Most donors prefer to contribute to causes that tug at the heart strings, such as education.

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With the muscular form of Michelangelo's David setting hearts a-flutter outside the Galleria dell'Accademia, and comely Renaissance maidens in every gallery, it's the artistic heart of Florence that plucks at the heart strings.

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The acceptable adaptations far outnumber the offensive, with the trademark growling guitars chugging at the heart-strings in an almost comforting manner.

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"The players have returned home, they'll have spoken to their families and young children and it's a tremendous pull on the heart-strings, " said Gooch.

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They have suspected for a while that the older survey methods were biased, and that the inflation thus produced was tolerated because it helped twang the heart-strings of potential donors.

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At the heart of Arnalds' music is a simple interplay between spare strings and piano lines.

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And while they're trained to keep an emotional distance, some say the reverberating fear coming through people's voices is starting to tug a little too tightly at their heart strings.

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