – Am – F that leans and falls in every bar, then add one surprise before the last chord: a sudden quiet bar or an unexpected A♭.
Music in this lesson
- Someone Like YouAdele · 2011 · in A · A – C♯m – F♯m – D (I – iii – vi – IV) · chords only
Remember
Chills ride on expectation: dopamine is released during the build-up, in the caudate (anticipation), and again at the peak, in the nucleus accumbens; these chills, called frisson, are reported by many listeners, but not all.
The toolkit: a chain of appoggiaturas (wave after wave of tension and release), an unexpected chord such as A♭ (♭VI, borrowed from C minor) where the ear expects C, a sudden change in loudness, and a new voice entering.
Predict, delay, deliver: let the ear predict the home chord, hold the five chord a little longer, then arrive; the brain rewards both the waiting and the arrival.