Are men more prone to crying over beautiful music?

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Hello there...today, I'd like to discuss something that's on my mind, which I've been thinking of, on and off, for the past 10 years.

I remember reading an article on the internet discussing the power that certain songs and classical pieces of music possess, to the point of making people cry. Well, what stood out to me, was that it said men are MORE prone to crying over beautiful music then women are! Even though it didn't explain why, I figured it out myself.

My guess is, that women have no problem crying aloud, so they don't have as much bottled up sorrow and nostalgia in their souls. But men...they've been taught all their lives NOT to cry, so all their sadness, beautiful and sorrowful alike, gets pent up. Now, music is a powerful tool...certain music can become ingrained in our brains and associated with certain events in our lives. For instance, a beloved grandmother playing the piece "Clair de Lune" on her piano when you were little. But now that she's dead and gone, and you're all grown up...listening to that same piece makes your tear up...and even cry softly, because with the song comes the gentle memories of grandma...

Anyways, that's my theory...later on, I'll post some songs and tunes that have actually succeeded in making me bawl like an infant, with explanations why.

Feel free to contribute as always, heh...

Usagi1992

This is a very intresting topic...and actually make's quite a bit of sense to me really. And not that many things do.

Yep, men are indeed taught to hold in their emotions and sencitive side, or soo i've heard...that's probably also how they grow to fear 'cuteness', as well....as it accociate's with a lovely, pure world.

It is sad...but it's nice to know that even when you hide this side to you deep down...it's always still there, somehow...even if it's deep down....

And, it's funny...although i'm a girl, some beautifull music has been known to really make me tear up/feel sad/feel nastalgiac at times (although...it's not that often really...it's been defenetly known to happon). I'm not a tomboy, though...and....not really even close to one. *too posessive of cute things anyways...it toke guts to say that, yes...this could also mean i may be older than i seem, i notice i'm not viewing my age. i prefer to keep it this way...lol*

I'm intrested in hearing these tunes that have triggered some serius emotions in your heart, please do post them for me and the rest of us too of course.

~cmastler

as a musician, I'm usually too busy either playing or dissecting things to cry about it...

Before sartresue says it, 'the music moves topic'

Music can sometimes almost make me cry, but usually only under one narrow circumstance, and it can only happen with music that I'm very familiar with. I'll be skating along listening to music over headphones and all of a sudden it happens. It gives me a special kind of energy boost that's fueled by emotion. I rather like it, and have attained my fastest speeds during these moments. It feels like those action scenes in movies where the sound effects are overshadowed (or completely replaced) by non-aggressive music. It's hard to think of an example, since I haven't seen any such movies in many years. Maybe they use this effect in Set It Off, where the character played by Queen Latifa, in a desperate but suicidal attempt, takes on a police baricade, or maybe a music video by The Fugees which was modeled like a cinematic climax. It makes me feel invincible - a nice runner's-high. That's the only time it even remotely happens. I don't know what causes it but, I don't think it's the purported notion of being told to hide my emotions or fear cuteness. I've never had a father figure to instil anything like that in me.

Im a lot more emotional then most straight men and Ive never come close to crying from music. The only way I could imagine that happening to me is if the song had some powerful emotional significance to me. Like... if it was a song that someone really closed to me listened to a lot and they died. Or something along those lines. Although Ive never really been all that close to anyone so... I dunno.

I've been longing for a good cry for many years, it's as if I have forgotten how to after I was extremely little. But, instead of crying I can get incredibly emotional while listening to music.

Once I was experimenting by making a mono piano recording stereo by panning each channel individually based on piano key frequencies & adding short echo to give the effect of a piano's cabinet. I *almost* cried by the outcome of the file on first listen.

Then all those ALMOST cries from Beatles songs!

*smiles* Very well then, cmastler, I'll be happy to share a clip with you, and the rest of WP.net, of a moment which has recently made me cry unexpectedly, but was welcome nonetheless.

Two months ago, I was watching PBS, waiting for a program to start...the previous program ended prematurely, so the station decided to fill in the time by playing an 8 minute clip from an old live TV show. The subject of the clip was a tenor named Mario Lanza, and when I saw he looked like in a screencap before the clip played, I was like "meh, he doesn't look all that great", so I decided to just read a book while I waited for my show to come on, keeping the TV on.

Well, was I EVER proved wrong! After only 45 seconds of listening to Mario singing an aria from a Puccini opera, I put my book down, and continued to listen, now thinking "Okay, he's got some talent, even if he has 'happy hands'." (you'll see what I mean when you watch the clip)

Anyway, the aria concluded, and after the applause died down, he did an encore for the audience, based on the song requested most of him - "Someday", from the musical "The Vagabond King", which is the clip I'm posting here. This time, when about a minute passed, I realized... "This guy's REALLY good! I greatly underestimated his talent!" That was also about the time I realized I was tearing up from the beauty of the song. Finally, 20 seconds before the song ended...I lost it; my body was convulsing with sobs, and I had to cover my mouth to keep them from escape my lips, though the tears were gushing from my eyes.

That experience taught me a great lesson: NEVER judge a book by its cover! But it was a lesson well worth it. So, anyway, here's that clip of the underrated but awesome Mario Lanza, singing "Someday". Enjoy!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUU8zAW2GUA&feature=related[/youtube]

actually, come to think of it... there is one song I felt close to tears after hearing. But I dont know if I'd describe it as "beautiful". More like "f****d up and sad". It was called Dance With the Devil by Immortal Technique. Still gives me the shivers when I listen to it.

Hey there all my fellow peers of WP.net! In celebration of my 400th post here, I've decided to discuss my most recent occurrence of having a sob fit over music; which in this case, happened only 5 days ago.

On that evening, I watched the final episode of "Azumanga Daioh" in my bedroom, and during the graduation ceremony, I heard what I assumed to be that particular high school's song especially made for that ceremony. Well, watching the dub of it made me teary-eyed, but re-listening to it in subtitled format made me choke back a sob!


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJUuXkHi6Io[/youtube]

Well, later that night, I went on the internet to find out more about that song, and that's when I learned that it *is* the official song of Japanese high school graduations for real! It's called "Aoge ba Toutoshi" (With an Eternally Grateful Heart). So I browsed around YouTube, and I found a full clip of all 3 verses of the song. This time, while listening to it, the funniest thing happened...

I began to imagine myself in the shoes of such a Japanese high school student, singing that song at their graduation ceremony. I began to see, in their eyes, that the past 12 years had been filled with good times and rough times, but all through those trials....they prevailed, and they realize they couldn't have done it without their teachers, and are forever grateful to them. By the time the 3rd and last verse played...I was in tears, and at the end, I sobbed. Hell, I think I'd have even broken my own "no crying in public" rule if I was that Nipponese student graduating!

Well, anyways, as my gift to the forum, I present "Aoge ba Toutoshi". I hope you like it... ^_^

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbgKWloZ8Yw[/youtube]


Usagi1992

I was at the cinema's other day and I had tears streaming down my face. I didnt notice anyone else crying as usual and feel embarrassed. However, I have noticed men cry during herioc type movies which I really don't see what so sad about.