# Has music ever brought you to tears?



## dpasdernick (Nov 20, 2012)

Ok, kind of a less than man-like topic but I'll share a moment.

I worked backstage at David Bowie's Glass Spider Tour in Vancouver. I was up in the spider set (see link below) before the show and noticed a a tiny elevator platform and wondered what it was for. During the concert the band started playing Time one of my favorite Bowie songs. At about 15 seconds in you can see him rise up on the elevator. Between the lighting, costumes, cool angel wings, and of course the great arangement I'm feeling it big time. The ending keeps building and i'm starting to choke up. I don't know if it was a cumulation of him being a hero for so many years, the proximity (I stood about 20 feet from him backstage when Duran Duran were playing but did not have the nerve to say hi) or what ever but it sure became an emotional moment.

Anyway, maybe a sissy topic but I think if you are a musician you are probably somewhat of an emotional creature. Maybe there was a moment for you that brought a tear (hopefully of joy).


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7MNseyT0mk

PS I played in a band that was being paid around $200 a week and noticed one night that I had broken my $150 Paiste China Type cymbal. Probably shed a tear that night too


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## Alex Cuervo (Nov 20, 2012)

There's nothing unmanly about crying. I get choked up at all kinds of stuff.

This song has brought me to tears more than once:
http://www.myspace.com/reigningsoundfan ... e-86780747

Barber's Adagio for Strings kills me. Hard to not get even a little misty when I hear it.

I saw Explosions in the Sky (instrumental band that did the music for Friday Night Lights) on the 4th of July a few years ago, and full-on cried. They really blew me away. It was so passionate, cathartic and beautiful. I'd been having a rough time emotionally leading up to that night - and it felt so damn good to just plop them bags right there on the floor. I was pretty discrete about it, but yeah - the tears were flowing.


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## autopilot (Nov 20, 2012)

Music's like the only thing that makes me cry. 

I cried when they played "Here comes the Sun" in B move. I cried when the Titanic string quartet thanked each other. I cried in "When Somebody Loved Me" in Toy Story 2. I cry most of the way through act two of Sunday In The Park. Move On in Particular. 

So - Yep - all the time. And lets face it - if music doesn't touch you you should be doing something else anyway.


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## Studio E (Nov 20, 2012)

Too many to mention but what comes to mind is the music of the end credits from Shawshank Redemption by Thomas Newman. But seriously, there's plenty of film, rock, pop, and even some country that has that effect on me. I don't think you really get it if it doesn't hit you that hard on occasion.


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## choc0thrax (Nov 20, 2012)

Elfman's Edward Scissorhands used to always get me amongst other things.

Music over animal videos is always tear inducing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btuxO-C2IzE


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## Jimbo 88 (Nov 20, 2012)

Don't tell No One, but music makes me cry all the time. 

The worst is when my children play...they are world class musicians. I'll never forget my Son at 18years old and a senior in highschool playing in an All-State, All-Star Orchestra. There where 100 Orchestra members, 100 Choir members and 100 band members composed of the best musicians in the land and I had known some of the members since they where very young. The concert was for 3 different performing groups, but they started out performing the National Anthem together. The wall of sound and power was just overwhelming! I can not describe the emotional rush. 300 young adults all in perfect harmony.

Anyway..not a word! I will deny, deny, deny.
(that stupid thing got in my eye again)


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## Justin Miller (Nov 20, 2012)

The only time I cried to music is when i was writing a cue for the Eastwest film score competition back in 2008. Odd thing is I wound up winning that competition. Maybe God decided to give me a break


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## ThomasL (Nov 21, 2012)

Tomaso Albinoni, Adagio. Get's me every time.


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## Waywyn (Nov 21, 2012)

There are a few pieces out there which brings pee to my eyes almost regularly. As soon as I hear Schindlers List somewhere or the ET flying theme I hardly can't hold back myself. I find it pretty natural, because we laugh out loud when hearing a good joke. Not that laughing is the opposite of crying because something is sad, but just for the "outbreak" of emotion. People find it natural to laugh out loud, but no one would never cry out loud. If our society wouldn't have that much of a problem with it, people in general would feel much more reliefed, pleased and in harmony with themselves!

Keep those topics coming! Crying and showing how you feel is much more manly than playing the macho!


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## Tatu (Nov 21, 2012)

Last time was almost this morning, while walking to work and listening to Horner's Braveheart score. Damn that's good stuff.

From all the forms of fine arts, music is the one that touches me the most. That's how it has always been. I think I realized it when I went to watch Jurassic Park back in 1993.. "Journey to the Island" just snapped right in.


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## choc0thrax (Nov 21, 2012)

Tatu @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> I think I realized it when I went to watch Jurassic Park back in 1993.. "Journey to the Island" just snapped right in.



I think Journey to the Island was an important piece of music for many people. I know as an 11 year old it was that exact piece that made me really take notice of film music for the first time.


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## Tatu (Nov 21, 2012)

choc0thrax @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> Tatu @ Wed Nov 21 said:
> 
> 
> > I think I realized it when I went to watch Jurassic Park back in 1993.. "Journey to the Island" just snapped right in.
> ...



I was around 11 also and I think it was the first movie I went to see without mommy or daddy , which made it a very special occasion overall... and it did the very same thing for me.

:cry: ( <- getting sentimental  )


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## SergeD (Nov 21, 2012)

Waywyn @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> As soon as I hear Schindlers List somewhere or the ET flying theme I hardly can't hold back myself.



+1

But not the music alone, I have to see the movie. Once again, it proves that a movie is getting better with the best scores.


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## Ganvai (Nov 21, 2012)

Adagio on the Alien 3 Soundtrack by Elliot Goldenthal really gets me every time.

The namegiving Track on the last Nightwish CD "Imaginaerum" too.

I love music that can touch me like this. I think it is really the thing music is made for.

I love the other kind of music as well. The "I can see clearly now"-Cover on the Antz-Soundtrack (don't remember right now who made it) everytime makes me sing. So I just listen to the Song when I'm alone in my car 

Greetings, Jan

PS: Oh, I forgot the amazing Braveheart Soundtrack by James Horner. The end is awesome.


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## SamGarnerStudios (Nov 21, 2012)

You know a song is good when it gives you chills even after listening to it everyday for months and months. And then randomly after 6 months of listening to the song, you cry. Then you listen to it again, and it gives you chills. THEN, you start crying just thinking about it.


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## Ian Dorsch (Nov 21, 2012)

Beautiful music brings me to tears all the time. Hell, I got choked up from hearing a 5-second slice of Beethoven's 9th in a Radiolab promo the other day.

One piece of music that totally destroys me every time is the first movement of Gorecki's Symphony No. 3. So much beauty and relentless, inexorable tragedy in that music.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Nov 21, 2012)

> There's nothing unmanly about crying.



Or wearing panties.


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## rayinstirling (Nov 21, 2012)

Recently a performance of Schindler's List by the RPO at RAH in London brought a tear to my eye.

Sometimes I quite like being an old fart.


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## chimuelo (Nov 21, 2012)

Actually I got kicked out of the theater during Schindlers list as we were in the 5th row making out during some pretty gorey scenes I guess.
Some old gal tagged me in the back of the head with a stale Bagel by the exit door, damn near knocked me out..


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## EastWest Lurker (Nov 21, 2012)

The first time I heard the Verdi Requiem.


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## TGV (Nov 21, 2012)

The piece that did it for me is Brahms' Gestillte Sehnsucht. It's so damn close to my deepest melancholia, it really gets to me. Strangely enough, so is BWV 622 (O Mensch, bewein dein' Sünde gross), but that fulfills me with inner peace.

Music, who understands its language?


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## rgames (Nov 21, 2012)

I almost cried once after hearing a community orchestra destroy the premiere of one of my works. Shortly after that I started to get into sampled instruments 

Seriously, though, yes - of course music has made my cry. Barber's adagio is among the most likely to do so.

A related point: that's one thing that has gone missing in a lot of classical music - raw emotional power. I hear too much concert music that is academically interesting, well-crafted, original, and entirely unable to extract a single emotion from any human being.

rgames


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## Chriss Ons (Nov 21, 2012)

Among quite a few others, these performances continue to have an equally strong effect on me:

* Jacqueline Du Pre / LSO, dir. Sir John Barbirolli - E. Elgar's _Cello Concerto in E minor, op.85_
* Glenn Gould - _Aria_ from J.S. Bach's _Goldberg Variations_ (1981 recording)
* Staatsorchester Stuttgart, dir. Dennis Russel Davies - A. Pärt's _Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten_


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## TheWillardofOZ (Nov 21, 2012)

Pavarotti's _Nessun Dorma_, this recording in particular, has made me cry a few times. Gives me chills at the very least. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTFUM4Uh_6Y&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTFUM4Uh ... re=related)


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## Lpp (Nov 21, 2012)

This thingy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZgoiRIJrWs

I heard it first in a tv flick about a young girl being overstrained having to deal with old people in a retirement home and in the end bringing these charming people great joy and all sing this song and this Scala-version here takes over while showing the joy of the olds.

When I think about it more closely, the first song that brought tears was also about an old woman having lost her husband soon, forgotten by her relatives, listening always to the same tango and remebering her good times. The song is by german "boygroup" PUR, just in case anyone knows them or the song *lol*

Good thread by the way... keep em coming


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## germancomponist (Nov 21, 2012)

Waywyn @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> There are a few pieces out there which brings pee to my eyes almost regularly. As soon as I hear Schindlers List somewhere or the ET flying theme I hardly can't hold back myself. I find it pretty natural, because we laugh out loud when hearing a good joke. Not that laughing is the opposite of crying because something is sad, but just for the "outbreak" of emotion. People find it natural to laugh out loud, but no one would never cry out loud. If our society wouldn't have that much of a problem with it, people in general would feel much more reliefed, pleased and in harmony with themselves!
> 
> Keep those topics coming! Crying and showing how you feel is much more manly than playing the macho!



+1


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## TGV (Nov 21, 2012)

Oh, and I hate to admit it, but a Randy Newman song for Toy Story 2 too. The text and the movie add to the effect, of course. It's about being abandoned, very ironically expressed in the phrase "When she loved me": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdyBbS7rcI


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## Kejero (Nov 21, 2012)

Never cried or got peed in my eyes (Alex, seriously :D ), but I do get goosebumps from some music. 

Off the top of my head, there's John Williams' 'Fawkes The Phoenix'. I'm apparently the only person in the world who gives a crap about this piece, but what can I say, I love it.

Susan Boyle's original performance gave me goosebumps too, but I guess that's maybe also partly because of the context. You get to see an entire studio audience and the jury smirk and laugh at this silly old scruffy woman (rolleyes included), and then after singing merely a few notes, she blows everyone away with such a powerful performance of such a beautiful song. _Ya didn't expect that, did ya! Did ya!_ Well heck no. 

And without a doubt 'Der Holle Rache' from Mozart's 'Magic Flute'. I'm actually going to attend a performance in a few weeks. I can hardly wait


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## TGV (Nov 21, 2012)

Kejero @ Wed Nov 21 said:


> And without a doubt 'Der Holle Rache' from Mozart's 'Magic Flute'. I'm actually going to attend a performance in a few weeks. I can hardly wait


That's good music. Here's an opportunity to practice it a bit, just in case the soprano and understudy get sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5_kVFVkP0c


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## noiseboyuk (Nov 21, 2012)

Randy Newman / Sarah McLaughlan - misty, definitely misty.

Most unexpected was listening to Williams' Battle for Yavin earlier this year. I was obsessing about its complex arrangements and general brilliance, when suddenly I forgot about all that cos it just made me feel 10 again, having the greatest movie experience of my life. Lump in throat.

The big one for me though, is tied to an historical event.

It was early Sunday morning, right after 9/11 in 2001. I'd done little other than watch the news all week. Bleary eyed, I was sorting out breakfast for the kids and absent-mindely switched on the TV. And there was a brief report of the Last Night of the Proms in London, usually a big patriotic bombast-fest. Not this time. It was only a 15 second clip of Barber's Adagio For Strings... but it was overwhelming. The contrast between what it normally was, and what it was that year, with that most emotive of pieces, was indescribable. Somehow the human tragedy of what had taken place got through to me in a way that all the 24 hour news reports hadn't.


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## bdr (Nov 21, 2012)

2nd side of Abbey Road

Scarborough Fair

Waters of March

Feed the Birds

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir score

Schindlers List

...nice thread!


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## Dan Mott (Nov 21, 2012)

No song as ever done that to me. If it is with picture, it has more of an affect. The only movie I cried in was Titanic lol, but the music had a lot to do with it.

The only song that has made me cry a bit is - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5anLPw0Efmo

Dunno why, but yeah


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## Arbee (Nov 22, 2012)

I shed a tear watching the opening of the 1984 Olympics on TV the moment the fanfare started in JW's theme. Lost it totally.... ~o)


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## mark812 (Nov 22, 2012)

Mozart's _Requiem_ too.


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## Kejero (Nov 22, 2012)

Dan-Jay @ Thu Nov 22 said:


> The only movie I cried in was Titanic lol, but the music had a lot to do with it.



Ha, same here I think :D But it has nothing to do with the music. This is all Kate Winslet as far as I'm concerned. Lump in the throat every time I watch that scene of her in the water. "Jack! Jaaack...!" Maybe I'm just a sucker for the Winslet


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## Dan Mott (Nov 22, 2012)

Kejero @ Thu Nov 22 said:


> Dan-Jay @ Thu Nov 22 said:
> 
> 
> > The only movie I cried in was Titanic lol, but the music had a lot to do with it.
> ...



Haha

That's the exact moment I cried. I was 8!!! 

I remember sitting infront of everyone else and I was starting to tear up, but no one could see my face. As soon as the movie finished, I walked to my room and cried out loud. LOL


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 27, 2012)

Radiohead, Debussy, Trent Reznor, Ella Fitzgerald, Herrmann, Led Zeppelin, Bach, Hans Zimmer, Peter Gabriel, Jerry Goldsmith, Stravinsky, Kate Bush, Vangelis.

My favourite artists have moved me to tears, in some cases more than once!


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## chimuelo (Nov 28, 2012)

I have to admit watching Rush last week with a great String Troupe had me close, but Trans Siberian Orchestra is on a Tuesday night right before I go to Nashville.
God I love time off, so many talented tours this year, the economy is definately doing better than we are led to believe.
I am seeing record profits and record visitors in 2012, I guess the MSNBC abnd FOX News jive don't fool adults enough to keep them hunkered down like doomsday preppers.

And FWIW, the Stupid Bakers Union deserves to go looking for work at Dunkin Doughnuts.
You strike when there's a boom, it's old school by laws and common sense.

We haven't seen a raise since 1997 so I am looking for a BA to start making an appearance, if not. I will remind these on their ass all day Union schmucks to get up and go do their gig. But, not during the Holidays. The best strike time is right before the 1st 4 day weekend, Presidents Day.
Some Unions are smarter than others. Bakers could come here and join the powerful Culinary workers.

Jeez I am so sorry, I tend to get carried away.

Rush with an Orchestra was quite moving though....Geddy wasn't lip syncing like these dancy prancy broads Madonna, and Shania, Katie and Brittany, they bring tears to my eyes form their poor memories during a performance when they get lost during a sequencer turn around, that's about it.

Go see Rush. I wish the other Canadians were with them like Rick Emmet from Truimph.
Thank God we still have Concerts. So inspiring.

Happy Holidays, it's for the Kids afterall.........


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## MacQ (Nov 28, 2012)

John Barry's "Two Socks" theme from Dances With Wolves punches me in the gut every time. It starts with this pastoral I-IV thing in A major, but midway through pivots on the dominant, and the melody goes from the G# over E major up to a C natural over A minor. From joy to sorrow in a single moment. So simple and at once so utterly depressing. Such a brilliant, deservedly Oscar-winning score.

I also am always moved by Hans' "Lion King" score. (Another well deserved Oscar). Here again it's the simplicity that moves me most. It was one of the first score CD's I ever bought as a 13 year old, and I always wished it had more than 4 suites from the film. They're all brilliant, especially "To Die For". The aleatoric choral dissonance is genuinely terrifying, and after the stampede action the theme statement with strings and choir at 3:18 -- well, if you're not crying at that point you have no heart!! And it's SO simple, you know? It doesn't obfuscate the emotion with overwrought orchestration. Check out "King of Pride Rock", too ... that one still gives me goosebumps.

And of course the "Honor Him" theme from Gladiator. The F#m to Bm/D, D, E ... really I think it's the simplicity that is most effective at conveying the sadness. It strikes a chord with everyone, whether you have musical training or not, and somehow taps into the folk music zeitgeist to reach out and touch the audience without unnecessary frill.

Anyway, those are just a few of many that really get to me.


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## Ed (Nov 28, 2012)

Alex Cuervo @ Tue Nov 20 said:


> There's nothing unmanly about crying.



Its not unmanly if you shed a tear, so long as you eat a bloody rare steak of an animal you just killed with your giant muscular hands during a quest to save a women and child from death, then it might be socially acceptable to do so. Alternatively its quite acceptable to shed a tear before you sacrifice your life for others, like jumping in front of a bullet, bonus points if its for women you never met before or children.

/only half joking


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## Ed (Nov 28, 2012)

Dan-Jay @ Thu Nov 22 said:


> I remember sitting infront of everyone else and I was starting to tear up, but no one could see my face. As soon as the movie finished, I walked to my room and cried out loud. LOL



I dont know about anyone else but every time I have watched The Green Mile the tears just come aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah


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## choc0thrax (Nov 28, 2012)

chimuelo @ Wed Nov 28 said:


> I have to admit watching Rush last week with a great String Troupe had me close, but Trans Siberian Orchestra is on a Tuesday night right before I go to Nashville.
> God I love time off, so many talented tours this year, the economy is definately doing better than we are led to believe.
> I am seeing record profits and record visitors in 2012, I guess the MSNBC abnd FOX News jive don't fool adults enough to keep them hunkered down like doomsday preppers.
> 
> ...



Grr, I wanted to see Rush when they were in town but I was working. I didn't know they had an orchestra...! I've hung out with Geddy a bunch and he's like the nicest dude on earth.


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## Peter Alexander (Nov 28, 2012)

Several pieces by Vaughan Williams. The Last Samurai I find very moving.


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## Ned Bouhalassa (Nov 29, 2012)

So, folks, let's get technical then: are you more into Kleenex or vintage cotton? Do you value round-robin or one-shot (notice I wrote shot, not snot)? And the whimpers, sniffles: legato or staccato? :cry:


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## mark812 (Nov 29, 2012)

Peter Alexander @ Wed Nov 28 said:


> The Last Samurai I find very moving.



_A Way of Life_ especially.


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## Ganvai (Nov 29, 2012)

mark812 @ 29th November 2012 said:


> Peter Alexander @ Wed Nov 28 said:
> 
> 
> > The Last Samurai I find very moving.
> ...



Oh yeah, totally agree!


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