It’s a mysterious thing. Why do songs sound happy or sad depending on whether they’re in a major or minor key? Mathematically the two are barely distinguishable. A song in C major uses the same notes ...

Like everyone else who grew up during the heyday of the show and has since had to deal with countless reruns over the last 25 years, I have heard the Friends theme song roughly a billion times. I’m ...

One must be careful with these kinds of psychoacoustical questions because of cultural differences and sad minor keyed songs just being what you're used to, but if there is an explanation it may have ...

"In Western music, there's nothing that says 'sad' like a minor key," explains the Exploratorium science museum. You don't have to be up on your music theory — or have synesthesia — to recognize when ...

To begin our discussion on what it is that makes minor chords sad, we will first listen to some examples of the use of minor chords and minor keys that demonstrate breathtaking power to convey deep ...

Need a challenge? Take your favorite happy song and type the title into YouTube, followed by “in a minor key.” You’ve likely had this distinction drilled into your head by popular music and movies: ...