[loons2]

I'm not so sure. An audience feels the music much more intensely if the artist is feeling it. If the artist merely performs it, the audience doesn't feel it nearly as much.

Great radio lab episode!

re: hearing something awful becomes pleasant with repetition The first time I heard this (composed using non-chromatic scale with 16 pitches to the octave) was somewhat uncomfortable, but after hearing it a few times, it became quite pleasant.

https://kylegann.com/FracturedParadise.mp3

The explanation: https://kylegann.com/Fractured.html

[meowface]

And "feeling" it usually just means intuitively adding satisfying and interesting expression to the performance while in a flow state, which at the end of the day is just slight changes in the tempo, rhythm, dynamics, durations, etc.

We're not feeling the "feeling it". We're just enjoying the new and potentially song-improving alterations that often come from a performer getting deep into a performance. If you were to take a pre-recorded piece with those exact same alterations, with no live performer (but could hypothetically make the audio quality the same as a live performance), I bet the audience would feel it just the same when you play the recording. All that matters is what the music sounds like.

[loons2]

You're not a singer. ;-)

[meowface]

True, but I do play piano a bit.

Conveying emotion probably has many extra factors when it comes to vocalizing, so I'd agree on that point.