BellaOnline Forums Books and Music Classical Music The Minor Key in Classical Music

I found this an interesting subject to write about:-

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Sorry for the error in the above post, the Minor Key article is here:-

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art1514.asp

Hi Gillian,

I wonder what it is that makes music written in the 'minor key' sound so sad to us when compared with music written in the 'major key'?

Do you think this is the case across all continents?

Joy

Hi Gillian/Joy,

I wonder if a minor key feels the way it does because of overtones? In other words, the root or fundamental note sounds where it is, but also puts out a bunch of other frequencies that combine with other notes that are in the same chord. So when you have a major chord it has different overtones than a minor chord. It certainly feels different. I'm just guessing here.

Hi Allan, I know that our reaction to keys is believed to be cultural. In Western music - films are a good example - minor keys are used for the sadder moments. As most cultures share the same acoustic characteristics of �happy speech� (faster and louder) and �sad speech� (slower and quieter), it is believed that music mimics some of these universal emotional behaviours.

For this reason a neuroscientist from Duke University (Durham, North Carolina) decided to investigate the sound spectra of speech for Western classical music and Finnish folk songs and found that major-key music was similar to excited speech, whilst minor-key music was more akin to subdued speech. However, some cultures (Spanish and Slavic) use minor keys for happy music and there is evidence that the ancient Greeks did not link minor keys to sadness at all.

The world of major versus minor sounds is a fascinating one. It has been reported that nearly all train whistles are minor chords and that if you ever hear one as a major chord, it will really throw you! Exactly WHY sound affects us in this way is a real mystery. (JOY)

The first thing to remember is that there are in fact two different types of minor mode, and they are identified by the way in which the sixth and seventh notes of the scale are handled. _________________ Downloadvlcplayer.net

This is fascinating stuff! Long ago I tried to sync RGB with Major Minor and Dominant. I came up with:

Red for Minor - the sad thing
Green for Major - yellow is in the green area, anyway fields, oceans are green and sort of happy.
Blue for Dominant - the blues is sometimes C7 F7 G7, all dominants!

I've heard that the minor mode is older than the major - for that matter, notice going abcdefga is minor, C is almost like an afterthought!

Most Gregorian Chants are in a different minor mode altogether: the Dorian minor, the 3rd and 7th flatted, not the 6th.

I also wondered if the word MOOD comes from the word MODE? I can certainly tell you modes I can associate with moods! He he..

Love and light being,
Teo