HIST 390 Blog

Dec 14

I found learning about the correlation of western music and the use of major chords to be really cool in the way that our perspectives of what makes a chord “happy” may not be the same as another culture’s.  I am still feeling confused as to why a major chord sounds inherently happy to us while minor chords sound sad.  However, I did find it interesting that the Western world uses more major chords while the Eastern world uses more minor chords.  Perhaps in Eastern cultures a minor chord does not necessarily represent a sad emotion as it tends to in the Western world.  I also wonder if this thinking of what makes a chord happy as oppose to sad is based off of something we inherently feel, or is it reinforced continually in the world around us?

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