Be My Valentine?

It was Valentine’s Day two days ago. And, of course, we had to toil through school. Even though I really wanted to enjoy my first Valentine’s Day as someone who is finally not single, my chemistry teacher wouldn’t give me a break and gave us 3 worksheets to finish by the end of class.

My heart was not in the mood to do any schoolwork then. My brain was busy fantasizing about the beautiful date that awaited me. However, I knew if I didn’t finish the work, I would have to face the torturous punishment of staying after school. Therefore, I pulled out my most romantic study playlist and used that as motivation to make studying more bearable.

I tend to listen to romantic music when studying, especially while doing English homework. Since Grade 8, I have been a hopeless romantic, fantasizing about fairy tale love stories to keep boredom at bay. So, I often study while playing romantic classical music.

The more I listened, the more I wondered why some pieces invoked such a strong feeling in one’s heart. Thus, I decided to do some research and will share the results with you.

According to Professor Peacocke – who holds the Richard Wollheim Chair of Philosophy at UCL – “romantic music is distinguished by how emotion is expressed, not just the emotion itself.” Therefore, expressing strong emotion is done with ‘expressive action,’ a concept that describes instinctive responses to emotions, such as slumping when we hear bad news or skipping when we receive good news.

Furthermore, romantic music tends to draw on representing one thing metaphorically as something else. Peacocke stated, “A strong example is the way that Schubert uses syncopation to convey waves lapping against boats, and then rapid light sets of notes to embody the reflections of mountain peaks referenced in Goethe’s lyrics.”

For many of my music theory nerds, some distinct musical details give the music a “romantic” feel. According to IndiePulse Music, the melody of the song is incredibly important. They provided the example of the song Yesterday by The Beatles, where the first beat of almost every bar is characterized by the non-chord tone, adding to the chord tone and intensity. Moreover, they showed that in harmony, some chords, such as maj7 and add9, can invoke nostalgia, which can be incredibly romantic for some people.

In the video, I included some romantic songs for studying that I personally listen to. If you have any other recommendations, feel free to share them in the comments down below!