Heard choir singing and unexpectedly started crying.

[PotOfYoghurt]

Hello all, I've never ventured in here before, but I was wondering if I could have your collective knowledge and experience for a moment...

I was visiting Canterbury Cathedral recently, and I was walking throughout the grounds I heard a choir start singing. I know it had children in it, I'm not sure if it was adults as well. It was quite possibly the most beautiful thing I've ever heard.

I just sort of stopped where I was and listened, and before I knew it I was crying. I very rarely cry (with actual tears down my face) so it was quite unusual for me.

I've never really heard a great deal of choral music before, and I just can't work out why it affected me so much. Have you had an experience like this before?

[niminypiminy]

Choral music can be very emotionally affecting -- just hearing that almost unearthly beauty can bring out very strong emotions when you least expect it. one piece that always brings a lump to my throat. The contrast between the everydayness of the world and these almost otherworldly voices just gets me.

But I wouldn't underestimate the effect of being in a cathedral either. They are places of great beauty and mystery where people have meditated and prayed and cried and rejoiced for hundreds of years. Irrational as it sounds, there's something in the building that brings feelings to the surface, often quite unexpectedly.