04 January 2008
Music and Emotions (2)
)Published on January 4th, 2008 @ 11:32:24 am, using 261 words, 73 views
As promised, I will delve deeper into the abstract world of music and emotions. I've covered the parameters and their emotive role in the former item, so you should read that first.
The first big question is: "Why does minor sound sad and major happy?". I cannot answer this, because there isn't a rule that says, minor is sad, and major is happy. It's just that most people interpreted it that way. Maybe we grow up with it. Most of the sad movie scenes will have music in some minor scale supporting it. Bright, happy scenes will have major scale music. So, as youngster, we associate minor with sad, and major with happy.
But can that be all? There is a simple way of putting this to the test, although it isn't very child friendly. Grab a couple of baby's and raise them separately from others. Substitute the minor music in film with major scaled music, and vice versa. If the baby's grow older, you can ask them the feeling they experience with minor and major music. I have absolutely no idea what this will result in.
If the test-cases make clear that minor scaled music is still sad, how can you explain it? I'm pretty sure it isn't evolutionary based, because music doesn't give you a big advantage over those who can't understand music.
Why music can affect emotions in a way almost nothing else can, remains a mystery to me. Once I find some sort of answer, I'll share it. But for now, let's embrace the unknown.
Erik
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